Everything began in 1867
According to the oldest historical record, our story starts in 1867 when a printing house "Dobai" was founded. The owner was Dobai Janos and it was the second-largest printing house in Subotica.
Dobai" printing house was taken over by Schleinger-Sabadoš Šandor on May 1, 1873, who changed its name to "Schleinger". According to archive records of that time, the new owner was an educated printer who mostly worked alone with the help of one or two assistants or interns/apprentices.
November 13, 1920 marks the end of one and the beginning of another epoch. The printing house "Schleinger" was bought from the founder's son by the "Directorate of State Railways". The purchase initiator was the first director of the Directorate of Subotica, an engineer Milan Đorić.
At that time the printing house consisted of several small outdated machines on the hand-foot drive, a few shelves and racks and about 1.600 kg of letters. In this manner, it was under state administration that was run by the administration of the Ministry of transport, and from a small workshop it developed into a printing house that employed approximately 120 workers in 1930.
The printing house was moved from Manojlović Street into the basement of the building the Directory in 2 Vojvoda Putnik Square. Technical equipment was improved by purchasing new stacking machines. Cardboard train ticket printing machines arrived from Ljubljana and Zagreb. The stacking machine "Linotyp" was procured in 1929.
With the development of the economy, the printing house was also being developed and from a workshop, it grew into a big printing house. The needs of the railway on one hand and the needs of the economy, education, science and culture on the other hand, imposed on the printing house a need to introduce new production programs, continuous monitoring of graphic technology development, expansion of capacities, introducing new equipment and professional training of personnel.
A new stage began in 1969 when besides the railway program, new equipment for computer forms production was put into operation. This was the time when the printing house got a new name – "Birografika".
Development of the offset press
The development of offset print represented a big chapter for the printing house as it became the leading printing house in the country with a special accent in producing books, textbooks, brochures, magazines, labels and other similar products.
New location
The development of offset print represented a big chapter for the printing house as it became the leading printing house in the country with a special accent in producing books, textbooks, brochures, magazines, labels and other similar products.
On the initiative of "Radin" d.o.o.. from Zagreb, and in partnership with "Birografika" Inc. from Subotica, on April 12, 2002, the Joint venture agreement was signed. The agreement for establishing the limited liability company for rotary press "Rotografika" d.o.o. based in Subotica was concluded on its foundation.
"Rotografika" d.o.o.. was registered on May 8, 2002, and the share capital after the payment and entry of items was EUR 1.501.000, 00, whereas the "Radin" d.o.o.. Zagreb was the major shareholder with 60% shares.
The repurposing of the facility was done in record time as well as the purchase and installation of equipment and trial production, so production began after four months on September 23, 2002.
During the next year "Rotografika" recorded its first results, more precisely, the company with less than 20 employees made a profit in the business year of EUR 250,000. In 2004, with the growth of employee number up to 45 and the existing installed equipment, the usage rate of almost 100% was recorded. Realized profit this year was a total of EUR 661,000.
Crucial year
A crucial year in the development of "Rotografika" was 2005. Due to difficulties in decision-making in development, in April 2005, "Radin" paid out and took over the share of "Birografika" and became the sole owner of "Rotografika".
"Rotografika ", as an independent company at that time, took over more than 97% of the shares from the major shareholder "Birografika" and became the majority shareholder.
With this ownership structure and a clear vision of development, the assembly of both companies made the decisions about status changes and "Birografika" d.o.o. ceases to exist on November 24, 2005.
During the business year 2006, "Rotografika" continued to deal with the perspective manufacturing program, through its youth and experience and 139-year-old tradition.
Today
In the same place these days, "Rotografika" d.o.o. operates and successfully develops with a clearly defined manufacturing program: web press for manufacturing magazines, brochures, leaflets, and books, as well as reel-set press for manufacturing magazines, hardcover and softcover books, brochures and advertising materials.
During the merge, the development of "Rotografika" was marked by the acquisition of a new 16-pages colour web press "Komori" and the four-colour offset printing press type KBA with a varnishing unit.
The land for the construction of a new printing house was bought. The development plan was made during the next period in which the most significant place belongs to the new 32-page web press.
The development plan was partly realized back in 2007 by purchasing contemporary equipment – 32-page web press, eight-colour offset printing machine, book binding equipment for hardcover and softcover books as well as prepress equipment. The project for the construction of a new printing house was made and the building permit was also provided.