The news comes six weeks after the worlds largest printing equipment manufacturer said it would launch a cost-savings programme after suffering a 10% fall in sales (PrintWeek, 6 September).

The relocation of NexPress production and platesetter production will result in 770 job cuts at Kiel, while around 900 staff will go through cuts in administration jobs in Heidelberg/Wiesloch.

Heidelberg will also merge its Ludwigsburg and Muehlhausen postpress sites into a new joint facility in the Stuttgart area, and move production of its digital black-and-white products from Muehlhausen to Rochester, which, combined, will lead to 140 job cuts.

A further 400 jobs will also be lost outside Germany.

Heidelberg said negotiations about the losses should be completed by the end of the current fiscal year, and that the cuts would be "designed to minimise the social impact as far as possible".