In clearing out some old paperwork I came across my figures for the setting up of a joint production facility for a number of monthly and quarterly tabloid newspapers in 1993. I wonder whether, despite all the improvements in computers and software, we are achieving any extra throughput today. Was this in fact the peak time of newspaper DTP, and while we may be producing better pages are we doing them less efficiently?
The report included a spreadsheet of weekly page production ranging from 30 to 80 tabloid pages a week but the initial expectation was 50 pages a week:
Copy preparation: 12 hours
Ad setting: 40 hours
Page layout: 35 hours
Scanning: 15 hours
Comping: 12 hours
Total: 114 hours per week (approx 3 people) which was considered in the report to be a "considerable" overestimate of "normal" time requirements, allowing for errors, breakdowns, waiting times, etc but not for staff absence.
I found another report in which I stated that my expectation for the page layout function was about 20 minutes a page (less than half the above estimate) from reasonably skilled operators and maybe 40 minutes for page one and any special feature page.
The comping part (with its equipment requirement for layout tables, cutting boards and waxer) showed that it was still an expectation that ads would be output individually, trimmed to size and waxed into place on the pages, though editorially output would be to an A3 laser (most ads would be output to an A4 laser).
Required equipment would be: 3 x 486 PCs and one AT or better plus 1 each A3 and A4 lasers, plus scanner, fax, photocopier, desks, benches etc. Software recommended was PageMaker and CorelDraw.
I also noted that there should be no provision for copy inputting. This would be done at the originating publication or, if required, should be done by outworkers.
