Family matters for Wagner Labels in Australia

The labeling segment of Australia’s printing industry has a long track record of family-owned companies. Its footprint covers firms of all sizes and specializations, from multi-branch organizations such as the major four-city, two-country coverage of the Hally family’s operations to such names as McDonald, Styleprint, Huxbury and Western Australia’s Daytone. The plethora family owned and operated outfits in capital cities and regional centers has built a well-documented history of and a strong emphasis on independence and go-it-alone enterprise.

One explanation for this is the isolation from which the island continent suffered in a pre-electronic era. Another undoubtedly finds its causes among the not inconsiderable ranks of immigrant craftsmen and industry veterans who have contributed to modern Australia’s extraordinary multi-cultural population mix.

Company names encompass the full gamut of names from multinationals – many of overseas origins – to locals denoting the earlier years of immigrant owners.

Welcome to Sydney-based Wagner Prestige Labels, manufacturer of self-adhesive labels. Under the surface of today’s business card is a history of nearly 80 years’ involvement with label manufacturing in Australia, initially progressed by the current proprietorial management team’s father, Richard Galea, who had taken the reins from Emanuel, the founding father who emigrated from Malta in 1935. The fledgling company which he established in1938 specialized in embossing, foil stamping and swing tags, moving to gum labels and then swinging to today’s self-adhesive labels.

Asked how the progression had developed, John Galea – today’s managing director – described the process as one of ‘trial and error’.

Nothing is finished on the machine

The initial enterprise has come a long way from its early years. One contributing reason for its growth is the fact that little is left to trial and error under the guidance of today’s management.

Talking to John Galea reveals an enquiring mind, an authoritative overview of his industry and an uncompromising three-way approach to developing the business via an up-to-date machine room combined with rigid quality control and a conclusive conviction that the right equipment ensures the right turnover, thence the appropriate profit.