South Africa’s Stage Audio Works event and entertainment specialist has moved to new premises in Kyalami Park, Midrand, Johannesburg.
The move follows a change in direction of the company’s Mitech Direct division (MI retail sales) to a stronger online presence . The new business model has enabled SAW to reorganise operations in a way that reduces the requirement for physical space overall while devoting more resources in key areas for increased profitability.
‘We are fortunate in that our business has remained strong throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,’ says SAW Group CEO, Will Deysel. ‘However, to ensure that, we’ve had to remain agile and react quickly – one of our early decisions was to move Mitech Direct to a predominantly online sales model, which has prompted our relocation to new, appropriately sized premises in Kyalami Park.’
The business is now split across two buildings, one housing sales, distribution and service operations including a showroom that showcases SAW’s full portfolio; and the other manufacturing for SAW’s own brands along with a dedicated showroom.
‘The move will be beneficial for our business in a number of ways,’ Deysel continues. ‘In addition to providing significant cost savings on the physical space, it’s also an excellent opportunity to streamline our warehousing and operations and we’ve invested in automated storage and racking to facilitate that.
‘We’re also delighted to unveil a showroom for our own product ranges in the manufacturing building, including Pixel Plus LED display products and Stage Plus, our brand of flightcases, staging and trussing. This is in addition to our main showroom in the operations building that includes a new listening room for Sennheiser products – a brand we’ve been proud to distribute in South Africa for many years.
‘The new operations building also houses several fully functional meeting rooms and conference spaces showcasing our state-of-the-art solutions for that market – namely the QSC Q-Sys Ecosystem, Sennheiser, Atlona video gear and Pixel Plus LED displays.’
SAW’s project team will also benefit from increased preparation space in the new building, and the company has increased its investment into local manufacturing with the acquisition of a water jet cutting system, an environmentally friendly process that will allow new products to be manufactured from a variety of different materials, offering even more scope for creativity.
‘The move represents a new chapter for the Stage Audio Works group and heralds new ways of doing business and new opportunities,’ Deysel says. ‘We’ve made significant investment into different parts of the business that will enable us to remain strong and in touch with the needs of the market as they change in response to the challenging times we’ve all faced over the past 12 months. Stage Audio Works is well diversified and has always excelled in the face of a challenge – we’re excited by the new opportunities that represents and looking forward to the next stage of the journey.’
More: www.stageaudioworks.com
