General Binding Corporation

General Binding Corporation is an American office supplies manufacturer which makes equipment and supplies for binding, lamination, and other presentation products. The company is part of ACCO Brands. Its headquarters are in Lake Zurich, Illinois. ACCO's brands include GBC, Quartet, Swingline, AT-A-GLANCE, Day-Timer, Mead, FiveStar and many others.

General Binding Corporation (GBC) supplies machines and material for binding documents, laminating, and displaying products. A merger with Fortune Brands Inc.'s ACCO World Corporation was completed in August 2005, forming ACCO Brands.

GBC was founded in 1947 by William N. Lane II and two business partners when they purchased a small trade bindery in Chicago, Illinois. First year sales totaled $250,000. GBC expanded operations in 1952, opening another domestic manufacturing plant and founding General Binding Corporation Canada, Ltd. In the 1950s GBC laid the groundwork for its international divisions, creating sales and distribution networks in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Brazil. Sales were slow at first in the European market, where GBC's binding machines were readily available but supplies were not. In response to this situation, GBC established a manufacturing subsidiary in Switzerland in 1954 to produce a full range of plastic binding supplies as well as a limited number of binding machines. Wholly owned subsidiaries were then set up to market GBC machines and supplies throughout England, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and France.

In 1958, the European Economic Community established a 30 percent tariff on goods produced in Switzerland and sold throughout Europe. To avoid hefty tariffs, GBC built a second European manufacturing facility in Germany, just across the border from its Swiss concern. One year later, when labor shortages in Switzerland sharply curtailed production at GBC's plant there, the company built a third European manufacturing facility in England.

In 1960, GBC introduced the Combo, its first combination punch/binding system. GBC also continued its international expansion, becoming one of the first foreign companies to set up operations in Japan. Three years later, the company established a fourth European manufacturing plant in Italy. Again, GBC's profits were threatened by high taxes, so the company built an automated plant in a newly created Italian economic development zone that had a lower tax rate. When the Australian government levied high import tariffs on GBC products in 1966, the company established an Australian manufacturing facility and purchased a Sydney-based firm to manufacture binding supplies from raw materials exported from the United States. This persistence in expanding its international sales garnered GBC a U.S. government "E" Award for excellence in exporting in 1964.

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