Company History

Company History

1946 December	Established OBUN PRINTING CO. INC., specializing in foreign-language printed matter as the successor to WADA BOOK BINDERY, which was founded in 1920 and closed in 1945 as a result of World War II.
1967 June	Abolished the letterpress printing system and converted to lithography. In June 1968, introduced the IBM MT72 composer system, the first in Japan. In 1969, acquired several more units and attained the No. 1 position in composing capacity in Japan.
1968 January	Opened the Toranomon Business Office to handle translation and designing as an auxiliary service for printing. In June, concluded an agreement with Inter-Europe in London to exchange information on automobile regulation.
1971 May	Upgraded the Toranomon Business Office into an independent company registered under the name of OBUN INTEREUROPE LTD.
1975 April	Decided to computerize the entire printing process. In August 1976, completed computerization of the compugraphics system.
1978 August	Purchased 6,146 m² of land for a factory in the Fujimi industrial park of Sakado, Saitama Prefecture. In September 1979, the first stage of factory construction (1,531 m²) was concluded. New printing presses and binding machines were added, and all printing facilities, except for the Head Office, were centralized at this location.
1982 May	Moved the Head Office to Hongo (the present site) after extensive expansion and improvement.
1983 July	Established HIGH TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS, INC. to plan, edit and produce manuals for office automation equipment software.
1986 February	Began construction of the Fujimi-kogen villa. In July, construction was completed.
1986 December	Completed the second stage of expansion at the Sakado Factory (1,500 m²).
1988 February	Undertook comprehensive improvement of the Itabashi Factory, which subsequently changed its name to Print PACS to deal exclusively in printing of international financial information.
1988 April	Completed the second stage of construction, a training and educational facility, at the Fujimi-kogen villa.
1990 August	Completed the third stage of construction at the Sakado Factory (1,400 m²), that was renamed the Sakado Operation Office.
1993 October	Opened the Digital Media Operation Division for interactive media production.
1994 September	Opened Print PACS Annex, strengthening on-demand printing service.
1996 May	Reconstructed the Head Office building (exclusive area 1,224 m²). Moved the Sales Headquarters to the Head Office.
1997 June	Completely updated our company's EDPS through the incorporation of the OLIVE, a PC-based client/server print management system, on a company-wide basis.
1998 April	Received ISO 9002 certification from the International Organization for Standardization for all of Obun's facilities and processes, from sales and production to printing, book-binding, and shipping.
1998 June	Developed the "WebSapiens" groupware application.
1999 April	Founded WINCUBIC.COM, INC. in the United States at Hawaii for the purpose of establishing a portal site in Hawaii.
2000 January	Declared ourselves as "e-printer." Intended to merge printing and web technologies as the company's core competence.
2001 June	Developed, as a variation of database publishing, a system that incorporates programmed layout.
2001 July	Developed a database system for websites and facsimile communication and delivered it to the largest Japanese trade journal publishing company for the overseas travel industry.
2002 March	Received ISO 14001 certification from the International Organization for Standardization for the Head Office and Sakado Operation Office.
2002 December	Put a networking system using the "B Flet's (100 mega line)" into practical use among the Head Office, Sakado Operation Office and Print PACS.
2003 April	Began the full-scale operation of a web-based business card production where a computerized-composition technology utilizing a server and a PDF proofread function were integrated.
2004 May	Topped 50,000 web-based business card orders.
2005 April	Began a web-based business card order placement and production service for Japan Post and post office employees.
2005 June	Installed a server-based computing system as one of the measures to improve the company's information security.
2006 April	Began a web-based service "MyBooks" in cooperation with EAST Co., Ltd. The service enables customers easily have their blog contents made into books by accessing the website and providing their blog data according to the on-screen instructions.
2006 May	As a company that appropriately handles personal information, the use of "Privacy Mark" was granted by the Japan Information Processing Development Corporation (JIPDEC).
2006 December	Developed our unique printing technology "emotional-value printing."
2007 June	Established the New Technology R&D Office for developing the emotional-value printing technologies and varnish coating materials.
2007 December	Established business cooperation for the "MyBooks" service with 7 different websites during the year.
2008 February	Received COC (Chain of Custody) certification from Forest Stewardship Council.
2008 October	Commenced sales at the Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro Store of "Rewriteable Paper" developed by applying the emotional value printing's varnish printing technology. Received coverage on television and other media.
2009 July	Began sales of originally-designed paper book covers using the emotional-value printing technologies under the brand name of "CANSAY."
2009 September	Released a web-based service "MyBooks Editor," which has the upgraded editing functions of "MyBooks."
2010 May	Obtained a patent for the "Rewritable Paper."
2010 June	Began a web-based service "photo+." The service enables customers easily have their photos made into albums by accessing the website and providing their photo data according to the on-screen instructions.