Heidelberg UK to make 10% of workforce redundant

Some 40 staff out of around 400 in the UK will leave the business under the redundancy plan, which kicked off in November after the German parent company announced that it wanted to reduce worldwide headcount by 2,500 by 2011.

Heidelberg UK managing director George Clarke told Packaging News that a small number of staff had accepted voluntary redundancy and that individual consultations would begin next week.

However, he said that the packaging industry would remain a key focus of his business as it faces up to severe consolidation in the commercial print sector.

“We are hoping packaging will be an area that does better. Packaging is more defensive – supermarket food, for instance, is less cyclical,” he said.

Clarke added that Heidelberg UK has recently taken on a key account manager for packaging, Gary Wilkinson, in order to “target the market more effectively”.

Prior to the November consultation, the company had already announced the closure of its Leeds office in September. Clarke said that the closure of the Leeds site had been decided in July and was a response more to the changing commercial print market than to the credit crunch.

The redundancies have come after German parent firm gave a profit warning announcing the 2,500 worldwide job cuts in a bid to reduce annual costs by €200m.

Clarke said that staff had taken news of the cutbacks “really well”, and added: “We are making these cuts carefully to ensure service levels are not compromised and to ensure we are not having a knee-jerk reaction to today’s situation but will be fitter and stronger long term.”

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