SPH Media Lays Off 11 Workers With Decommissioning of Old Printing Presses

SPH Media will lay off 11 production workers following the decommissioning of two of the company's 30-year-old printing presses that have reached the end of their operational lifespan.

- Tham Yuen-C

SPH Media chief executive officer Chan Yeng Kit announced the job cuts in an e-mail sent to staff on July 22. He said the cuts were the result of operational reviews taking place as the company progresses on its transformation journey, and not driven by major restructuring or cost-cutting.

The affected workers, who were notified on July 22, include those operating two of the company's six printing presses and involved in the distribution of its newspapers.

The Colorliner printing presses, made by Manroland Goss Web Systems and in operation since 1996, are being decommissioned, with printing operations to be consolidated on the media company's four other Commander presses from Koenig & Bauer (KBA).

The newer KBA presses, deployed in 2003, can print up to 56 broadsheet pages in color and up to 72,000 copies of the paper per hour.

This is more than what the older Colorliner presses were able to achieve at 40 pages in full color and up to 72,000 copies per hour.

An SPH Media spokeswoman, in response to queries from The Straits Times, said upgrades to the KBA machines have allowed the company to consolidate its daily printing operations on the newer presses.

"These changes allow us to maintain quality printing operations and improve process efficiency. Regrettably, the changes have also resulted in redundancies across 11 job roles in SPH Media's production division," she said.