Accraply, a leader in the label and flexible packaging market, has undertaken a new direction under president, Séamus Lafferty, who assumed the top leadership role at Accraply approximately a year and a half ago. Lafferty has recently spearheaded a cultural transformation, bringing parent company Barry-Wehmiller’s people-centric culture to each of Accraply’s locations.

Accraply is known for its design, construction and support of automated application systems of self-adhesive labels, roll-fed (or wraparound) labels, and shrink sleeve labels, as well as converting equipment for the shrink sleeve market and flexible packaging market. Its global operations span manufacturing sites in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In addition, the company has two sales offices in the US.

Lafferty has drawn from his experiences with Barry-Wehmiller, a global supplier of engineering, consulting and manufacturing technology for the packaging, corrugating, sheeting and paper converting industries. Barry-Wehmiller collectively does $2.4 billion in annual revenues and has over 11,000 team members.

“From an operations standpoint, Séamus is unifying our machine professionals to be one team, and he has begun implementing cross-brand training for team members of each Accraply brand,” explains Sean Murphy, Accraply’s market manager for Latin America. “By facilitating cross-learning, our team members will ultimately be empowered to build and construct the finest labeling and converting equipment that each of our  brands brings to market. Moreover, these team members will broaden their knowledge base and increase their collaborative efforts, which will increase engagement and collective learning and knowledge.”

In its brand portfolio, Accraply is structured as follows: Accraply, and the recently acquired Harland, which are responsible for self-adhesive label application systems; Trine, dedicated to roll-fed label application systems; Graham and Sleevit are responsible for shrink sleeve label and tamper-evident application systems; and Stanford handles all converting equipment for the shrink sleeve label industry.

In order to reach all facets of the Accraply family, Lafferty has dedicated time to all of the company’s facilities, ranging from its headquarters in Minneapolis, MN, USA, to Brightlingsea, UK. “From hosting listening sessions at each of our office locations to providing consistent and transparent state of the business updates on a quarterly basis, Séamus is demonstrating his wholehearted embrace of Truly Human Leadership and the genuine care and concern he has for his employees’ continued growth and development,” says Murphy. “All of us know the score, we know when we are winning, and more importantly, we know where we have our greatest opportunities for improvement–and Séamus speaks candidly and provides us a game plan to achieve the desired outcome.”

According to Murphy, Lafferty has also introduced new product line leadership roles and project leadership roles, in order to facilitate communication between the factories and customers. The company anticipates these initiatives will lead to increased customer satisfaction and decreased lead times.

Lafferty has relied on Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman for leadership as he has transitioned to Accraply president. Chapman recently released a book on cultural transformation, entitled Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family. He provides a simple message: business has the power to transform the world. Murphy adds that the book is applicable to all industries, highlighting the importance of listening to employees and treating them like family.

Accraply currently staffs 270 employees following the recent Harland acquisition that added 70 team members. “It is a very exciting time for Accraply, as we not only seek more inorganic growth through acquisition, but we also are focusing our efforts with our existing brands in strategic markets all over the world,” says Murphy. “Both brands enjoy strong brand equity and name recognition in strategic markets, and we are giving these brands increased focus and attention to position them for long-term growth.”