And with the seasonal upturn in work now impacting, print buyers looking to place web work at short notice will likely face another uphill struggle.

Earlier this year a significant chunk of the UK’s web offset capacity was lost when both Leicester-based Artisan Press and Witham, Essex-based Woodford Litho closed down.

In a matter of months more than £35m worth of capacity was lost, gifting more work to the UK’s remaining web offset printers, but also squeezing the industry’s remaining capacity.

Furthermore, Cardiff-based Westdale Press has recently exited the web offset market altogether after selling its Goss M600 press to an Italian business. 

Managing director Alan Padbury says less than 50% of the firm’s work was produced on its web-fed press, and that much of that could be converted to sheetfed. 

The business fired up its new eight-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106 with CutStar as soon as the Goss machine was switched off.

Reversal of fortune

While in general it seems that for much of the year web offset demand in the UK is more than satisfied by the available supply, the opposite seems to be true in the final few months of each year. 

Some of the industry’s remaining web offset printers have once again reported that their schedules are now full, or close to it, until the end of the year.

“Our capacity at this moment is completely full and we’ve had to turn away work,” says York Mailing group sales director Norman Revill.

“Our presses at both sites are full all of the time at this time of year, and that’s including overtime as well.”

Another industry source says: “We are rammed, we are turning work away and we can pick and choose who we print for. The crunch Christmas work will be coming up soon, and that will be the big test.”

Wyndeham chief executive Paul Utting adds: “We installed a short-grain press at the beginning of the year and moved a press from Heron to Roche and those presses are full. 

“We added capacity and Polestar kept some of their old presses running. I don’t think there would have been sufficient capacity in the market without that.”

Polestar installed two Goss 96pp web presses and a Goss 64pp short-grain press last year, although at the time the business said its primary aim had been to replace older capacity to boost its efficiency, rather than to increase its firepower.

With Westdale, Artisan and Woodford now out of the equation, print buyers wanting to place work at short notice are likely to have even more of a challenge to find a free slot, let alone be able to enjoy  the former luxury of shopping around for the best price.

One web offset source says: “This is a good opportunity to see if we can be successful in hardening our rates.”

Buyers may have to consider shifting work to alternative production methods, where viable.

Outsourcing work to Europe might have seemed like an attractive proposition in previous years, particularly when, as now, the pound is strong against the euro.

But a recent series of strikes by French ferry workers combined with the disruption at Calais caused by large numbers of refugees and migrants have made the European production options less inviting, at least in the short term.

“I think last-minute print buyers are struggling with everything at the moment. If they go to Europe they’ve got to get the work back and there are an awful lot of issues with that at the moment so it’s not an easy path,” says Revill.

He adds that another current problem is the difficulty of sourcing the right paper for a job in time, particularly following the consequential effect of the recent closure of some European paper mills.

“Even if we had the capacity we wouldn’t be able to find the paper at this time of year. Paper lead time is a very distinct factor and when we’re looking at a job we have to consider whether we can print it.

“We’re seeing lead times stretching between four and 10 weeks at the moment, depending on which type of paper customers wish to print on.”

Wyndeham’s Utting says finding the finishing capacity is another issue.

“From our point of view it’s not just the presses, it’s binding as well. Our Leicester bindery is completely full until Christmas.”

But Nick Alexander, chief executive of Garnett Dickinson and Acorn Web Offset, says the situation is not quite as tight at his businesses.

“There is always last minute capacity as customers change schedules, paginations and projects. 

“Not all customers have the luxury of planning ahead as they respond to changes in their own markets. Even in this busy period very few customers have been unable to find somewhere to print their work.”

He adds that buyers could try looking to the independent printers to find last-minute capacity.

“Suppliers have to clearly set out a commercial proposition that appeals to customers but customers have to decide whether they want to support the independent sector or be forced to use the big two, with inevitable consequences for their own businesses.”

Independent offering

Padbury believes buyers that have traditionally enjoyed a personal service on smaller jobs could miss out if the remaining smaller and independent web offset businesses dwindle.

“I think it will be tougher for them to find a supplier that matches expectations.

“What’s disappearing are indie players who will take the time and manage a project rather just filling a slot on a production board.”

Despite the current capacity crunch, web offset presses are not usually full during the remainder of the year, due to circulation falls, lower paginations and closures of some newspapers and magazines.

The latest consumer magazine statistics from the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed that sales of paid-for weekly and monthly titles fell by 5.3% in the first half of 2015, meaning an associated major drop-off in tonnage. 

“As the number of presses reduces and the seasonality of the market increases there will be some interesting pinch points in the capacity,” observes Padbury. “The new problem for a web offset company will be how on earth to make the business pay from April to August and what to do with all the work from September to March. 

“It may be tricky but maybe we should twin our businesses with garden centres.” he quips. “Hats off to the guys who are making it work though.”

With the months leading to Christmas now an altogether different story, many printers and buyers work in tandem to fill seasonal slots as early as possible.

“There are a tremendous number of buyers out there who are very savvy. They know what the demands on capacity are and they work around that,” says Revill.

“We tend to work with our customers and identify very clearly when we have capacity and when it’s best to put orders in.”

Utting adds: “It’s important for us to work with customers over the medium term to plan production rather than on an ad hoc short-term basis.”

So what of those buyers that have no choice but to place jobs at the last minute?

“I don’t know what the answer is apart from to do more forward thinking and plan a little bit more ahead,” says Revill.

In a sector where so much has changed, strengthening contingency plans in the run-up to Christmas seems more important than ever. 

Beyond that it seems there is little that last-minute buyers can do, short of outsourcing to Europe and crossing their fingers or going to an independent printer in the hopes of finding a space. 

For the most part though, it seems to be the one time of year where printers are in the driving seat. 

2015: THE YEAR IN WEB OFFSET

February 

Artisan Press announces new board structure as two long-running directors leave the company. Jonathan Sankey, former commercial director, becomes managing director

March 

Wagner Investments, one of Nick Alexander’s companies, buys Garnett Dickinson Group

April 

Wyndeham Group closes its Wyndeham Gait sheetfed-focused factory in Grimsby, citing a sheetfed print demand decline and a resurgence in demand for web printing

May 

Wyndeham Group owned Walstead expands onto the continent with the acquisition of Be Printers’ Spanish operations from Bertelsmann

Artisan Press falls into administration and closes its doors later in the month after administrators confirm there is no interest in the company as a going concern. 180 jobs are lost

June

Wyndeham Group acquires Artisan’s key bindery assets and sets up a new business unit, Wyndeham Binders, on the back of a three-year deal with Argos

July

Woodford Litho is placed into administration, with the loss of 50 jobs

Headley Brothers’ results for the 12 months to 6 December 2014 show a profitability improvement of almost £1m for its printing operation

September

York Mailing chief financial officer Stephen Goodman leads an MBO at the £100m-turnover group 

Westdale Press exits the web offset market after selling its web press to an Italian printer. Managing director Alan Padbury says less than 50% of the firm’s business was web

Woodford Litho equipment, including the company’s KBA Compacta 618 48pp web press, goes up for auction