I heard through the grapevine this weekend that my second cousin and her husband made a trip to India to investigate possible outsourcing of printed docs for the WTBTS. He is a uber bethelite in the purchasing dept and my cousin is a good bethelite wife. They were living in Brooklyn but have been moved up to Wallkill in the last few months. Thought it was very interesting that they want to outsource printing now, less bethel mouths to feel I guess!!
Outsourcing of printing?
by Lynnie 20 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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cobaltcupcake
That way they don't have to worry if the pressmen eat or have homes.
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Londo111
marked
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Think About It
This is probably the wave of the future with the cult. As we well know, it is nothing more than a religious publishing cult disguised as a Christian religion. The business corporation CEO's (Governing Body) will move to cut overhead in order to maximize profits. They will reason why have Bethelites around to feed & shelter, when we can outsource the printing cheaper? The WTS will transition the JW "free labor" pool into something with much more profit potential like the building & selling of real estate projects. In the future, I can see the cult getting into businesses that sell products where the JW membership would be coerced into buying from the company store.
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Pistoff
The benefit to using labor for building Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls, instead of printing books and bibles:
1. FREE labor, generally without having to feel and shelter the workers.
2. The local publishers FUND the entire process.
3. The publishers are also charged for the USE of the Assembly Halls, after they have funded the building to begin with.
4. The Kindgom Halls belong to the Society when they are paid off.
5. Real estate goes UP in value, in contrast to the literature, the majority of which hits the trash bin with 60 days.
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JakeM2012
One thing I could never figure was how most worldly presses are running most of the day AND night to pay for the cost. To me it is hard to justify millions for a press when you are going to use it part time. Watchtower has tried it all, expanding the printing countries and now contracting and just going with a few centralized printing areas around the world.
I know that they used to run the press in the morning and then shut it down for lunch. Because it takes some time for the press to get up to speed and warmed up, they finally started having lunch delivered to the press room. However, they still only run the presses for the one shift.
I could never understand that. Now maybe they will have everything printed in China with cheapo labor. WT has always had cheap labor but their standards including their meals and housing are more elevated than what a person would earn running a press making 50-60k a year would be able to afford. The other thing I could not ever get is how do you have 20 guys on the press and justify 1100 people at Watchtower Farms? What does the farm produce? Magazines.
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wha happened?
a corporation, is a corporation, is a corporation. If the corporation found the GB to be a waste of money, they would be on a chopping block as well. A corporations sole purpose is to exist. So on to 12 year old employees at Chinese firms, to say costs
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The Song Remains The Same
I'd to see teh business case in this exercise. Usually, you would find a partner who has the infrastructure, a track record, and a workforce. And your outsourcing costs are about more resources for same cost, or same resources for less cost.
Think about it; they pay the JWs next to nothing to print the material, but have to house & feed them probably at low individual cost. With outsourcing, the price will have to cover the labor costs, and other related overhead like insurances, etc. Is the global average cost of a JW print worker less than a fully-loaded Indian print worker? I don't know.
The other cost is all about machinery + ink + paper + distribution.
One could argue that the materials, if all purchased centrally in India, might be cheaper. Clearly that would make a difference given amount of paper they get through...
The machines should already be there, so there is (hopefully) no upfront investment to be made.
But the distribution cost is something that I'd question. Imagine how long it would take to truck or train loads of printed material around the globe? Or by boat? Surely that takes weeks? Air frieght is very expensive. Nobody would wait for the hard copy, they'd all be on-line at jw.org. (Maybe a driving factor, who knows?).
That's my own view. I have no idea how the WT operates its printing and distribution now. It could be a model that TNT, DHL or some other company would envy, or they could have outsourced it all to those guys already and they'll get such a good deal shipping from India they can't turn it down?
Oh, and not to mention the people you (still) need onshore still to ensure the offshore operation is working effectively and delivering as expected...
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St George of England
VW, Mercedes, Suzuki and Land Rover all assemble vehicles in India these days. Honda, KTM and BMW build motorcycles there.
I think the only problem for the WTS is if the government will allow the stuff to be printed in their country. I cannot see the likes of China allowing it but maybe India is a bit more liberal.
George
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jwfacts
I cannot see how printing would be cheaper in India, and agree with The Song ... . Manufacturing is moving back to the US, as wages overseas increase and increasing fuel costs make transportation expensive. With Bethel filled with free labour there seems little benefit. Maybe they are looking to centralise in India for the Asian region. Or maybe they are so far behind the times that they really are looking to India, just as the rest of corporations are realising it is no longer always the cheapest option.