Prairie Mountain Media will shut its Berthoud printing plant and transfer the manufacturing of newspapers and area of interest publications to The Denver Put up manufacturing facility in Denver, the corporate introduced Wednesday.
Greater than 40 full-time and part-time staff will lose their jobs with the Aug. 12 closure of the printing middle. Managers broke the information to staff in a day assembly.
“I acknowledge this can be a troublesome time,” PMM Common Supervisor Jill Stravolemos stated. “I’ve large respect and appreciation for the gifted manufacturing staff and their a few years of service. Selections corresponding to this are difficult. Preserving neighborhood journalism is our mission. Nonetheless, strategic selections have to be made to make sure our future.”
PMM is a subsidiary of MediaNews Group, which additionally owns The Denver Put up. The Longmont Occasions-Name, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Greeley Tribune, Broomfield Enterprise and Colorado Hometown Weekly are among the many PMM newspapers printed in Berthoud.
In recent times, excessive manufacturing prices and a scarcity of expert press operators have introduced challenges for PMM’s printing plant, with a press malfunction affecting manufacturing over a number of days in late December and once more this weekend inflicting delayed supply of a number of newspapers.
The closure will come one yr after Gannett shuttered its Pueblo Chieftain printing operation and moved the printing and packaging of the Chieftain to The Denver Put up. The Chieftain reported in 2023 that Gannett had confronted “a frightening variety of expensive capital enhancements to the presses in Pueblo.”
The Nationwide Belief for Native Information introduced this spring that it will finish its contract with the Denver Put up and PMM and transfer printing of its two dozen Colorado Neighborhood Media publications to a distinct facility.
As well as, the Aspen Day by day Information moved its printing from PMM to USA Printing Firm in Gypsum, Colo., earlier this month.
“The strategic adjustments made by two of our industrial companions, the problem of recruiting expert press operators and the necessity for vital and dear press upgrades pressured our hand,” Stravolemos stated. “The Denver manufacturing crew has efficiently and reliably printed the Boulder Day by day Digicam and the Cañon Metropolis Day by day Report for years. I’m assured they’ll do an excellent job.”
Lehman Communications christened the $20 million Berthoud plant and its new MAN Roland press in 2009. The plant employed 78 full-time and part-time staff on the time. In 2011, Lehman was offered to Prairie Mountain, and shortly thereafter PMM moved the manufacturing of its Japanese Colorado weeklies to the 60,000-square-foot Berthoud facility.
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