Outlook

for Technology

and Manpower

in Printing

and Publishing

Bulletin 1774

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics

1973 Dayton & Montgomery Ce.

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Outlook

for Technology

and Manpower

in Printing

and Publishing

Bulletin 1774

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Peter J. Brennan, Secretary

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

Ben Burdetsky, Deputy Commissioner

1973

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, GPO Bookstores, or

BLS Regional Offices listed on inside back cover. Price 75 cents domestic postpaid or 50 cents over-the-counter.

Make checks payable to Superintendent of Documents.

Microfiche edition available from National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va. 22151, at 95 cents a set.

Make checks for microfiche payable to NTIS.

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Preface

This bulletin describes changes in technology in the printing and publishing industry, a major 

industry employing over 1 million workers. The study focuses on the impact of new technology on 

productivity, employment, and occupational requirements, and describes methods of adjustment. It 

is one of a series of reports prepared to meet the requirements of the Manpower Development and 

Training Act of 1962, which lirects the Secretary of Labor to establish techniques and methods for 

detecting in advance the potential manpower effect of automation, technological change, and other 

innovations that may result in changes in the structure of production. This type of advance 

information could be of great assistance to management and union leaders, educators, government 

officials, economists, and others in planning policies to cushion the effects of change.

Information for the study was obtained by members of the BLS staff during field visits to 

newspapers and commercial printing establishments where new technology was introduced and from 

experts in industry, labor, and government. Information also was obtained from secondary source 

materials, particularly trade and technical journals.

The study includes firsthand information on the impact on production and manpower of 

electronic computers, phototypesetting equipment, web-offset printing, and other innovations at 

the nine printing firms which participated in the study. The report also discusses the outlook for 

future diffusion of new printing technology and describes measures undertaken to maintain job 

security at survey plants and elsewhere.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is grateful to the many individuals who provided useful 

information and reviewed the draft of the report. We also wish to thank the Harris-Intertype 

Corporation for providing us with photographs.

The bulletin was prepared in the Division of Technological Studies, Office of Productivity and 

Technology, by Robert V. Critchlow and Arthur S. Herman, under the direct supervision of Richard 

W. Riche and the general direction of John J. Macut, Division Chief.

iii

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Contents

Page

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1

H ighlights.............................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Chapter 1. The printing industry’s importance in the economy .................................................................................. 4

Definition of the industry .......................................................................................................................................... 4

E m ploym ent................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Production and p ro d u ctiv ity ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Capital spending .......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Research and developm ent.......................................................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2. Key technological changes ............................................................................................................................. 7

Composing r o o m .......................................................................................................................................................... 7

Platemaking ....................................................................................................................................................................10

Press operations ............................................................................................................................................................. 12

M ailroom ...........................................................................................................................................................................13

Chapter 3. Introducing new technology at survey p la n ts ....................................................................................................15

Planning .................................................... 15

Installation....................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Costs and benefits .......................................................................................................................................................... 15

Chapter 4. Employment trends and occupational c h a n g e s................................................................................................18

Employment trends .......................................................................................................................................................18

Impact on occupations and s k ills...................................................................................................................................18

Chapter 5. Training for new technology ................................ 27

Union training ................................................................................................................................................................ 27

Industry trade associations............................................................................................................................................ 27

Manufacturer and user train in g ......................................................................................................................................27

Entry level train in g ..........................................................................................................................................................27

Training at survey p la n ts.................................................• . ........................................................................................28

Chapter 6 . Adjustment of workers to technological change ........................................................................................... 30

Contract provisions relating to technological ch a n g e ................................................................................................... 30

Manpower planning in survey p l a n t s ............................................................................................................................ 31

Chapter 7. Outlook for technology and m anpow er.............................................................. 3 4

Outlook for technology ................................................................................................................................................3 4

Outlook for m anpow er................................................................................................................................................... 37

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Contents— Continued

Page

Tables:

1. Employment in printing and publishing,

selected subgroups and periods, 1947—71 ................................................................................................... 4

2. Production and employment in printing and publishing, 1954—71 .................................................................. 5

3. Expenditures for new plant and equipment in printing and publishing,

selected subgroups and periods, 1947—71 ................................................................................................... 6

4. Advanced equipment and techniques in use at

newspapers and printing plants visited ......................................................................................................... 8

5. Costs of new equipment at selected survey p la n ts ................................................................................................16

6. Technological changes in the composing room at selected survey plants ........................................................19

7. Technological changes in platemaking, presswork, and

mailrooms at selected survey plants ................................................................................................................24

8. Training programs for technological change at selected survey p la n ts ...............................................................29

9. Provisions relating to technological change from

selected collective bargaining agreem ents.........................................................................................................32

10. Employment in printing and publishing, 1960 and 1970, and

projections for 1980 ....................................................................................................................................... 37

11. Employment in craft occupations in printing and publishing,

1960 and 1970, and projections for 1980 ................................................................................................... 37

Appendixes:

A. Three major printing methods and the printing process ........................................................................................ 38

B. Selected annotated bibliography............................................................................................................................... 41

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Introduction

Although the printing and publishing industry has a 

history of slow technological change, the pace of change 

has quickened considerably in all the major production 

steps during the past several decades. Typesetting, for 

example, was performed by hand for several centuries, 

until the first commercial typesetting machines became 

available in the 1880’s. The next important innovation, 

the teletypesetter, was developed 50 years later. Two 

decades later, in the 1950’s, photographic typesetting 

machines were commercially available. Technological 

innovation has been much faster in the last 10 years; 

computerized typesetting, cathode ray tube typesetters, 

optical character reading equipment, and high speed data 

transmission are among the major advances. Considerable information describing these recent technologies is 

available, but much less is known about their effects on 

workers in plants where the innovations are being used.

In an effort to assess the manpower implications of 

these emerging technologies, this study undertakes to 

provide answers to the following questions: How extensively are the various innovations being used, and what is 

the trend of their use for the future? What factors, such 

as costs and benefits, govern the future trend of 

adoption? How has employment been affected by these

innovations? What changes in occupational requirements 

are brought about? What are the training needs for the 

various innovations? What industrial relations problems 

arise?

This bulletin presents general information for the 

entire printing and publishing industry (SIC 27), but 

focuses on two of the most important divisions of this 

industry: newspaper publishing and printing (SIC 271) 

and commercial printing (SIC 275). These two major 

industry groups employ about two-thirds of the total 

industry work force of more than 1 million and are 

utilizing almost all of the major technological changes 

available to the industry.

To better understand the implications of the new 

technologies in printing, it is important to realize that all 

of the sectors of the printing industry have common 

production operations. These include composition, 

platemaking, printing press operations, and various 

finishing operations. These production operations, in 

turn, are common to the three major printing 

processes—letterpress, gravure, and lithography (offset). 

For a more comprehensive description of major printing 

processes and production operations, see appendix A.*

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Highlights

New technology is being introduced in nearly all

phases o f the printing industry. These innovations 

frequently involve the application of electronic techniques in place of mechanical equipment. In the composing room, typesetting computers, high speed electronic 

phototypesetting, new techniques to prepare cameraready copy, and optical character recognition equipment 

are among innovations having an impact on productivity 

and manpower. The electronic computer can undertake 

several key composing room functions traditionally 

carried out by composing room craftsmen, including 

word hyphenation and margin determination.

Phototypesetting is another major innovation affecting composing room operations and involves typesetting 

by photographic processes which are significantly faster 

than the conventional “hot metal” method. Phototypesetting systems will be introduced more widely in 

medium- and large-sized newspapers and book and 

periodical printers. Other innovations affecting manpower and productivity in printing firms that are 

expected to be diffused more widely include new 

platemaking methods and materials, automatic plate 

processors, electronic methods to separate color in color 

printing, automatic equipment to process films in 

making negatives, automatic electronic controls and 

higher speeds on printing presses, and automatic mailroom equipment.

Implementing new printing technology did not

require a substantial amount o f technical manpower and

generally did not take a long time. Planning for new 

equipment at most survey plants was undertaken by a 

small group of high level management employees, 

including shop foremen in some instances. Most of the 

engineering and installation effort was performed by 

staff provided by the supplier of the new technology, 

the size and composition of the team depending upon 

the type of equipment purchased and the complexity of 

the installation. General-purpose computers were among 

the most complicated new technologies to implement 

since they required a large amount of programing effort 

and specialized peripheral equipment.

Adoption o f new printing technologies is encouraged

by lowered production costs, higher quality, and faster

output. The cost of new technology varied widely at 

survey plants, depending upon the type of equipment

installed, the nature and complexity of the application, 

and the type and size of the user firm. Costs of 

computers, for example, ranged from $22,000 for a 

small special-purpose computer at a local newspaper to 

$610,000 for an advanced model, general-purpose computer at a commercial printer.

Some of the more important objectives for introducing new technologies at the survey plants were to 

increase the quality of product, expand output, reduce 

labor costs, increase operating capabilities, and reduce 

waste.

All the plants achieved most of the gains they 

anticipated and benefits were substantial in some cases. 

Gains were achieved by increasing output per worker, 

decreasing typographical errors, reducing paper costs and 

makeready time, decreasing labor costs, and increasing 

output.

Total employment at survey printing firms generally

had increased, although occupations and skills o f

employees working with new technology had been

altered. In departments where new technology had been 

introduced, however, the employment situation was 

mixed: in some units employment was higher; in others, 

lower levels were reported. Significant reductions in unit 

labor requirements in some instances followed introduction of technology, with the largest productivity gains 

occurring in newspaper mailroom operations. Only six 

full-time employees were involuntarily separated (and 

later reinstated) and none were down graded at the nine 

firms included in the study.

Occupations and skills in all of the major production 

steps of composition platemeking, presswork, and 

newspaper mailroom operations are undergoing change. 

In survey printing firms, linecasting machine operator 

positions were being eliminated; computer programer 

and related jobs were being added; and composing room 

employees were being retrained in photographic 

methods, in typing skills to prepare tapes used to 

operate computers and phototypesetters, and in maintenance procedures for electronic equipment. The use of 

computers has simplified keypunch operations in tape 

preparation, reduced errors, and improved productivity 

In platemaking and press operations, new equipment and 

methods require more technical skill and less of the 

traditional craft skills. In the mailroom, manual tasks

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associated with counting, handling, and tying newspapers are being drastically decreased through the 

growing use of automatic equipment.

Training workers to function with new printing

technology was essential and. has been the forem ost

method o f manpower adjustment. Training was provided 

by major unions, industry associations, vocational 

schools, equipment manufacturers, and printing firms. In 

the shift from hot metal composition to computers and 

phototypesetters, many employees received on-the-job 

instruction, lasting from 1 week to 15 months; some 

attended classes at the computer manufacturer’s school.

New printing technology has focused attention on

techniques to maintain job security. Printing unions 

generally favor technological change, provided measures 

are undertaken to protect members from displacement 

and other adverse effects. Collective bargaining agreements at unionized survey plants and in the industry 

generally contain provisions applicable when new technology is introduced, including those relating to jurisdiction, advance notice, training, selecting employees for 

new jobs, layoffs, and severance pay. At the nine firms 

surveyed, substantial advance manpower planning was 

undertaken, including providing notice up to 3 years 

prior to the installation of new printing equipment, 

selecting employees to staff new computer and related

positions, determining wage rates for new and modified 

positions, and providing training to employees whose job 

duties were modified.

The outlook for new technology in the printing

industry is for significant growth. By 1980, industry 

experts optimistically forecast that nearly all newspapers 

in the United States will be using computers for 

composing room and various business data processing 

operations. The diffusion of computers in commercial 

printing is expected to be slower.

New printing technology will continue to affect

employment and job skills during the decade o f the

1 9 7 0 ’s. Total employment in printing is expected to 

increase over the next decade. In the newspaper segment, however, employment is projected to be lower by 

1980 because of the impact of new technology. As 

technology becomes more sophisticated, more professional managers, engineers, technicians, and computer 

personnel will be needed, and composing room 

employees increasingly will need to acquire skills in 

keypunching, photography, and electronics. Although 

limited displacement of compositors, typesetters, electrotypers and stereotypers, and others is expected, the 

impact may be eased as demand for printed products 

increases and attrition and training facilitate manpower 

adjustments.

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Chapter 1. The Printing Industry's Importance in the Economy

The printing and publishing industry is a major U.S. 

industry, employing over 1 million workers. It is 

characterized by the predominance of small firms and 

the presence of strong craft unions. Economic trends in 

the industry are towards increasing employment, rising 

productivity, growing capital investment, and intensified 

research and development. This chapter contains a 

definition of the industry, a description of the 

importance of the printing industry in the Nation’s 

economy, and a discussion of the major economic 

trends. It provides the background for subsequent 

chapters on changes in technology and their manpower 

implications.

Definition of the industry

According to the Bureau of the Census, the printing 

and publishing industry consists of approximately

38.000 establishments, of which about 4 out of 5 

employ fewer than 20 workers.

The U.S. Government’s Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) designates nine industry subgroups. These 

include establishments engaged in printing newspapers, 

books, periodicals, and business forms; lithographic and 

nonlithographic commercial printing; and establishments 

that perform services for the A anting trade, such as 

bookbinding, typesetting, photoengraving, and electrotyping.

This report focuses on two of the most important of 

these industry divisions: newspaper publishing and printing (SIC 271) and commercial printing (SIC 275). Each 

of these two divisions employs about one-third of the 

total industry’s work force, and both are undergoing 

significant technological change.

Em ploym ent

In 1971, there were nearly 1.1 million employees in 

the printing and publishing industry—approximately

367.000 more than in 1947. This constituted a 51 

percent growth in printing industry employment, in 

contrast to a 20 percent growth in employment in 

manufacturing as a whole, and a 12 percent gain in 

employment in nondurable goods.

As shown in table 1, employment in the industry 

grew at an annual rate of 1.8 percent from 1947 to 

1971. Employment in newspapers grew by a slightly 

lower rate—1.5 percent a year. The greatest difference in 

growth rates was between the two major sectors of 

commercial printing-nonlithographic and lithographic. 

Employment in nonlithographic commercial printing 

grew at an annual rate of less than 1 percent, while in 

lithographic commercial printing, although smaller in 

absolute terms, employment maintained a growth rate of 

4.4 percent a year.

About 22 percent of all printing employees work in 

printing craft occupations; the remaining 78 percent are 

employed in positions such as clerks, salesmen, general 

office workers, reporters and editors, and managers.

Table 1. Em ploym ent in printing and publishing,

selected subgroups and periods, 1947-71

Total

printing

and

publishing

Commercial

printing

Period Newspapers Except

lithographic

Lithographic

NUMBER OF

EMPLOYEES

(thousands)

1947 ....................... 721.0 248.5 179.8 49.5

1958 ....................... 872.6 314.1 194.0 73.7

1971 ....................... 1,087.7 370.0 209.1 128.2

PERCENT

CHANGE

1947-71 ................... 50.9 48.9 16.3 159.0

1947-58 ............... 21.0 26.4 79 48.9

1958-71 ............... 24.7 17.8 7.8 73.9

ANNUAL RATE

OF CHANGE

1947-71..................... 1.8 1.5 0.7 4.4

1947-58 ............... 1.9 1.9 1.1 4.1

1958-71 ............... 2.0 1.4 0.8 4.7

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Production and productivity

An index of productivity for printing and publishing 

is not published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

primarily because output data for the industry are 

limited. Physical output data are poor or nonexistent 

and, although value of shipments data exist, appropriate 

deflators are not available.

The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) publishes an index 

of production which, while not reliable enough to be 

used in the construction of productivity indexes, nonetheless can be useful as an approximation of the 

magnitude of change in production. From 1954 to 1971, 

production (FRB index) in total printing and publishing 

nearly doubled—an increase of 91 percent, or an average 

of 4.2 percent per year—as demand for printed materials 

rose with expansion of population, business activity, 

income levels, and leisure time. In contrast, the increase 

in total employment (BLS data) over this period was 34 

percent or 1.8 percent per year, substantially below the 

rate of growth of production. (See table 2.) Although 

definitive measurements of productivity for the industry 

are not available, these figures do suggest an improvement in manpower utilization during the 1954—71 

period as new and more productive equipment was 

introduced into printing establishments.

Capital spending

Printing firms spent $982 million for new plant and 

equipment in 1971.1 Average capital expenditures per 

employee—one indicator of the pace of technological 

change— have been rising. (See table 3.) Data on value of 

capital stock in place—considered a more valid indicator 

of technological change than annual capital expenditures-are not available for printing and publishing.

In 1947, the three industry subgroups of newspapers, 

nonlithographic commercial printing, and lithographic 

commercial printing had greater capital expenditures per 

employee than the industry as a whole.

