Still Rolling: The People

As the world moves digital, a shrinking but steadfast team of pre-press specialists, printers and newspaper vendors work through the night

- Shefali Rekhi

Sixty-year-old Abdul Razak joined Singapore Press Holdings' pre-press team over 3 1/2 decades ago, as a film stripper.

That was his designation, and his work was to scan and enhance the pictures, as well as manually create the advertisement layout so that they would appear well in the paper. He still does that—though with some changes in the processes—along with a lot more, as a senior pre-press specialist now.

The pre-press team prepares and ensures that all elements and components of the digital files of the next day's paper, which are sent from the newsroom, are complete and final for printing.

Starting work each evening at 5.30pm, he'll be at his desk for the next few hours, watching eagle-eyed the flow of text and visuals transmitted from the newsroom to ensure that every word, image and advertisement is in its proper place.

At the end of a shift, his eyes and back will be sore. But he still enjoys his job.

"We have to be ready to receive a new page. There will be new editorial content to look out for, there will be a new photo to enhance. I have to try not to make a mistake. And I must complete everything in a short while. I enjoy that," he says.

His production manager, Ms Sumithy Kamalakaran, 56, who has been with the department for more than three decades, is equally enthusiastic.

When she joined the company as an assistant graphic technician, the pre-press team numbered over a hundred people working on one floor at Times House in Kim Seng Road.