Agile – one of business’s trending buzz words. But what does it mean?

In sport, agility is the ability of athletes to be in control of their bodies while moving or changing direction or position quickly and effectively. To do this, fast reflexes, coordination, balance and speed are matched with the right response to the changing situation.

In business, agility refers to an organisation’s ability to rapidly respond to change. This includes adapting goods and services to meet customer demands or restructuring operations to respond to market and environmental changes.

Often buzz words are used just because they sound good. They get bandied around the boardroom and pay lip service to companies marketing strategies.

However, for Pyrotec’s personnel, agility is a philosophy that’s intricately woven into every aspect of the company’s activities. ‘Our approach is to focus on continuously innovating to meet customers’ needs while maintaining high quality standards and controlling costs,’ explains Pyrotec’s MD, Rowan Beattie. ‘With the speed at which markets change, companies that cannot adapt quickly are left behind. Because we continue innovating and setting industry benchmarks, our customers benefit by also being able to rapidly respond to changes in their own competitive environments,’ Rowan adds.

Pyrotec’s most recent ground-breaking investment is a prime example of the company’s agile approach to business.

In a first for Africa, Pyrotec has purchased a Durst Tau 330 RSC eight-colour digital label press as the foundation for the company's latest venture into digital label printing. The Tau 330 RSC is an industrial-scale digital UV inkjet label and package printing press that offers unmatched speed (up to 78m/min) and eight colour stations (CMYK+W+OVG), as well as highly-pigmented inks, which deliver outstanding flexo-like print quality with close to 98% Pantone colour gamut.

‘At Pyrotec we are committed to life-long learning and are adamant that we remain innovative. Our mission reflects our belief that “Together, We Grow”, and it’s this that percolates through all operational areas of our business.

‘A big part of our success is our ability to identify niche markets and our agility to embrace innovation and adapt as changing markets demand,’ Rowan concludes.