I am shocked, but not entirely surprised, by the news that NatMag has rendered the role of its esteemed manufacturing director Alice Beattie redundant. When the publisher announced two months ago that 100 jobs would go across the business it was pretty clear that nobody's job would be safe in this process, board level or otherwise.

What a sign of the times this decision is, indicative of the onward march of finance directors and other general manager types taking over procurement responsibilities in a world where everything is becoming merely a commodity.

It pains me to say it, but in this world, it doesn't matter if you're buying reporters' notebooks, staples, copier paper, toilet rolls, or magazine sections and paper tonnage.

Will this herald a trend? Are the boards of directors at other publishing houses stroking their chins at this very moment, looking at spreadsheets involving production personnel costs? I imagine the answer is yes. I also imagine that more than a few senior magazine production/manufacturing directors will have greeted this news with foreboding. If a person has done a great job in terms of driving through difficult cost-saving changes such as standardising formats and paper stocks, they've effectively done themselves out of a job in the process - if their role is limited to print and production, that is.

Responsibility for the day-to-day stuff can be devolved to cheaper people, while a consultant will be able to step in and assist in a few years' time when the process needs to be repeated. There's also a view that the Williams Leas of this world will soon be moving into this space, and taking over production departments. My view has always been that there's a world of difference between sourcing print that is part of a business function, as opposed to print that is effectively your core product. I like to think that's still the case, but maybe I'll be forced to challenge my prejudices in this respect. Time will tell.

Talking to various well-placed sources about this topic the words "brutal" and "cuts" came up time and time again. I've said this before, but publishers' profits have been buoyed by savings in print and production costs for many years now, and that particular profit stream is coming to an abrupt and painful end.

As a side observation, it's interesting to note that Reed's Martin Bloomfield, he of the admirably well-executed long-term plan, moved from production into operations and then a global procurement role several years ago now. His foresight and planning was certainly exemplary in that respect.