Heron, based in Maldon, Essex, currently employs around 146 staff along with some part-time workers.

In 2008, when Walstead Investments acquired Wyndeham Group, it employed 440 and has undergone a number of downsizing events since.

The loss of the group’s IPC Media contract (now Time Inc UK) over the summer was described as ‘a bridge too far’ for the site by one company insider.

Wyndeham said losses at the site had “worsened” since the IPC work moved in July.

Owner Walstead Investments said that despite winning new work it continued to review web offset capacity when it announced its year-end results at the beginning of the month.

Wyndeham chief executive Paul Utting told PrintWeek: “We have spent time since the IPC decision working out whether or not there is enough business of the right type to sustain four web offset sites.

“We believe the volume and combination of work available means it makes more sense to have three sites.”

Heron also runs some of the group’s oldest presses. It has three 32pp Manroland Rotomans, one of which is not used, and a 64pp Lithoman that is the oldest press of its type in the group.

It lost its newest press, a 64pp Lithoman, in a fire in 2011.

Wyndeham said it was also its only site without its own cover press, resulting in time- and cost penalties transporting covers there from its other locations.

The Heron bindery includes two Muller Martini Corona binders, a Norm binder, a number of stitching lines and two mailing lines.

Utting said he was sad about the situation and regretted the potential loss of jobs. “We’ve obviously looked at it in every way we can think of before announcing this. It’s up to the workforce and union to come up with alternatives if there are any.”

He added: I don’t like to see this happening, but we’re in an industry where demand is reducing for web offset print, even though this year the rate of decline is lower and we are hopeful that rate of attrition will slow.”

He said the old 32pp presses at Heron were “simply inefficient in today’s market”.

Heron’s customers include publishers Haymarket, Bauer, William Reed, the FT and Hearst, as well as commercial clients.

Wyndeham aims to relocate the work to its Peterborough, Southernprint and Roche factories if no alternative solution can be found at Heron.

The group has an eight-year lease on the site and some of its head office workers are also based there. The site would not close, but manufacturing there would cease.

PrintWeek understand that Wyndeham would be unlikely to move any of the plant’s presses, but could relocate some of its bindery and mailroom kit.

The group recently announced that it would install the short-grain press from Global MP at its Peterborough site.

Depending on the result of the consultation, the site is likely to continue to operate until at least Christmas and possibly into the New Year.