Colourful history, colourful future

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This article was published 13/06/2024 (494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It feels silly to ask a grown man what his favourite colour is, but when colour is that man’s business, it feels even sillier not to.

Emeric (Rick) Duha XI, chief business officer at Duha Group, a Winnipeg-based manufacturer of colour marketing tools, doesn’t hesitate when faced with the query: his favourite is Santorini blue, a shade he saw on the rooftops of the Greek island he visited with his girlfriend seven years ago.

He proposed to her on that trip and the couple celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary last weekend.

“That’s just a very memorable moment for me,” Duha says, seated in a meeting room at his company’s Bradford Street headquarters. “The image of looking out over the ocean, with the white-and-blue buildings in the background, is something that’s always sort of ingrained in my memory.”

If you’ve ever looked for a specific colour to paint a room in your house, it’s likely you’ve encountered the Duha Group’s work. The company specializes in three products: fan decks, paint samplers and samples.

With thousands of customers in 130 countries, Duha Group lives up to its slogan: “Connecting the world with colour.”

Duha never envisioned being part of the company’s leadership team when he was working at the factory through high school and university, but he later realized he enjoyed leading people and strategizing.

“It’s not always perfect, but (the culture) we try to build is one of continuous learning and investing in our people, because they are the ones that make this place what it is and make it successful.”–Emeric (Rick) Duha XI

“This was the best place for me to learn that,” Duha says. “I’ve since fallen in love with running a business.”

Duha’s great-grandfather, Emeric Duha VIII, started the business in his basement in 1948. It was a commercial printing venture at the time, bearing the name Duha Printers (Western) Ltd.

In the 1950s, Emeric Duha IX, along with his wife, Gwendolyn, and sister, Margaret, grew the business and moved it out of the basement to a building in Osborne Village on Gertrude Street.

In the years that followed, competition in the local commercial printing market prompted the business to set its sights on a niche market: colour merchandising tools. It established Duha Plastics in Gimli, some 80 kilometres north of the capital, to create fan deck covers and other vinyl products.

In the 1970s, the company acquired colour-matching computers and moved its headquarters to Bradford Street. Clients included General Motors and Toyota, as well as refinish paint manufacturers Dupont and BASF.

The following decade, a third generation joined the business: Emeric Duha X, Duncan Duha and Phyllis Duha. The company started doing business in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and established a third manufacturing location in Selkirk.

Emeric Duha X took over the business in the 1990s, overseeing the period when the company truly went multinational. In the last 30 years, it has partnered with businesses in Singapore and Germany, and invested in factories in China, Mexico and Malaysia.

Rick and his sister, Samantha Duha, joined the company in the 2010s. Samantha is the managing director of Colour Hive, a trend forecasting and consulting business in London, England, that Duha Group acquired.

Rick runs the Duha Group’s day-to-day operations with Douglas Crabb, chief operating officer, who has been with the company for more than 30 years.

“It’s another great family-owned business in Winnipeg and it’s just a little gem,” says Crabb, who worked his way from the factory floor to his current role.

“We’re making new products and different tools for paint companies to show colour on a regular basis, so there’s always something new (happening),” he adds. “Combine that with an environment that gives people the freedom to come up with different ideas and continues to improve the business on many different levels.”

Duha estimates the company controls 20 to 25 per cent of the global market in decorative architectural colour sampling. The company has factories and sales representatives around the world, and works with big-name clients such as PPG, Behr and Benjamin Moore.

Still, it’s the culture the company fosters among the 260 employees at its Winnipeg headquarters that perhaps makes Duha most proud.

“It’s not always perfect, but (the culture) we try to build is one of continuous learning and investing in our people, because they are the ones that make this place what it is and make it successful,” he says.

To that end, each department holds a daily “huddle,” where employees check in with one another, discuss what they are working on and brainstorm how they might improve operations.

Since 2006, Duha Group employees have generated and implemented 48,000 opportunities for improvement.

“No one is really that passionate about paint chips, but they’re passionate about supporting their families.”–Emeric (Rick) Duha XI

“It’ll be a big celebration when we hit 50,000, because these are ideas that don’t come from my desk (and) they don’t come from our senior team — they come from everyone (in the factory),” Duha says. “It really is the beating heart of our business.”

The company has a “Passport to Excellence” program that encourages employees to continually improve, increase their competencies and take further ownership over their work.

In 2006, the company created the Duha Center of Excellence to support companies seeking assistance in their continuous improvement strategies. Since then, the centre has helped more than 180 companies.

Duha Group has come a long way since its humble beginnings. The company’s 75th anniversary last year was an opportunity to pause and reflect, Duha says. The anniversary celebrations included a barbecue with company employees, a group of people Duha spends a lot of time thinking about.

He used to greet new employees by saying, “Welcome to the Duha family,” but no longer does. He’s realized people don’t seek employment at the Duha Group to be part of a family but because they want a good place to work.

“No one is really that passionate about paint chips, but they’re passionate about supporting their families,” Duha says. “They’re passionate about getting time off and being comfortable and having stable employment. And I think that’s something that we offer to our teams.”

He holds annual town halls to connect with employees and let them know how the business is doing.

“There’s 260 families that are relying on this business continuing to succeed, and it’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also exciting and it’s not something that I take lightly,” Duha says. “They’re putting their trust in us in order to make the right decisions and to lead the business so that everyone is successful.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca