Subject: Two tests to find where composing costs can be cut Situation: Composition is TTW's largest production cost — roughly 40% of hardback and 50-55% of paperback cost — and TTW is uncompetitive on simple work, but we don't yet know how much of that cost is genuinely excessive. Complication: The composing room applies the same quality-control stages to every title, simple or complex, and is running below the productivity benchmark by 20-50% while overloaded, understaffed, and paying overti...
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# Fixture 02 — Rewritten
Subject: Two tests to find where composing costs can be cut
Situation: Composition is TTW's largest production cost — roughly 40% of hardback and 50-55% of paperback cost — and TTW is uncompetitive on simple work, but we don't yet know how much of that cost is genuinely excessive.
Complication: The composing room applies the same quality-control stages to every title, simple or complex, and is running below the productivity benchmark by 20-50% while overloaded, understaffed, and paying overtime more than 50% over budget.
Answer: We recommend two tests to locate where composing cost can actually be cut.
1. **Test a simplified quality-control process on simple titles.** Run selected simple jobs through fewer, differently-timed checks and measure the effect on quality and customers. Potential saving: up to 10% of total composing cost.
2. **Run a methods study of the composing process.** TTW trails the productivity benchmark by 20-50%; a methods study would identify which changes to the composing method close that gap. George Kennedy is willing to run both this study and the quality-control test.
What we need now: sign-off from Aylesbury to begin both tests, with Kennedy as the point of contact.
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**Omitted or demoted from the original draft** (kept for the record, not carried into the recommendation because they don't support either test):
- The overload/staffing narrative (below-market pay, difficulty hiring, two compositors lost, jobs running late, union claim) — this explains *why* productivity is under pressure, but is not itself an action; it's background for the methods study, not a separate recommendation.
- The list of people interviewed (Roy Walter, Brian Thompson, George Kennedy) — process detail, not a finding.
- The comparison with three other printers — the source itself doubts this would settle anything; noted as an option considered and not pursued, not a third recommendation.
- "Managers disagree about whether costs are high, but all are willing to investigate" — this is the complication restated, not a separate conclusion; folded into the Complication above.
