Europe's Largest Web Offset Printer Announces The Closure Of Its Factory

Europe's largest web offset printer announces the closure of its factory

European printing giant Volstead Group has confirmed that it plans to close its printing plant in York, England, and is negotiating with 19 employees at the factory. The plant has been facing gas and electricity supply issues since last summer, leading to its production halted at the end of June 2024. The future fate of the plant had been uncertain until now, accompanied by a series of unusual events.

The root of the problem lies in the energy supply of the "Hangar No. 2" used by York Mail. Previously, the Worsted Group had already relinquished the right to operate its sister factory, Hangar 1, in August 2023. Subsequently, Linda Boyce took over Hangar One as the office for her new web offset business, York Media, which was responsible for the installation of the master meter. Due to constraints encountered in resuming the independent energy supply to Hangar 2, production at the Walsterd de York plant was forced to cease at the end of June 2024.



Recently, Debbie Reid, CEO of Walstead UK, confirmed the group's plans to close the factory. She said that the group has been working for the past nine months to restore the necessary energy supply, but due to significant delays in the installation of the high-voltage power supply, the group finally decided to close the plant based on the results of the consultation, and regretted the possible financial losses caused by this.

Despite the decision to close, the Volstead Group also stressed that it was committed to the plant's future operational possibilities, showing a complex and ambivalent attitude. "As a result," the group said, "the lease of the plant has recently been renewed, while the installation of high-voltage power supplies continues to be promoted." This shows that the company has not completely given up hope of resuming production in the area, but has continued to invest in solving infrastructure problems.

The Walsted Group's York facility has a 48-page Lithoman short grain web press, the only one of its kind at the Walsted UK Printing Campus, which is still in situ. Some employees at the York plant have been temporarily relocated to other Walsted Group sites during the shutdown, while some may now take up permanent positions at the Peterborough and Bicester sites. Ms Reid said the group remains committed to ensuring that the plant has a well-developed infrastructure and "hopefully the plant will be able to restart production if the market is able to support capacity and have the skills to do so." "

As the UK's only remaining multi-site web offset printing company, Walsted has a significant presence in the European printing market, providing printing services to major publishers and newspaper groups including News UK, Immediate Media, Future, The Economist and Condé Nast. Across Europe, the Worsted Group is Europe's largest commercial web offset printing company with 11 production sites in seven countries. It is worth noting that although the closure of the York plant was due to special energy supply issues, the Wolsted Group has also made a Europe-wide restructuring and recently announced a downsizing of its factories in Spain and Austria, indicating that the company is also facing overall pressure on the European printing market.