By 1971, this situation had changed considerably. 

Expenditures for newspapers and nonlithographic commercial printing fell below the $903 per employee 

industry average. Expenditures in lithographic commercial printing, however, rose to a figure in excess of 

$1,500 per employee—well above the industry average. 

Moreover, total capital expenditures in lithographic 

commercial printing in 1971 ($197 million) reversed the 

past pattern and exceeded the total for nonlithographic 

printing ($154 million).

The relatively large gain in capital expenditures per 

b u r e a u o f the Census.

Table 2. Production and employment in printing and

publishing, 1954-71

Period Production

Employment

(all employees)

INDEX, 1967=100

1954 ........................................ 53.6 77.7

1955 ........................................ 59.0 79.7

1956 ........................................ 62.7 82.3

1957 ........................................ 64.9 83.0

1958 ........................................ 63.3 83.3

1959 ........................................ 67.6 84.8

1960 ........................................ 70.4 87.0

1961 ........................................ 70.7 87.5

1962 ........................................ 73.3 88.4

1963 ........................................ 77.1 88.8

1964 ........................................ 83.6 90.8

1965 ........................................ 89.5 93.5

1966 ........................................ 98.1 97.1

1967 ........................................ 100.0 100.0

1968 ........................................ 103.0 101.7

1969 ........................................ 105.7 104.3

1970 ........................................ 104.1 105.6

1971 ........................................ 102.5 103.8

PERCENT

CHANGE

1954-71 .................................... 91.2 33.6

1954-63 ............................... 43.8 14.3

1963-71 ............................... 32.9 16.9

ANNUAL RATE

OF CHANGE

1954-71 .................................... 4.2 1.8

1954-63 ............................... 3.5 1.5

1963-71 ............................... 3.7 2.3

SOURCE: Federal Reserve Board and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

employee in commercial lithographic printing between 

1947 and 1963 (an increase of 144 percent) probably 

reflected the introduction of such new technologies as 

phototypesetting and web-offset presses into commercial 

lithographic printing during the 1950’sand early 1960’s.

The wave of new technology that caused the large 

growth in commercial lithographic printing spread to 

newspapers in the early 1960’s. Average expenditures for 

new plant and equipment per newspaper employee 

increased from $411 in 1963 to $742 in 1971 Total 

capital expenditures more than doubled while employment increased by 12 percent.

Research and development

Research and development (R&D) activities are increasing, although it is estimated that for the total

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Table 3. Expenditures for new plant and equipment

in printing and publishing, selected subgroups and

periods, 1947-71

Total

Commercial printing

Period

printing

and

publishing

Newspapers

Except

lithographic

Lithographic

DOLLARS

PER

EMPLOYEE

1947 ................. $313.96 $328.30 $337.47 $ 351.25

1963 ................. 498.50 411.07 505.35 858.26

19711 ............... 903.19 742.16 734.10 1,539.00

PERCENT

CHANGE

1947-71 ............. 187.7 126.1 117.5 338.1

1947-63 ........ 58.8 25.2 49.7 144.3

1963-711 ___ 81.2 80.5 45.3 79.3

1 Preliminary.

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

printing industry only 1 percent or less of each sales 

dollar goes into R&D. In commercial printing, the 

proportion spent for R&D is reportedly well below the 

1 percent industry average.2

Most R&D is carried out by equipment and material 

manufacturers, trade associations, industry and 

independent research organizations, and a rather small 

number of medium to large-sized printing firms with the 

capital and willingness to experiment. The number of 

printing and publishing firms with in-plant research 

departments increased during the 1960’s and this trend 

is expected to continue.3

Traditional manufacturers of printing equipment and 

printing materials have hastened their development of

new products, and firms not generally associated with 

the printing industry—such as computer manufacturers— 

are developing new products for the industry. Possibly 

the entry of new firms into the manufacture of printing 

equipment prodded the traditional manufacturers to 

greater development activity than would have occurred 

otherwise.

Other sources of R&D are trade associations, such 

as the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers, the Technical Association of the Pulp and 

Paper Industry, the Institute of Paper Chemistry, and 

the American Newspaper Publishers Association, which 

have sponsored research and, in the case of the ANPA 

Research Institute, have performed research.

Research organizations—both industry-supported and 

independent—are very important sources ofR&D. 

Among the industry-supported organizations are the 

Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, Gravure Research, 

Inc., The Book Manufacturer’s Institute, and the Photoengraver’s Research Institute. Independent research 

institutes that conduct research on a contract basis 

include the Battelle Memorial Institute, involved in 

printing industry research since 1934 and the developer 

of the process of xerography; the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology, which performed some of the basic 

research on the Photon phototypesetter; the Stanford 

Research Institute, presently conducting research on 

electrostatic printing; and the Rochester Institute of 

Technology, which has a comprehensive graphic arts 

training and research program.

2 U .S. Industrial O u t l o o k - 1 9 7 0 , p. 71.

3J. H om er W inkler, “ H o w R esearch and D ev elop m en t Spark 

the Printing In d u stry ,” Inland PrinterI A m erica n L ithographer,

N ovem b er 1 9 6 8 , p. 27. A lso see W inkler, “ R esearch : T h e K ey to 

G rap h ic A rts V ita lity ,” Inland P rin ter/A m erica n Lithographer,

M ay 1 9 6 9 , p p . 4 1 - 4 4 .

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Chapter 2. Key Technological Changes

New technology is being introduced in all major 

phases of printing including composing room, platemaking, pressroom, and mailroom operations. This 

chapter describes some key innovations underway in the 

industry and provides examples of their use at survey 

plants. Table 4 lists the innovations installed at the nine 

newspapers and printing plants included in the study.

Composing room

As indicated in appendix A, the printing process 

begins in a composing room where manuscript copy is 

set in type and checked for errors. Some of the p $t 

dramatic technological changes are occurring in the 

composing room where approximately half of all printing craftsmen are employed. Important among the 

innovations being introduced are (1) typesetting computers, (2) high speed electronic phototypesetting,

(3) strike-on typesetting, and (4) optical character 

recognition.

Computers for typesetting. Computers can perform 

several important composing room operations that 

traditionally have been performed by highly skilled 

composing room employees. The most common applications are automatic margin setting (justification) and 

word hyphenation.

The diffusion of typesetting computers has been 

proceeding at a rapid pace. According to Composition 

Information Services, Inc., typesetting computer installations in the United States increased from 98 in 1964 to 

663 in 1968—a gain of nearly 600 percent.4 As demand 

for new printing technology grows, major computer 

manufacturers increasingly are entering the printing 

industry market which previously had been supplied 

primarily by two large printing machinery firms.

Newspapers are the largest users of typesetting 

computers, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total 

installations.

Generally, composing room computers are divided 

into two classes: special-purpose and general-purpose

4 C IS S u rvey o f C o m p u terized T y p e se ttin g , C o m p o sitio n 

In fo rm a tio n Services, L os A n geles, O c to b e r 1 5 ,1 9 6 8 .

machines. Special-purpose computers are small, simple 

machines designed to justify copy. Some special-purpose 

computers also can hyphenate words, but the inclusion 

of this capability adds to the complexity and expense of 

the machine. The more expensive general-purpose computers can perform, in addition to justification and 

hyphenation, many noncomposition operations, such as 

accounting, payroll preparation, and customer billing. 

Thus, one general-purpose computer can be used for a 

variety of business data processing and production 

needs.

In composing room operations, computer input is 

either magnetic or punched paper tape. Punched paper 

tape is more widely used, primarily because it was 

commonly used to operate conventional typesetting 

machinery. Tape is punched on teletypesetter equipment 

or on the newer tape-punching machines that utilize a 

typewriter keyboard. The latter are probably somewhat 

faster and easier for new employees to operate since 

anyone who can use a typewriter can leam to use the 

relatively simple extra keys and controls. In contrast, the 

tele typesetter keyboard is entirely different, requiring 

operators to be specially trained.

In preparing copy for computer justification and 

hyphenation, the operator first types instruction codes, 

such as line length and spacing, and then types the 

manuscript without regard to line length and hyphenation. The result is a reel of “unfinished” tape that is 

ready for computer processing. The computer performs 

all the necessary typesetting functions and puts out 

“finished” tape that can operate automatic hot metal or 

photographic typesetting machines.

A secretary with average typing skills—with only a 

small amount of training—can type unfinished tape on 

an electric typewriter and feed the tape into a computer 

for processing. Consequently, skilled composing room 

craftsmen who have traditionally set type can be 

bypassed and the work can be completed faster and 

reportedly at lower cost. ,

Computers were being used for composing room 

operations at seven of the nine printing firms contacted 

for information. The two large metropolitan dailies were 

using advanced general-purpose computers to perform 

hyphenation and justification as well as general business 

tasks. One of these newspapers also was using its

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Table 4. Advanced equipment and techniques in use at newspapers and printing plants visited

Type of plant

Computerized

typesetting

Phototypesetting

Optical

character

recognition

Automatic

stereotype

platemaking

machines

Plastic

printing

plates

Newspaper:

Large metropolitan

daily ......................

Small local daily 

Large metropolitan

daily ......................

Small local daily 

Small local daily

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

l

X

Commercial printing plant: 

Publications printer 

(books, magazines,

pamphlets)...............

Typesetting plant for 

books

(mainly textbooks) ■ 

Typesetting plant for 

directories, catalogs,

etc............................

Publications printer 

(mainly magazines)

Newspaper:

Large metropolitan

d a ily ....................

Small local daily . . 

Large metropolitan

d a ily ....................

Small local daily . . 

Small local daily . .

x x

x x

x

Automatic

film

processing

x

Weboffset

press

Advanced

press

controls

Automatic

mailroom

equipment

Commercial printing plant: 

Publications printer 

(books, magazines,

pam phlets)..................

Typesetting plant for 

books

(mainly textbooks) . . . 

Typesetting plant for 

directories, catalogs,

etc.................................

Publications printer 

(mainly magazines) . . .

x x x

Experimental.

SOURCE: Plant visits.

computer system for press control and mailroom operations.

A local newspaper visited was using a small specialpurpose computer for justification only; another local 

paper in the survey, an innovator in the industry, was 

using a highly sophisticated computer system in connection with data transmission. The latter newspaper, then 

the headquarters of a statewide chain of local newspapers, installed a large general-purpose computer for 

typesetting and set up a data transmission network 

linking the computer to a number of its other papers. 

The newspapers in the system transmitted “unfinished”

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copy directly to the computer, which performed 

hyphenation and justification, and sent “finished” copy 

back to the originator’s terminal where tape was 

punched for use in automatic typesetting machines.

Two commercial printers contacted were using 

special-purpose computers: a book typesetting plant for 

hyphenation and justification, and a publications printer 

for justification only. A directory typesetter, on the 

other hand, had installed a powerful third-generation 

general-purpose computer to be used with an advanced 

third-generation phototypesetter.

Phototypography. Another important innovation in the 

printing industry is typesetting by photographic 

processes (phototypesetting), a much faster technique 

than hot metal typesetting which it is displacing. The 

most advanced automatic hot metal typesetting 

machines can set 7 to 10 type characters a second, 

compared with computerized phototypesetters which 

operate at speeds up to 1,000 characters a second.

In phototypesetting, type is set on photographic film 

or paper rather than in metal. The brass molds used in 

hot metal typesetting are replaced, in all but the new 

cathode ray tube models, by photographic negatives 

called “matrices.” Depending upon the machine used, a 

mat rice may be small and contain only one character, or 

larger, containing one or more complete alphabets. The 

desired character is alined between a light source and a 

lens, and its image is exposed through the lens, onto film 

or paper. By changing the position of the lens, or using 

different lenses, the character can be exposed in a 

variety of different sizes. When the film or paper is 

exposed, it is developed and used to make printing 

plates.

Three generations of phototypesetters currently are 

in use. The earliest are mechanical, keyboard-operated 

machines that select and expose one character at a time 

at speeds up to 10 characters a second. Second-gene ration phototypesetters are electro-mechanical machines 

that usually are tape-operated, rather than manually 

controlled. These machines use matrices that contain 

one or more complete alphabets (sometimes referred to 

as “grids”), rather than single-character matrices, and 

expose 10 to 30 characters a second.

The recently developed third-generation machines 

operate by more advanced electronic principles. These 

machines generate characters from matrices or digital 

information stored in a computer and display them on a 

cathode ray tube (CRT) similar to a TV picture tube. 

The characters, as they appear on the face of the tube, 

are picked up by the lens and are exposed onto 

photographic film or paper. These machines can turn out

1,000 characters a second, and compose entire pages 

instead of a line at a time. Because of their speed and

complexity, CRT typesetters regularly use computers to 

“input” data, institute commands, and generate type 

characters.

In the mid-1960’s, an estimated 1,000 phototypesetting machines, performing about 2 percent of total 

typesetting, were in use; by early 1973, however, 

installations had risen substantially, with an estimated

10,000 phototypesetting machines performing about 35 

percent of all typesetting.5

Phototypesetting offers several major economic 

advantages which make the process highly attractive for 

use by newspapers. It operates at a typesetting speed 

unattainable by hot metal processes, especially when 

phototypesetting equipment is linked to a computer. 

The machine error rate for computerized phototypesetting is generally lower than for hot metal typesetting. 

Manpower requirements in the composing room can also 

be reduced with computers and phototypesetters. Some 

of these economic advantages, however, can be realized 

without shifting completely to a computerized phototypesetting system by using computers to drive hot 

metal typesetting machines or using phototypesetting 

without a computer in applications such as setting 

advertisements.

Three of the newspaper and two of the commercial 

printers in the study were using phototypesetting equipment at the time of visit. Three newspapers were using 

second-generation phototypesetters. In addition, one of 

the newspapers was experimenting with a third-generation (cathode ray tube) unit, although it was not fully 

operational at the time of visit.

Among the commercial printers, a book typesetter 

was using both first- and second-generation units and 

found them suitable to its operations. A directory 

typesetter had just replaced a second-generation computerized phototypesetter system with an advanced 

system incorporating a large computer and a cathode ray 

tube phototypesetter. This firm was changing and 

updating catalogs, directories, and price lists, jobs which 

lend themselves to processing by a high speed thirdgeneration computerized phototypesetting system.

Strike-on. This composing system utilizes typewriter-like 

typesetting equipment which produces justified text 

composition in a limited range of styles and sizes. Text 

copy is produced by impacting the image through a 

carbon ribbon onto proofing paper (in the same way 

that a letter is typed on a typewriter). The proofing 

paper is then ready for assembly with headliner and 

artwork, after which it is photographed and made into a 

printing plate.

SK o d a k H ighlights, F ebru ary 1 9 7 3 , p. 9. P ublish ed b y the 

Eastm an K o d a k C o m p a n y , R o ch e ste r, N ew Y o rk .

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High speed phototypesetting machine

Strike-on, or “cold type” composition, is a popular 

means of producing composition where cost is a more 

important factor than quality. The system has the 

potential for bypassing many of the traditional composing room operations by allowing a typist, with some 

additional training and using fairly simple typesetting 

equipment, to prepare text copy. Because of its low 

cost, and the ease with which copy can be produced, the 

strike-on method has found increased acceptance in 

typographic firms, the composing rooms of some commercial printers, and in-house composing departments.

Optical character recognition. Optical character recognition (OCR) equipment is a composing room innovation 

that may become more important in the future. This 

equipment consists of electro-optical devices using 

photoelectric cells to compare characters on the copy to 

characters programed into the computer memory of the 

scanners. Each character is identified and translated into 

an electronic signal that operates the tape-punching 

equipment. OCR equipment is designed to “read” copy 

at rates of 75 to 3,200 characters a second and translate 

it into unjustified tape which can be fed into a computer 

for justification.

This innovation is an attempt to bypass the worst 

bottleneck in composing room operations, the manual 

manipulation of a keyboard to prepare punched paper 

tape for computer and typesetter input. Eventually, 

OCR equipment may be able to read any style of type 

set before it, even handwritten copy. At present, 

however, scanners are in limited use since they have 

many operational limitations and are very expensive.

One local newspaper, the headquarters of a highly 

innovative chain, was using two optical scanners in 

conjunction with its computerized typesetting system. 

This was a pioneer installation of this technology in the 

newspaper industry. Originally only one scanner was 

installed; however, when it proved unreliable, a backup 

unit was added. Because of the high speed operation and 

great cost of the scanners, utilizing their full capabilities 

economically was difficult. The scanning system could 

handle much more copy than the newspaper was able to 

generate.

