Honoring Moritz Otto Scheibler…Among the last of the great family owned business entrepreneurs of the 20th Century…

by | Jan 22, 2013

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“The man behind the machine,” Moritz, Sr. developed the first dry offset egg carton printer in 1967. As a trained lithographer, Moritz has a vast understanding of the printing process.
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Moritz Scheibler

Chairman, Scheibler Bros. Inc., Leavenworth, Washington

Moritz Otto Scheibler, Entrepreneur, Scheibler Bros. Inc.,
Loving Father and Dear Friend (1927-2013)…

http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2013/jan/
18/moritz-otto-scheibler-in-memoriam/?in-memoriams

http://www.scheiblerbrothers.com/Company-CompanyProfile.cfm Quote from this website…

“In 1960, Swiss-born Moritz Scheibler founded a printing press repair business and called it Scheibler Brothers, Incorporated (SBI). Seven years later, in conjunction with Condes Corporation, he invented the dry offset egg carton printer. Then in 1992, Mr. Scheibler struck out on his own and introduced the newly designed SBI Egg Carton Printer to the world market. SBI has distributed hundreds of printers worldwide to the packaging industry. And, most recently, SBI has designed and developed a second major printing line – the SBI Multiple Product Printer.
Scheibler Brothers, Inc. has a modern manufacturing facility staffed by knowledgeable technicians and machinists. Our site includes a complete machine shop featuring CNC machining, gear cutting, welding, precision grinding, metal fabricating, and tooling capabilities. The engineering department works closely with manufacturing to achieve maximum efficiency and quality in our operation and products. Our R&D department utilizes the very latest in CAD technology, coupled with years of machine design experience to keep the Scheibler Brothers Egg Carton Printers and Multiple Product Printers on the leading edge of the industry.”

http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Sparks/e/B0070CJDCM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Following is an excerpt from my book, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story…

“No doubt on top of my list of highly interesting professional and personal experiences was working for Scheibler Bros., Inc., a high speed egg carton printing technology company.  SBI for short, as we later included in the company name, was located out in the Chumstick Valley about 8 miles from town.  I came to know the Scheiblers from my experience in Village Art in the Park.  Nadine was on the board and also CEO of SBI.  After I returned from my Applied Voice Technology stint, Nadine asked me to come in and help her company find their way in the context of business and strategic planning.  I knew nothing about the printing business, but soon learned and as a bonus, discovered a whole new loving friendship with a wonderful dysfunctional, creative, and eccentric family with Moritz Scheibler as the head master of this clan, so he thought.  Nadine was really the most stable of them all and clearly running the business, and a blessing it was too.  The adult children, Jim and Mary, needed to learn how to take over the company as well, so this became a more subtle part of my new assignment.  SBI did not have a succession plan, and needed one badly.  Jim and Mary worked in the business since they were very young.  Both were highly educated and clearly had leadership qualities, especially Mary, who later became CEO when her mother, Nadine, sadly passed away.  This was a highly emotional and transitional time for the family.  Moritz was a genius and challenging to work with at times, but was a wonderful and highly sensitive person to know.

My career work was definitely consistent with all the experience and skills needed to help SBI, and my own dysfunctional life living with PTSD turned out to be an advantage working with this unique entrepreneurial family.  It was very difficult for the Scheibler’s to communicate with others, including each other, which resulted in a huge challenge of attracting talented professionals to work with them on a consistent basis.  This was a job that fit nicely into my profile and leadership qualities, including significant experience working with creative and often times emotionally driven people with lots of hang ups.  There was no lack of intellectual capital in this family, however.  They just needed some business disciplines to move SBI to a higher level of success.  SBI’s Moritz Scheibler invented the egg carton printer many years ago and had a corner on the market, but competition was beginning to appear in the market, especially overseas.  The business was steady and had moderate growth for all these years until competition began to show its strength, especially in the spare parts space.  It was a fun and rewarding, but often frustrating experience working with the Scheiblers, but will always be a most memorable period in my working life.  Friendship with the Scheibler family was the most rewarding outcome.  It was very sad when Nadine passed away from cancer around 2000 shortly after my Dad died.  This was when the succession plan started to pay off and Mary and Jim finally took over the business and clearly preserved the family legacy to this day.  Moritz eventually retired but maintained an as needed role in the company.  The SBI family business experience is an excellent example of how critical it is for a small business to have a succession plan.” 

I feel honored and blessed to be considered part of the Scheibler family clan.  Jim and Mary Scheibler are like brother and sister to me.  Our friendship is deep and personal and will remain so during my remaining life time.  It was without second thought to capture my loving friendship and experience with the Scheibler Family in my own life story…

Steve Sparks
Author
Reconciliation: A Son’s Story 

About the author

Steve Sparks is a retired information technology sales and marketing executive with over 35 years of industry experience, including a Bachelors’ in Management from St. Mary’s College. His creative outlet is as a non-fiction author, writing about his roots as a post-WWII US Navy military child growing up in the 1950s-1960s.
View all posts by stevesparks →

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