There were celebrations when Ollie Cooper was announced as the 2022 Winner of ‘Young Achiever’ at the Adur & Worthing Business Awards.
Managing Director Steve Cropper commented “Oliver (known to everyone as Ollie) joined Gemini Print in 2018 as an 18-year-old, after completing his A Levels. It is a real challenge nowadays to attract young people into the ‘glamour’ of a pressurised low margin/high volume manufacturing sector that is not known for lots of financial rewards or smart benefits.
However, Ollie quickly established himself as an exceptional young man who was prepared to invest personal effort in gaining the Level 2 NVQ Certificate in Pre-Press for Print (recognised by his tutors for successfully completing his qualifications within 50% of the typical time).
When a new HP indigo press was purchased by Gemini Print Oliver was invited to the Hewlett Packard training centre and Graphics Academy in Barcelona for intensive training to achieve the full press operator qualifications for the HP Indigo 7000. 7500, 7600 and 7800.
Combining all his training, skills and excellent work record led to Ollie being entrusted with a critical stage of the setting up of our new Tharstern MIS. He managed more than 7000 lithographic layouts with the quantifiable impact of 37% improvement to workflow time efficiencies plus costs savings of approximately £100k.
I have watched with interest how colleagues, even with more than 35 years’ experience, refer to Ollie with a great deal of respect. When the media writes about my own career with headlines such as ‘from van driver to CEO’ it is a very rewarding to see a young man achieving an exceptional level of performance and development with a level of passion and ambition that I recognise!”.
Ollie started his working life at weekends and during school holidays at Clarks in Brighton where he regularly achieved highest daily sales. Following his A levels at BHASVIC (when he thought at first his career would turn towards retail or sales) he developed an interest in computer science and showed interest in a career developing systems and workflows. He joined the Gemini Print Group in November 2018 where he started the learn the complexity and high-pressure environment of print manufacturing. He quickly understood how to work with designer files in Adobe and soon became very efficient refining and correcting artwork ready for print through our Kodak Prinergy and Insite systems and workflow – a critical stage of good customer service and effective production.
Patience and excellent calm communication skills are essential as clients can change their minds at every step re what they want, while on the other hand there will internal colleagues clamouring for priority.
Following a move into the Digital Print manufacturing area Ollie was sent to Hewlett Packard’s Graphics Academy in Barcelona to understand the working of digital presses. After passing his exams he became Gemini Print first fully trained Digital Indigo Technician for our new press investment.
Core Values
Ollie consistently demonstrates the Gemini Print Group core values: –
Innovation: very solution focussed – never afraid to create and develop
Teamwork: a respect for what his colleagues around him need to achieve in addition to his own work
Excellence: understanding that our goals are to provide excellent client results
Trust: everyone knows he can be trusted to achieve what he says he is going to do
Gemini Print invested in new Management Information Systems (Tharstern) to improve manufacturing workflows and inter-function communication, and up to the minute accessibility to information for all – further developing customer service excellence within in a highly competitive manufacturing sector. With the introduction of Gemini’s MIS, a new workflow was integrated, saving approximately 50% of the time initially taken to get files to press.
Ollie Cooper was given the significant responsibility of setting up and roll out of all lithographic print layouts through our Tharstern MIS and Kodak Prinergy to significantly improve efficiencies and speed production through from sign off to print. It was a demonstration of trust of Ollie to delegate to him a task that had such critical impact for all his colleagues.
Ollie is now the ‘go to person’ at the Gemini Print Group for any layout and sign off to print workflow issues. He has developed an exceptional reputation for not just dealing with a problem in the short term – it is his special focus on ensuring that problem is fully resolved and cannot be repeated that makes him a such a winner. He oversees in the region of 1,500 jobs per month which equates to approximately 5,000 layouts through the new workflow setup.
Added value
In addition to his excellent work his colleagues commented about his exceptional attitude to e.g., coming in on a day off to ensure imposition work is cleared so that all clients KPI and expectations are achieved.
With his lifelong passionate support of the Brighton and Hove Albion his love of football has led to him running the Gemini Print Fantasy Football league. He is also involved with playing cricket for the Saltdean Cricket Club. Gemini Print also gets involved with a lot of charity and local community projects and Ollie will always play a proactive role in this activity.
