About
Penflex

Inspiring Creativity and Simplifying Homes from Cape Town

Penflex is a proudly South African company, a one-stop shop for both inspiring creativity and simplifying your home environment. Our story begins right here in Cape Town, where our world-class manufacturing facility produces exceptional writing instruments and practical homeware solutions enjoyed by both local and international customers.

At Penflex, we're passionate about empowering you. We meticulously craft our writing instruments with bold, fade-resistant ink, ensuring your written ideas stay vivid and impactful. But we don't stop there! Our commitment to quality extends beyond writing tools – we offer a diverse range of plastic storage solutions and houseware products designed to bring order and functionality to your home.

Whether you're a student, a business professional, or an artist who thrives on visual expression, Penflex has the perfect tool to unleash your creativity. And for those looking to streamline your home environment, explore our houseware section. We offer everything from storage bins and buckets to laundry solutions and outdoor essentials. Find the perfect fit for your needs and discover how Penflex can inspire you in the workplace and bring organization and ease to your home.

Company Profile


Penflex is a South African manufacturer of writing instruments, plastic homeware solutions, components for the window blind industry as well as bottles and caps for the water industry. Our products are manufactured at our factory in Cape Town, supported by local top technical expertise and a production team which is widely respected for its collective know-how, professionalism and expertise.


Penflex products are manufactured in accordance with best practice technologies used worldwide. Our products are comparable with the best known brands while being a South African designed, engineered and manufactured range of products.


In this website, you will find an online presentation of our stationary products, houseware, water bottles and window blind components. The services option highlights some of the services offered by Penflex such as printing on pens and markers as well different colour offerings. Have a look at our 10L IML cooler box offering where you are able to order your own design. Our pen and marker products are displayed with information relating to the products with an option to see packaging information.


We recommend visiting the website throughout the year, as the catalogue may be updated from time to time when new products are added to our product range or when products are modified. We hope that the catalogue and services described, are effective in your search of finding pen(s) and accessories that meet your requirements. If there are any enquiries about our products or services, please contact us. We will be happy to assist you.


Product Range

Home Essentials:

Penflex furnishes your living space with functional and colorful plastic homeware. We manufacture bins in a variety of sizes for waste management, laundry baskets and storage containers for keeping things organized. Our tableware includes plastic plates, cups, tumblers, and glasses, suitable for everyday use indoor or outdoors

Stationery Solutions:

Equipping students, artists and office workers with the tools to get the job done. We manufacture pens, highlighters, markers as well as products that complement these writing instruments such as pencil cases, rulers, stencils and paper storage systems.

Water Industry:

We manufacture a range of water bottles from 11.4l to 18l in capacity. Some have variations such as a handle, a tap or no handle. Additionally we manufacture non spill caps for these bottles.

Vehicle Accessories:

We cater to car owners with vehicle accessories like door guards to protect against scratches and dents and squeegees to maintain a clean windshield.

Window Blind Components:

We contribute to the window blind industry by manufacturing key components for both Vertical and Venetian blinds. Parts include carriers, control chains, and bottom weights. Additionally, we supply strung and unstrung curtain hooks, and mechanisms for controlling roller blinds.

ALPLAS SHUTTERS Asher Saban registered Alplas Shutters (PTY) Ltd

The company sold, manufactured and installed various blind and shutter solutions.


This included traditional window blinds such as fabric vertical blinds, roller blinds, aluminium and wood Venetian blinds as well as Roman and honeycomb blinds.

Later the company expanded to include window shutter solutions such as fixed aluminium blade shutters, adjustable PVC blade shutters and traditional shutters.


The company operates to this day from it's Cape Town head office.
START OF PLASTIC
MANUFACTURING
In order to satisfy the increasing demand for it's products Alplas Shutters started manufacturing plastic components for its product range as opposed to importing the components.

The company started with one injection mould machine, later expanding to four machines.


This meant that Alplas Shutters could react quicker to their customers needs.
NEW PREMISES IN
PAROW
Alplas Plastics (PTY) Ltd was registered and this division of the company was moved to Parow after a buyout of Alherb (Pty) Ltd an engineering company with additional injection mould machines.


The range of window blind components being manufactured inhouse continued to expand.
PENFLEX WAS BORN Penflex started as a division within Alplas Plastics and initially only manufactured the distinctive Penflex HiGlo highlighter but quickly expanded into other stationery lines including ballpoint pens.


By this time there was an extensive range of plastics and window blind components being manufactured and the progression to writing instruments added a new leg to the manufacturing capability.


Later that year as our range grew so did the demand for storage and machinery space so the company moved to a premises on Dawn Road in Montague Gardens.
ORIGINAL PENFLEX LOGO
PENFLEX CONTINUED
TO GROW
The company was going through a rapid growth phase and had quickly become too big for the premises in Dawn Road. This necessitated the Penflex division relocating to BP Road in Montague Gardens.


The move triggered the registration of Penflex (Pty) Ltd as a separate company in the group.


At this stage we had expanded the writing instrument range to include white board and permanent markers, OHP markers, children's colouring markers and retractable ball point pens.
ORIGINAL WEBSITE LAUNCH OF THE
PENFLEX WEBSITE
As technology evolved so did we, with the launch of the Penflex website featuring flash animations, a fully fledged catalogue and basic information about the company.
ALPLAS PLASTICS
BIG MOVE
By this time Alplas Plastics was selling a large quantity of window blind component to overseas customers and had acquired even more injection mould machines. Additionally the company had increased the range of houseware products to compliment the Penflex footprint in Retail.

This lead to a decision to build a bespoke factory in Killarney Gardens, this factory more than doubled the available factory space. Penflex remained in BP Road but the administration team moved to Killarney Gardens.

Around this time our logo was updated with a more modern design.
UPDATED PENFLEX LOGO
PENFLEX MOVES TO
KILLARNEY GARDENS
With space available and both Alplas Plastics and Penflex on the upward trajectory, Penflex had outgrown it's premises, this lead to us relocating to the factory alongside Alplas Plastics.


Alplas Plastics and Penflex had come together once again.


A decision was taken by the founder to appoint a CEO to lead both Alplas Plastics and Penflex to leverage the over 30 years of manufacturing experience to grow the company even further.
ALPLAS PLASTICS
MOVES UP A GEAR
In order to manufacture larger plastic houseware products and to increase manufacturing output throughout the year Alplas Plastics purchased a number of large injection moulding machines.

There was a focus on designing and manufacturing moulds for laundry baskets, a range of bins, storage and other new product lines.

This shift reflected a strategic change in the company's focus.
PENFLEX MAKES A MARK ON SOCIAL MEDIA We realised that a wider audience could be reached by launching our social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.


We then put all our advertising effort into the Penflex brand in order to firmly position Penflex in the digital world.
LEGACY AFRICA Legacy Africa Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd successfully acquired a majority stake in Penflex (Pty) Ltd and then purchased the entire Alplas Plastics operation, expanding its footprint in the manufacturing sector.


Through their fund, Legacy Africa Capital Partners Fund, they invest in African companies, primarily in sectors like chemicals, consumer goods, technology, and industrial products.


This link up with Legacy Africa was testament to the by now, 50 years of growth and investment by the founder Asher Saban
UPDATED LOGO & SLOGAN NEW PACKAGING DESIGNS PENFLEX REBRANDS We rebranded our entire product range, featuring new backing card designs as well as unique logos & designs for various products.

Additionally, our logo now proudly displays that we are a South African company, accompanied by our slogan, "MADE TO INSPIRE."
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