I attended a lecture by Steve Scott , the contract print sales manager for print division of Mortons media group ltd.
He said that he had Worked in newspaper production since serving an apprenticeship as a compositor at the hull daily mail in 1970.
Also he Spent 10 years with the hem before moving to the times.
He worked for a Free press group in Middlesbrough , before he moved to Morton,s of horn castle in 1994 as sales manager for their print division.
He told us that mortons had
Been around for over 100 years
And boasted a 22 publication portfolio
Classics heritage
Demand for printed word diminishing
Due to Internet and 24 hour news channels to name but two
Mortons have moved to into the events and trade shows And from own four 12 months ago
The portfolio has grown to 17 with new launches and acquisitions
The growth of this sector of business has resulted in a new department who spend their time planning
Since 2012 new CEO Ian fisher brought all of the divisions back under the one umbrella with the aim of streamlining the operation to meet the demands of the 21st century
The way forward has to further the multimedia company they are today
As an independent print we have continued to challenge the might of the contract printers in the uk. We continue to thrive in a competitive market that has seen many of their competitors exit the manufacturing side of the business
Had a press installation in 2006
Their secret
Markets are diverse they print over 120 different titles each week
Their portfolio numbers over 300 publishers annually
Daily regional newspaper
Twice weekly titles
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Occasional
Heat set
The product mix is their uniqueness and their strength
They go that extra mile and endeavour to ensure that the presentation of artwork Is going to be uploaded onto their servers in the correct order so it prints first time every time. They are not just printers and to rely on printing alone would be limiting . They can stitch and trim, in line or off line they also offer a full mailing and fulfilment operation, not only do thay print customers papers but they can post them out to their subscribers they can dispatch anything from council tax bills to university hoodies , the list is endless their largest weekly customer prints 700,000 copies in sections and they stitch and trim them into weekly newspapers they offer a digital printing service capable of printing SRA3 single sheets to booklets print production and technology printing technology that went hand in hand with hot metal typesetting was letterpress. This involved a cast plate of the original page created from the hot metal slugs and halftonr pictures etched into a metal plate. This was placed around a cylinder and alongside other pages that made up the newspapers the production process - talked about the change in production process talked about the decrease in uk/ Ireland 10 ears ago numbers were more than double why the decline - faster more efficient equipment reclining circulation , markets
challenges to the printed word- newspaper sector, financial meltdown, the internet, the recession, slow recovery , change of reading habits
The future - newspaper will be arounf for many years to come but in a reduced format, micropublishing will probably become focal points for local community more peoducts but more controlled targeted circulation and distributinon digital printing giving the reader the opportunity to select what they need
