In India, the production team handled more than 24 million print units in 2012-13 and it is expected that these numbers will grow due to phenomenal growth pattern in the education sector. The production team plays a critical role in the business, while adhering to ethical business practices and holding the highest standards of integrity in the publication of excellent products. Working on new publications alongside an extensive backlist, the team ensures that physical products are produced to pre-agreed schedules, specifications and costs. Best practices are followed adhering to internal guidelines, workflows, checklists and templates. These include step by step workflows and documentation for working with business systems such as SAP and ACE.

Ranjan Kaul, managing director, OUP India, said, “As a department of the University of Oxford, we create world-class academic and educational resources that inspire learning. In India, we have over 100 years of publishing history. Presently, we are focused on maintaining high quality products at multi-location print-production facilities. We are also simultaneously investing in digital resources to meet the challenges of digitisation in the publishing industry.”

Production handles a vast range of books with varying specifications of colour, paper, size, binding, and page extents. The annual targets are decided on the basis of the market requirements in the education segment in the country. Printing is actioned in all four regions of the country (East, West, North and South) and deliveries of printed units are made to 5 different warehouse locations. As such the management of the printing process is a challenging and comprehensive issue for OUP India. The production team, with a staff strength of 16 people meet this challenge by following the principles of compliance. When choosing print vendors, only the most competent and reliable are issued job orders. OUP India values the relationship with print vendors and endeavours to create honest, open, and reliable working practices. Since the print run ranges from 1,000 units to 1,00,000 units plus, we strive to maintain a balanced mix of proficient and skilled vendors who will deliver within the timelines so desired.

OUP India is mindful of the impact on the environment and follow a global environmental policy. OUP India also opposes illegal or inhumane labour practices and expects its printers, suppliers and vendors to do the same. To the extent possible, besides paper, every effort is taken to adapt and practice environment friendly measures internally such as reduction in energy, water and stationery consumption, in addition to optimizing on distribution and logistics.

 Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford, it is committed towards high-quality publishing that upholds the advancement of education, research, and scholarship.