MPG staff in consultation ahead of litho relocation

MPG Books Group is in consultation with more than 70 staff as it prepares to move its litho printing to a new facility in Cambridge.

The book printer will almost halve the size of its 130-staff Bodmin headquarters, as a result of centralising its mono and colour litho printing at its new Cambridge factory, which is due to open in March 2013.

According to the company, it plans to make 64 redundancies in Bodmin and a further nine at Haverhill-based MPG Printwise, which will be consolidated into the new site in the Barhill area of Cambridge.

In July, MPG announced a deal to produce the majority of Cambridge University Press's European print work from a new site in Cambridge, which will house a KBA Rapida 105 10-colour press from CUP and one of MPG Bodmin's two KBA Rapida 142 mono presses.

The remaining KBA Rapida 142 currently housed at the Bodmin site is due to be sold.

Meanwhile, a new HP Indigo 10000 will be installed at MPG's Kings Lynn site in March 2013, alongside its existing high speed mono Timson T-Print and Kodak Prosper 1000 presses.

This has dramatically reduced the volume of litho-printed work at the group and the remainder of its litho capacity is now due to be centered in East Anglia. A source close to the company said: "It's about repositioning the group in the face of the challenge from eBooks, global distribution and our belief that in the next three years there will be fewer players in the marketplace.

"The next 18 months are going to see vast changes in book printing because the technology is driving it now. There are three major inkjet installations in the UK now in Clays, CPI and MPG and that is going to have a fundamental effect on the marketplace for those that have it and those that haven't."

MPG Bodmin will remain the group headquarters and its base for admin, IT, purchasing, group sales and short-run digital production. Kings Lynn will house its high speed mono inkjet print and the new Indigo 10000, which is expected to produce 90% of its colour work, while Cambridge will consist of MPG's remaining litho print.