Signage company out to “Zap” Covid-19 with new PPE range

Ballito based Zap Signs has drawn on the skills it uses to produce perspex, printed vinyl and other types of signage to create an innovative range of Sneeze Guards and decals that will assist retailers selling essential items during the Covid-19 lockdown.

According to company founder, Lyall Berkeley, who runs the business with his brother Kirk, the Covid-19 lockdown created a situation where a small business like Zap Signs could take the cliché “necessity is the mother of invention” to a whole new level.

“Zap Signs is proud to offer a complete counter kit for the protection of your company’s most valuable assets – your staff. We have developed a product range not only aimed at encouraging social distancing but also actually providing a protective physical transparent barrier between counter staff and customers,” he explains.  

These perspex Sneeze Guards come in three standard sizes – large (front face 600mm side x 800mm high with 150mm side protection panels), medium (front face 600mm side x 650mm high with 150mm side protection panels) and a desktop screen (front face 700 wide x 450mm high with 150mm side protection panels.

The screens are supplied with double-sided tape on the base tabs to secure them to counters or desk tops. The medium and large screens also come with a full colour COVID information decal which the client can apply to the screen if they so wish.

The Sneeze Guards, which are 100% designed and manufactured at the company’s factory in Ballito, are just part of a range of products that Zap Signs intends introducing.

The company also produces full colour social distancing floor decals which can assist customers in retail outlets to ensure that the correct social distancing is maintained. Up until now, many outlets have simply used tape strips on floors which has created a great deal of confusion or has been completely ignored by shoppers.

The floor decals come in three different designs and two sizes (large and medium) and are printed in full colour on non-slip textured floor vinyl with air-release technology to ensure that, when they are applied to a floor, there are no air bubbles underneath.

These decals can be customised depending on orders in batches of four.  

Zap Signs, which was started in 2008 by husband and wife team Lyall and Stacey Berkeley, to use their creativity and passion for customer service to provide clients with unique branding solutions that stand out from the crowd, began manufacturing its new range of products this week.

“We have all the necessary permits and documentation to manufacture and supply PPE equipment during the lockdown. We will now ramp up production of these important items. We have six full-time staff who will produce them. These screens will allow us to survive the pandemic. Our main priority at the moment is to do everything we can to remain in a position where we can continue to pay our employees. We are like a small family at Zap Signs and it will be devastating if we had to let anyone go,” he explained.

Berkeley said that he believed that the pandemic might even have assisted the company to develop a whole new range of PPE products that will continue to be marketed post Covid-19 and could ultimately even help grow the business.

“We foresee that the way we live is going to be very different after lockdown. I’m predicting that most retail outlets where there is face-to-face contact (till-points, banks, nail bars etc.) will show interest as it will protect both staff and clients alike,” he noted.