From our highly-skilled Systems team to our dedicated Production Stream Managers, it’s safe to say that there are a lot of people involved whenever you order print with us who make sure the whole process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
To find out more about how we’re constantly working to improve the company workflow and keep our factory running at optimum efficiency, we went behind the scenes and shone the spotlight on Asif, our Head of Systems Development.
- When did you start working at instantprint?
I started working at instantprint in 2014, but I’ve not always worked in the Systems team. (I actually started out as part of the Web Development team!) I’ve always had a passion for software, automation and artificial intelligence and, when combined with my love of problem solving, meant that I was shortly moved over to the Systems team.
- What does your role involve? (Be specific and detailed)
I lead the Systems team, where our main job is to find any gaps or inefficiencies in the workflow and to then create solutions for these through developing software and building applications. I personally manage my team’s projects and lead the development of any software we create.
- How does your role fit into the journey of an instantprint customer’s print?
My role is integral in developing the way we print – so thinking about it, I’m behind the scenes of every print job! In the Systems team, we look at every aspect of the business and have systems that allow us to look at countless variations of how we produce every print product we offer, from which printing press we use to how much time goes into the job. This means we have all the information we need for spotting areas we could improve.
- What makes you proud about working at instantprint?
To be a world class company, I think you need four things: quality products, cutting edge equipment, highly qualified staff, and the technology to bring all of these together. I believe that we have all four of these at instantprint.
Not only are we constantly investing in state-of-the-art equipment, but we’re also investing in the development of our people so they know exactly how to use the equipment to get the most out of it.
- What’s your favourite project that you’ve worked on so far?
My favourite project to date has been taking over the dispatch process. We’ve had some real-world technical challenges in piecing several key technologies together, which is where the excitement lies for me and is at the heart of everything we do. For example, we’ve studied several PhDs on the knapsack problem, whereby you’re given a set of items, each with a weight and a value and you have to figure out how many of each item you can include in a collection so that the total weight is at a given limit and the value is as high as possible. We’ve applied this to dispatching print to determine the number of jobs that can fit inside a delivery box at the point of dispatch!
- Tell us about your downtime hobbies or a random fact about yourself
A random fact about me is that I travelled to over 30 different countries before the age of 30!
- Tell us about a standard day in the instantprint office for you?
Without fail, I always start my day with some fresh filtered coffee! Then I get to work on checking for any urgent issues that might have been flagged overnight. After I’ve dealt with them, I’ll continue my work on one of the main projects we’d be working on – we like to keep busy with more than one project on the go at any one time. When it comes to working on the projects, no day is the same – I could be meeting various stakeholders throughout the business, creating a development plan or even starting coding a solution.
- What do you enjoy most about working at instantprint?
As well as being part of a group of staff whose skills are superbly well developed, I love that I’m surrounded by people who are as passionate as I am about solving problems and finding solutions to make sure instantprint runs as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. We’ve got the same goals, we’re all on the same page.
