Berlesmann, owner of Prinovis, once the largest gravure printer in Europe, has announced the closure of its last gravure plant. Its Ahrensberg factory, which employs 545, will close on 31 January next year.
This is barely six months after the doors will be closed for the final time at Prinovis in Liverpool and follows the shutdown of its Dresden plant at the end of last year. Prinovis Liverpool will close at the end of June.
The decision comes as demand for long run magazines and catalogues, typical fodder for large pagination gravure presses, shrinks. Events in recent years, culminating in energy costs, have accelerated these trends.
Prinovis managing director Ulrich Cordes explains that the decision “is unavoidable due to the negative market development, which has accelerated in recent years.
“In addition, due to the consequences of the pandemic and the enormous increase in paper and energy prices, our clients have repeatedly questioned their marketing activities over the past two years and have often changed them in the direction of digital communication solutions.”
Order volumes are down resulting in losses for the plant which Bertlesmann is unwilling to sustain. It is entering immediate negotiations with unions in order to come to agreement on compensation and on an orderly shut down.
The decision has been foreshadowed by declining production of SC paper for gravure printing as production runs reduce to the point that the gravure process finds it hard to compete against web offset.
Nevertheless gravure capacity continues in Europe with Burda and Walstead leading the way and with other plants operational in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Gravure remains strong in packaging applications for both labels and flexible packaging where the rival process is flexo and where gravure has been considered the process for superior quality as well as long runs.
