Text: Lucie Benková | Photo: Lukáš Duspiva
In September last year I returned after a break of almost 4 years, when I spent my time with my son on maternity leave. It was a big surprise for me how many things have changed, how many new faces are in FINIDR and also a lot of new machines. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland because I remembered the company in a completely different way. A lot of things have changed in my almost 13 years at FINIDR, and I’m sure they will continue to change, because without change there is no progress.
But to start at the beginning of my journey, we must go back almost 13 years. The year was 2012 and in October of that year I started working in manual finishing in production through an agency. At that time, the company was more than half the size, we only had two halls, the work wasn’t as hectic and practically everything was quieter.
I spent a couple of months on manual finishing and after failing to learn embossing, I was moved to gathering. By that time, I was already a tribal employee. There were no unloaders or stackers or forklifts on the gathering line back then – so there was nothing to make a person’s job easier. Gathered book blocks were lifted out of the channel one by one by hand.
I’m not going to lie, after two shifts I ended up with pain killer pills and wanted to give up. But thanks to the girls on my shift, I soon learned everything and the job got easier. After a while, I worked my way up from a worker to a machine operator on the gatehring line.
I enjoyed this job. But as time went on, I started to want something more. The gathering line was closely linked to sewing line and I often worked on a machine that was part of the sewing process. As a result, I gradually started to learn to sewn on the sewing machines. Sewing is a matter of the heart for me, and I always like to go back to it when I need help.
Unfortunately, after some time I started to have health issues with my back, and I was forced to leave the machine. Fortunately, the company was offered me a position as an administrative clerk for the bindery. Alongside Vlaďka Beneszová I learned a lot of things, but after a few months I was offered the position of sewing process technician. And because I had a positive attitude towards the process itself and enjoyed it and I knew all the girls there, I accepted the offer. But I wasn’t in that position for long because after about six months I got pregnant and went on maternity leave.
And now I’m going back to the beginning, as an administrative clerk. It’s a varied job, I work with production, process technicians, foremen but also the HR department, and especially with the people in production. I am currently training to be an internal FINIDR Academy trainer, and I believe that this experience will open new doors for me and I will be able to push myself further.
And who knows where my journey in FINIDR will take me.
