For decades, most print outlets in Japan relied on Mitsubishi Heavy or Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho Ltd. to manufacture, install and maintain industrial printing presses — costly machines that can be as tall as an office block and churn out more than a million newspapers a week.
Japan’s newspapers are scrambling after one of the country’s two biggest printing press makers said it was bowing out of the business for good.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced in late June that it was shuttering its printing press operations after filling existing orders. Staffing at the division has fallen by more than 75% from a peak of 400 employees in 2000.
