Staff at Keating Group, which also specialises in repro and cylinder production and is headquartered in Mold, Flintshire, were told on Friday morning that they were redundant and would not be paid for the last four weeks.
Ex-owner Mike Keating, who sold the business to Mike Samuel and Paul Musto in July last year, called the collapse "disgraceful".
He claimed Ernst & Young had been appointed administrators this afternoon, "nearly a week" since the directors "pulled the plug".
A source at one site said there had been "absolutely no expectation" of the shutdown, which the directors blamed on a bank changing its mind about releasing money for the company.
Keating Group's sites include a cylinder engraving facility in Bradley Fold, Lancashire, a printer inplant facility in Livingston, Scotland, a repro site in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and a site in Dublin.
According to Keating, he was working with Ernst & Young to "trying to arrange something at Bradley Fold".
"I'm just looking to see if any jobs can be saved," he said, but admitted that he had "no power or control" to save "people he'd worked with for 20 years."
KEATING FACTFILE
Sites
• Mold, Flintshire repro, gravure cylinder engraving and production
• Bradley Fold engraving
• Letchworth design and repro
• Livingston engraving
• Dublin design, repro, engraving
Staff
• 125
Established
• 1987
Customers
• Amcor
• Alcan
• British American Tobacco
Got a view on this article? Comment in the space below or head to the printweek.com forums to have your say.
Have your say in the Printweek Poll
Related stories
Latest comments
"And here's me thinking they bought the Docklands Light Railway."
"15 x members? Why don't they throw their lot in with the Strategic Mailing Partnership (SMP) and get a louder voice?"
"Some forty plus years ago I was at a "sales" training seminar and got chatting to the trainer after the session had finished.
In that conversation he told me about another seminar he had..."
Up next...

Customer demand increasing
A4 Laser Labels expands with larger site and kit investment

Price rises in US 'to at least partially offset' costs
Cimpress withdraws guidance due to Trump's tariffs

Proceeds to be invested in growth strategy
James Cropper sells some specialist IP

Making changes to limit tariff impact in US