General Training Reading sample task – Flow-chart completion

ROBOTS AT WORKAThe newspaper production process has come a longway from the old days when the paper was written,edited, typeset and ultimately printed in one building
with the journalists working on the upper floors andthe printing presses going on the ground floor. Thesedays the editor, subeditors and journalists who put thepaper together are likely to find themselves in a
totally different building or maybe even in a different
city. This is the situation which now prevails in
Sydney. The daily paper is compiled at the editorial
headquarters, known as the prepress centre, in theheart of the city, but printed far away in the suburbs atthe printing centre. Here human beings are in theminority as much of the work is done by automatedmachines controlled by computers.

day’s paper and the publishing order are determinedat head office, the information is punched into thecomputer and the LGVs are programmed to go about
their work. The LGVs collect the appropriate size
paper reels and take them where they have to go.
When the press needs another reel its computer alerts
the LGV system. The Sydney LGVs move busily
around the press room fulfilling their two key
functions to collect reels of newsprint either from thereel stripping stations, or from the racked supplies in
the newsprint storage area. At the stripping station
the tough wrapping that helps to protect a reel ofpaper from rough handling is removed. Anydamaged paper is peeled off and the reel is thenweighed.

EB
Once the finished newspaper has been created for the
next morning’s edition, all the pages are transmitted
electronically from the prepress centre to the printing
centre. The system of transmission is an update on thesophisticated page facsimile system already in use on
many other newspapers. An imagesetter at theprinting centre delivers the pages as film. Each pagetakes less than a minute to produce, although forcolour pages four versions, once each for black, cyan,
magenta and yellow are sent. The pages are thenprocessed into photographic negatives and the film isused to produce aluminium printing plates ready forthe presses.

Then one of the four paster robots moves in.
Specifically designed for the job, it trims the paper
neatly and prepares the reel for the press. If required
the reel can be loaded directly onto the press; if notneeded immediately, an LGV takes it to the storage
area. When the press computer calls for a reel, anLGV takes it to the reel loading area of the presses. It
lifts the reel into the loading position and places it in
the correct spot with complete accuracy. As each reelis used up, the press drops the heavy cardboard core
into a waste bin. When the bin is full, another LGV
collects it and deposits the cores into a shredder forrecycling.

FCA procession of automated vehicles is busy at the newprinting centre where the Sydney Morning Herald isprinted each day. With lights flashing and warning
horns honking, the robots (to give them their correct
name, the LGVs or laser guided vehicles) look for all
the world like enthusiastic machines from a science
fiction movie, as they follow their own random paths
around the plant busily getting on with their jobs.
Automation of this kind is now standard in all modern
newspaper plants. The robots can detect unauthorised
personnel and alert security staff immediately if theyfind an “intruder”; not surprisingly, tall tales are
already being told about the machines starting to takeon personalities of their own.

The LGVs move at walking speed. Should anyone
step in front of one or get too close, sensors stop thevehicle until the path is clear. The company has
chosen a laserguide function system for the vehicles
because, as the project development manager says
“The beauty of it is that if you want to change theroutes, you can work out a new route on yourcomputer and lay it down for them to follow”. Whenan LGV’s batteries run low, it will take itself off line
and go to the nearest battery maintenance point forreplacement batteries. And all this is achieved withabsolute minimum human input and a much reduced
risk of injury to people working in the printing
centres.

GD
The robots’ principal job, however, is to shift thenewsprint (the printing paper) that arrives at the plantin huge reels and emerges at the other end
some time later as newspapers. Once the size of theThe question newspaper workers must now ask,
however is, “how long will it be before the robots arewriting the newspapers as well as running theprinting centre, churning out the latest edition everymorning?”

General Training Reading sample task – Flow-chart completion

Questions 33 – 40
Complete the flow-chart below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet.

The Production Process
The newspaper is compiled at the editorial headquarters by thejournalists.

ÆThe final version of the text is 33 ............... to the printing centre.

ÆThe pages arrive by facsimile.

ÆThe pages are converted into 34 …………… .

Æ35 …………… are made for use in the printing presses.

The LGVs are 36 …………… by computer.

ÆThe LGVs collect the reels of paper.

ÆThe LGVs remove the 37 …………… from the reel.

ÆThe reel is 38 …………… .

ÆThe reel is trimmed and prepared by the 39 …………… .

ÆThe reel is taken to the press.

The reel is taken to the
40 …………… .

General Training Reading sample task – Flow-chart completionAnswers
33

transmitted (electronically)

34(photographic) film/negative(s)35(aluminium) printing plates

36

programmed

37

damaged paper/wrapping38

weighed39

paster robot(s)40storage area

Words in brackets are optional - they are correct, but not necessary. Alternative answers are
separated by a slash (/).