Platemaking

Platemaking technology is undergoing significant 

change. Most of the innovations involve photographic

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forms of platemaking used by all three major printing 

processes—lithography, letterpress, and gravure.

Lithographic platemaking has increased in the past 

decade because lithographic printing—especially weboffset—has grown so rapidly. Most of the growth has 

been in commercial printing, but some of it is due to the 

adaptation of web-offset by small- and medium-sized 

newspapers.

To make a conventional offset plate, a thin metal 

sheet (usually aluminum) is coated with light-sensitive 

chemicals, and the copy negative exposed onto it by use 

of a strong arc light. The light-sensitive chemical is 

hardened in the image area, becoming insoluble to water, 

and the plate is coated with a special ink—receptive 

lacquer that adheres to the hardened chemical. The plate 

is washed in water to clean the lacquer and nonhardened 

water-soluble chemical from all parts of the plate not 

carrying the image. Thus, only the image area retains the 

lacquer and remains receptive to ink.

Precoated plates are available which reduce plate 

preparation work. The most advanced plate comes with 

a presensitized, water-receptive coating. This plate can 

be unpackaged and exposed to a film negative for about 

2 minutes, and is ready for the press—no addition of 

chemicals or washing or drying is needed. This method 

of platemaking contrasts greatly with the more 

complicated and time-consuming techniques needed to 

make the heavy lead stereotype plates for conventional 

letterpress printing.

Letterpress printing with plastic printing plates. The 

introduction of plastic printing plates for letterpress 

printing is another development that may prove to be of 

major importance in the printing industry. Although a 

large amount of letterpress equipment is presently in 

use, competition from web-offset printing presses used 

in conjunction with phototypesetting has made major 

inroads into letterpress printing. With the significant 

amount of capital invested in existing letterpress equipment, much research and development effort has been 

undertaken to upgrade and modernize the letterpress 

process; the plastic plate is the most important result of 

that effort.

The first widely used plastic printing plate was 

introduced in the early 1950’s. It can be used for black 

and white or color printing, electrolytically plated for 

long press runs, and used on rotary presses. Plastic 

printing plates offer excellent ink transfer characteristics 

(using slightly less ink than conventional metal plates), 

and reduce makeready time in some applications. 

Although the plate has received considerable acceptance 

in most of the printing industry, thus far most newspapers have found them uneconomical because they are

expensive and time-consuming to make.

The key criteria for letterpress newspaper plates are 

that they must be prepared quickly and inexpensively. 

However, the quality need not be comparable to 

commercial printing plates because, with the possible 

exception of some advertisements, they are used for one 

edition only.

The recent introduction of two new printing plates 

made of thin, flexible plastic may fulfill these criteria 

and result in their future application in newspaper 

printing. One type of plate is made by photographic 

processes, and this capacity is being developed for the 

other plate system, allowing phototypesetting, with its 

laborsaving potential, to be combined with existing 

letterpress printing presses. The cost and the time 

required to prepare the newer plastic printing plates are 

about the same as for stereotype plates, but printing 

quality of the plastic plates is superior, press life is 

longer, ink transfer characteristics are better, and handling and storing are easier due to their light weight.

One of the large metropolitan daily newspapers 

visited was experimenting with the newer plastic plate 

system. Although the platemaking equipment was operational at the time of visit, results on the press were not 

yet satisfactory. Company officials, however, were 

optimistic about the eventual success of this system for 

newspaper letterpress printing.

Letterpress printing with stereotype platemaking.

Several advances also have been introduced in conventional stereotype platemaking for letterpress printing. 

These include more highly automated platemaking 

machines which produce original and duplicate plates 

quickly and inexpensively, and automatic routing equipment to remove irregularities in non-image areas much 

faster than hand methods. This type of equipment was 

in use at the two large daily newspapers visited. Despite 

these advances, stereotyping is expected to decline in use 

because of the growing competition from lithographic 

printing and the potential competition from plastic 

plates.

Gravure printing. Gravure is a specialized form of 

photoengraving used mainly for high quality magazines 

and books and for packaging. The gravure printing plate 

is a hollow cylinder, usually made of steel or cast iron, 

and is electrolytically plated with copper. Large gravure 

cylinders are over 100 inches long and can weigh almost 

a ton. Press life for the cylinder can extend into the 

millions of impressions, and operating speed for web-fed 

(rotogravure) presses can exceed 2,000 feet a minute.

The main advantage of gravure printing is long run 

production with high quality printing. This is especially

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true for color printing, because gravure puts a thicker 

layer of ink on the paper than any other process that 

operates at a comparable speed. Disadvantages include 

the relatively high cost and the large amount of time and 

handwork needed to prepare cylinders. Due to their size 

and weight, the cylinders are difficult to handle, plate 

changes cannot be made easily, and cylinder storage can 

be a problem.

Gravure may be on the edge of rapid growth. Demand 

is strong for the high quality color printing that gravure 

can provide. All of the advances in film processing such 

as color separation, automatic developing, and electronic 

etching apply to gravure. Research on new gravure 

techniques is underway with laser etching of gravure 

cylinders a major innovation under study.

Electronic color separation. In color printing, the colors 

must be separated from each other photographically and 

a printing plate made for each color. Each plate, 

therefore, contains a segment of the total image to be 

printed. Color separation, until recently, has remained 

essentially a hand process-time-consuming, fairly costly 

because of high labor input, and requiring highly skilled 

craftsmen. Color separation has long been a bottleneck 

in color printing and the problem has become particularly acute in recent years because the demand for 

color printing has increased greatly.

A solution to this problem has been the introduction 

of electronic color separation (or color scanning) equipment. These machines convert light from color copy into 

electronic signals that can be used to expose the 

separation films. Color scanners do not eliminate all of 

the time-consuming handwork involved in color separation, and they do not greatly reduce color preparation 

costs. But, when used as part of a color separation and 

correction system, scanners can reduce substantially the 

amount of manual preparation work and skill required. 

They are faster than conventional procedures; color 

separations that require several hours of work by 

conventional camera methods, for example, can be 

accomplished in considerably less time with a scanner. 

Moreover, their output is more uniform and predictable 

than conventional hand processes and at least equal in 

quality.

Automatic film processing systems. As with color 

separation, conventional film developing to make negatives used for platemaking has involved a considerable 

amount of manual work. Automatically controlled film 

processing systems, becoming widely used, provide high 

quality developing with less manual work and lower 

processing costs. Their major advantage, however, is in 

the uniformity of output. They standardize and control

quality but require no special skills. Automatic film 

processing units are operating satisfactorily at a local 

newspaper and a publications printer visited as part of 

the survey.

Other innovations. Electronic engraving equipment— 

primarily for making gravure cylinders—scans copy in a 

fashion similar to electronic color separators, but uses 

the electronic signals to operate a sharp stylus that 

automatically engraves printing plates at very high 

speeds. These systems are being used extensively in 

Europe, and their use is growing rapidly in the United 

States. Several copy-to-plate camera systems exist that 

automatically photograph copy and make plates. 

Although copy-to-plate systems are not yet completely 

perfected, they do eliminate negatives and developing 

and stripping operations.

Press operations

The two most significant changes in press operations 

in the past two decades have been the shift from 

web-letterpress and sheet-offset to web-offset presses, 

and the application of advanced electronic systems to 

make the controls of presses more automatic.

Web-offset presses. Web-fed printing presses have been 

used for many years in letterpress and gravure printing, 

but web-fed offset presses did not come into use until 

the early 1940’s, when they were developed specifically 

for printing business forms. In the 1950’s, web-offset 

expanded into commercial printing and book and 

magazine publishing. Small weekly and daily newspapers 

began to convert to web-offset in the early 1960’s. By 

1970, 47 percent of the 1,400 daily newspaper printing 

plants and 41 percent of the 6,165 weekly newspaper 

printing plants were using web-offset presses.6 This 

trend is expected to continue until about 90 percent of 

all newspapers in the country are printed by lithography.

For newspapers, web-offset offers several advantages 

over web-letterpress. Web-offset provides a much higher 

quality of newspaper printing than does letterpress— 

especially in printing photographs for both editorial and 

advertising purposes. Also, makeready time for weboffset is lower and operating speeds are higher than for 

letterpress. Manufacturers have developed a number of 

web-offset presses to meet the specific needs of small- to 

medium-sized newspapers.

Sheet-fed lithography, never an important factor in 

newspaper printing, has importance in other sectors of 

the industry. In commercial printing, the sheet-fed

6 American Press, March 1970.

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I

Modern web-offset newspaper press

method reached its peak in the early 1960’s, then 

declined under the impact of the web-fed method, which 

has the advantages of faster press speeds and less paper 

handling.

The two small local newspapers included in the study 

switched from web-letterpress to web-offset presses to 

gain printing quality. One of these newspapers changed 

over when it moved to a new building and found that a 

new web-offset press cost very little more than a 

reconditioned web-letterpress. The other newspaper 

switched as part of a general shift to a computerized 

phototypesetting system which is more compatible with 

offset printing than with letterpress printing.

A publications printer contacted for information was 

a pioneer in the use of web-offset presses for commercial 

color printing. This firm felt that the quality of 

web-offset printing was as good as that from the 

sheet-fed offset presses that it had been using; therefore, 

when it needed additional capacity, it installed weboffset presses.

Other press operations. Improved instrumentation and 

highly automatic electronic control and monitoring 

equipment for printing presses are being introduced.

New ultraviolet inks and ultraviolet ink-curing systems 

and hardware are being adopted increasingly, particularly for web-offset printing. Ink/water balance 

controls (for offset presses) are the most automated to 

date, and improvements are progressing on web-tension, 

register, and color controls, and in peripheral equipment 

such as microwave dryers, automatic folders, and flying 

pasters. The complete operation of a printing press by 

remote control computers is foreseeable, but only at 

such a great cost that there would probably be no 

economic justification for such an installation. One of 

the large newspapers visited, however, uses its computer 

system to control press speed. Another large newspaper 

surveyed has an automatic system for counting the 

number of papers printed and shutting down the presses 

at the proper time to reduce overruns.

Mailroom

A number of innovations in newspaper mailrooms are 

providing significant laborsavings. One of the more 

important advances is the counter-stacker, which counts 

finished newspapers, stacks them in piles of a specified

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number, and ties them into bundles automatically. This 

equipment is used by three newspapers visited. High 

speed conveyor systems, in some cases computercontrolled, are used by many newspapers to send the

correct number of bundles to trucks for distribution. 

Mechanized inserting machines have reduced much of 

the manual labor required to assemble large newspaper 

editions.

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Chapter 3. Introducing New Technology at Survey Plants

Introducing new printing technology generally 

involves arriving at the decision to undertake the change, 

forming a management team to implement the conversion, and undertaking the technical and manpower 

planning required to ensure an orderly change. In this 

chapter, some techniques used by survey plants to plan 

and implement new printing technology are highlighted. 

The cost of new printing equipment installed at survey 

plants also is presented along with some examples of 

operating improvements and cost savings.

Planning

Planning for new equipment at most survey plants 

was undertaken by a small group of high level managerial 

employees. In a large newspaper, for example, the 

decision to purchase new equipment is made by a 

management team which considers any new technology 

that will make possible cheaper or faster output. The 

potential equipment is evaluated on a financial basis and 

purchased only if sufficient dollar return is anticipated. 

Therefore, no experimental equipment is considered. On 

the other hand, a small newspaper, the headquarters of a 

highly innovative chain, installed some of the most 

advanced experimental equipment available to the 

industry. While this firm expected the equipment to be 

profitable, the key criteria were improved volume and 

quality of product. In another small newspaper, when 

the publisher decides that new equipment is needed, the 

general manager and the foreman of the affected 

department visit other newspapers already using the 

equipment to evaluate different types of installations. 

They report back to the publisher who makes the final 

decision. At a book typesetting firm, the director of 

research performs evaluation studies on new equipment 

based on factors such as capacity, cost, and return on 

investment. Management bases the decision to purchase 

on these studies.

Installation

Once a printing firm decides to acquire the equipment, most of the engineering and installation effort is 

provided by the supplier, who sends in a team to

accomplish the installation. The size and composition of 

this team depend upon the type of equipment purchased 

and the complexity of the installation. Installing new 

web-offset presses in a survey publications printing plant 

averaged about 2 months per press and required a 

four-man crew supplied by the manufacturer. The 

production manager or his assistant spent the 2 months 

on a full-time basis supervising the installation and 

testing the operation of the new press and was involved, 

on a part-time basis, for about 6 months after installation to assure successful operation. When press operations began, the manufacturer assigned about five 

mechanics and instructors to the plant for several weeks 

to answer questions and correct minor problems. If 

serious difficulties arose, an engineer was made available 

by the equipment supplier to assist the team.

Installing special-purpose computers at survey plants 

generally was a simple operation. At one plant, for 

example, the computer was delivered, installed, and 

made operational in 1 day. At another plant, however, 

where an installation of a special-purpose computer was 

undertaken, six vendor employees spent about 3 months 

trying to de-bug a system. Programing was supplied by 

the computer vendor for all three special-purpose computer installations at survey plants. In only one case 

were programing modifications undertaken by the user.

General-purpose computer installations were more 

complicated since many more data processing functions 

were involved and specialized peripheral equipment was 

needed. These systems required a large amount of 

programing effort. While some of the programing was 

supplied by the vendor, a significant amount was 

provided by user staff. All four survey firms using 

general-purpose computers, for example, had programing 

departments for their computer systems. The staffs of 

these departments worked with the vendor’s programers 

and systems analysts in preparing programs for the 

computer. They continued to work on programs for 

day-to-day operations and special applications after the 

vendor team left.

Costs and benefits

Introducing new printing technology at survey plants 

generally involved a substantial investment which was

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undertaken only after careful consideration of costs and 

anticipated benefits. Nearly all of the equipment was 

purchased rather than rented from the equipment 

manufacturers. The exception was a large metropolitan 

daily newspaper which chose to rent rather than buy its 

general-purpose computers.

The cost of new technology varied widely at survey 

plants, with the volume of investment depending upon 

the type of equipment installed, the nature and complexity of the application, and the type and size of the 

user firm. Costs of computers, for example, ranged from 

$22,000 for a small special-purpose computer at a local 

newspaper to $610,000 for an advanced model, generalpurpose computer at a commercial printer. A small 

web-offset press for a local newspaper cost $191,000, 

while a commercial printer paid over $1 million for a

large web-offset press. As another example, a large 

metropolitan daily newspaper paid $39,000 per unit for 

second-generation phototypesetters, while a commercial 

printer paid $370,000 for one of the more advanced 

models. (See table 5 for additional information about 

the costs of new equipment at survey plants.)

Some of the more important objectives for 

introducing new technologies at survey plants were to 

increase output, reduce labor costs, and increase product 

quality. These objectives were met in varying degrees in 

all of the installations. Examples of the benefits at 

survey plants are presented below. The nature and 

extent of these improvements were influenced by factors 

such as level of output, type of innovation, and 

efficiency of the preexisting technology. These examples 

therefore should be considered as illustrative only, since

Table 5. Costs of new equipment at selected survey plants

Plant Type of equipment Cost

Large metropolitan

daily newspaper

2 general-purpose computers

2 second-generation phototypesetters

$5,000 rental per month each

$39,000 each

Small local daily newspaper Web-offset press $191,000

Camera and platemaking equipment for the press $9,300

Automatic film processing system $15,000

Small local daily newspaper Small special-purpose computer $32,500

Small special-purpose computer (back-up unit) $22,000

Mailroom counter-stacker and conveyor system $65,000

Publications printer Large color web-offset press $653,000

Large color web-offset press $1,003,800

Large color web-offset press $720,900

Large color web-offset press $969,200

Large color web-offset press $956,500

Automatic film developing system $12-15,000

Automatic platemaking equipment $30,000

Book typesetter Special-purpose computer $150,000

2 second-generation phototypesetters with 6 keyboards $ 56,000-$60,000, depending

upon how equipped

Directory and catalog typesetter General-purpose computer $610,000

Third-generation phototypesetter $370,000

Publications printer Special-purpose computer $ 59,200 (includes $1.200 for

programs)

SOURCE: Plant visits.

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they could be significantly different in plants not 

surveyed or in survey plants at different times.

At a large metropolitan daily newspaper automatic 

stereotype casting and centralized remelt equipment led 

to a decline in the number of stereotypers from 44 to 

33. Automatic press controls and sensing equipment 

reduced press overruns and unaccounted-for-newspapers 

from about 3,000—3,500 papers to 200-300 per day. 

Automatic inserting, stacking, and handling equipment 

reduced mailroom employment from 105 workers to 32. 

All of these changes occurred during a period when 

output was increasing.

