In 2022, ARMOR celebrates its 100th anniversary! The opportunity for our french industrial group to carry out a facelift of its identity through a modernized logo and graphic charter and to henceforth take the name "ARMOR GROUP", attached to a new baseline – “We manufacture vital components”. Highly symbolic, these changes reflect a profound transformation of the group supported by numerous investments, with the ambition of preparing for the next 100 years!
Founded in 1922, the company originally known as "Galland et Brochard" intended to meet the growing need for carbon paper. The activity quickly took on an industrial dimension and a factory was inaugurated on the Chantenay site in 1956. ARMOR first developed inked ribbons for typewriters and then fax rolls. In 1983, the company was the first in Europe to adopt Thermal Transfer technology. The year 1990 saw the birth of a new factory in La Chevrolière (Nantes, France) which, since then, has more than doubled in size. The 1990s will also be marked by the first investments in the remanufactured cartridge business in Morocco. The group became international at the dawn of the 2000s, through the creation of numerous subsidiaries in Asia, Africa and America.
2010 will mark a starting point for the group's diversified activities which will be commonly referred to as "New Techs": organic photovoltaic films (OPV) ASCA, then in 2015, ARMOR Battery Films which produces coated collectors for batteries and supercapacitors, and lately in 2018 KIMYA, an activity dedicated to 3D printing.
In 100 years, the group has grown significantly and diversified. In 2022, it has 42 locations including 26 industrial, logistics and research centers around the world, employs 2,450 people (including 780 in France) and generates revenue of €403 million (2021). Through its subsidiaries, ARMOR GROUP is the worldwild leader of Thermal Transfer ribbons, the European leader in durable printing services and consumables and the world leader in organic photovoltaics. “With undeniable leadership, our new base line – We manufacture vital components – is the symbol of our role as a solid and reliable industrial partner, which manufactures key components for industry and for the future of the planet." commented Hubert de Boisredon, Chairman and CEO of ARMOR GROUP.
Far from relying exclusively on its past achievements, ARMOR GROUP is focusing on the future by continuing to invest and innovate. "In the years to come, we will seek to consolidate our existing leadership while allowing the more recent activities of the group to achieve the same solidity," said Hubert de Boisredon. Recently, the ARMOR-IIMAK subsidiary took on the capital investment company Astorg, accompanied by a 2022-2026 investment plan of €150 million, including €80 million earmarked directly for the Chevrolière site (Loire- Atlantique Region, France). The group also continues to forge partnerships with major industrial printer manufacturers. For example, last May its subsidiary dedicated to 3D printing, KIMYA, annoucend its partnership with the world leader Stratasys. As for the copper and aluminium foil activity, a large-scale industrial project is currently under study. Regarding the OPV ASCA technology, a project to install a 3D laser machine and a welding cutter is in the final phase of implementation, after the success of the solarization of the facade of the new Novartis Pavilion in Basel. Finally, the activity dedicated to durable printing services and consumables, ARMOR Print Solutions, is preparing to invest several million euros to develop its industrial sites in Poland and Morocco to increase its industrial capacity for the production of remanufactured cartridges around +40%.
“The group's anniversary is the symbol of a new impetus, of a rebirth. In the light of this centenary which is beginning, resolutely turned towards the future, the community of men and women who form ARMOR GROUP is committed more and more every day to making our production useful to societal issues" concludes Hubert de Boisredon.
