Mr. Sathis Abeywickrama : A Trailblazing Success Story Spanning Four Decades
Mr. Sathis Abeywickrama, the Founder & Managing Director of Flexiprint (Pvt) Ltd & its sister company Print USA (Pvt) Ltd was accoladed with the prestigious “Packaging Professional of the Year 2020” award by the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging. He was thus honoured at the Sri Lanka Packaging Awards - Lanka Star 2022 held on 03rd November 2022 at Hotel Galadari, Colombo for his dedicated services to the printing & packaging industry.
At the awards ceremony, Print USA (Pvt) Ltd won 07 Bronze Awards, 04 Silver Awards & 04 Gold Awards while Flexiprint (Pvt) Ltd won 06 Bronze Awards, 07 Silver Awards & 04 Gold Awards and a Platinum Trophy as the Overall Winner with the Most Number of Winning Entries in the Corporate Categories.
We met Mr. Sathis Abeywickrama, a trailblazing personality who has established his mark in the printed packaging industry both locally and internationally to find out more about his beginnings, vision & industry achievements.
First, we asked him about the origins of his illustrious career in the printing and packaging industry, spanning well over four decades.
Mr. Abeywickrama said, “In 197778, I started my career as a management trainee in sales & marketing at Aitken Spence Printing just after my Advanced Level exams. There I decided to direct printing from commercial printing into printed packaging, supporting value-added Sri Lankan products. This was a time new tea companies came into the market producing value-added tea products such as packeted teas and tea in bags. So, after working for a while at the Aitken Spence, I left to pursue my own path. Firstly, I worked for a while as a print buyer. Then I started my own company, Print USA (Pvt) Ltd, incorporating the great exposure to the trade I got in marketing offset printed packages to the tea trade. My goal was to support value-added Sri Lankan products such as tea, rubber, spices & lately garments, through quality printed offset packaging”
Successfully going through Print USA (Pvt) Ltd and with the tea market embracing tea bags more and more, eventually, his customers persuaded him to start producing the most important ingredients for the tea bag: teabag tags & teabag envelopes. Therefore, he started Flexiprint Pvt Ltd in 1994, with the goal of offering locally produced, premium printed tea tags & tea envelopes to the value-added tea trade.
Flexiprint and Print USA: Testament to the Founder’s Vision &
Dedicated Leadership
Mr. Abeywickrama says, “Today Flexiprint & Print USA have joined hands and have become great catalysts to the tea trade and other valueadded Sri Lankan product trades, becoming well-renowned names worldwide. The two companies now export to the Far East Indian subcontinent, CIS countries, Dubai and the rest of the Middle East and largely to the African continent”
Flexiprint (Pvt) Ltd is the current market leader in Sri Lanka for its manufacture of packaging necessities for tea bags, mainly tea tags and tea envelopes. The company is well established in the Sri Lankan tea market, having served 63% of tea manufacturers over the last decade and is also said to be the largest supplier to Dubai and parts of North Africa too. In recent years, the company successfully ventured into the self-adhesive label market, printing labels for the coconut, seafood, apparel, pharmaceutical, petroleum & other FMCG sectors as well.
Print USA (Pvt) Ltd is leading in the manufacturing of packaging needs of Sri Lankan products mainly to the tea and rubber industries, the apparel industry and all other industries that do value addition to Sri Lankan products. Both companies backed their customers with non-stop production even during the pandemic period through the dedication of a loyal & efficient workforce. Also, both companies boast of a steady growth rate of over 10% per annum even despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic.
It is Mr. Abeywickrama’s longstanding and dedicated leadership at the helm that has spearheaded the companies to reach these great heights as the trusted printing & packaging services provider of world-leading brands.
Secrets to Remarkable Longevity & Success within a Competitive Industry
Subsequently, we asked Mr. Sathis Abeywickrama about how he achieved such remarkable longevity & success within the highly competitive and dynamically growing printing & packaging industry.
His response was; “Since my trainee days to the present, I have believed in & focused all my hard efforts on one area of specialization which is printing. I never dreamt of becoming the largest printer but did everything possible to be one of the best value-addition providers in printing & packaging to the tea industry”
Armed with that inspiring vision, he has guided both Flexiprint & Print USA over the decades to achieve global excellence. The long-standing & continuously-growing trust attained by both companies as printing & packaging service providers can be traced to Mr. Abeywickrama’s great dedication at the helm to provide only the best to his industry partners.
He says, “As a policy, we don’t settle for the second best and assure unparalleled quality standards that both Print USA and Flexiprint have been known to deliver since their inception. With a green work ethic at heart, we consistently offer our valued clients a precise product that guarantees the best productivity”
The green work ethic that Mr. Abeywickrama believes in is embedded at the core of both companies. Mr. Abeywickrama is a firm believer that a sustainable business is a successful one and directs all company operations intending to leave the smallest environmental footprint behind.
Mr. Sathis Abeywickrama concludes, “I am proud to say that together with a highly dedicated team, I have claimed the position today as the best printing & packaging service provider to the tea industry & have established an undeniable mark even beyond. The recognition from my peers in the industry is a great honour to me.
I always hope to maintain this position, continuously working up to the expectations of our customers in every possible way.”