Meet the ASC Team – David Spofforth - Operations Manager

The Operations Team at ASC Direct are responsible for making sure your packaging is manufactured and delivered on time, every time. To find out more, we turned the spotlight on our Operations Manager, David Spofforth, and quizzed him about his career so far and his time at ASC Direct.

Where it started

David’s first job was playing football. “I started out as a professional footballer for three years at York City. When I was released, as my family worked in printing, so I became an apprentice litho printer. It was a great move. I’ve had some brilliant and varied jobs in the industry, and I bring all of that experience into my role at ASC Direct.”

Experience across many disciplines

Initially, David worked at Alcan Packaging printing chocolate wrappers for Nestle. “I was running huge gravure presses printing millions of KitKat wrappers. We also used UV inks printing passports for different countries. I learned a lot about how big organisations manage large, important jobs.

“After that I moved into newspapers, as a Team Leader for Polestar Scarborough printing the Sunday supplements. This was fast turnaround, high quality production and taught me a lot about how to achieve best quality in a high-pressured environment. There is no faster demand than the need to get the newspapers printed and out the door! I also worked at the Sheffield supersite printing high volume magazines including Chat, Grazie and Hello magazines”.

David went on to work for a label printing company as a shift manager where production efficiencies were driven by incorporating multiple processes at the same time to achieve high quality results. Following this David became Production Manager at the Daily Mail, in this fast paced production environment, responsible for making sure 400,000 newspapers were printed and produced in 5 hours for daily collection and delivery. 

Packaging knowledge

More recently David spent time at Smurfit Kappa, the global packaging company now merged with WestRock. “When I joined Smurfit Kappa, as it was then, I was Operation Shift Manager and took over a shift that hadn’t been performing at its best. I set about improving results by building a strong team, engaging with everyone and making sure they knew their contribution was valued. I also showed them how to work smarter and made sure they got training. One of my best achievements was turning that problematic shift into a happy, coordinated and productive team.”

At Smurfit Kappa David also learned a huge amount about corrugated production. “As one of the biggest packaging companies in the world, it was a great place to learn as much as I could about the different kinds of materials and processes when producing high quality packaging.”

Joining ASC Direct

David has been able to bring all his experience to the role as Operations Manager at ASC Direct. “I’ve had a brilliant career so far in print and packaging and I’m able to bring the best of that knowledge to my work. My experience in a fast-paced production environment lends itself really well to the huge range of formats and sizes of boxes we manufacture every day. I am here to make sure we meet the high standards we set ourselves and that the team are happy and productive.”

Daily improvements

The team agree targets for production. “We have daily meetings so all departments involved can contribute their plans, issues and ideas. Teamwork is really essential in a fast-paced environment and we all work closely together to deliver.”

The future looks bright. “We have ambitious growth plans and I’m part of making sure we’re ready to take ASC Direct to the next level through investing in machinery, training the team and meeting our targets.”

Outside Work

After being in the factory, David very much enjoys getting outside with his golf clubs. “I’m a single figure golfer and like to play competitively as much as I can. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to win the York Union which was brilliant. I am very competitive! I’ve just spent some of my recent winnings on a new Calloway driver so the other golfers at York Golf Club had better be ready!”

David is also a keen supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

A family man, David also makes time to look after and entertain his two young grandchildren.

David is responsible for the best in custom packaging production for all of our customers. When you need custom packaging for your high value products, call our sales team at 0800 0731 126 or fill out our contact form here.