A day in the life of a Mechanised Print Finisher & Binding apprentice

Aaron Quinn

Mechanised Print Finisher & Binding Apprentice, Design Xpress

Firstly, no day is the same in the Printing Industry, that’s why I love it so much. Every day is a new challenge for me, coming across different problems and learning a wide range of new skills.

Depending on our daily work schedule, I usually come to work at about 8 am. Everybody in the production end of the factory has a small meeting in the morning, discussing what has to be done that day, and allocating certain jobs to different people. After the meeting, we start work. Up until 5 pm, I could be doing anything from cutting jobs, to laminating, printing or packing. During the working day I do a lot of different things in the factory, which is why I don’t mind it and I never really get bored at work. 5 pm is the time our courier comes to collect all of the parcels we are sending out that day.

On the shop floor, we can have a chat whilst working and still enjoy being at work, just as long as all the work set for that day gets done. The main aspects of my work are being creative, problem-solving and working to a timescale but producing work to a standard promised to our customers. Meeting deadlines and producing work to the standard the customer has requested is our main duty as a Print Finisher.

There is quite a lot of pressure as a Finisher because I have the last say on whether the job is acceptable to be sent, also finishing and packing the job are the last steps of fully completing a job. On the other hand, being able to see work I have produced up in shopping centres or high streets and hearing how happy customers are with their jobs makes me really proud. That’s the main reason I love my job.

When I left school I was a very ‘hands-on’ person and knew I didn’t want to go into further education such as Sixth Form, College, University etc. I didn’t want to sit in a classroom all day, that’s why I chose to do an apprenticeship and I have never looked back, learning a trade whilst making money at the same time is probably the best decision I’ve made!