Raw

**To:** Engagement Manager  
**From:** Consultant  
**Subject:** Reduce TTW Composing Costs via QC Simplification and Method Changes  

Per your request to analyze TTW composing costs, the investigation reveals that measured productivity trails the industry benchmark by 20–50%, overtime exceeds budget, and the department suffers capacity constraints from staff losses, below-market pay, and an active union claim. How can TTW reduce its composing costs? TTW can reduce composing costs by simplifying quality control for inexpensive titles and increasing productivity through method changes.

**Simplify quality control for inexpensive titles**  
• All titles, from complex references to simple novels, undergo identical quality-control stages.  
• Kennedy is prepared to test selected jobs with fewer or differently timed checks.  
• This approach could save up to 10% of total composing costs.

**Increase productivity by changing the composing method**  
• Measured productivity trails the industry benchmark by 20–50%.  
• A separate methods study can identify specific productivity improvements.  
• The current manual process creates capacity bottlenecks, resulting in lost staff, overtime exceeding budget, and delayed jobs.

**Omissions**  
• External comparisons with other printers were removed as the author judged them insufficient to resolve the issue.  
• Internal disagreements regarding cost levels were omitted as the productivity data establishes the need for action regardless of perception.  
• References to general interest ("people in Aylesbury") and process details ("two weeks") were removed as they do not support the recommendation.  
• Names of Walter and Thompson were omitted as they are not assigned to specific actions.