Caroline has enjoyed a truly diverse career path over the last 17 years at Spread Group. Having started as a packer in Leipzig, she is now the Director of Manufacturing and Production, responsible for all of our production sites across the world. In the role, Caroline is the main contact and expert for print technologies, production processes and capacity planning. She talked to us about her career before and with us, her tasks and how she finds a work-life balance.
How did you end up at Spread Group?
I applied here after a recommendation from a friend in 2005, at a time when they were looking for people to join the production team. After my interview I actually started working as a packer on the same day. I like to think of Spread Group as my second baby, as the company is slightly younger than my daughter (laughs). I spent the first few years learning production, eventually changing my roles, as team lead, supervisor, production manager and now director. So far it’s been fun pretty much every day and I’m proud to be part of the success story that is Spread Group.
Can you tell us a bit about your educational background?
After my apprenticeship as a legal assistant it was clear that working on things which require creative and innovative solutions fits me better. This led me to another apprenticeship in Digital and Print Media Design. Following a classic educational path hasn’t really taken me to where I am. More important was the trust and support I received from my supervisors at Spread Group. I am very thankful that they noticed my potential and empowered me. If you want to build yourself up somewhere internally, having fun and staying motivated will set you on your way.
How would you describe your current position?
I am responsible for our production sites in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and the US, building a fantastic team full of smart people around me. As the main contact person, it’s essential to show presence, so I travell regularly between the sites and enjoy doing so. With such a diverse range of tasks, it’s hard to summarise exactly what I do. Nevertheless you can roughly divide it into five areas: quality control, capacity planning, optimising productions processes, warehousing and people management. By always having to keep up with the newest developments, in terms of printing technology and textiles, things never get boring.
What was your personal highlight at Spread Group so far?
Boiling it down to one highlight is tough after 17 years. What I am undeniably proud of is having watched this small Leipzig start-up become a global player. Seeing how the production sites have been built up is just confirmation of this. In addition, it is always a highlight when ideas that are brought in are then actually implemented in production and we become better, faster or more modern as a result.
How do you spend your free time?
Although I travel a lot for work, I still like to do it privately as well. Extending my horizons and getting to know other cultures and mentalities is a real passion of mine. I am actually about to become a grandmother for the first time, which is of course incredibly exciting. It wont be hard to guess which baby in Leipzig is going to have the coolest babygrow with the funniest slogan (laughs).
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