Subject: Two changes can cut composing cost — both need a two-month test Composition is our largest production cost — 40% for hardbacks, 50-55% for paperbacks — and we are uncompetitive on simple work. You asked me to find out why. Two causes stand out, and both point to a test we should run now. Situation: Composition is TTW's largest production cost, and every title — complex reference book or simple novel — goes through the same quality-control stages. Complication: TTW is losing simple wo...
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Subject: Two changes can cut composing cost — both need a two-month test
Composition is our largest production cost — 40% for hardbacks, 50-55% for paperbacks — and we are uncompetitive on simple work. You asked me to find out why. Two causes stand out, and both point to a test we should run now.
Situation: Composition is TTW's largest production cost, and every title — complex reference book or simple novel — goes through the same quality-control stages.
Complication: TTW is losing simple work on price, productivity trails the industry benchmark by 20-50%, and the composing department is now overloaded — short-staffed after losing two compositors, running most jobs late, with overtime over 50% above budget and a union claim pending.
Question: How can TTW bring composing costs down?
Answer: Cut composing cost two ways — simplify the process on inexpensive titles, and raise productivity in manual composition — starting with a controlled test of both.
1. Simplify the process for inexpensive titles
- Run selected simple jobs through fewer, differently timed quality checks and measure the effect on quality and customer acceptance.
- Potential saving: roughly 10% of total composing cost.
2. Raise manual composing productivity
- Commission a methods study of the composing process itself; TTW's productivity trails the benchmark by 20-50%, so the room to close is large.
- George Kennedy has agreed to run this test and diagnose why measured productivity trails the benchmark.
Next step: authorize the two-month test of both changes; Kennedy is ready to start.
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Omitted or demoted, with reason:
- The list of people interviewed (Roy Walter, Brian Thompson, George Kennedy) — process detail, not a finding; kept only Kennedy's ownership of the next step.
- "People in Aylesbury want to understand the causes" — restates the assignment, not a fact the reader needs.
- Staffing detail (below-market pay, hiring difficulty, two departures, overtime, union claim) — these are causes of the overload backdrop, not actions or reasons for the recommendation; compressed into the Complication as context, dropped as separate line items.
- Comparison with three other printers — the source itself doubts it will settle anything; dropped rather than kept as a hedge.
- "Managers disagree about whether costs are high" — an observation about internal opinion, not a support for either action; dropped.
