History
We are proud of our 70 years of tradition and experience in the printing industry.
Our origins date back to July 1945, when the first state-owned printing house was set up in Olsztyn. It was housed in a building in the very centre of the city, at July 22 Street (now November 11 Street). Before the war it was where the oldest printing and publishing house of the Harich family had been in operation since 1841. The new State Printing House was officially opened on November 15, 1945. There were just twelve people on the payroll, a number which grew to over one hundred by the end of 1946.
1945
The official opening of the State Printing House in Olsztyn at July 22 Street (formerly, a German publishing house of the Harichs). It employed 12 people, had three printing presses, two flat full-format machines and one half-format machine.
1946
December 31 – the State Printing House in Olsztyn employed 105 people, and the Trade Union of Printing Industry Workers had 125 members.
1947
May 1- the first edition of the local “Życie Olsztyńskie” newspaper was printed by the State Printing House; it was a local branch of “Życie Warszawy” newspaper.
1948
January 1 – The State Printing House in Olsztyn was transformed into the State Printing Plant in Olsztyn, with local subsidiaries in Działdowo, Mława, Ostróda and Przasnysz.
1951
January 1 – The State Printing Plant was turned into the Olsztyn Printing Plant – State Entrepreneurship (OZGraf.) with printing plants in Olsztyn, Działdowo and Ostróda.
1956
November 19 – as a result of the October political transformation, a workers’ association was established.
1960
November 16 – the Minister of Culture and Arts approved the construction project of a new printing plant in Olsztyn.
1965
June 12 – the groundbreaking ceremony for the complex of production halls and a high-rise building of the OZGraf. conducted by Kazimierz Rusinek, the minister of culture and arts, on the corner of Towarowa and Dworcowa Streets
1970
June 24 – in the Copernicus Hall of the Olsztyn castle, the Minister of Culture and Arts named OZGraf. after Seweryn Pieniężny, the former editor of “Gazeta Olsztyńska” before the war.
1971
January 23 – the opening ceremony of the new site of the OZGraf. at 2 Towarowa Street, attended by Kazimierz Rusinek, the Minister of Culture and Arts.
1975
December 2 – due to a fire in the Dom Słowo Polskie printing plant in Warsaw, the Olsztyn plant printed the major national newspapers, “Trybuna Ludu” and “Kurier Polski.”
1976
March 30 – OZGraf. took over the commercial printing plants in Ostróda, Działdowo and Mława (approximately 200 employees).
1980
October 24 – the establishment of The Founding Committee of the Independent Trade Union “Solidarity.”
1981
August 18 – some workers of the newspaper print department went on strike.
August 19 – “No Press Day” – the party newspaper “Gazeta Olsztyńska” was printed on a duplicate A4 format in the basement of the Communist Party building.
August 20 – The Strike Committee issued their demands, the major demand was correction of the lies about the strike made on the TV News.
August 28 – the party executives, the voivode, the district public prosecutor and the local parliamentarians are all engaged in the resolution of the strike. Jacek Kuroń came from Warsaw as a mediator.
September 5 – After 19 days, the strike was suspended because of the National Congress of the “Solidarity.” The flower-decorated gate of the OZGraf. continued to be the symbol of the strike, along with the cross hanging on the outside wall of the production hall (it remains there until today), which is where religious services are held.
December 13 –martial law was imposed in Poland. Two OZGraf. employees were detained – Józef Nowak and Andrzej Zarzycki. “Gazeta Olsztyńska” was printed as one of the few daily newspapers that Monday.
1983
March 7 – the District Court in Olsztyn registered the Trade Union of the Seweryn Pieniężny OZGraf.
1986
May 2 – the fitting of Planet P-24 SW begins, a modern sheet-fed offset press for two-sided print.
1989
March 30 – an action group formed for the reactivation of the “Solidarity” trade union in the OPP. Soon after (April 20) the Temporary “Solidarity” Plant Committee was established.
1995
February 28 – the modernization of the phototypesetting department was completed and led to the setup of a DTP studio fitted with an AccuSet 1200 imagesetter, Arcus 2 scanner and Macintosh computers.
