Promotion News! – Waldemar Gajda, Production Planner

When we last caught up with Waldemar Gajda, he had been a Production Supervisor at ASC Direct for four years, helping to make sure your boxes were manufactured to the highest standards, every time. In October 2025, Waldemar accepted a post of Production Planner, moving from the factory floor and into the office, to use his considerable experience in production planning. We asked Waldemar about his new role.

What is your new role and how did this come about?

“I had been doing the Production Supervisor role for four years at ASC Direct when an opportunity came up for a Production Planner. I discussed this with James (General Manager, James Palfrey-Smith) and applied. I had lots of experience on the shopfloor and I was keen to use this in a new role plus I wanted to learn new skills too. I was thrilled when it was confirmed.”

What does a Production Planner do?

“Being a Production Planner means making sure all of the orders placed by our customer are manufactured correctly to the highest quality and delivered on time! To do this, we have to make sure each order is scheduled for the right machine at the right time and that all of the necessary job details and materials are available too. This includes the corrugated board the boxes will be made from plus any cutting tools needed for die-cutting and printing stereos.”

Is each customer order the same?

“Not at all. Each customer order is bespoke and extremely important. The quantity of boxes needed, material type and weight, box format and size and any additional cutting or printing required will all be unique to that order. This means that each job may use multiple machines. Customers will also have very specific delivery dates too – we know our customers rely on us to get them their boxes when they need them, so they can store or ship their products.”

How do you bring this together?

“We have lots of machines! Each of them has different capabilities and run at different speeds. We have to make sure the machines are kept at optimum capacity, running as many jobs as possible in the right order, so they are fully utilised, and the right job is available for delivery at the right time!”

How do you like the new role?

“It is very different from being on the shopfloor – I enjoyed that very much and learnt a great deal and it’s good to use my experience now to oversee all of the machines. As I know what they can do, I am able to quickly decide which machines suit which jobs and if any machine is too busy or a rush job comes in, it’s straightforward for me to see how we can still meet the customer requirements.”

So you have been kept very busy? Any other news?

Only one thing – I now have a baby boy, Antoni! He is three months old and a wonderful new addition to my family and very much keeping me busy at home too!

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