At a small local daily newspaper the shift from hot 

metal letterpress printing to phototypesetting and weboffset led to better quality printing, fewer errors, and 

greater speed. A typesetting computer led to faster, 

more accurate tape-punching. These changes allowed a 

decrease of four employees in the composing room 

despite growing printing volume.

At a large metropolitan daily automatic mailroom 

equipment led to a reduction in part-time employment 

equivalent to five to six full-time workers. Computers 

and phototypesetting provided an increase of 11 percent 

in columns produced per employee over a 9-year period.

A small local daily gained greater speed, higher 

product quality, and capabilities for job printing because 

of the substitution of a web-offset press for letterpress 

equipment.

At a small local daily the introduction of a specialpurpose computer and a tape-driven hot metal typesetter 

led to a reduction in composition time, allowing the 

newspaper to reach the stands Wi hours earlier. Part of 

this gain was attributed to a decline of 35 percent in 

typographical errors. Savings in the composing room 

were estimated to be almost $12,000 per year. In the 

mailroom, automatic equipment led to a reduction of 50 

percent in employment, down from eight to four men 

on the line, with savings estimated at about $30,000 per 

year.

A large commercial publications printer shifted to 

web-offset from sheet-fed offset and gained increased 

speed with equal quality, and a reduction in makeready 

time and paper costs.

A book typesetter gained increased speed and 

capacity, higher type quality, and a reduction in 

keyboarding costs of about 20 percent with the introduction of a special-purpose computer and first- and 

second-generation phototypesetters.

At a directory and catalog typesetter the advanced 

computerized phototypesetting system was too new to 

determine specific gains.

At a publications printer the installation of a specialpurpose computer allowed typists to be used instead of 

skilled linotypers and led to a reduction in the cost of 

composition of about 12 to 15 percent below that of 

manual operations.

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Chapter 4. Employment Trends and Occupational Changes

Increasing employment in the printing industry has 

been accompanied by major changes in occupations and 

skills. In this chapter, employment trends in the major 

printing industry sectors are examined in the context of 

the impact of new technology on occupations and skills 

in the major production steps of composition, platemaking, presswork, and mailroom operations.

Em ploym ent trends

As indicated earlier, nearly 1.1 million people were 

employed in the printing and publishing industry in 

1971. The two most important industry subgroups were 

newspapers, with 370,000 employees, and commercial 

printers, with 349,000. Within commercial printing, the 

two most important groups were “commercial printing, 

except lithography” and “commercial printing, lithographic.” The nonlithographic sector accounted for

209.000 employees in 1971 and the lithographic sector 

for 128,000. (See table 1.)

Printing industry employment has grown steadily 

since 1947. Between 1947 and 1971, it increased by 

50.9 percent, compared to an increase of 19.7 percent in 

manufacturing employment. On an annual basis, as 

shown in table 1, printing and publishing employment 

increased at an average rate of 2.0 percent per year 

during the period 1958—71 compared to an average rate 

of 1.9 percent per year during 1947—58.

Employment growth rates varied considerably within 

individual sectors of the printing industry. The number 

of jobs in newspapers grew from 248,500 in 1947 to

370.000 in 1971—an increase of 48.9 percent. No data 

are available for total commercial printing over the

1947—71 period because this sector underwent a change 

in SIC definition that left the 1947 figures incompatible 

with those for 1958 and 1971. Figures are available, 

however, for the lithographic and nonlithographic 

groups, which accounted for over 96 percent of commercial printing employment in both 1958 and 1971. In 

both groups, employment increased, but at very 

different rates. Nonlithographic employment increased 

from 179,800 in 1947 to 209,100 in 1971—an increase 

of 16.3 percent. During the same period, lithographic 

employment rose from 49,500 to 128,200-an increase

of 159.0 percent. Lithography ranks as the fastest 

growing part of the printing industry.

Several sectors of the industry do not receive major 

attention in this study, including book and periodical 

printing and publishing, bookbinding, and packaging 

printing. In all of these sectors, employment increased 

from 1947 and 1971, although in no case was the 

increase as marked as in commercial lithographic 

printing.

Production workers make up a significantly smaller 

proportion of total employment in this industry than in 

manufacturing as a whole— 61 percent of total industry 

employment in 1971 compared with 72 percent for all 

manufacturing. Within the major printing and publishing 

industry subgroups, production workers in newspapers 

were a relatively low 49 percent of all employees; in 

commercial printing, except lithography, 78 percent; 

and in lithographic commercial printing, 75 percent. In 

1947, production workers constituted a larger share of 

the work force in both printing and publishing (68 

percent) and all manufacturing (84 percent).

Employment of women in the industry increased 

from 250,200 in 1959 to 353,100 in 1971, again of 41 

percent (compared with a 25 percent increase in total 

employment over this period). Women also increased as 

a percentage of all employees—from 28 percent in 1959 

to 32 percent in 1971. Part of the increased employment 

of women can probably be attributed to the increase of 

keyboard operations that are associated with computer 

and tape-ope rated photo typesetters.

Impact on occupations and skills

New technology is changing the duties and skills of 

production workers who perform composition and 

typesetting operations, prepare printing plates (including 

camera and film processing), operate printing presses, 

and carry out mailroom tasks. One major development is 

the creation of new occupations—systems analysts, 

programers, and console operators—to plan, program, 

and operate electronic computers and related equipment. Information on the nature of these and other 

changes, based on plant visits and secondary sources, is 

presented in the following text and in tables 6 and 7.

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Table 6. Technological changes in the composing room at selected survey plants

Firm Innovation Impact on employment Impact on skills

Large metropolitan daily newspaper

Computers for 

justification and 

hyphenation, and 

p h o tocom position equipment 

used for setting 

advertising copy.

Production worker employment in 1962 

(before installation of computers and 

presently used photocomposition machines) 

was 217. By 1968, it had increased to 268, a 

gain of 23.5 percent. Throughout the 6-year 

period, production workers accounted for 

88-90 percent of total composing room 

employment.

Jobs eliminated: By 1968, only four 

linecasting machine operators remained — 

men who were so close to retirement that 

they were not willing to be retrained. No 

new linecasting machine operators were to 

be hired.

There was a major skill shift from 

linecasting machine operators to keypunch 

operators. The keypunching staff consisted 

of production typists trained in computer 

codes and retrained linecasting machine 

operators.

Journeyman typesetters were retrained in 

photocomposition skills such as paste 

makeup, monitoring tape-driven photocomposition machines, and photographic film 

processing.

Jobs created: Computer programer and 

console operator positions were filled by 

retraining company employees.

Systems analysts were hired from outside 

the company, as their skills are based on a 

considerable amount of computer experience. The company did not consider it 

practical to train its own people in these 

skills until the computers had been operational for some time.

Small local daily 

newspaper 

(central newspaper in a 

chain of newspapers)

Computers for 

justification and 

hyphenation, 

leased telephone 

lines for data 

transmission 

between other 

newspapers in the 

chain, photocomposition equipm ent, optical 

scanning equipment.

The change to computerized photocomposition reduced employment by four 

people. A t the time of the BLS visit, 

composing room employment (excluding 

computer personnel but including working 

supervisors) was 114.

Jobs created: Computer programer and 

console operator positions were filled by 

retraining employees from within the 

company. The programer staff was headed 

by a former linecasting machine operator.

Five systems analysts were hired at 

different times from outside the company. 

However, their lack of familiarity with the 

printing industry made them unsatisfactory 

for the newspaper's purposes.

Most of the teletypesetter (TTS) typists 

were retrained to type input copy for the 

optical scanner. Probably, little retraining 

was required, as the scanner has reduced 

skill and training requirements— copy that is 

typed for the scanner can be read by the 

typist. In contrast, the TTS machines 

produce punched paper tape, requiring the 

operators to learn TTS code, .then "read” 

the holes in the tape.

Typesetters were retrained for photocomposition machine monitoring, paste makeup, 

and film processing operations.

Book typesetting 

firm

Computer for 

justification. 

F i rst-generation 

phototypesetting 

machine.

Secondgeneration (tapedriven) phototypesetting 

machines and 

tape-perforating 

(keypunch) units.

Work force increased from 35 people in 

1961 to 166 by 1969.

Jobs created: The computer console

operator had previously been a keypunch 

operator. She was trained to handle 

computer input and output tape and to 

operate the computer controls. As a secondary duty, this employee also did some 

keypunch work involving hyphenation of a 

sort that cannot be done by the computer.

Required new typing skills to operate 

phototypesetting machines.

Required skills to operate computer 

console.

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Table 6. Technological changes in the composing room at selected survey plants— Continued

Firm Innovation Impact on employment

Book typesetting 

firm - 

Contmued

Programing was initially provided by an 

outside programing service. Later, the firm 

switched to a freelance programer and one 

of the firm's own electronics maintenance 

employees who had learned programing 

techniques on his own. In addition to his 

programing work, the employee operated as 

an electronic trouble-shooter, which was less 

demanding of his time than straight 

maintenance work.

Impact on skills

Nine keypunch operators with typing 

experience were hired to punch tape for the 

computer. It was for one of these positions 

that the computer console operator was 

originally hired.

One of the first-generation phototypesetting machine operators with a good 

background in typography was trained to 

operate the new phototypesetting machines. 

This employee, in turn, trained 12 keypunch operators and four technicians who 

were hired to operate the new phototypesetting machines.

Directory and 

catalog typesetter

This firm had 

gone through a 

complete change 

of printing technologies and, at 

the time of the 

BLS visit, was 

undergoing a 

second change.

T h e first 

change was from 

strike-on techniques to use of a 

computer and a 

second-generation 

phototypesetter.

The second 

change consisted 

of the installation 

of a more advanced computer 

and (at the time 

of the BLS visit) 

a soon-to-beinstalled CRT 

p h oto typesetter.

A t the time of the BLS visit the firm 

employed 12 people (including the 

manager). All of these were, in a sense, new 

jobs resulting from the firm's conversion 

from strike-on typesetting to computerized 

phototypesetting. All but two employees 

had some knowledge of programing, even 

though it might not have been their primary 

job. Five employees were full-time programed. Six were in "operations'' work (as 

distinguished from programing) consisting 

of preparing tape, machine operation and 

maintenance, and the necessary peripheral 

work. The latter group was composed of 

one keyboard operator, one combination 

keyboard operator/programer, one 

machinist, one paste makeup artist, one 

operator/programer trainee, and one person 

who handled corrections, small typesetting 

jobs, and occasional programing assignments.

The hiring of 10 additional employees 

was planned within several months 

following the BLS visit. This group was to 

be in the "operations" section: six as 

keyboard operators and four as equipment 

operators.

Jobs created: The CRT machine, when 

installed, would create a new job opening— 

CRT machine operator— for someone with 

an electronics background.

Jobs eliminated: The conversion from 

strike-on typesetting to computerized 

phototypesetting had eliminated all of the 

strike-on typist positions.

The CRT phototypesetter, when 

installed, would substantially affect one job: 

the operator of the presently used phototypesetter was to become supervisor for 

both that machine and the CRT machine. 

This person had also received training in 

programing, and was to assume greater 

programing responsibilities.

The programer staff had to learn

programing techniques 

computer.

for the new

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Table 6. Technological changes in the composing room at selected survey plants— Continued

P

Firm

ublications

printer

Innovation

Computer

justification

hyphenation.

Impact on employment Impact on skills

for Total composing room employment, 

and excluding salaried employees, declined from 

97 in 1965 to 78 in 1969, but employment 

in certain occupations increased. The 

number of keyboard operators grew from 

two to seven after the computer was 

installed and three to four proofreaders 

were added.

The change in keyboard operator skills 

wrought by computers is illustrated in this 

company by the use of manually operated 

linecasting machines and automatic linecasters driven by computer-prepared tape. 

An operator who must do his own 

justification and hyphenation is expected to 

set 3,000 "ems" an hour. An operator 

punching "raw” tape that serves as computer input is expected to set 6,000 "ems” 

an hour.

Jobs created: One of the keyboard

operators was trained to operate the 

computer console and was promoted to 

supervise the other keyboard operators. The 

computer was run for 2 or 3 hours a day, so 

console operation duties were only part 

time. The balance of this employee's duties 

included training new keypunch operators 

and operating a keypunch machine.

The firm has introduced automatic 

(tape-driven) linecasting machines in addition to the manually operated linecasters 

already in use. Several linecasting machine 

operators were trained to operate and 

monitor the automatic units.

The composing room maintenance 

employee received some computer maintenance training from the computer 

manufacturer.

Large metropolitan daily newspaper

Computers for 

justification and 

hyphenation.

Secondgeneration, tapedriven phototypesetter.

T hird-generation CRT phototypesetter.

In 1958 there were approximately 280 

full-time composing room employees (334, 

including part-time employees). By 1968, 

full-time employment had increased to 312 

(354, including part-time employees).

The number of makeup employees (both 

hot metal and photographic) increased for 

two reasons: more makeup work was

necessary because of the increased amount 

of material being printed; and the 

newspaper was operating with shorter 

deadlines, allowing less time for correcting 

errors.

Most of the composing room jobs have 

been modified by the introduction of the 

computerized phototypesetting system. 

Some had to be modified to make use of the 

new equipment; in addition, the newpaper's 

management decided to develop, among the 

composing room employees, a large 

reservoir of skills in handling various facets 

of the new technologies. A half-dozen 

training courses were set up and employees 

were given the opportunity to take as many 

of the courses as they wished. Out of 315 

composing room employees, 275 received at 

least some training in new or modified job 

skills.

The number of composing room 

machinists increased due to an increase in 

the number of machines used, and to more 

intensive use of those machines.

Jobs created: Seventy people were hired 

or trained to punch tape for the computers 

(keypunch operators). Some were linecasting machine operators who were retrained in 1963-64, when the linecasting 

machines were converted to computer 

operation. By 1967 the phototypesetting 

machines had also been converted to 

computer operation, and about 80 percent 

of the phototypesetter operators decided to 

retrain for TTS operations, with the balance 

being retrained for makeup or paste makeup 

operations. Among the 70 keypunch 

operators, 40 were retrained printers 

(linecasting and phototypesetting machine 

operators) who had no previous experience 

with keyboards. Most of the remaining 

keypunch operators were hired for that 

specific ability, and needed no training.

The phototypesetting machines, used for 

setting advertising copy, modified the jobs 

of "makeup" employees, who had previously set up advertisements and laid out 

newspaper page formats in threedimensional metal type. Makeup employees 

(now classified as paste makeup) were retrained to use sheets of film and paper to 

produce the same result in two-dimensional 

form from which photographic negatives are 

made. Between 35 and 40 people were 

involved in paste makeup work.

Composing room machinists who maintained the phototypesetting machines 

received training in electronics.

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Table 6. Technological changes in the composing room at selected survey plants— Continued

Firm Innovation Impact on employment Impact on skills

Large metropolitan daily newspaper— 

Continued

The conversion to linecasting and phototypesetting machines that are operated 

entirely by computer-generated tape 

necessitated training a crew of machine 

monitors. While not a new occupation for 

the industry, it was new to this newspaper. 

Approximately 15 people were trained to 

monitor linecasting machines and five were 

trained to monitor phototypesetting 

machines.

Four programer positions and one 

systems analyst position were filled by 

retraining journeyman typesetters. The 

systems analyst was previously a composing 

room supervisor, and was trained first as a 

programer.

Small local daily 

newspaper

Specialpurpose computer for justification.Work force increased from 61 men at the 

time the computers were installed to 66 at 

the time of the BLS visit. Five composing 

room employees were added because of the 

increased output of the computer: two for 

handling corrections, one machine monitor, 

one on the collection bank, and one electrician. A retiring machinist was replaced by a 

machinist with training in electronics.

With the exception of employees who 

set type for advertising, all composing room 

employees are trained to punch tape 

(including learning to justify copy, although 

this skill is not often needed), operate the 

computers (which are relatively simple), and 

monitor automatic linecasting machines.

Computer justification has simplified 

keypunch work and has reduced typographical errors by 35 percent— the latter 

because keypunch operators, no longer 

required to do justifying, can pay more 

attention to keypunch accuracy.

C o m p o sitio n and typ e s e ttin g . Computerized typesetting 

and phototypesetting can have a considerable impact on 

the occupational structure of the composing room, 

where almost one-half of the industry’s craftsmen are 

employed. The introduction of computers into the 

typesetting process requires several new skills. New job 

functions of computer console operator and programer 

are being created, and can often be filled by retraining 

composing room employees who might otherwise be 

displaced. A large newspaper that installed computers, 

for example, staffed four programer positions with 

journeyman typesetters who were retrained in a 12-week 

course of programing classes. A relatively small number 

of systems analysts will be needed (only one was 

required by the newspaper mentioned above) and 

industry practice thus far generally has been to hire from 

outside the firm to fill these positions. One firm 

surveyed hired systems analysts from outside the 

company because it did not consider training its own 

staff a practical alternative during the early stages of 

computer installation.

