DESPITE THE INITIAL potential of any fledgling business, there must be an original idea as well as an individual with the motivation and drive to carry it out. So it was with a 26-year-old by the name of Norman Wade, who recognized the potential market for higher quality reprographic services and diazo products. With the assistance and support of his wife Betty, he established the Norman Wade Company in 1945. Within a year sales totalled close to $30,000 and the organization, located today in Scarborough, Ontario, was never to look back.

This is not to say that unforseen problems and setbacks did not arise. On December 2, 195 1, the Norman Wade Company suffered a major fire at its new, larger location on Yonge Street in Toronto. Though many assumed the company would go out of business, the same newspaper edition which carried the story of the fire also listed an advertisement with the header, "Business as Usual." The Wades relaunched the company with the help of assets which the fire could not destroy: an established name and respect in the industry, good credit and sound finances and employees who shared the Wades' confidence in the future. A landmark event in the company's history took place in 1964 with the design of the unique Radius Tension Adjustable Drafting Station. The Department of Trade, Commerce and Industry honoured the company with the Design Canada Award for Excellence as a classic case study of Canadian corporate growth based on a creative design effectively made and marketed.
 

Since its formation the Norman Wade Company has grown significantly from a local reprographic house into a national organization that remains wholly Canadian owned and operated. The company competes in seven well-defined market sections: equipment and supplies for drafting, reprographics, surveying and plotters, drafting furniture and media, and reprographic services. With over 450 employees (one hundred times its original employee base) the company has established a coast-tocoast branch network of 21 manufacturing, sales and reprographic facilities. Taking into account his genuine concern for those he employed, Norman Wade felt the company's key asset was its employees. In 1977, with this realization in mind, he instituted an employees' corporate share participation plan coupled with an employees' profit-sharing plan.

Unfortunately Mr. Wade's passing in 1985 marked the end of an era. But, largely because of the successful guidance by his son, Richard Wade, the company's endeavours; continue to thrive, ensuring and reinforcing its impressive track record. Mr. Richard Wade is a member of the board of directors of Norman Wade Company Limited, vice president and director of Wade Leasing Limited and general manager and director of Techniprint Services Limited. As well, the Company lends its support on an ongoing basis to various community organizations ranging from the recreational to the cultural.

The Wade family continues to run the company in the traditions set by its founder and is proud to lead the Canadian architectural, surveying and drafting supplies industries into an exciting future.