From die-cutting company to ‘Grafityp Selfadhesive Products’ – Grafityp’s rich history
2022.09.20 - Grafityp can look back on a rich history. We recently celebrated our 50th anniversary, but actually Grafityp's story began 77 years ago. Dive into our past and discover how Stanserij Holland grew into the Grafityp of today.
Our story began in 1945 in Amsterdam. There, Herman Bosman senior founded ‘Stanserij Holland’. Fifteen years later, in 1961, the name changed to NV Bosman Letters.
The company grew rapidly and the location in Amsterdam soon became too small. Bosman senior opened new shops in Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht.
GRAFITYP IN BELGIUM
In 1970, Herman Bosman founded the company ‘Grafityp Lettersystems’ in Belgium. He bought part of the old coal mine buildings in Houthalen where he started the company. Today we are still in Houthalen, at Centrum Zuid. In the following years, Herman and his team focused on research and development. In 1984, they introduced a world first: the CSR. The world’s first cutting plotter controlled by a computer.
(INTERNATIONAL) GROWTH
Things continued to move fast for Grafityp, in 1986 we started producing our own brand: PVC films under the name ‘Grafitack’. We also invested in new developments for the CSR. Models followed in rapid succession. In 1990, we moved to new offices and warehouses, ready to grow even further. A year later, we went international and opened two new branches in Tamworth (UK) and Barcelona (Spain). In 1991, we started researching our own production of high-quality cast films. A few years later, we launched those cast films as ‘Graficast’ and received our first ISO-9001 quality label.
ENVIRONMENT
We are strongly committed to sustainability and ecological production methods (we still do, by the way). Those efforts were awarded two environmental labels in 1998! In 2003, our R&D department got a new lab with state-of-the-art equipment.
GEFS & TRAINING CENTRE
At Grafityp, we have been producing our own PVC-free films for years. The kick-off was in 2005, when we first developed the revolutionary GEF products. The films are manufactured entirely in-house on our own extrusion line. Four years later, in 2009, Grafityp came up with another first: the opening of the Training Centre, to train (future) wrappers.
INNOVATION
Innovation is in our DNA. In 2010, we came up with a brand new line for wrapping vehicles. In 2014, Grafityp won the Innovation Award for our production of PVC-free films.
OMEGA-SKINZ
In the end of 2021, we introduced Omega-Skinz, a line of films we designed specifically for car wrappers. For this, we partnered with SOTT International: that company is known worldwide as a trendsetter in terms of unique car wraps. Omega-Skinz was warmly received and continues to expand. We recently launched the Omega-Skinz Printables, a line of car wrap films on which you can print your own design and then laminate it.
FUTURE PROSPECT
As you can see, Grafityp has come a long way. We wouldn’t be here without our customers and employees. In the future, we will continue to invest in sustainability and innovate in our production.
JOINING FORCES WITH UPM RAFLATAC
UPDATE 22 July 2024
Grafityp reaches an important milestone in its growth strategy thanks to the acquisition by Finland’s UPM Raflatac, part of UPM and a leading provider of self-adhesive paper and film products. Raflatac UMP merging their existing Graphics business with Grafityp is an opportunity to accelerate growth for both companies.
“The UPM Group shares our commitment to human values ad sustainability. We can’t wait to see what this partnership will bring us.”– Herman Bosman
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