Meet Mark, the Dispatch Supervisor at instantprint! Mark's team ensures that every print job leaves our factory looking great and in a timely manner - essentially, putting the 'instant' in 'instantprint!'. Learn more about Mark's progression with the company over the last 8 years, the role he plays in your print's journey and his favourite projects to date over in our most recent employee interview...
How long have you worked at instantprint and how has your role progressed/what have you learnt?
I started working at instantprint over 7 years ago, back in 2014. At that point, we were still at our old site in Bessemar, Rotherham. I started out in the dispatch team and eight months later moved into a role that involved loading and unloading stock in the warehouse.
In 2018, I had the chance to go for the team leader role back in dispatch, which I’m glad to say I got! Two years on, I was asked if I’d like to be the supervisor and bring others on as team leaders. I now supervise one team leader and two other members of my team working towards that role. Since I joined the business, we have gone from 8 staff in dispatch to having a team of over 20, which is a testament to just how much the team has grown in such a short time.
What does your average day look like?
I supervise the team to ensure high-quality output from our state-of-the-art facility in South Yorkshire. This includes checking that the quality of every finished print job is right. Working in a timely manner is also key in my role to get customers’ print out of the doors and hit our on-time delivery targets. Essentially, helping to put the ‘instant’ in instantprint!
How does your role fit into the customer’s journey?
The dispatch team works at the very last part of our customers’ work so my team performs the final quality checks – we endeavour to get work out to high standards our customers expect from instantprint, and make sure it’s on time. We also work closely with the sales team to help meet customers’ needs in terms of multi-address deliveries and getting crucial jobs out on time.
What makes you proud about working at instantprint?
I get to work with amazing people every day. One thing that instantprint does really well as an employer is clearly communicating business goals – and because we’re all aware of what we want to achieve as a whole, we all play our part to make sure the customers as the best experience possible. That way, we can keep growing alongside helping our customers grow with print.
Tell us your favourite memory of working at instantprint!
Every week, the whole instantprint team is sent a video update from key people in the company. Being asked to do the weekly video update was a huge highlight for me and I was proud to speak on behalf of the dispatch team. I was really nervous to talk in front of the camera, but it was an honour to be featured. I’m very proud to say I’ve appeared on a weekly video!
What’s your favourite print product and why?
I love seeing A3 posters come through the factory because of the variety of artwork we get. It’s one of the perks of the job getting to see what we print and send out all over the UK.
What’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on so far?
Playing an integral role in building the dispatch team to what it is now has been a real career highlight for me. As part of this project, I got to work alongside instantprint’s Co-Founders, James and Adam, for a month. During the month, they helped me develop my leadership skills, giving me the confidence I needed to supervise a larger team. A lot of hard work from a lot people went into making dispatch what it is today, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the team.
Tell us about your downtime hobbies or a random fact about yourself
I’m a very active person and particularly enjoy playing golf and cricket. I’m also a keen walker – there are some destinations you can only get to by walking, and I love discovering new places. In June 2019, a group of us from instantprint walked up Snowden and reached the summit at sunrise (even though it was cloudy!) to raise over £1k for Bluebell Wood children’s hospice. Despite the gruelling journey up, it was amazing we all agreed that we’d be happy to do it again.
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