Raw

**Subject: Pursue process simplification and productivity improvement**

You asked whether TTW's composing costs are actually excessive. My analysis reveals a more pressing constraint: the composing department is overloaded, understaffed, losing people, and spending 50% more on overtime than budget allows.

**We should investigate two specific cost-reduction paths.** Process simplification can save roughly 10% of composing cost by testing whether simple jobs can skip quality-control steps. Productivity improvement can close a 20–50% performance gap against industry benchmarks. Both investigations have willing owners and clear early wins.

**Process simplification**: Currently every title—whether a simple novel or a complex reference book—passes through identical quality-control stages. George Kennedy is willing to test whether simple jobs can skip or retime certain checks, measuring the impact on quality and customer outcomes.

**Productivity improvement**: TTW trails industry benchmarks by 20–50%. The bottleneck is clear: manual composition is at capacity and understaffed due to below-market wages and recent staff turnover. Kennedy is willing to lead a methods study to identify where improvements are possible.

Roy Walter and Brian Thompson have also indicated support for both investigations.

**What I need**: Approval to proceed with both tracks, with owners confirmed and a timeline for initial results.

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**Omitted**: Competitive benchmarking with peer printers (I included it as lower priority, since direct comparison alone is unlikely to settle the cost question). Detailed staffing analysis and production-run data (these would support a methods study but are not necessary for approval to proceed). The administrative opening and the note about the pending union claim (which adds urgency but does not alter the recommendation).