The evolution of production

Most large prepress companies in India are organized into functional silos. A book may travel from a room full of XML coders into a room of paginators, and on to rooms of proofreaders and quality controllers. In this model, a book with ten chapters could be handled by forty people, not counting the people who receive the original manuscript and send out the final proofs.

Five years ago, Newgen moved from functional silos into client-based teams. As we grew with each of our customers, each client team grew. And again the risk arose of functional silos being created within these growing teams.

So two years ago Newgen piloted cell-based production. The first cells had four members: a coder, a pager, a proofreader, and a QC. Each book was assigned to a single cell for the entire production lifecycle, from first proofs to final files, so that at most four people would touch it. Ownership for each project increased, and the result was a measurable increase in quality: a 50 percent reduction in the number of red errors marked by clients.

One explicit aim of the cell concept was that people should be cross-trained in multiple functions: coders should be able to page; readers should be able to certify final quality. And during the second year of cell-based working, cells across the business morphed from four to two members: one coder/pager and one reader/QC.

Now, in 2008, the Proprius initiative is taking this process to its logical conclusion. After a grueling round of aptitude tests and evaluations, on May 12, 2008, the first twenty people began their training as "single-member cells." Over the next twelve months, they will be taught everything from design and typography to artwork to proofreading and print management. When their training is complete, any book assigned to a Proprius graduate will be handled by only one person in Newgen from receipt to dispatch.