Bliss will consolidate printing operations

Gazette staff | May 3, 2016

DELAVAN—Bliss Communications announced Monday it will shutter print and packaging operations that subsidiary CSI Media operates in Delavan and consolidate print work to the Bliss printing and distribution facility in Janesville.

Bliss Communications is headquartered in Janesville. The company owns and operates The Gazette and The Monroe Times newspapers and radio stations WCLO and WJVL.

CSI prints the Janesville Messenger, the Stateline News, Walworth County Sunday and the Walworth County Shopper-Advertiser, along with about 20 weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines.

Company officials met with CSI employees Monday in Delavan to notify them of the consolidation.

The consolidation means 17 full-time employees and 19 part-time employees at Delavan's print plant will lose their jobs, CSI Media General Manager Dan White said Monday.

The merger does not affect employment in CSI's news and advertising divisions, Bliss Vice President of Financial Operations Pam Schmoldt said Monday.

Bliss acquired CSI in 2008. The move at the time was described as the largest acquisition in the company's history, according to Gazette reports.

Schmoldt said the merger is being done to increase efficiencies, and White said the move allows CSI to “take advantage of our technology” at the company's Janesville print and distribution facility.

The plant in Janesville already prints The Gazette, The Monroe Times and more than 50 other newspapers. The Janesville plant will likely need to add a third shift to take over the CSI workload, White said.

Employees who are losing their jobs at the CSI print plant can apply for open positions at the Janesville facility at 333 Wuthering Hills Drive.

White said it's not yet known how many positions would be available when Bliss adds a third shift in Janesville.

Bliss plans to sell the Delavan facility and eventually relocate the remaining divisions to another office, White said.