The laborsaving potential of computers in producing 

tape to run automatic machines is illustrated at a survey 

firm that uses both computer-prepared tape and 

manually prepared tape. In the computerized method, 

justification and word hyphenation decisions are carried 

out automatically at high speeds to produce “ finished” 

tape. Operators preparing computer input tape are 

expected to set 6,000 ‘ems” an hour. Operators who 

must do their own justification and hyphenation are 

expected to prepare tape at a rate of 3,000 ‘ems” an 

hour.

An increasingly necessary, but perhaps not so 

obvious, skill is the ability to use a typewriter keyboard, 

in which the keys are arranged in a manner different 

from the widely used Linotype and Teletypesetter (TTS) 

keyboards. Typewriter keyboard arrangements are 

becoming standard on the more recent tape-punching 

machines that prepare input tape for computers and 

automatic typesetting machines.

Several new skills are necessary in photocomposition. 

Cold type and graphic displays must be assembled and

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pasted onto layout sheets (paste makeup). A knowledge 

of photographic processes is necessary for both setting 

copy onto film and developing the film for platemaking. 

The developed film must then be assembled and 

arranged into pages (stripping). Journeyman typesetters 

at survey plants are being retained in photocomposition 

skills such as paste makeup, monitoring tape-driven 

phototypesetting machines, and film processing.

Much of the new equipment is electronic or electromechanical in operation, rather than primarily 

mechanical. Thus, machinists who maintain new equipment generally need a good background in electronics. 

At a large metropolitan daily included in the survey, for 

example, 12 machinists primarily involved in mechanical 

maintenance activities passed a qualifying test and were 

given electronics maintenance training to provide new 

skills needed to service phototypesetting equipment.

P latem ak in g. Several changes are occurring in the making 

of printing plates that are having an impact on employment and job skills. Some are applicable to all printing 

processes, some only to particular processes.

Many printing plates are made by a photographic- N 

chemical finish process that has traditionally involved a 

great deal of handwork. Such platemaking is timeconsuming, and the quality of the final product is 

unpredictable, as it is highly dependent upon a craftsman’s skill—which is not completely consistent from job 

to job.

New technologies such as automatic film developing 

systems, electronic color separation equipment, and 

electronic engraving equipment considerably reduce the 

handwork involved in platemaking. Employees operating 

the equipment utilize less craft skill, but must learn new 

technical skills. Generally, the new equipment requires 

less time to produce a given amount of work than did 

the hand methods, but the demand for artwork and 

photographs in printing is increasing so rapidly that 

employment should not suffer. Traditionally trained 

craftsmen can be retrained to operate these new technologies, which can affect all three major printing 

processes—letterpress, gravure, and lithography.

The several letterpress plastic printing plates that are 

being developed—if successful—can cause some skill 

changes. These platemaking systems rely more heavily 

on technical skill than the traditional craft-oriented 

processes. Traditionally trained craftsmen, however, can 

be retrained to operate this equipment.

Employment in most platemaking occupations is 

expected to increase over the next 5 years. The new 

platemaking technology is more productive than its 

predecessors, and this will set some limit on employment 

growth.

Lithography, as the fastest growing printing process, 

will be responsible for most of the growth in platemaking occupations. As all lithographic printing plates 

are made from photographs, new technologies such as 

automatic film developing systems, electronic color 

separation equipment, and automatic plate processors 

will modify skill requirements for lithographic 

platemakers.

The employment of photoengravers (not including 

gravure), most of whom work in commercial printing 

shops, will remain fairly constant in spite of an increase 

in output. This will result from a combination of 

laborsaving technology and increased competition from 

lithography. Some photoengravers are retraining for 

lithographic occupations—a trend that is expected to 

continue. The skill requirements for both occupations 

are similar—printing plates made from a photographicchemical process. Certain of the new technologies are 

equally applicable to both processes.

Employment in electrotyping and stereotypingduplicate platemaking processes for letterpress 

printing—is being adversely affected by technological 

change. New, more durable materials have increased the 

printing life of electrotype plates, thereby reducing the 

number of duplicate plates needed for a given printing 

job. Automatic platecasting equipment for stereotype 

plates (used primarily in newspapers) has reduced 

manpower requirements for stereotypers, and the 

potential effects of the plastic plate systems now being 

developed could reduce manpower requirements even 

further. At one newspaper surveyed, for example, the 

installation of an automatic stereotype platecasting 

system reduced employment of stereotypers by 25 

percent over a period of approximately 6 years. Moreover, competition from lithographic printing has pulled 

business away from letterpress printing, including those 

facets of letterpress that use stereotype and electrotype 

plates. As a consequence, the employment of electrotypers and stereotypers is declining.

The effects of technological change on gravure 

printing employment are, at the moment, unclear. As a 

form of photoengraving, gravure printing is subject to 

most of the changes in skill requirements and to the 

laborsaving effects of new technology, which could limit 

employment opportunities. But the gravure process can 

produce a very high quality of printing and, if methods 

of engraving gravure cylinders more quickly and less 

expensively can be developed, the demand for gravure 

printing—and, consequently, for gravure employees— 

could increase dramatically.

Press w ork . The increasing automation of printing press 

controls is changing the skill requirements of pressmen.

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Table 7. Technological changes in platemaking, presswork, and mailrooms at selected survey plants

L

Firm Innovation Impact on employment Impact on skills

a rge daily 

m e tro p o lita n 

newspaper

Automatic 

stereotype platecasting system.

Manpower requirements for stereotypers 

reduced from 44 men in the early 1960's to 

33 men in 1968.

Required shift from hot metal typesetting 

techniques to phototypesetting skills.

Production workers in the press room 

increased from 85 in 1962 to 137 in 1968.

Required new programer and related 

computer occupations.

Automatic 

i n s e r t i n g , 

stacking, and 

bundling system 

in mailroom.

Mailroom production worker employment declined considerably, from 98 in 

1961, to 27 in 1968.

Required familiarity with new mailroom 

equipment.

Small local daily 

newspaper

Conversion 

from letterpress 

platemaking and 

printing press to 

lithographic 

platemaking and 

printing press.

Employment increased after the conversion because the lithographic press— at least 

initially— required a larger operating crew (2 

additional men per shift). The newspaper 

was in the midst of retraining over 50 

percent of its press operators, and hoped 

that when all operators were sufficiently 

trained, a reduction in the size of the press 

crew might be possible.

This newspaper's conversion from 

letterpress printing to lithographic printing 

caused a considerable change in job 

structures and skill requirements.

Before conversion, the newspaper maintained a small lithographic section, so there 

were a few employees trained in lithographic platemaking and press operations. 

The conversion resulted in a substantial 

enlargement of the lithographic department 

and the virtual disappearance of the letterpress department.

Jobs created: Flying paster operator. The 

previously used press had not been equipped 

with flying pasters, as was the new 

lithographic press. Several custodian 

employees were trained to operate the 

flying paster units.

Jobs eliminated: Seven letterpress

operators were separated becaused they 

refused to be retrained for lithographic 

presswork.

A part of the conversion was the creation 

of an "offset-engraving” section to perform 

all lithographic platemaking and printing 

press operations. Each "offset-engraving" 

operator is trained in all of the skills 

necessary to photograph camera-ready copy, 

develop the film , expose it onto printing 

plates, etch the plates, mount the plates on 

the press, and operate the press.

During his training, an "offset-engraving" 

employee generally finds that he prefers 

either the platemaking operations or the 

press operations— a preference that usually 

determines his major work assignments. 

Most of the journeyman employees in the 

"offset-engraving" department had been (or, 

at the time of the BLS visit, were being) 

retrained from letterpress operators. 

Included were former press operators, 

stereotypers, engravers, and some typesetters.

Publications Advanced 

printer model of developing room camera. 

Automatic printi n g plate 

machine. Tapeoperated photoc o mposing 

machine. 

Web-offset presses 

added topressr o o m previously 

using sheet-fed 

lithographic 

presses only.

Platemaking employment had not 

changed. The same employees who had 

operated the older equipment had been 

retrained to operate the new equipment.

Jobs created: Due to the substantial

differences in skill requirements for 

operating sheet-fed presses and web-offset 

presses, and to the general unwillingness of 

sheet-offset pressmen to retrain for 

web-offset work (less than 10 percent of the 

firm's sheet-offset pressmen were willing to 

retrain), new press crews had been hired to 

operate the web-offset presses.

The new platemaking equipment had 

caused some changes in skill requirements. 

Craft skills were not as important as they 

had been with the older equipment, but 

greater technical skill was required to 

operate the new machines. Generally, more 

work is performed with less physical effort 

by the employees operating the new 

machines.

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Table 7. Technological changes in platemaking, presswork, and mailrooms at selected survey plants— Continued

Firm Innovation Impact on employment

Publications

PrinterContinued

The greater complexity of web-offset 

necessitated an increase in the size of the 

press crew. A four-color sheet-offset press 

requires a four-man press crew: head

pressman, assistant pressman, feeder 

operator, and tender. A four-color weboffset perfecting press requires a five-man 

crew: head pressman, assistant pressman, 

paster operator (counterpart of feeder 

operator on sheet-offset), tender, and 

console operator. The console operator 

monitors web and color register, and adjusts 

the printing cylinders as needed.

Impact on skills

Small local daily 

newspaper

Conversion 

from web-letterpress to weboffset printing.

Size of the press and maintenance crews 

increased as a result of the conversion. One 

man was added to the press crew to set and 

maintain the ink/water balance and to 

watch tension on the paper roll.

Automatic film 

processing 

machine.

The entire web-letterpress crew was 

retrained to operate the web-offset press.

The cameraman was retrained to work 

with lithographic equipment. When the firm 

installed an automatic film processing 

machine, the cameraman was trained to 

operate it in replacement of the less 

automated (and more craft-oriented) 

method he had previously used.

Automatic 

c o u n tin g and 

stacking equipment installed in 

mailroom.

The newspaper originally operated with 

an 8-man crew in the mailroom and nine 

delivery truck drivers. Installing the 

counter-stacker allowed use of a 3- to 

5-man mailroom crew (depending on the 

speed at which the presses were being run). 

There was a need to increase the number of 

delivery truck drivers during this period, 

however, because of increased circulation.

All mailroom employees (including 

drivers) were trained to operate the 

counter-stacker equipment and to drive 

delivery trucks. They could perform either 

of the two types of duties, depending upon 

the newspaper's needs.

L a r g e daily 

m e tro p o lita n 

newspaper

Automatic 

counting and 

stacking machine.

Total full-time mailroom employment 

increased slightly from 1959 to 1969, but 

this increase was due to the newspaper's 

increased circulation. The new equipment 

decreased overall manpower requirements 

and decreased the day-to-day fluctuations in 

crew size that result from printing newspapers of varying sizes. In 1959, there were 

34 full-time mailroom employees. An 

average working-shift crew on the conveyor 

and tying machines was 18 men, and could 

go as high as 24 men. By 1969, 47 men were 

employed full-time. An average s h iftworking with the increased output of an 

additional printing press—was 15 men, and 

never exceeded 18 men.

Before the use of automatic inserting 

equipment, all separately printed sections of 

the Sunday newspaper were inserted by 

hand— part in the newspaper's mailroom and 

part by the delivery boys. The in-plant work 

was performed by approximately 100 

part-time employees working shifts during 

Saturdays and Saturday nights. The 

productivity of the inserting machines was 

so much greater that, in spite of a large 

increase in Sunday inserts, manpower 

requirements were reduced to about 35 

part-time employees on Saturday nights.

The counter-stacker brought about considerable change in skill requirements. 

Before its introduction, the work procedure 

was as follows: Newspapers came off the 

presses and were carried to the mailroom via 

a conveyor. Employees manually counted 

out groups of 25 or 50 newspapers and put 

them on another conveyor which led to a tying machine. One man operated the machine, 

which wrapped wire around the bundle of 

papers.

Now, the counter-stacker automatically 

counts the newspapers as they come off the 

presses. The stacks are then manually 

transferred to the second conveyor, where 

they activate a switch that turns on the 

tying machine which automatically ties the 

stack of papers.

Skill requirements changed from work 

that was primarily manual to the operation 

o f com plex machinery. Considerable 

training and a rudimentary preventive 

maintenance program were needed. At first, 

the newspaper's machinist and electrician 

did equipment maintenance. Later, as the 

mailroom employees became more experienced, they took over some of the equipment maintenance.

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Electronic monitors and controls can perform many 

press operations faster and more accurately than the 

press crew. This frees the crew from many machine 

operations, allowing them to spend more time on quality 

control, but in the process traditional craft skills become 

less important, and technical knowledge and ability 

become more critical.

Web-offset (lithographic) printing presses have 

affected manpower in several ways. Printing companies 

changing from sheet-fed lithographic presses to web-fed 

presses have to retrain their existing press crews or train 

entirely new press crews because the skill requirements 

for the two types of presses are very different. Weboffset presses, with their faster operating speeds, require 

faster decisionmaking, monitoring of more variables, and 

greater physical effort. If a problem occurs while 

running a sheet-fed press, there is more time to study it 

and make a decision on correcting it before paper 

wastage becomes excessive. Because of these differences 

in skill requirements, only some sheet-fed pressmen are 

willing to retrain for web-offset work.

Companies converting from web-letterpress to weboffset (most frequently, this involves newpapers) retrain 

their original press crews and often enlarge them. The 

skill requirements for web-offset and web-letterpress are, 

in some respects, similar. There is, however, at least one 

very important difference: the ink/water balance used in 

the lithographic process. Letterpress crews generally are 

unfamiliar with this complex process and must be 

retrained in this stage of press operations. The entire 

web-letterpress crew at a small local daily newspaper 

included in the study were retrained for web-offset 

operations by sending one man at a time to work with 

the crew at another newspaper using the same type of 

press. Web-offset is a more complex process because of 

the ink/water balance that must be maintained in 

lithographic printing and this extra complexity generally 

means that an additional man must be put on the press 

crew.

Employment is expected to increase moderately for 

press operators and assistants. This is attributable to an 

anticipated increase in printing output, and should be 

very noticeable in that part of the industry using 

web-offset printing presses.

M a ilro o m . Newspaper mailrooms have been dramatically 

affected by the introduction of two technological 

developments: automatic counter-stacker equipment and

automatic inserting machinery. Prior to the introduction 

of these two innovations, mailroom operations involved 

semiskilled manual work. Employees manually counted 

and stacked newspapers as they came off the presses, 

inserted separately printed sections (such as the Sunday 

comics), ran machines that tied the paper into bundles, 

and distributed the bundles to trucks for delivery. In 

addition to being labor intensive, the operation called 

for a work crew varying with the size of each day’s 

newspaper, the Sunday paper requiring the largest crew.

The automating of many of these operations— 

counting, stacking, bundle tying, and, to an extent, 

inserting—has substantially reduced labor requirements, 

changed skill requirements, and, in some instances, 

reduced fluctuations in work-crew size. One survey 

newspaper which introduced automatic equipment to 

insert sections in the Sunday edition reduced employment in this operation by 65 percent. Moreover, skill 

requirements also were significantly affected, shifting 

from primarily manual tasks to duties involving the 

operation of fairly sophisticated mechanical equipment. 

A training program for operators was initiated.

This evidence indicates a strong impact on manpower 

resulting from present and expected technological 

change. Employment in most occupations is changingincreasing in some instances, decreasing in others. Skill 

requirements for all production jobs studied (with the 

possible exception of proofreaders, who are among the 

composing room employees) are changing in various 

degrees. In some cases, technical skills are being required 

in addition to the traditional craft skills. Certain skills 

are becoming obsolete, although many smaller printing 

plants will continue to use the older methods for some 

time to come. Some entirely new skills are being created. 

Finally, most of the new technologies require less time 

and/or lower skill requirements to perform a given job 

than do the older printing methods.

Training programs are necessary to avoid job displacement and to build staffs of people capable of operating 

new equipment. Training programs at survey plants are 

discussed in detail in the following chapter. However, it 

should be clear from the data presented in this chapter 

that considerable training has been carried out at the 

survey plants-training that has varied from teaching 

craftsmen to do the same job in new ways to taking 

people who have been displaced from one job and 

training them to perform different jobs.

