Workers at the Essex web offset factory were informed yesterday (25 November) that it will close on Christmas Eve.
The plant employs 57 Polestar staff, and around 30 people are employed by outsourcing and managed services specialist Aktrion Group in its finishing department.
The factory was downsized at the beginning of the year, but had been earmarked to remain open as a contractual site as Polestar re-shaped its operations due to the investment in new web presses at Sheffield.
However, Polestar chief operating officer Peter Andreou said market conditions had forced the group to change its plans.
He told PrintWeek: “The B2B market is continuing to decline. We are under pressure to keep cutting prices and we don’t want to do that. We simply can’t sustain this level of price degradation.”
Andreou said the group had declined to participate in some recent tenders. “Some customers are requesting a 25%-30% price reduction. We’ve got to take a position.”
He praised workers at Colchester for being “fantastic” during a difficult period.
“We have always been upfront and honest with them, and there is never a good time to make people redundant. Yes, we have a busy period coming up with the Christmas listings starting next week, but we did not want to be disingenuous about the situation.”
A 30-day consultation is underway.
There are no plans to relocate any of the remaining Colchester equipment to other plants.
The Ferag kit from Polestar Petty in Leeds, which will also cease printing in December, will be relocated to Sheffield.
The second 96pp Goss Sunday 5000 press at Sheffield is now in its ramp-up phase. The third short-grain 64pp web is being installed and set to go into production by mid-February.
The impending closure of Polestar Colchester is a further blow to the county, which was once home to a number of large web offset works employing hundreds of workers.
Wyndeham Group is also set to cease production at Wyndeham Heron in Maldon in January.
A source close to the web offset market said: “The fact is, companies like Polestar and Wyndeham are making plans against a backdrop of a declining market, so every few months the goalposts move.”
