John joined Jasprint in 1988 straight from school, learning the ropes from the factory floor up and becoming Managing Director in 2008.
A keen Crossfit enthusiast and football fan, John is a regular at the Stadium of Light to see his beloved Sunderland AFC in action. He also likes watching films and listening to music, in particular the Stone Roses of whom he is a huge fan.
John regularly walks the fells of the Lake District and this interest led him to successfully climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 2017.
His favourite biscuits are chocolate chip cookies which he likes nothing better than when accompanied by a nice cup of tea!
Founded by John Rowell Snr Jasprint opens at 16 Bridgewater Road in Washington with an original staff of 3, including John’s eldest son and current Production Director Adrian. The name Jasprint is chosen as the letters J, A and S are the first initials of John’s family.
Having quickly outgrown the Bridgewater Road premises the move is made to the current address of 12 Tower Road, Washington.
The purchase of a Xerox 4050, a high volume laser printer and ancestor of the modern digital presses, enables Jasprint to become one of the first printers in the UK to offer variable data and personalised printing. However, without the internet, ISBN or floppy discs with sufficient capacity, databases are supplied on 9” magnetic tape!
Thanks to an expanding client list that includes the likes of Sage, National Tyres, the Co-op, Caterpillar and others, more capacity is needed and that means more machines as the number of printers reaches three.
John’s youngest son and current Managing Director, John Jnr, joins the company at the age of 17 and starts his working life on the factory floor learning the ropes in the print room.
Full colour digital print is now on the menu as Jasprint install a Xerox Docucolor 2060. The arrival of such machines signal the start of a major shift in the industry as run lengths start to fall and customers start to realise the benefits of ordering in smaller quantities more often.
John Snr decides it’s time to hand over the reins to his sons and takes well-earned retirement. Having been established at this point for 27 years, Jasprint can be considered a hugely successful achievement on his part.
After 30 years of outsourcing the fulfilment of direct mail the purchase of a Neopost AS-200 inserter gives Jasprint the capability to produce entire mailing orders in-house.
Bryan Stewart joins Jasprint as a partner, the first non-Rowell shareholding director in the company’s history.
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