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Chapter 5. Training for New Technology

Training workers to operate new equipment and work 

with new processes is one of the most important 

techniques used to adjust to technological change in the 

printing industry. Training is provided by the major 

unions (on both the national and local level), industry 

associations, vocational schools, equipment manufacturers, and printing firms. In this chapter, examples of 

training programs are provided.

Union training

The International Typographical Union has set up a 

highly advanced training center in Colorado, offering 

courses covering all of the modern graphic arts methods, 

including such topics as paste makeup, camera use, 

darkroom techniques, keyboard operation, phototypesetter operation and maintenance, and computer 

programing and operation. Classes are small and instruction techniques consist mainly of working directly with 

equipment. Most courses last 3 weeks and can be taken 

by union members on their vacation. All ITU members 

are eligible for this training, which is provided without 

cost, although they, or their employers, must pay for 

travel and living expenses. Many union members return 

to their locals after taking courses at the Center and 

instruct other local members in the new techniques.

The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants’ 

Union of North America has a program consisting of 

decentralized on-the-job training. This program replaced 

a union printing school when the union found it 

impractical to install the many new models of presses 

appearing on the market. Members now receive training 

on the presses used in the plants at which they are 

employed. The union provides textbooks, visual aid 

materials, and manufacturer-trained union instructors to 

assist workers.

The Graphic Arts International Union also has a 

large-scale training program. Union policy is that training 

provisions should be a part of local collective bargaining 

agreements, and about 95 percent of the local unions 

have contracts in which employers contribute to training 

programs. A total of 54 regional training centers have 

been established by the union, financed by employer 

and union member payments. These centers provide 

training in lithographic and photoengraving skills such as

stripping, camera work, darkroom techniques, paste 

makeup, platemaking, and presswork to journeymen and 

apprentice union members. The union also has initiated 

a Technological Developments and Education Committee, whose members visit equipment manufacturers 

to learn about the latest machines and processes and 

study the impact of technology on members.

Industry trade associations

A number of printing industry trade associations are 

involved in training programs affecting both management and production workers. The American Newspaper 

Publishers Association Research Institute, for example, 

provides training in new processes to production 

employees of member firms, with special emphasis on 

web-offset printing. The Graphic Arts Technical 

Foundation has an education service which consists of 

publishing books and technical manuals for use in 

schools and apprentice programs and providing advanced 

training sessions for industry, management, and union 

personnel, ranging from formally organized programs to 

crash in-plant programs.

Manufacturer and user training

Manufacturers of printing equipment and other 

suppliers to the industry generally provide instruction in 

the operation of their new equipment and processes. 

Some firms set up classroom sessions at their plants or in 

special schools for user employees, while other firms 

send instructors into user plants to provide training. User 

firms also have utilized extensive internal training 

programs to introduce new processes, as indicated by the 

experience at some of the plants visited for this study.

Entry level training

Apprenticeship training under union contract is the 

most common method of entry into the printing 

industry for production workers. Approximately 11,000 

apprentices were registered in printing trades in 1971. 

Training lasts from 4 to 6 years and generally consists of 

on-the-job, classroom, and correspondence school in27

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struction incorporating modern printing techniques. In 

addition, there are about 4,000 vocational schools, high 

schools, technical institutions, and colleges that provide 

courses in printing for entry level jobs in the industry.

Training at survey plants

All of the newspapers and commercial printers visited 

provided training to affected employees when new 

equipment and processes were introduced. Examples of 

training programs at plants are presented in the following sections.

L a rg e m etr o p o lita n daily. The shift from hot metal 

composition to computers and phototypesetting 

required training for almost all the composing room 

employees. Computer programer positions were staffed 

by four composing room journeymen who were 

provided with about 12 weeks of training at a computer 

manufacturer’s school and at classes held at the newspaper. About 275 of the remaining composing room 

journeymen received training in new skills. A total of 

seven categories of instruction were offered. Six were 

designed for composing room employees and consisted 

of courses in paste makeup, markup, darkroom operation, automatic linecaster monitoring, proof press operation, and keypunching. The seventh category was for 

machinists and involved maintenance of electronic 

equipment. Employees selected for maintenance training 

had to pass a test in electronics, which required prior 

home study and attendance at night school. Twelve 

machinists passed the test and received the training.

Company policy was to train every journeyman in the 

composing room in any one or more of the categories 

that they were interested in, with the exception of the 

TTS course, for which the employee had to pass a typing 

test. Over 60 workers were trained in all six categories, 

over 200 received training in more than one category, 

and 275 were trained in at least one new skill. A total of 

40 journeymen learned how to operate keyboards. The 

length and content of the courses were determined 

jointly by management and a two-man union committee, 

with the exception of the keypunch course which was 

already covered by the union contract. Darkroom and 

machine monitoring were 1-week courses, proof press 

was 2 weeks, paste makeup was 4 weeks, markup was 6 

weeks, and keypunch was 15 months.

All instruction was on the job. In most cases, one 

man at a time worked with an instructor, and in some 

cases, after initial instruction was given, the employee 

gained proficiency in the new techniques by working 

with equipment by himself Instructors were journeymen who were already proficient in the new processes;

some of them had gone to manufacturers’ schools. All 

employees were paid at a journeyman’s rate while taking 

training. Approximately 25 older employees, mostly 

proofreaders whose jobs were relatively unaffected by 

the shift, chose not to take training.

There was an unusual training problem at this 

newspaper. A total of 45 deaf mutes were working in the 

composing room at the time of the changeover. These 

employees were graduates of a printing course given by a 

local college for the deaf and had received journeyman 

union cards under a special union program. A unique 

type of training had to be devised for these workers 

since they functioned by feel and sight, rather than by 

hearing. As Linotype operators, for example, they could 

feel the operation of the machine;however, as monitors 

they would not have their hands on the keyboard. The 

problem was solved by designating two employees who 

were mutes but not deaf as the initial trainees for the 

group. These two employees then became instructors for 

the rest of the group and developed the techniques 

required for the deaf mutes to operate the new 

equipment.

A p u b lic a tio n s p rin ter shifted its major printing 

capacity from sheet-fed to web-fed offset presses by 

adding new web-fed presses, although it still continued 

to operate sheet-fed units. The company trained almost 

all of its press crews internally. Only about 10 percent of 

its 121 pressroom employees were hired as skilled 

workers from the outside. Crews for new presses were 

staffed by moving skilled workers from existing press 

crews and training lower level employees. When a new 

web-offset press was planned, for example, a skilled 

pressman was designated to be the head operator of the 

new press, and other skilled workers were moved from 

other presses. Vacancies in existing press crews were 

filled by promoting and training lower level workers, 

who were provided with 3 to 4 months of on-the-job 

training in their new skills. Entry level workers were 

hired from the outside. The line of progression in a 

web-press crew in this plant is from floorman (general 

helper) into a press crew as a fly boy, paster, console 

operator, successively, to assistant pressman, to pressman, which is the highest level job in the crew. This 

plant uses a console operator, which is a new job 

function, on web-fed presses. Duties of this job involve 

adjusting press operations using the press console. 

Workers in these functions were provided on-the-job 

training by the pressman in their crew. The line of 

progression in this plant may not be representative of 

the industry.

At a sm all loca l daily n ew sp a p er the introduction of a 

special-purpose computer required a minimal amount of 

training. The computer manufacturer instructed some of 

the compositors in the operation of the equipment in

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one afternoon of on-the-job training. Almost all the rest 

of the compositors learned how to operate the computer 

later on. Two machinists received 3 weeks of training in 

electronics and computer maintenance at the computer 

manufacturer’s school. Training for the other advanced 

composing room equipment, such as the automatic 

linecasters, was provided by the typographical union, at 

a local school and on the job, as covered by the contract. 

As part of its apprenticeship program, the union trained

compositors to operate teletypesetter machines, and, 

when computers were installed, retrained the men to 

punch tape for the computer. This newspaper has an 

agreement with the typographical union allowing union 

members to use any of the equipment in the composing 

room on their own time in order to learn new skills or 

brush up on previously learned techniques.

Table 8 provides the highlights of training programs 

at other survey plants.

Table 8. Training programs for technological change at selected survey plants

Plant Innovation Type of training

Large metropolitan 

daily newspaper

Computer and phototypesetting system.Programers and other computer-related jobs were filled from within by 

testing and retraining employees using both on-the-job training and computer 

manufacturer courses. Linotype operators were retrained to be keypunch 

operators. This plant was almost completely nonunion and had a formal 

entry level training program, equivalent to the union apprenticeship program, 

which allowed employees to advance faster if they had the ability and included 

instruction in the new processes in use in the plant.

Small local daily Computer, phototypesetting system, and 

web-offset press.

Computer programers were trained internally, progressing from tape handlers 

to console operators and then to programers. Compositors were retrained from 

hot metal operations to computerized phototypesetting techniques. Letterpress 

printers and stereotypers were retrained for lithographic platemaking and press 

operations using on-the-job training and a buddy system in which a trainee 

works alongside an experienced worker. Two janitors were retrained for the new 

job of flying paster operator.

Small local daily Web-offset press. The press crew was retrained from letterpress to web-offset by sending one 

man at a time to work with the crew at another newspaper using the same type 

of press. The head pressman and cameraman received a 2-week course at a 

lithography school. All wages and training expenses were paid by the firm.

Book typesetter C o m p u t e r and 

phototypesetting 

system.

Twelve keypunchers and three technicians were retrained in phototypesetter 

operation. Training for keypunchers was on the job, included the use of books, 

and was provided by the foreman. Training for technicians was based on prior 

electronics background and consisted of on-the-job instruction in repairing 

minor breakdowns. A keypunch operator was provided on-the-job training 1 day 

a week for 4 months to become a computer console operator. A 

phototypesetter technician with an electronics background received on-the-job 

training in computer technology and maintenance.

Directory and catalog 

typesetter

Advanced 

computerized phototypesetting system.

Five or six employees took a typesetting computer language course and a 

5-day phototypesetter orientation course. Four employees took a 2-week 

computer assembly language course.

Publications printer Computer. The computer manufacturer trained some employees to operate and 

trouble-shoot the computer during the month that they were involved in 

installation. A Linotype machinist also was trained to maintain the computer 

during the same period.

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Chapter 6. Adjustment of W orkers to Technological Change

Collective bargaining contracts in the printing 

industry contain provisions to facilitate adjustment of 

workers to new technology. In this chapter, the attitude 

of major unions toward changing technology and 

examples of provisions relating to advance notice, 

training, jurisdiction, maintenance of job security, and 

related measures are presented. Training programs, the 

major method of preparing employees for new work, 

were described in detail in the previous chapter.

The influx of new technology has been a source of 

considerable concern to unions. All of the unions 

generally favor technological change. Underlying this 

attitude, however, is a fear for the job security of their 

members if they cannot establish some control over the 

introduction of new processes, for not only do many of 

the new processes decrease the amount of manpower 

necessary for a given job, but they also cross traditional 

craft jurisdiction lines or perform work in such a way 

that no one union has clear jurisdiction over the 

operation of the process. This leads to the potential 

threat of a loss of jobs and members (sometimes to other 

unions), and to jurisdictional problems between unions.

Several unions have stated a philosophy toward 

technological change. The International Typographical 

Union, for instance, favors technological change as long 

as member interests are not disregarded. In keeping with 

this philosophy, the ITU demands a voice in determining 

the conditions under which new equipment or processes 

are introduced, and a share of the benefits resulting from 

their use.

Another part of ITU’s philosophy is the long-held 

belief that its interests can best be served by supplying 

industry with the most skilled workers available. Consequently, ITU places considerable importance on training and retraining programs for its members, and has 

maintained a training school to this end for many years.

ITU is opposed to the concept of attrition as a means 

of handling job displacement resulting from new laborsaving machinery. Rather, ITU proposes that industry 

increase its output enough to maintain the present work 

force.

The Graphic Arts International Union (GAIU) 

expressed increasing concern over the threats to job 

security resulting from technological change in its 1965 

biennial convention. It was predicted that virtually every

worker would have to be retrained at least three times 

during his productive career, and an opinion was 

expressed that the training facilities then existing were 

so limited that the majority of union members were 

denied the opportunity to adapt and adjust to the 

demands of a rapidly changing industry.

During the convention, a Committee on Technological Developments was established for the purpose of 

studying the employment impact and the cost savings 

effects of technological changes. The Committee 

formulates plans for the use of locals in their negotiations with employers that can assist them in acquiring a 

fair share of the benefits occurring from the technological changes.

The International Printing Pressmen and Assistants’ 

Union has long had a reputation for encouraging and 

supporting technological change. The union’s answers to 

problems caused by change are to establish retraining 

programs for members whose skills have become 

obsolete and to urge an industry rate of growth that will 

produce new jobs to balance those lost. Six specific steps 

have been advocated by the union: advance planning, 

advance information to employees, use of attrition as a 

means of reducing excess work force, simultaneous 

planning of new jobs with preparations for the elimination of old jobs, and, where layoffs are inescapable, 

ample warning to minimize the hardships involved.

Contract provisions relating to technological change

The concern of labor unions about the introduction 

of new equipment and processes is reflected by the large 

number of provisions in labor-management agreements 

designed to protect members against potential adverse 

effects. The most common union position is to accept 

technological change as long as members are not thrown 

out of work. In general, when new equipment is 

introduced, unions attempt to gain jurisdiction for their 

members over the operation of the equipment, and to 

have this jurisdiction made part of their labor-management agreement. Jurisdictional provisions in printing 

industry contracts, therefore, are very specific, with the 

type of equipment, in some cases even brand names, 

clearly spelled out. Other common contract provisions

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relating to technological change include advance notice, 

training, employee selection, layoffs and severance pay 

clauses. Examples of some of these provisions are 

presented in table 9.

Manpower planning in survey plants

Although only six full-time employees were 

involuntarily separated (and later reinstated) and no one 

was downgraded when new printing technology was 

introduced at the nine firms visited by BLS staff, 

substantial advance manpower planning and labormanagement adjustments generally were required. Six of 

the nine survey plants were unionized and the collective 

bargaining agreements provided the mechanism for 

providing advance notice of change, undertaking special 

negotiations to handle disputes, selecting employees for 

new jobs, determining skill levels and wage rates, and 

providing training for new skills.

Advance notice o f technological change. Information 

about new equipment and processes was provided in 

advance of installation at all of the printing firms visited. 

At unionized plants, company officials notified the 

chapel chairman or local union officers of the impending 

changes. At nonunion plants, the procedure generally 

involved informal meetings between foremen and supervisors and affected employee groups. The timing of 

advance notice ranged from 3 months to 3 years prior to 

installation of new printing technology. At a small 

nonunion plant visited, the policy was to notify 

employees immediately upon deciding to acquire new 

equipment.

Selecting employees for new jobs. In most of the 

unionized plants visited, procedures for selecting production workers for new jobs were spelled out by labormanagement agreements. The majority of the new jobs 

in survey plants involved operating and programing 

computers and were filled by training employees from 

the affected units. At a large daily newspaper, for 

example, programer positions were staffed by composing 

room and mailroom employees who had passed a 

programing test and were given training. Even at 

nonunion plants most computer and related jobs were 

filled by upgrading employees who already had printing 

skills. Systems analysts, however, generally were hired 

from outside the firm. Most of the other new positions 

were filled from within. Two janitors at a small 

newspaper were trained to operate the flying pasters on 

a new press, while a commercial printer trained existing 

employees to be console operators and flying paster 

operators on new web-offset presses.

Determining skill levels and wage rates. Unions in the 

printing industry usually have a formalized system of 

skill levels and wage rates in their labor-management 

agreements. Printing craftsmen are generally divided into 

two skill levels: journeymen, who are the skilled 

workers; and apprentices, who are learning the trade. 

Wage systems differ between unions, however. The ITU 

has a two-scale system, for example. All composing 

room journeymen in any one contract, regardless of job 

title, receive the same minimum wage rate, with adjustments for various shifts and holidays. Apprentices 

receive a proportion of journeymen’s rates that increases 

as their experience increases. Mailroom workers who are 

affiliated with the ITU generally are covered under a 

separate contract at lower rates. The GAIU, on the other 

hand, while still operating under the apprentice-journeyman skill system, negotiates different minimum wage 

rates for different jobs. Journeyman photographers, 

platemakers, and pressmen and feeders, for example, all 

have different hourly wage rates in the same contract.

