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How Quality Comes in a “Chain Reaction” at New York Label & Box Works

A label and carton company doesn’t get to be 137 years old without having made an unwavering commitment to quality. The 137-year-old label and carton company profiled here has done it by adopting a well-known philosophy of continuous improvement as its playbook.

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Steven Haedrich (right) with production team members Craig Striebel and Richard Striebel

What is a “Deming chain reaction”? It’s the cascade of good things that happen when organizations take W. Edwards Deming’s famous “fourteen points for the transformation of management” to heart. Sustaining the reaction is one of many best practices that have brought New York Label & Box Works close to the midpoint of its second century as a label and packaging specialist.

The company’s online address, since1878.com, says it all about the longevity of the business that the Haedrich family acquired in 1930. But the firm’s current president, Steven Haedrich, decided that the weight of history wasn’t enough. He wanted to manage in a forward-looking way that would instill quality into every phase of the operation by empowering and encouraging everyone in the company to deliver it.


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About Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry is a journalist and an educator who has covered the graphic communications industry since 1984. The author of many hundreds of articles on business trends and technological developments in graphic communications, he has been published in most of the leading trade media in the field. He also has taught graphic communications as an adjunct lecturer for New York University and New York City College of Technology. The holder of numerous awards for industry service and education, Henry is currently the managing director of Liberty or Death Communications, a content consultancy.

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