1890 | Joseph Bobst opens a printing supplies shop in Lausanne (Switzerland). |
1908 | Opening of a workshop for customer service. |
1915 | First production of equipment. |
1917 | Bobst is registered as a trademark. |
1918 | A joint-stock company is formed under the name J. Bobst & Fils SA. |
1936 | First outlet abroad with the opening of a sales office in Paris (France). |
1938 | Up-scaling to industrial production with the inauguration of the Prilly/Lausanne site (Switzerland). |
1940 | The first Autoplaten® diecutter is unveiled. |
1965 | Acquisition of Champlain (1938) in Roseland/NJ (USA), today: Bobst Group North America. |
Creation of Bobst Italiana, today: Bobst Group Italia. | |
1970 | Creation of Nihon Bobst KK, today: Bobst Group Japan. |
1974 | Creation of Bobst Brazil, today: Bobst Group Latinoamérica do Sul. |
1977 | Beginning of the expansion at the Mex/Lausanne site (Switzerland). |
1978 | The company is renamed Bobst SA and listed on the Lausanne Stock Exchange. |
1979 | Creation of Bobst Canada. |
1980 | Operations begin at a factory in Maua (Brazil). |
1985 | Acquisition of Martin (1923) in Villeurbanne and Bron/Lyon (France). |
Acquisition of Peters Maschinenfabrik GmbH (1890) in Hamburg (Germany). | |
1987 | Acquisition of a shareholding in Schiavi SpA (1927) at Piacenza and Modena (Italy). |
1989 | Creation of Bobst Group Benelux. |
1990 | Celebration of the centenary under the motto "Knowledge and People". |
Creation of Bobst Group Deutschland. | |
1992 | Opening of Bobst Group Africa & Middle East (Tunisia). |
1993 | Acquisition of Asitrade AG (1975) in Grenchen (Switzerland). |
Creation of Bobst Group Central Europe (Czech Republic). | |
1994 | Creation of Bobst Group Malaysia and of Bobst Group Taiwan. |
1995 | Creation of Bobst India and of Bobst Indonesia. |
1996 | Creation of Bobst Group Thailand. |
1997 | Operations begin at a factory in Itatiba (Brazil) and in Shanghai (China). |
Creation of Bobst Group Latinoamérica Norte (Mexico). | |
1998 | Acquisition of Corrugating Roll Corporation (CRC) (1971) in Rutledge/TN (USA). |
Creation of Bobst Group Vostok in Moscow (Russia). | |
1999 | Creation of Bobst Group Polska (Poland). |
2000 | Takeover of Fairfield Enterprises Ltd in Redditch (UK). |
Strategic partnership agreement with BHS Group in Weiherhammer (Germany). | |
Creation of Bobst Group Scandinavia (Denmark) and of Bobst Group (UK & Ireland). | |
2001 | Adoption of a new legal structure. Shareholding management is provided by Bobst Group SA. |
Expansion of the factories in Shanghai (China) and in Itatiba (Brazil). | |
2002 | Construction of a factory in Pune (India). |
Creation of a representation office in Kiev (Ukraine). | |
2003 | Expansion of the Bron/Lyon site (France). |
Creation of Bobst Group Ventas y Servicios España in Barcelona (Spain), today: Bobst Group Ibérica, S.L. | |
2004 | Acquisition of Atlas, General, Midi, Rotomec and Titan. |
Majority shareholding in Steuer GmbH Printing Technology in Leinfelden (Germany). | |
2006 | The Palatine Engraving Co. Ltd and Lasercomb Dies Ltd are taken over by their management. |
Rotomec SpA, Schiavi SpA and Bobst Italia SpA merge under the name of Bobst Group Italia SpA. | |
2008 | Acquisition of Fischer & Krecke GmbH in Bielefeld (Germany). |
2009 | Closure of FAG in Avenches (Switzerland) and Rapidex in Angers (France). |
Jean-Pascal Bobst becomes CEO as of 7 May 2009. | |
Launch of the Group transformation program. |
2010 | Implementation of an organizational structure by Business Unit and introduction of a lean production concept. |
Approval of TEAM project, which aims at consolidating the Bobst SA operations on one single site in Mex (Switzerland). | |
Sale of the land and buildings located in Prilly (Switzerland). | |
Atlas Converting Equipment Ltd in Bedford (UK), with its brands Atlas and Titan, is sold to its management. | |
2011 | Acquisition of 65% of Gordon Ltd in Hong Kong (China), holding company of Shanghai Eternal Machinery Co. Ltd, and of the brands Eterna and Brausse. |
2012 | One Group, one Brand. The Group’s historically grown brand portfolio is consolidated under a single brand: BOBST. |
2013 | Completion of the move of operations from Prilly to Mex (Switzerland). Inauguration of Bobst Mex SA (Switzerland). |
2014 | Continuation of Group strategy based on the four pillars of effective organization, operational excellence, people and growth. |