In general, the minimum negotiated wage rate at 

survey plants tended to become the actual wage rate for 

all union workers, including those affected by technological change. However, at a few survey plants, workers 

who were trained in new technologies were paid bonuses 

above union scale. The most common explanation was 

that the increases were paid so that these workers would 

not leave for jobs with other firms. When a large daily 

newspaper installed a computer and phototypesetting 

equipment, for example, wages for all the composing 

room employees were increased from $10 to $15 per 

week above scale. A small local daily newspaper paid a 

composing room machinist $5 per week over scale for 

maintenance work on typesetting computers. Among the 

nonunion plants, with the exception of a large daily 

newspaper which increased wage rates for some 

employees, there were no wage rate changes that could 

be directly attributed to the introduction of specific 

innovations.

Special negotiations and labor-management disputes. At 

a large metropolitan daily, the contract with the ITU 

local was modified because of the introduction of 

computers. This newspaper was among the earliest to 

install computers for typesetting. Originally, the ITU 

local had no jurisdiction over computers. When the 

decision to install computers for typesetting was 

announced, however, management and the * union 

worked out an agreement dealing with jurisdiction over 

the computers which was made a formal part of the 

contract and is included in table 9.

Union jurisdictional demands shaped a decision about 

the type of computer to purchase at a small local daily

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Table 9. Provisions relating to technological change from selected collective bargaining agreements

Subject of provision Source Content of provision

General technological 

change

Agreement between 

a local of the Graphic 

Arts International 

Union (GAIU) and 

commercial printers.

The parties recognize that technological developments, if they are to further 

the continued growth of the graphic arts industry, place responsibility upon 

companies to explore and promote new markets and require the cooperation of 

the company and union in the development of new skills. In order to insure the 

orderly and most advantageous introduction of new types of equipment and 

new processes, the parties agree to meet upon request of either party to consider 

and develop programs for the retraining or rehabilitation of employees in new 

skills so that there shall be adequate availability of new skills required and no 

layoffs as a result of the introduction of new types of equipment or new 

processes. It is understood that pending the institution of such programs, there 

shall be no layoffs by reason of the introduction of new types of equipment or 

processes.

Jurisdiction over equipment and processes

Agreement between 

a local of the International Typographical 

Union (ITU) and the 

Newspaper Publishers 

Association.

Jurisdiction of the union and the appropriate unit for collective bargaining is 

defined as including all composing room work and includes classifications such 

as: hand compositors, operators and machinists for all typesetting machines, 

tape perforating devices, tape reading devices, . . .and recutter units for use in 

composing or producing type; proportional spacing typewriters, . . . and 

proofreading and/or scanning devices; and any and all phototypesetter 

machines. . . . For performance of work recognized as being within the 

jurisdiction of the union in a computer operation, employees covered by this 

agreement shall perform all computer operations (except systems analysis . . . ) 

such as: detailed flow charting, coding or preparing programs from detailed flow 

charts in language acceptable to the computer, testing and debugging the 

program, operation of the computer and all input and output devices, the 

preparation and handling of all material to be processed and the maintenance of 

all equipment and devices. . . . This agreement goes on to exempt programing 

and maintenance normally provided by the computer manufacturer under 

contract and indicates that single purpose composing room computers must be 

manned wholly by union members while general purpose computers used 

partially for composing room operations must have a proportional number of 

union members on the data processing staff.

Advance notice Agreement between 

a local of the GAIU and 

commercial printers.

The company agrees that it will not change its present methods of 

lithographic production before giving thirty (30) days' notice of such proposed 

change to the union in order that the parties may meet to consider whatever 

other related changes are required. This clause relates only to changes of 

methods within the plant.

Training for new 

equipment and processes

Agreement between 

a local of the ITU and 

th e Newspaper 

Publishers Association.

For the purpose of providing retraining necessary for new processes, a Joint 

Training Committee will plan and prepare training programs for situation 

holders who have held their current situations continuously for at least six (6) 

months. However, the 6 months requirement may be waived by mutual 

agreement. This committee will provide an equitable opportunity to train on the 

new processes in each office to the extent that an adequate number of 

journeymen will be available to satisfy the needs of the office to operate the 

new equipment. . . . This contract goes on to state that the Joint Training 

Committee will consist of four members, two from the union and two from 

management, machinists will be given preference to train to maintain the new 

machines, and equipment and instructors for training will be provided by 

management.

Layoffs Agreement between 

a local of the ITU and 

commercial printers.

The union agrees that if an employee covered by this agreement, who is 

employed in a composing room covered by this agreement, is competent to 

operate such new machinery, new equipment and/or new processes, he may be 

assigned to such new machinery, new equipment and/or new processes. 

However, if a layoff occurs, such layoff must be made in strict priority order. 

Employees with higher priority than a person working on aforementioned new 

machinery, new equipment and/or new processes, who have established an 

aptitude for such retraining as prescribed herein, and who have not previously 

been given the opportunity for retraining in that office, shall be given such 

opportunity before being laid off.

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Table 9. Provisions relating to technological change from selected collective bargaining agreement- Continued

Subject of provision Source Content of provision

Severance pay Agreement between 

a local of the ITU and 

commercial printers.

When an employee covered by this agreement is discharged or laid off 

otherwise than as a result of his own willful and persistent breach of duty or 

gross misconduct which a joint committee. . . has acknowledged, such 

employee shall be paid, in addition to sums otherwise due him, the following at 

such individual employee's straight-time rate of pay, not including overtime, for 

the past previous week of employment: One year but less than 2 years service 

with the employer . . . 1-week's pay; 2 years or more of service with the 

employer . . . 2-weeks' pay.

newspaper. This paper had placed an order for a 

general-purpose computer to be used for business and 

typesetting functions. When the unions were notified, 

both the ITU and the Newspaper Guild locals indicated 

that they wanted to have a union member assigned to 

the computer staff. Management felt that, when the 

computer was working on business problems, the two 

union members on the computer staff would be nonproductive. Therefore, they cancelled the order for the 

general-purpose computer and purchased a specialpurpose computer for the composing room only.

There was a strike related to the introduction of

computers at a small local daily newspaper visited for 

the study. The union went on strike when management 

discharged six union members and attempted to 

reclassify jobs so that union craftsmen would not be 

allowed to work on the computer. Wage rates for 

remaining printing jobs were deemed unsatisfactory by 

the union. Management hired nonunion workers and 

continued printing. An NLRB trial examiner ruled in the 

union’s favor, ordering that striking employees be 

rehired, strikers be awarded back pay, and the union 

craftsmen discharged be rehired. Management appealed 

the decision to the NLRB, and lost.

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Chapter 7. Outlook for Technology and Manpower

Innovations in printing technology during the decade 

of the 1970’s will continue to have significant implications for printing methods and manpower. In this 

chapter, prospects for specific technologies are discussed 

along with their potential impact on employment, job 

skills, and training.

Outlook for technology

Computers. Continued growth in the number of computers and applications is anticipated. Computer-assisted 

typesetting (line justification, and, to some extent, 

hyphenation) will probably continue to be the most 

important application. This is especially true for small 

newspapers that cannot afford the expensive generalpurpose computers that can be applied to several 

different jobs. These newspapers will probably restrict 

themselves to the smaller, much less expensive computers that are designed primarily for typesetting uses.

The rate at which computerized typesetting will grow 

is difficult to predict. Two estimates were given by 

people in the industry who talked with BLS staff 

members. One estimate is that by 1980,90 percent of all 

newspapers will be using computers with phototypesetting equipment. The other is that by 1983 all 

newspapers will be using such equipment.

Newspaper classified advertisements offer considerable potential for computer application. One large 

newspaper plans to install a computer photocomposition 

system in the following manner: Computer data entry 

terminals which display, visually, information entered 

into the system will be located in the classified phone 

room and connected directly to the computer. Typists 

will enter information on ads into the system at these 

terminals and accounting data and text material will be 

recorded immediately in the memory unit of the 

computer system. Running ads may be stopped, corrected, and extended by classified sales personnel using 

the terminals. At the close of the classified business day, 

the computer will include new classified ads with any 

ads running from the previous day, format these ads into 

page layouts, and drive high speed phototypesetting 

units to set full pages of classified ad text.

Computers also can be applied to production 

scheduling, pressroom control, and newsprint inventory

control. Data collection points can be installed throughout a newspaper’s production department. Data on 

output from the composing room, page makeup, and 

printing platemaking can be entered into the information system. Printing press operation, including measures 

of rolls of newsprint used, web breaks and paster losses, 

and the number of newspapers being produced, can be 

logged into the computer system. Data collection points 

can provide information on quantities of newsprint 

received, stored, and issued.

As a result of this information system, the computer 

will have data concerning all production operations of 

the newspaper. Display terminals can be used to provide 

management and supervisors with current information 

on the production schedule status. The computer also 

will be able to detect problem areas, schedule manpower, and provide complete production statistics.

Predicting the rate of computer growth for commercial printers is more difficult than for newspapers 

due to the much greater diversity of firm size and jobs 

performed. Firms concentrating on printing books, 

periodicals, directories, and catalogs are finding computerized typesetting advantageous. Those firms 

performing large amounts of varied work, however, will 

probably find computers to be of limited use.

Newspaper mailrooms provide another potential 

application area for computers. Computer printout can 

be used to address copies of newspapers going to mail 

subscribers.

The printing industry generally uses punched paper 

tape for computer input and output. This is due to the 

industry’s long use of paper tape for much of its 

automated typesetting equipment and the resulting large 

investment in tape-punching and tape-reading equipment. Over time, magnetic tape will be used more widely 

since it can be run at faster speeds and carry more 

information than paper tape.

Phototypesetting. The use of phototypesetting will 

increase in both newspapers and commercial printing. 

According to one forecast, about 50,000 phototypesetting machines may be carrying out about 75 percent 

of all typesetting by 1980.7 Over the next few years,

1 K o d a k Highlights, F ebru ary 1 9 7 3 . p . 9.

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Electronic editing and proofreading display terminal

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most of the increase will be in second-generation 

equipment. The third-generation (cathode ray tube) 

equipment, although very fast, is still limited primarily 

to printing directories and catalogs. The third-generation 

equipment presently is too expensive to be within the 

financial range of many printing establishments.

By 1980, most small- to medium-sized newspapers 

will be using phototypesetting. Most of these newspapers 

will be using web-offset, with which phototypesetting is 

very compatible. The larger newspapers will probably 

convert to computerized phototypesetting if the plastic 

printing plate works out successfully.

In commercial printing, book and periodical printers 

will increase their use of phototypesetting. Small job 

shops, however, will probably find phototypesetting of 

more limited usefulness.

C R T term inals. Cathode ray tube (CRT) terminals, a 

relatively new innovation presently in limited use, will 

be adopted more widely in the printing industry over the 

next few years, primarily in editorial and classified 

operations in large newspapers and in book and 

periodical printers. The terminals consist of a CRT 

display panel and a keyboard and/or light pencil. Copy 

can be typed into the terminal, or already prepared copy 

can be displayed on it. Editing, makeup and formating, 

and corrections can be completed on the terminal prior 

to typesetting. In newspaper applications, the terminal 

can serve as the first step in a very high speed 

computerized phototypesetting system that results in 

fully made-up pages. Terminals will generally be tied in 

with a computer, although some self-contained units 

with their own memory banks will be available.

O p tica l ch a ra cter re c o g n itio n eq u ip m e n t. OCR equipment is available, but its dispersion will probably remain 

limited. One reason is that the equipment is too 

expensive, considering operational limitations, for many 

firms. The operational restrictions may greatly retard 

dispersion since copy must be typed in a format that the 

OCR equipment can “read.” Hence, printing firms that 

set their own type—especially newspapers—will probably 

not find much use for the scanner since the typed 

material they must prepare can serve directly as computer input, thereby bypassing the need for the scanner. 

OCR equipment will be most useful to those printing 

firms that receive copy already typed by customers.

E le c tr o n ic c o lo r separation . As the demand for color 

separation is growing more rapidly than the supply of 

skilled craftsmen, the use of color scanners is expected 

to increase. The amount of growth is uncertain due to

two limiting factors: color scanners are expensive, 

requiring a high volume of work to justify their 

installation; and conventional color separation materials 

and procedures are improving enough to make conventional processes competitive with color scanners in some 

instances.

Plastic letterp ress plate. If the plastic letterpress printing 

plate that is now under development becomes successful, 

it will probably be used by most of the large newspapers. 

As this plate is made from a photocomposition process, 

newspapers will be able to take advantage of the benefits 

of phototypesetting without having to sacrifice their 

substantial investment in letterpress printing presses. 

Since a considerable amount of research and 

development is being devoted to this plate, it will 

probably become commercially successful within the 

next few years.

P rin tin g p resses. The outlook is for continued technological improvement in printing presses. In general, 

presses will become more sophisticated and efficient and 

operate with less waste of materials and more effective 

use of manpower.

Lithographic presses will be used more widely, 

especially in newspapers. By 1978, an estimated 88 

percent of all newspapers—primarily those of medium 

and small size—may be using web-offset presses. 

Improvements can be expected in ink-drying equipment, 

electronic control devices, and, possibly, in the development of more durable printing plates. If the plastic 

printing plate does not turn out to be successful, even 

the large newspapers will eventually convert from 

letterpress to lithography. Sheet-fed lithographic presses, 

primarily used in commercial printing, also will increase 

in number, although press size probably will not 

increase. Their operating speeds will increase, however, 

and they will be equipped with more sophisticated 

instruments and automatic controls.

The outlook for diffusion of letterpress equipment is 

less favorable. Installations of flat-bed letterpress equipment are declining and may eventually disappear. The 

number of rotary letterpress units (including web-letterpress used in newspapers) is expected to remain 

unchanged. If the plastic printing plate made from 

photocomposition is successful, installations of webletterpress equipment could begin to increase. Such 

printing presses would be different from those presently 

in use (which have been designed to accommodate the 

comparatively larger and heavier stereotype and electrotype plates). However, it is also possible that web-offset 

presses could be modified to use the plastic plates with 

even greater success than modified web-letterpress units.

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Outlook for manpower

Total employment in the printing and publishing 

industry is expected to increase slightly between 1970 

and 1980 as employment increases generated by a rising 

demand for printed products more than offset employment declines resulting from technological change (see 

table 10). In the newspaper segment of the industry, 

however, employment is projected to decline from

372,000 in 1970, to an estimated 365,000 in 1980. In 

commercial printing the level of employment is 

projected to be higher—rising from 356,000 in 1970 to 

an estimated 390,000 in 1980.

Employment of nonproduction workers is likely to 

grow at a faster rate than that of production workers. 

This is anticipated because the productivity of production workers, using new technology, is expected to 

increase more than that of nonproduction workers, to 

whom most of the new technology is not applicable. It 

has also been predicted that, due to the use of new 

technology, there will be a growing need for more 

professional managers, engineers, and technically trained 

employees.

Both management and union officials who met with 

the BLS staff stated that much of the new technology 

will reduce, as well as change, the skill requirements of 

many traditional occupations. There was also general 

agreement that composing room employees increasingly 

will need to acquire skills in keypunching, photography, 

and electronics to operate and maintain new printing 

equipment.

Table 10. Employment in printing and publishing,

1960 and 1970, and projections for 1980

[Numbers in thousands]

Industry 1960 1970 1980

Average annual 

percent change

subgroup 1960-70 1970-80

Total

printing

and

publishing 911.3 1,106.8 1,240.0 2.0 1.1

Newspapers . . . 325.2 371 .9 365.0 1.4 -0 .2

Commercial 

p rin te rs.......... 290.7 356.1 390.0 2.0 0.9

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics. A detailed discussion 

of the methodology used to develop 1980 projections may be 

found in Tomorrow's Manpower Needs: Volume IV , Revised

1971, BLS Bulletin 1737 (1972).

Table 11. Employment in craft occupations in printing

and publishing, 1960 and 1970, and projections for 1980

[Numbers in thousands]

Occupation 1960 1970 1980

Average annual 

percent change

1960-70 1970-80

Total printing 

trade craftsmen . . 254.3 255.9 258.5 .1 .1

Compositors and 

typ e se tte rs .............. 153.4 141 .5 121.2 -0 .8 -1 .6

Electrotypers and 

stereo typ e rs ............ 8.7 4.7 2.9 -6 .0 -4 .7

Engravers, except 

photoengravers . . . . 4.6 5.8 8.1 2.3 3.4

Photoengravers and 

lithographers .......... 21.2 30.3 46.0 3.6 4.3

Pressmen and 

platemakers ............ 66.4 73.6 80.2 1.0 0.9

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics. A detailed discussion 

of the methodology used to develop 1980 projections may be 

found in Tomorrow's Manpower Needs: Volume IV , Revised

1971, BLS Bulletin 1737 (1972).

NOTE: Sums of individual items may not equal totals 

because of rounding.

