In just 17 years, Earl C. McDermid Limited has grown from a company that once employed only three people to one that currently has a staff of 75. Along the way, it has developed a variety of ingenious paper products that have had a major impact on businesses throughout North America.

McDermid products are everywhere—from the small retail store on any street to the largest supermarkets, from the plush carpeted offices of stockbrokers and stock exchange floors to the diplomatic embassies of the world. The company has developed a major export trade in paper products for computers and electronic calculating machines, and as one of Canada's largest and most successful paper converters, is currently working on other developments it believes will strengthen Canadian export as well as domestic positions.

The secret to its success is innovative problem solving. Manitoulin Islandborn founder and president Earl C. McDermid has a natural curiosity about what's going on around him that continually makes him wonder if it cannot be done better. Combine that ingenuity with the business acumen of his Saskatchewan-born wife Leona, and you have a dynamic combination. Both credit their grassroots origins and exposure to hard times during the depression to the development of their deeply ingrained drive and pioneering spirit.

Following a gratifying 12-year working career with Massey Ferguson, Earl took a sales position with a well-established roll paper manufacturer. "I recall my first impression of the product line recognizing it as totally non-reusable and in need of improvement", Earl says.
 

Earl C. McDermidt	Leona McDermid

"A few years later, I went out on my own but, before manufacturing anything, I decided to do a market study to determine what types of new equipment were presently in use and, more importantly, what was on the horizon that required special kinds of paper."

"I found that the new types of equipment entering the market, particularly in banks and financial institutions, all used a type of paper that was not available in Canada."

Where others might have seen nothing, the McDermids saw a market opportunity.

One of their first successes was Autocopy, Canada's first self-contained carbonless roll paper. Used in telex and teletype machines, Autocopy is available in a variety of colours, custom-cut to suit a client's needs, and allows as many as six copies (colour coded, if desired) to be made from a single message imprint.

Another McDermid success is Thermaline —a thermal paper for use in ribbonless office machines, facsimile machines and telecopiers.

By 1978, McDermid was working closely with researchers at the Abitibi-Price papermill in Sault Ste. Marie to produce Electrocomp, a multiple use paper manufactured from a mix of kraft and electromechanical pulp. Cheaper than register bond paper, it prints well and can be tinted.

McDermid needed the paper for his cash register and adding machine rolls, but Abitibi-Price found it also had a ready sale in the huge American market. Manufacture of this as "Abiform" so bolstered the Sault mill's production during a period of economic decline in the paper industry that it helped preserve 450 jobs and is now a multi-million dollar sales demand both domestic and export.

In the years since its establishment, Earl C. McDermid Ltd. has grown physically as well as in sales volume, and remains firmly in family hands. McDermid and his wife still play major roles. Their three children, Lance, Michael and Lori-Anne are all active full-time participants, each making their own contribution to the management and growth of the company.
 

Michael McDermid	Lori-Ann McDermid	Lance McDermid

In 1985 the company moved to a new plant in Downsview, Ontario, taking 75,000 square feet of space to house the manufacture of a growing number of product lines. Its facilities now also include a larger printing department, a heavy converting capability and a research room designed specifically for experimenting.

Says McDermid: "Our company has introduced new kinds of products to the Canadian market that were not even available in the U.S. Today they are extremely high-volume there. Selfcontained papers are used in multiple applications today. We were one of the first companies to recognize their potential."

One such McDermid innovation is ULTRA, a new paper made specifically for cash register and computer rolls. Because the paper is pure bond and is specially formulated, it weighs 15 per cent less than ordinary bond paper and can guarantee perfect function.

Another major success began with research in 1982 to develop in North America a new high resolution thermal paper for modern day facsimile machines, available only as an expensive import at that time. Overcoming the complication of multi-facetted machines to paper application has not only substantially reduced the cost to U.S. and Canadian users but has created a multi-million dollar North American market, along with it thousands of jobs and new opportunities.

Known as Telefax this "made in Canada" product is distributed through dealers coast to coast.

McDermid's success as an innovator has been recognized by government, as well as by the business community at large. An intensely patriotic Canadian, McDermid spearheaded the fight for Canadian unity as far back as 1967. For two years preceding the Quebec referendum, McDermid spent four days out of every month in that province, not only promoting his company but using subtle persuasions to keep Quebec in the Canadian fold.

His wife Leona developed a love of country fostered by her parents, early in life, as well. Leona McDermid's mother, Katherine Crouse, was a recipient of the Order of Canada medal for her patriotic work which spanned 30 years.

Earl C. McDermid always has his ear to the ground and his finger on the pulse of what's happening in modern business offices. A sense of contributing to a major Canadian industry is a gratifying accomplishment, but making it first to the benefit of Canada is a source of deserving pride.