“Because of changing demand, the business has shifted from being predominantly traditional print into a printed direct mail, promotional and digital business,” said DST Nottingham managing director Vincent Gidley.
“Over recent years we’ve managed to organically move things around in the business, but unfortunately we are in a situation now where our capacity in the web department is simply greater than client demand.”
Following a consultation that started at the beginning of November, the Nottingham-based direct response and marketing print business placed 17 jobs out of its 310-strong workforce at risk. Of those, seven have opted for voluntary redundancy, one from the estimating department, one from the mono-laser division and the rest from the web division. Four have been redeployed within the business, while a remaining six have this week been notified of compulsory redundancy.
Gidley said: “Nottingham is a well-established business and we employ generation upon generation of family employees. I am mindful of that and we have really focused on moving people within the business to establish skills to make sure we keep people employed. And considering how the web business has been decimated over the last couple of years, I am pleased how well we’ve managed to retain people.
"We have to develop and grow the business. You can’t stand still in this environment because it’s very easy to die quickly. Unfortunately people have to understand that if the marketplace changes that radically, you have to stay ahead by investing in technology, investing in your people, but sadly also we have to restructure to make sure we stay ahead of the competition.”
According to Gidley, the restructure will support the company's drive to bolster its DM work, for which the Nottingham business has recently completed the paperwork on its £1m investment in a new Kodak Prosper 5000XL that has been on trial at the site since October 2012.
Additionally the company is set to invest £500,000 in the next couple of months on new finishing equipment for the division. Gidley wouldn’t be drawn on specifics of the new kit.
He said: “This technology investment in next couple of months will enhance our capabilities, replace some older kit and give us the opportunity to get ahead of the market. The decisions we make now allow us to strengthen the business down the line.” As well as the Prosper, DST Nottingham also runs three 16pp Heidelberg web presses, a 12-colour Cutstar and a Mitsubishi flatsheet B1 press.
DST chief executive Jeremy Walters said: “While market demand for DM has enabled us to recruit 24 people in the last two years to the Nottingham DM department as well as new positions on the Prosper and promotional marketing, it has also led to the fact that we needed to review our shift patterns on the web presses,” he explained.
Walters said that the Nottingham division had a slight increase in revenue last year with a return to profitability, and from 1 January the group had implemented a 2% pay rise across its entire 1,300-strong workforce. Accounts for the publicly quoted company, which was formed through the 2011 merger of Innovative Output Solutions and Lateral Group, will be published in May.
Meanwhile the restructure has prompted a dispute over redundancy package particulars, leading union members at Nottingham to hold a ballot for industrial action.
Unite regional officer Luke Primarolo said: “About 80 members in the print department of DST Output in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire are currently taking part in a ballot for strike action and also for industrial action short of a strike. “The crux of the dispute is the redundancy package on offer from the company and that this deal is only open for those who wish to take voluntary redundancy.
“Our members think that the redundancy terms need to be further enhanced and that they should also apply to those made compulsorily redundant.
“DST is a profitable company and Unite feels that the management could well afford to be more generous."
The ballot closes on 11 February.