It is important to keep in mind that technological 

change has raised the threat of job displacement in the 

printing industry on several occasions in the past, 

although on a more restricted basis. It occurred with the 

introduction of linecasting machines in the -late 19th 

century and with improvements in printing presses 

(especially in the development of automatic press 

feeders) in the early 20th century. In both instances, 

considerable retraining was necessary, and in the latter 

instance, one group—manual press feeders—experienced 

considerable displacement.8 But in both cases, demand 

increased sufficiently to lessen the impact. In the current 

situation, technological change is so widespread that it 

affects all facets of the printing process. Displacement 

will probably occur in certain occupations such as 

compositors, typesetters, electrotypers, and stereotypers, 

as indicated in table 11, but the combination of an 

increased demand for printing products, a somewhat 

slow rate of diffusion of technological change, attrition, 

and extensive retraining will ease the impact of new 

technology on manpower.

8 E lizabeth F. Baker, D ispla cem en t o f M en b y M achines (N ew 

Y o rk , C olu m bia U niversity Press, 1 9 3 3 ).

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Appendix A. Three M ajor Printing M ethods and the Printing Process

The three major printing methods include letterpress, 

gravure, and lithography (offset). Letterpress, the oldest 

and most widely used printing method, employs a 

printing plate upon which the printing surface is raised 

above the nonprinting surface. (See illustration.) Printing 

is achieved by covering the printing surface with ink and 

pressing it directly against paper, thus transferring the 

image onto the paper. Type is set for letterpress by both 

“hot metal” and photographic processes.

Platemaking techniques include photoengraving 

(etching plates made from photographic processes), 

stereotyping and electrotyping (for making duplicate 

metal plates from hot-metal or photoengraved originals), 

and flexography (the use of flexible rubber plates and 

quick-drying inks). There are three types of letterpress 

printing presses: platen, flat-bed cylinder, and rotary 

presses, both sheet-fed and web-fed.

Gravure printing is the reverse of letterpress. The 

gravure printing plate is a hollow metal cylinder and has 

an image area that is etched into—or below—the nonprinting surface of the plate. Printing is achieved by 

filling the etched areas with ink, scraping excess ink 

from the non-image areas with a “ doctor” blade, and 

pressing the plate cylinder directly against paper. The 

plate cylinders are made by a form of photoengraving. 

Gravure printing presses are of the rotary type, and can 

be either sheet-fed or web-fed (rotogravure). The gravure 

process can produce very fine quality printing, but 

preparing the cylinders is expensive and somewhat slow.

Letterpress and gravure share two printing techniques: both use a three-dimensional printing plate, and 

in each method ink is transferred directly from the 

printing plate to paper.

The*third major printing method, lithography (offset), differs significantly from the two other major 

methods. Lithography uses a smooth, flat, twodimensional printing plate, the operation of which is 

based on the principle that grease and water will not 

mix. The plate is made by a photographic process and 

chemically treated in such a way that ink will adhere to 

the printing areas but water will not. On the printing 

press, the plate is moistened with water over all but the 

image areas (which repel water), then inked. The ink will 

not adhere to the nonprinting areas because it will not 

mix with the water already on the plate, but it will

adhere to the chemically treated image areas. The second 

difference, to which the word “ offset” applies, is that 

the printing process is indirect. The printing plate prints 

onto a rubber “blanket” cylinder, which in turn prints 

onto paper. Lithographic printing presses are of the 

rotary type, and may be either sheet-fed or web-fed. 

Lithography is the fastest growing of the three major 

printing methods.

There are four basic production steps involved in the 

three major printing processes just described. These 

include composition, platemaking, press operations, and 

finishing.

C o m p o s itio n . The first production step takes place in 

the composing room where manuscript copy is set in 

type. Typesetting, or composition, involves selecting a 

style and size of type face, determining format and 

margins, and the actual setting of type. Copy can be set 

in metal type (hot metal), on photographic film or 

light-sensitive paper (phototypesetting), or by direct 

impression from special typewriters or similar machines 

(strike-on).

P la tem ak in g. Once type has been set, the next step is to 

convert it into printing plates that can be mounted onto 

printing presses. At this point, artwork (photographs, 

graphic displays, etc.) is merged with the type.

Type that has been set in metal can sometimes be 

mounted onto a press without the use of a printing 

plate. This, however, is rarely done. Instead, metal type 

is generally used to make a mold from which duplicate 

printing plates are produced. Film used in photocomposition—and in artwork—is reproduced onto metal 

printing plates, which are etched to give the effect 

necessary for printing. These plates can also be used to 

make duplicates.

Printing plates are made from metal, various alloys, 

plastic, or rubber. They can range from plastic plates 

weighing a few ounces to gravure cylinders weighing up 

to a ton.

P ress o p era tio n s. The step just before starting up the 

presses is “ makeready” , during which printing plates 

receive a final adjustment to insure uniform and distinct 

printing impressions. Makeready can vary from being

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Three Major

Printing Methods

LETTERPRESS

Printing area is raised above

nonprinting area.

GRAVURE

Printing area is below nonprinting

area. Depressed area is filled with ink.

LITHOGRAPHY (OFFSET)

Printing area is on same plane as

nonprinting area.

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relatively simple to being very difficult and delicate, 

depending on the printing process and therefore on the 

type of printing plate and press being used.

Printing presses come in a wide variety of sizes and 

are designed to operate by one of several printing 

processes. All share a common principle: ink is dispersed 

over the printing areas of the plates, from which it is 

transferred, directly or indirectly, to paper or other 

material.

This study focuses on the rotary press, which uses one 

or more curved printing plates that are mounted onto a 

cylinder. As the cylinder rotates, it prints onto paper 

moving past it. Rotary presses are fast and efficient, and 

can be used in every major form of printing except 

screen process printing (not included in this study).

Basically, there are two types of rotary presses: 

sheet-fed and web-fed. These terms pertain to the 

manner in which paper is “ fed” into the press. Sheet-fed 

presses print on individual sheets of paper that have been 

precut to a particular size. Web-fed presses print onto a 

continuous roll, or “web,” of paper.

F in ish in g w o rk . The final step of the printing process is 

the assembling of printed material into a finished 

product. For newspapers, this involves inserting the 

separately printed sections; counting, stacking, and tying 

together a predetermined amount of newspapers; and 

loading the papers into trucks for distribution. Finishing 

work for commercial printers varies with the job.

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Appendix B. Selected Annotated Bibliography

A. Periodicals, books, and articles

“ Automatic Litho Plate Processing.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n In d u s tr y , December 1968, pp. 46—49.

Description of automatic wipe-on, presensitized, and bimetal plate systems, with conclusion that these plate 

systems allow improved uniformity and continuity between plates.

Bock, Ralph F. “ Novel Methods for Drying Inks.” Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, R e se a rc h P rog ress R e p o r t,

Number 86, December 1970.

A review of the literature on prospective ink-drying systems for sheet-fed presses.

Bruno, Michael H. “Printing Technology 1971.” In la n d P r in te r/A m eric a n L ith o g ra p h er, February 1971, 

pp. 42-45.

“Computer Controls High Speed Mailroom Line.” P rin tin g P r o d u c tio n , Newspaper Industry Edition, October 

1968, pp. 32F — 32H.

Pressroom, mailroom, and dispatch area all tied into computer system that regulates speed and number of 

newspapers printed, automatically bundles them into standard and odd sizes, and dispatches them for most 

efficient delivery.

Cosden, Thomas B. “ CRT Editing Terminals.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s tr y , June 1970, pp. 44—50.

Description of operations and applications of CRT editing terminals.

Cosden, Thomas B. “ Facsimile Transmission: Publisher’s Link to the Future.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s t r y , 

November 1969, pp. 65—70.

Rapid growth expected for facsimile transmission due to advantages of rapid communication between central 

editing offices and satellite printing plants.

Cosden, Thomas B. “Publisher Keyboarding: Today’s Input To Tomorrow.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s tr y , January 

1971, pp. 36-40.

Keyboarding expected to change from a production operation to an editorial-production system. Problems 

involved include type of equipment and training, alternatives to use of keyboards, and union-management 

problems.

Eggleston, David. “ Today’s Printing Plates: Tomorrow’s Antiques.” In la n d P rin ter /A m e r ic a n L ith o g r a p h e r , July 

1970, pp. 38-41.

Faster press speeds, labor shortages, and pollution requirements are factors that will change printing plate 

technology in the 1970’s.

“Electronic Control Arrives for Sheetfed Litho.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s t r y , November 1967, pp. 48-51.

Description of recent developments in automatic controls, effects on output, and skill changes necessitated. 

Farrell, Guy. “ The Larger Meaning of Comprint 90.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n In d u s tr y , January 1971, pp. 30-35.

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Communications technology will completely change the nature of the printing industry over the next 20 

years. Much of the printing done will not be performed by printers as they are known today, but by businesses 

that offer a wide range of products and services, including printed materials.

Farrell, Guy. “ Litho Platemaking Automation Grows.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s t r y , March 1970, pp. 48—51.

Automated film processors ease labor shortage problems, and sometimes provide an improvement in quality 

and speed.

“Gravure: How Will It Fit Into the Future of Publishing Production?” B o o k P r o d u c tio n

In d u str y , April 1970, pp. 42-45.

Description of technological improvements in gravure and economic factors affecting the application of 

gravure in various areas.

“ Ink Drying: Electronics Promise Basic Changes.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s tr y , April 1969, pp. 48—50.

The use of electron beams and radio wave energy with specially formulated ink may allow faster drying, 

under safer conditions than is presently possible with heat-drying systems.

Im p a c t o f W eb O f fs e t. New York, Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union, 1964.

Description of web-offset operation, statistical data on growth of web-offset, and analysis of web-offset’s 

impact on manpower.

Johnson, Gordon O. F. “ Revolution in the Darkroom: Automatic Film Processors.” In la n d P r in te r/A m eric a n

L ith o g r a p h er , May 1969, pp. 45—47.

Automatic film processing equipment becoming widely used because of such advantages as greater quality 

control and time and cost savings.

Kelber, Harry and Schlesinger, Carl, U n ion P rin ters a n d C o n tr o lle d A u t o m a t i o n . New York, The Free Press, 1967.

A study of composing room automation, with emphasis on computers, and of the response to automation by 

the International Typographical Union.

“Keyboards: Growing Sophistication in Their Design and Use.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n In d u str y , February 1969, 

pp. 60-64.

Description of four basic types of keyboards, and three major problem areas of coding structure, human 

factors, and the value of hard copy.

“ Lack of Understanding Slows Computer Typesetting.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s tr y , January 1968, pp. 50—52.

Lack of knowledge about each other’s problems prevents computer people and printing people from using 

computers to best advantage in printing industry. Several suggestions offered to printers contemplating computer 

installations.

“New Plate Upholds Power of Letterpress.” B u sin ess W e e k , February 8, 1969, pp. 68, 70.

Description of a plastic printing plate made from photocomposition techniques that is applicable to 

newspaper production.

Olerich, Richard B. and Anderson, Bruce D., “Webb Printing — Automatic Control Almost Within Reach.” 

B o o k P rod u c tion In d u str y , October 1967, pp. 58—61.

Complete automation for web-offset presses should be available within several years, and should offer such 

advantages as higher press speeds and much less waste.

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P rin tin g P r o d u c tio n . June 1968, pp. 70—121.

Seven articles dealing with technological change and its effect on the printing industry during the 1970’s.

Safran, Hyman. “ Putting Color Scanners in Perspective.” In la n d P rin ter /A m e r ic a n L ith o g r a p h e r , September 1968, 

p. 98.

Summary of advantages and limitations of color scanners. Fast, consistent, less need for handwork.

“ Space Age Electronics Fights Traditional Methods in the Pressroom.” In la n d P r in te r /A m e r ic a n L ith o g r a p h e r , 

January 1971, pp. 51-53.

Description of new developments in drying techniques, ink-jet printing and xerography.

“ Stereotyping of Plastic Plates Achieved by RI.” E d ito r and P u b lis h er , June 5, 1971, p. 16.

Refinement of plastic plate technology that allows lead stereotype plates to be produced from plastic 

original.

“ Union Carbide, Sta-Hi Announce Hylox Plastic Platemaking System.” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s tr y , May 1969, 

p. 78.

Description of a plastic printing plate applicable to newspaper production.

“Web Press Design — Where Is it Going?” B o o k P r o d u c tio n I n d u s t r y , March 1968, pp. 54—60.

Summary of recent developments in printing presses. Includes variable cutoff folders, split-plate cylinders, 

microwave drying, press drives, and web tension control.

B. Government publications

U.S. Government

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. A u to m a ti c T yp o g ra p h ic -Q u a lity T y p e s e ttin g

T ec h n iq u e s : A S ta te o f th e A r t R e v ie w . Monograph 99. By Mary E. Stevens and John L. Little. 1967. 

98 pp.

A comprehensive survey of typesetting techniques, including hot metal, cold type, phototypography, 

computer usage, key punch operations, and graphic arts.

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. E le c tr o n ic C o m p o s itio n in P rin tin g:

P roceed in g s o f a S y m p o s iu m . Special Publication 295. Edited by Richard W. Lee and Roy W. Worral. 

February 1968. 128 pp.

Twenty-three papers describing several advanced composition systems, and government and 

nongovernment research in and application of such systems.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. U n ion W ages and H o u r s : P rin tin g In d u str y , J u ly 1,

1 9 7 1 . BLS Bulletin 1744. 1972. 62 pp.

Latest in an annual series providing statistics on union wage rates and hours in 69 cities.

Foreign

Australia, Department of Labor and National Service. T ec h n o log ic a l C hange in th e P rin tin g I n d u s t r y -F o u r

C ase S tu d ies. Employment and Technology, No. 3. Melbourne, 1969.42 pp.

Discusses nature of change in the four firms, effects on skills, preparations for changes, training requirements, extent of job displacement.

43

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Great Britain, Department of Employment and Productivity. M a n p o w e r S tu d ies N o . 9 : P rin tin g and

Publishing. London, 1970. 115 pp.

A study of the effects of technological change on production and manpower in the British printing and 

publishing industry.

44

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Other BLS Publications on Technological Change

R a ilroa d T e c h n o lo g y and M a n p o w e r in th e 1 9 7 0 ’s (Bulletin 1717, 1972), 90 pp., $1.00.

Describes changes in technology in the railroad industry and projects their impact on productivity, employment, 

occupational requirements, and methods of adjustment.

O u tlo o k f o r C o m p u te r P r o c e ss C o n tr o l (Bulletin 1658, 1970), 70 pp., 70 cents.

Describes the impact of computer process control on employment, occupations, skills, training, production and 

productivity, and labor-management relations.

T e c h n o lo g y and M a n p o w e r in th e T e x tile In d u str y o f th e 1 9 7 0 ’s (Bulletin 1578, 1968), 79 pp., 60 cents.

Describes changes in technology and their impact on productivity, employment, occupational requirements, and 

labor-management relations.

M a n p o w e r Planning f o r T ec h n o lo g ic a l C h a n g e: C ase S tu d ies o f T e le p h o n e O p era to rs (Bulletin 1574, 1968), 34 pp.

Out of print.

Policies and experiences of four offices in adjusting to technological change.

J o b R e d esig n f o r O ld er W o r k e rs: T en C ase S tu d ies (Bulletin 1523, 1966), 63 pp. Out of print.

Examples of redesign of jobs to retain older workers in employment.

T ec h n o log ic a l T rends in M a jo r A m e ric a n In d u stries (Bulletin 1474, 1966), 269 pp., $1.50.

Appraises technological developments in 40 industries and the effects on output, productivity, and employment.

Im p a c t o f O ffic e A u to m a tio n in th e In su ra n ce In d u stry (Bulletin 1468, 1965), 71 pp. Out of print.

Survey of extent and future directions of electronic data processing (EDP), manpower impact, and implications.

M a n p o w e r P lanning to A d a p t to N e w T e c h n o lo g y at an E lec tr ic and G as U tility (Report 293, 1965), 25 pp. Out of 

print.

Describes personnel procedures and practices used to minimize hardships on employees.

O u tlo o k f o r N u m eric a l C o n tr o l o f M a c h in e T o o ls (Bulletin 1437, 1965), 63 pp. Out of print.

Outlook for this key technological innovation in the metalworking industry and implications for productivity, 

occupational requirements, training programs, employment, and industrial relations.

Publications for sale may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402, or from 

regional offices of the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the addresses shown on the inside back cover. Out of print publications are available at many public and school libraries and at Government depository libraries.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
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sciences, publishes analytical articles and current data on 

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Currant Wag* Oavatopmanta C urrent W a ge D e v e lo p m e n ts

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