Printer for Mayor
Business and Politics Mix Every
Day At Deco Labels and Tags
Practically every time you turn on the Toronto news these days you encounter the latest media frenzy over printer Rob Ford’s bid to become the city’s next mayor. But usually this publicity reprises Rob’s
prior 10-year career as city councillor for Ward 2 in North Etobicoke
– rarely his work of even longer duration in the printing trade. On an
earlier Saturday morning, Rob and his older brother and campaign
manager, Doug, found some time in their hectic schedules to discuss their
company, Deco Labels and Tags, and how Rob’s politics have been shaped
by both his family background and business experience.
Legacy of Doug Ford Sr.
In business and politics, both Rob’s and Doug’s chief
role model was their father, Doug Ford Sr., who grew
up in Toronto’s east end and in 1954, at age 16, attempted to swim Lake Ontario (unsuccessfully) alongside Marilyn Bell. A year later, he met his wife, Diane,
when she went swimming at the pool where he worked
as a lifeguard.
Professionally, Doug Sr. was instrumental in launching the Canadian arm of Avery, where he earned 70
percent of all sales and enough success by 1962 to start
his own outsourced label business from a small west-Toronto office. Two years later, he travelled to Japan to
buy three Hyundai presses and moved his expanded
operation further west, pending a third move in 1970
that landed him at the business’ present location, 26
and 28 Greensboro Drive (near Kipling Avenue and
Highway 401).
In all, Doug Sr. ran the company for 34 years and
grew it into a multimillion-dollar, binational enterprise. After retiring from the printing industry, he
turned to politics and served as a Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament from 1995 to
1999. He died in 2006 at age 73.
Evolution of Deco
The three Ford brothers, Randy, Doug and Rob, all
grew up in their father’s business. As their responsibilities increased, each gravitated naturally into a different role suited to his personality and aptitudes:
Technically inclined Randy runs the Toronto facility;
Doug, a born salesman, manages business development; and initially service-oriented Rob looked after
everything at the front end.
In 1999, Deco opened a Chicago office that grew into
a plant and moved to increasingly large quarters four
times in six years, adding equipment as it grew. Then in
2008, Deco bought a failing New Jersey company and
turned it into another thriving operation through best
practices and lean manufacturing (Six Sigma in the
States, ISO 9000 2001 in Canada).
To illustrate the strategy behind the company’s three
locations, Doug sketches a map of North America and
with three straight lines joins Toronto, Chicago, and
New Jersey into a Golden Triangle. Within four hours
the company can access any location within its perimeter, he explains. Next he marks a fourth dot on the map
to show the next area where they plan to expand: Dallas – an addition that will reshape their tactical triangle to help serve an already large Texas clientele.
“In the recent recession our margins are tighter
and we have to do more with less, but we’ve actually
