Robert Balcombe Email and Phone Number

• Successfully delivered hundreds of Tube, Rail and Bus campaigns across the UK.• Managed the Print for media agencies including Kinetic, Posterscope, Talon & Rapport.• Handled high profile product launch campaigns for clients such as Giorgio Armani and Lacoste.• Liaised with print suppliers nationwide to meet deadlines and client expectations.• Worked with fixing managers ensuring all campaigns were correct and on time.• Efficient management of campaign budgets in conjunction with the Finance Team.• Trained, supervised and coached new members of the Production team.

Reporting to the Director of ESI Operations and responsible for managing the Quality Assurance Desk for the Independent, Independent on Sunday and i Newspaper.• Identified and implemented improvements to streamline work which significantly reduced costs and improved productivity.• Successfully managed all quality assurance aspects for the launch of the I Newspaper, working closely with print sites to ensure paper was launched on time and within budget.• Worked in conjunction with IT to deliver a business critical system upgrade from IPL to ESI Media.• Assisted with the successful integration to a new page transmission system, Arkitex Courier.• Trained, supervised and coached Quality Assurance Desk team.• Main point of contact for UK and worldwide print sites.• Ensure product was quality assured and print ready to be transmitted ahead of deadlines thereby avoiding financial penalties.• Provide the interface between Editorial, Advertising Production, Commercial, Marketing and IT Departments.• Troubleshoot broad range of operational issues within tight timescales to identify and implement effective solutions.

• Managed multiple daily/weekly projects, prioritising workload to meet strict deadlines.• Integral part of the launch of the i Newspaper. providing essential publishing and production support to ensure the paper launched on time and in budget.• Created and distributed pagination and night reports for Print Sites, Directors and Editors.• Built and maintained excellent relationships throughout all levels of the business. • Created key link between company and outsourced Technology and Ad Production Departments. • Liaised with print sites worldwide, to ensure the smooth transmission of pages to correct destinations. • Provided out of hours cover for all Flat Planning and Advertising Production needs. Liaising with Sales and Editorial, inserting late adverts and up/down paging editions due to breaking news. • Negotiated with print sites to enable editorial slip pages to go to press. • Updated and exported Flatplans from Media Planner to Atex Content Manager and page pairing software ( Arkitex Client) in order to build editions. • Checked paginations, page sections, page folios, imprints, datelines and ensuring advertising placements are correct including all regional and A/B splits, correcting where necessary. • Thoroughly proof read final version of pages in InDesign/Acrobat to ensure adverts are positioned correctly within defined guarantees and required specification with no editorial clashes.

Reporting to the Production Manager and responsible for managing the Advertising for the Independent, Independent on Sunday and Indy Magazines.• Managed and prioritised all incoming Advertising content.• Pre-flight checked all adverts using Asura software.• Supported copy-chasers to ensure advertising was supplied to correct specification and schedule.• Collected and linked adverts sent from clients via transmission software.• Made amendments to PDF and various other file formats in Solvero software.• Communicated and built relationships with customers who didn’t have the most recent tools and helped them to deliver quality artwork suitable to our systems.• Managed Photo Lab. processed films and maintenance of photo lab machines and chemicals.• Updated Adverts, using production software such as Papermule and Ad Taker.

Reporting to the Scanning Manager and responsible for the Prepress of magazine titles, which included Football Italia and Girl About Town.• Liaised with Art Directors to re-produce page layout to the highest quality using Adobe Creative suite and QuarkXpress. • Performed high-resolution image re-touching, including clean up, enhancement, colour correction, create drop shadows and clipping paths. • Successfully met the magazines tight deadlines, achieving planned press time slots at print sites.

• Provided high quality scanning of all Artwork, transparencies and prints. • Performed high-resolution image re-touching, including clean up, enhancement, colour correction, create drop shadows and clipping paths. • Page makeup of all publications, checking advert artwork specs, correct placement on page and the management of the proofing process.• Managed and prioritised workload into date of publication order. • Liaised with all departments to discuss and implement production needs. • Communicated with Clients, to make amendments and get final approval.