Proost (company)

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Proost International Book Production is a Belgian manufacturer and supplier for the book publishing industry. It is one of the companies of the printing valley around Turnhout, Belgium. The company operates from 2 manufacturing sites in Belgium, one in Turnhout (Flanders) and one in Fleurus (Wallonia).

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1913 by Henri Proost, who previously worked at Brepols as director of the churchbook division. He founded his company in the Otterstraat in Turnhout and specialized in printing and binding of bibles and missals. The company continued this way until the Second Vatican Council , which causes a large decline of the need for church books. In 1962 the company changes from monochrome to color printing and diversifies its business beyond religious books. In 1976 Proost builds a new plant on an industrial estate near Turnhout, while it hass outgrown its old plant in the centre of the city. At the same time the first four-color CMYK web-press is installed, which can print on continuous rolls of paper. In 1990 the company continues to expand and acquires a second printing plant in Fleurus, and becomes one of the biggest manufacturers in the world of books for children, comics, educational books and illustrated books. After being a family-owned business for about 83 years the company is acquired LIBERfabrica plc (United Kingdom) in 1996, which in its turn is acquired by Chevrillon Philippe Industrie (CPI) of France in 1999. The entire group now operates in 5 countries and employs about 3400 people.