Simplified Printing to Help “All Sorts of People”

Jehovah God wants “all sorts of people” to “come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3, 4) However, our brothers and sisters and those we preach to speak hundreds of languages. Each year, we print nearly two billion pieces of literature in those languages. What steps have we taken to produce spiritual food in so many languages, while using donated funds wisely?

Fewer Printeries, Better Equipment

During the 1980’s, we were printing magazines in over 40 lands. Since then, we have gradually consolidated our operations so that we now print in only nine lands. During that same period, however, the number of languages in which we regularly produce literature has grown by almost 500 percent! How can we print in more languages but with fewer printeries? One important factor has been better equipment.

Newer presses allow us to print more literature in less time. Our older presses required us to spend a lot of time making changeovers, that is, changing from one print job to another. Now, with better equipment, changeovers can often be done four times faster. We can complete more jobs—even smaller printings in languages spoken by fewer people—more quickly. Of course, each of those jobs requires new printing plates. During a recent 12-month period, we spent nearly two million dollars on printing plates alone.a So, for very small jobs, we use digital presses that do not require printing plates. These presses, including those using laser technology, produce small quantities of literature at a relatively low cost and with little waste.

Over the past three years, we have spent more than ten million dollars to update our printing and binding equipment worldwide. Consider how we are using some of that equipment to produce Bibles. In the past, over 40 steps were needed to produce a Bible after printing—including sewing, cutting, trimming, sanding, and gilding. In addition, we often had to move and stack the Bibles manually between each step. Today, only ten steps are needed because many steps are combined on the current equipment and conveyors are used to carry the Bibles from one task to the next. We have thus reduced the manual labor needed for Bible production by over 55 percent. At the Japan branch, the bindery used to produce 2,000 Bibles every eight hours. Now, in the same period, some 35,000 Bibles are produced!

Less Inventory Means Lower Costs

The aforementioned improvements have helped us save donated funds. For example, now that we can handle smaller print runs and more frequent changeovers, we have reduced the amount of literature stored at each printery. “Producing smaller quantities of literature more frequently appeared counterintuitive at first,” admits Gary, who serves at the United States branch. “It may seem better to print larger quantities less often.” Gary continues: “In the first year after we began printing smaller jobs more often, our costs for printing plates and paper waste rose by 60,000 dollars. However, we saved more than 1.5 million dollars that year in costs related to storing paper and printed books!” Such savings are redirected to other important needs, such as Kingdom Hall construction and disaster relief.

Less inventory also opens up space at some of our branch offices. These branches can then use that available space for other Bethel needs. In addition, by printing at fewer locations, we are often able to reduce the size of new construction projects. For example, printing work at the Britain branch was absorbed by the Central Europe branch and other printeries in 2018. This saved millions of dollars in construction costs at the new branch in Chelmsford, England.

“You Remembered Me!”

More important, our simplified operations are helping people spiritually. We are now able to print in more languages, even when only a few hundred copies of a publication are needed. For example, there are only about 35,000 Wallisian-speaking people living in New Caledonia and in Wallis and Futuna. But in August 2024, we released the complete New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in Wallisian. A Wallisian-speaking publisher named Selafina relates: “I used to read terms in the French Bible that I did not understand. So when we received the Bible in Wallisian, tears came to my eyes. I prayed, ‘O Jehovah, you remembered me! You are an impartial God.’”

Although there are fewer than 500,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who speak Sanga, the entire Enjoy Life Forever! book is available in that language. “It used to take a lot of effort to explain or translate certain words and expressions to Bible students,” says Josué, who belongs to a Sanga-language congregation. “Even then, sometimes my students could not understand what the book said. What a relief to receive this book in Sanga! Now, my students understand what is being taught, and I no longer have to give them long explanations.”

We are publishing and distributing spiritual food to more people and in more languages than ever before. Your donations, including those made at donate.jw.org, have helped us to do so. Thank you for your generosity.