Clipper Magazine laid off 40 of the 600 employees at its Mountville headquarters Thursday, a company spokesperson said.

"Our business model has changed a little bit, and our efficiency has increased. So we eliminated positions we no longer need," the spokesperson said.

The affected positions were in art production and sales support. New technology was one factor in the need for fewer people, the spokesperson said. The second and more significant factor was a change in how some markets are being served.

Clipper Magazine is testing the concept of producing one edition for every 100,000 or 150,000 households, rather than one per 50,000.

Fewer editions of Clipper Magazine mean fewer people are needed to produce those editions, the spokesperson explained.

The layoffs do not signal hard times for the publication, now distributed in 500 markets in 30 states, the spokesperson emphasized.

"We just have a need for fewer people to produce our work. It's not that there's a lot of bad things happening to us," the spokesperson said.

Clipper Magazine sales were "up slightly" in 2011, the spokesperson said, though declining to disclose the figure.

"And we have a lot of growth ahead of us. We still have two-thirds of the country's markets to cover," the spokesperson added.

Clipper Magazine also is planning several new product launches in the coming months.

Clipper Magazine was started in 1983 by two Franklin & Marshall College juniors who put black-and-white coupon sheets in the mailboxes of the college's students. It was acquired by Gannett in 2003.

Based at 3708 Hempland Road on the former Ferranti International campus, Clipper Magazine employs 1,200 people nationwide.

tmekeel@lnpnews.com