Stringing it together for 30 years
Handitags was established in April 1987 specifically with the mission to provide tag services to both industry and trade who needed a tag with string on it. Initially, clients spanned the travel with bag tags “heavy” or “priority” for airlines plus luggage check tags for the concierge/hotel sector. Price “tickets” for the retail sector and what we term “loop around” tags for the horticulture or plant nursery sectors. Plus, certification tags used in the distribution of gas cylinders and equipment hire sectors. The list is endless.
In 1995 the founders of Handitags sold the business to the Saito Group Limited (Saito). This took place at a time that Saito were emerging as a significant supplier with synthetic tag products to the timber industry across Asia Pacific. The string tag product offering complimented the Saito tag solution offering developed for logs, sawmilled timber and treated posts. It was through the Saito acquisition that facilitated the expansion of Handitags into Australia some 20 years ago.
Today the Handitag division of Saito continues to provide specialist tag products for an ever-expanding range of customers. An example of this is with Hirepool, New Zealand’s largest and leading equipment hire company. Hirepool have operated for over 60 years and have 71 branches across New Zealand and is growing.
Hirepool operate a business rule where equipment must be “green tagged” prior to its hire. This involves a process where the equipment is tested via a specific online checklist. The Hirepool staff member personally certifies it is fit for hire by signing the green tag and affixing it to the equipment. If a green tag is removed or lost the equipment is re-tested, no assumptions are made!
“The system is very simple, green means the equipment is go for hire and red means it is not! It is effective and visual to both our team and customers”.
The tag is a key component of equipment operational health and safety; branches have a stock of tags and if the equipment does not pass the online checklist it is red tagged. Minor repairs are carried out at the branch whereas more detailed ones are carried out at a regional repair centre.
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About Saito
Saito started out in our founding directors’ basement in May 1985, and in June 1991 Saito opened its Queensland office. Today Saito remains a private family run business in the second generation of leadership. Saito has an awesome reputation in the marketplace which has been derived from the customer-centric culture instilled by our founding director and delivered by all team members, even via our casual staff. Everything we do is aimed at exceeding our customers’ expectations. Award-winning customer service is one attribute but Saito are continually innovating to find ways to deliver products more competitively and take operational expenses out of our customers’ business. We ourselves are manufacturers and understand that price is a key factor in any trading relationship along with confidence in quality and dependency on deliverables. Saito continue to grow and we are immensely proud that a great majority of both our customers and staff have been with us for over twenty years and remain very loyal. As we do to them!