Completion of the development of digital pre-series machines for client installation beginning of 2015. | |
Successful end of the Group transformation program. | |
2015 | Installation and start up of the first digital printing presses for corrugated board applications. |
Acquisition of Nuova Gidue Srl, Firenze (Italy) – inline flexo presses and narrow- & mid-web multi-process printing & converting lines for the labels and flexible packaging industries – today: Bobst Firenze Srl. | |
Celebration of the 125th birthday of Bobst Group. | |
Acquisition of full ownership of Gordon Ltd, Hong Kong (China). | |
2016 | Change from accounting standard IRFS to Swiss GAAP FER standard. |
Closure of Bobst Hong Kong Ltd (China). | |
Creation of Bobst Istanbul Ambalaj (Turkey) and Bobst Lagos (Nigeria). | |
2017 | |
Acquisition of 75% of Boxplan GmbH (Germany). | |
Creation of Mouvent AG (Switzerland), a joint venture that becomes the digital printing competence center and solutions provider of BOBST. | |
2018 | |
Creation of Bobst Vietnam Co. Ltd (Vietnam) and Brausse Europe B.V. (Netherlands). | |
Inauguration of Bobst Changzhou (China), production site and competence center dedicated to web-fed printing and converting technologies for flexible materials. | |
2019 | Launch of a web portal offering customers fast, simple and convenient online ordering of parts and service. |
Development with leading partners of new high barrier mono-materials laminates as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastic. | |
Development of two ECG (extended color gamut) flexographic printing processes incorporating digital control of color matching: IoD (Ink-on-Demand) – a system that eliminates ink trays and chambered doctor blades; and DigiColor – a digitally controlled printing process. | |
Launch of the MASTER DM5, a hybrid press that combines Flower DigiFlexo units and Mouvent ink-jet digital technology. |
2020 | Presentation of the Group's vision for the packaging and labeling industry "Transforming the future of the packaging sector", focused on Connectivity, Digitalization, Automation and Sustainability. Launch of the digitalization programs:
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Modernization and expansion of Bobst Italia (San Giorgio Monferrato) and Bobst Lyon – with centralization of all French activities in Bron. | |
Modernization and opening of Bobst Latinoamerica do Sul (Brazil) and Bobst North America sites. | |
Acquisition of 51% share in CITO-SYSTEM GmbH, Schwaig bei Nürnberg (Germany). | |
Acquisition of 70% share in Yancheng Hongjing Machinery Technology Co., Ltd, Dongtai (China). | |
Full acquisition of Mouvent AG. | |
2021 | Integration of Mouvent into Bobst Ibérica, Barcelona (Spain). |
Acquisition of 51% of Jetpack SAS, Paris (France) supplier of printing and converting solutions for the film and label industries. | |
Acquisition of Cerutti Services: Cerutti Service Srl, Casale Monferrato (Italy) to consolidate technology and market leadership in the global gravure printing market. | |
Acquisition of 51% of Cm Service Italia Srl, Lonato del Garda (Italy) specialist in refurbished machines for corrugated board industry. | |
2022 | BOBST joined the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), reflecting its commitment to urgent climate action. |
BOBST oneBARRIER PrimeCycle AlOx high barrier PE mono material packaging substrate certified with a recyclability level of 98%. | |
14th Golden Cylinder Award for technical innovation with BOBST's new Advanced Register Control for Precision Printing and ECG in Gravure. | |
Launch of BOBST Connect, giving users a full overview and control of their packaging production. | |
JBF SA launched on July 25, 2022, a public tender offer for all publicly held shares of Bobst Group SA and BOBST shares were delisted from the Swiss Stock Exchange on December 30, 2022. | |
2023 | Acquisition of 70% of the equity of Dücker Robotics srl in Momo near Novara (Italy), a specialized supplier of robotic systems. |
BOBST and Partners won the Recyclable Packaging (Pre-Commercialized) category for oneBARRIER FibreCycle at the Packaging Europe Sustainability Awards, Amsterdam (the Netherlands). | |
BOBST received the Top Company to Watch Award at the Digital Packaging Summit 2023 in Florida (USA), for its All-in-One platforms, that simplify label production in a sustainable and productive way. |