1996
September 21 – a symbolic baptism of 70 OZGraf took place in the historic setting of the Olsztyn castle courtyard.
1997
December 24 – the state-owned Seweryn Pieniężny OZGraf. was commercialized and turned into a single-shareholder public company. The company was registered as OZGraf. S.A.
2010
On December 28 a sale contract was signed for 909,500 shares of the OZGraf. S.A. registered in Olsztyn, representing 85% of the company share capital, for the price of PLN 17 million. The remaining 15% shares were distributed among the employees. OZGraf. became a subsidiary of the KOMPAP joint-stock company quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
2011
The purchase of a foil packing machine, folding machine, notebook line Bravo Plus, book packing machine, cover fitting machine DA 270, offset press Heidelberg SM 102 2P.
September 3 at 12 o’clock – the ceremony of the 30th anniversary of the strike at OZGraf. The ceremony began with the holy mass at the commemorative cross; then a strike documentary by Wiesław Chojnowski was shown in the plant cafeteria. Renata Gieszczyńska’s book „Strajk w OZGraf. 1981. O cześć drukarza, o prawdę i wiarygodność słowa” was presented. The book documents the course of the strike and was printed and financed by the OZGraf. It revealed, for the first time, the measures undertaken by the secret police against the striking printers.
On December 13, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the martial law in Poland, the Regional Educational Section of the “Solidarity” Trade Union in Olsztyn and the local office of the Institute for National Remembrance – Committee for Prosecuting Crimes against the Polish Nation organized an art competition entitled “Poland under martial law”
2012
Purchase of a new CtP Magnus 800 slitter
2013
The OZGraf. came first in the annual ranking of Polish printing houses held by “Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI” magazine, beating 36 other Polish printing plants.
June 2013 – the first conference for the OZGraf. clients entitled “Let’s talk about books”
2014
January – the implementation of the commitments towards the Treasury (2011 – a share capital increase by PLN 1 million, 2013 – a share capital increase by another 2 million). The total investment during the period of privatization (2011-2013), as a purchase of fixed assets, amounted to PLN 8,9 million. The positive completion of the first stage of the company restructuring.
September 2014 – the second conference for the OZGraf. clients entitled “Towards the key to success in the publishing market.”
The first OZGraf. tennis tournament for publishers
December – The Department of Post-privatization Measures in the Polish Treasury confirmed that OZGraf.S.A. and KOMPAP S.A. had met all their post-privatization commitments. The privatization of the company was completed. Along with the privatization of the sister company BZGraf, the process was deemed a success by the printing industry.
2015
June 11-12 – the 70th anniversary of the OZGraf S.A., was celebrated with a conference, tennis tournament, holy mass, official ceremony in the Olsztyn castle and a concert in the open-air theatre.
OzGraf. came second in the Polish printing house ranking by “Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI” magazine.
October – the purchase of a Aster EVO thread sewing machine together with a device for alternate threading and the feeding control camera.
December – the purchase of a STAHL CH 78 folding machine with the SBP-45 feeder.
2016
January – OZGraf. won the Golden Payer Certificate 2014 – for the outstanding timeliness of payments – the highest annual award for ethics in payments.
March – the purchase of an automatic machine for foil packaging Sitma A740-TRY.
June – The third conference for the OZGraf. clients entitled “On trends in the European publishing market.”
July – the purchase of a soft cover line and a KOLBUS line for hard binding preparation.
October – eagles of Export – we were in an exclusive group of the largest exporters in the Warmia and Mazury region, according to “Rzeczpospolita” daily.
2017
January – the purchase of the printing press Heidelberg Speedmaster SX 102-8-P.
A statue for the exemplary realization of civil protection, defence and emergency management in 2016.
May – the purchase of the KOLBUS hard binding line BF 530.
November –first place in the “Magazyn Literacki KSIĄŻKI” magazine ranking of the Polish publishing houses.
December 21
PPH KOMPAP S.A. concluded a contract with AURELIUS WK One GmH for the sale of the shares of IMPRIMUS Ltd registered in Laskowice.
