20 years ago a new subsidiary of Mohn Druck GmbH was founded: "eps" (electronic printing systems GmbH), better known today under the name "empolis." Since then, the arvato subsidiary has specialized in the development of software solutions for content and knowledge management.

"The long existence of the company in a fast-moving industry is one proof of the great performance of our employees," says CEO Bernhard Ribbrock. "And it clearly demonstrates that the corporate philosophy has been successfully realized and that the tracks to the future have been correctly laid." 

It all began in 1986 with the foundation of eps, electronic printing systems GmbH, as a subsidiary of Mohn Druck GmbH. In the beginning, the company transferred the publications of automobile companies to microfiche. In the course of moving towards digitization, the company developed into a full-service partner for electronic information and communication solutions. In 2000 the merger with "tec:inno GmbH," a provider of intelligent search technologies, "STEP Electronic Publishing GmbH" a subsidiary of the university printer H. Stürtz AG, "Schnittstelle GmbH" with its cross-media product data and information management solution for multimedia catalog production, and "cutup GmbH" were realized. empolis united five media service companies and software manufacturers for content and knowledge management solutions under one roof.

Since then, empolis has become one of the internationally leading providers in the fields of corporate information logistics and the optimization of business processes. 180 employees work in three German locations (Gütersloh, Kaiserslautern and Würzburg-Rimpar) and in an office in Poland for clients including Airbus, Bosch, the European Patent Office, Wolters Kluwer, Siemens or Schlumberger.

empolis considers its participation in public international research and development projects proof of the technology leadership in its key areas of information management, service management, media management, product information management, and semantic technologies.

Information Management stands for intelligent and personalized information access as well as efficiency and efficacy in search and navigation, evaluating, organizing and linking information, and the generation of new content.

Service Management automates all phases of the service lifecycle: from the efficient production and publication of the technical documentation to intelligent solutions in the service center and teleservice, to targeted diagnosis and solutions through on-site customer service.

Product Information Management controls product communication between OEMs, suppliers, buyers and prospective customers and encompasses the central, media-neutral management of multilingual product data, digital asset management and solutions for automated catalog and marketing material production, including the connections to an eShop – the entire spectrum of elements required for customer communications via diverse sales and communication channels.

1986
Founding of eps (electronic printing systems GmbH), a subsidiary of MohnDruck GmbH

1991
Founding of tec:inno GmbH as a spin-off by the University of Kaiserslautern and the Deutsches Forschungszentrum für künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI GmbH)

1992
Founding of STEP Stürtz Electronic Publishing GmbH as a subsidiary of the Universitätsdruckerei H. Stuertz AG

1993
Founding of Schnittstelle GmbH

1994
First Release of catalox

1994
Founding of cutup GmbH

1994
First release of CBR works

1995
Founding of STEP Kft (Hungary)

1997
First Release of sigmalink

1999
First Release of orenge

1999
Founding of STEP Poland

1999
Founding of STEP UK

2000
Founding of STEP NA (USA)

2000
tec:inno becomes part of empolis and is called the knowledge management division.

2000
Schnittstelle is renamed Content Skill GmbH and shortly afterwards becomes empolis catalog management GmbH

2000
Merger to form the empolis Group

2000
Take-over of Hoppenstedt Bonnier
Information GmbH

2001
tec:inno becomes empolis knowledge management GmbH

2001
STEP becomes empolis content management GmbH

2001
Founding of empolis Scandinavia (Norway)

2001
empolis professional services GmbH and empolis content
management GmbH merges with the empolis GmbH

Mid 2002
empolis knowledge management GmbH and empolis catalog management GmbH merges with the empolis GmbH