History

Ofita, founded in Vitoria in 1969, turned 44 in 2013. Specialising in the manufacture of office furniture, Ofita has been a touchstone for the sector during this time.

Different periods can be distinguished in this history. The first is the foundation of the company and covers the entire decade of the '70s. These are the years of consolidation, learning about the market and commercial network building. Important events for the company date from these years. In terms of its industrial plant, for example, in 1977 a high-capacity automatic warehouse was built. On the commercial front, offices and a showroom were opened in Madrid.

The eighties marked the beginning of a series of changes and investments that put the company at the technological forefront of the industry.

It was, for example, the first company in the sector to install a folding and punching centre with numerical control; the first company to incorporate robotics into welding processes, and the first to install a self-cleaning powder paint booth.

In the eighties Ofita also focused its resources and efforts on quality and design. In 1980 the Quality Department was created with its own laboratories. Ofita has always been a pioneer on the issue of quality. In 1994, for example, the company obtained the ISO 9001 standard. In 1988 renowned designers began working for Ofita.

Commercially successful products emerge from this collaboration in the late eighties and nineties, such as Tecnic, designed by Guillermo Capdevila; Fórmula, Company, Axioma and the Conecta chair, designed by Adalberto dal Lago, and Lisis, designed by Equipo Item.

Another important milestone occurred in the early 90s. Ofita went directly to the market, with branch offices, something which no company had ever done until then.

In the nineties, the internationalisation of the company also commenced, leading us into Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the new millennium, Ofita surrounds its products with a complete range of added value services and offers, in addition to furnishings, integrated services from the space planning project to full office equipment and turnkey delivery. And from there, the company now reaches out to to new markets such as contract and libraries.

The Ofita brand becomes design and innovation oriented

The year 2000 is crucial in the progress of Ofita, a turning point that marks a before and after in the history of the company. In 2000, Ofita took an irreversible strategic decision with consequences for its understanding of product and space, and for its growth and competitiveness: we began to identify our brand with design and innovation.

With the launch of Xenon, designed by Josep Lluscà, design became an essential component transcending the product and including a series of values, concepts and attributes of the organisation. Innovation had become the pillar of future strategic plans, company vision and point of departure for new products developed in collaboration with some internationally renowned designers such as King & Miranda, Lievore, Josep Lluscá, Isao Hosoe and Antoni Arola.

Today, four decades after later, Ofita is an established company that includes four separate businesses under the slogan "Great places": offices, libraries, contract or groups and consulting.