$330,000 in additional annual revenue. 3.6 million more good prints per year. Waste was reduced to under 3%.
For Merlin Printing, a full-service commercial print provider on Long Island, NY, these aren’t just impressive numbers—they represent the transformative power of real-time production data that continues to drive success for five consecutive years.
In a business where press time, labor efficiency, and paper waste translate directly into profit or loss, Merlin discovered that knowing what’s happening on your production floor in real-time isn’t just valuable—it’s essential for thriving in today’s competitive landscape. This is the story of how SpencerMetrics CONNECT became the operational backbone that enabled sustained growth, informed precise decision-making, and fostered remarkable adaptability in changing market conditions.
The Challenge: Modernizing Legacy Excellence
Merlin Printing’s journey began with a common challenge facing established print shops: how to bring decades of production expertise into the digital age without compromising operational integrity. With over 50 years in business, Merlin had built its reputation on quality and reliability, powered by a pair of 1990s-era Heidelberg web offset presses that represented the gold standard of their era.
However, these workhorses lacked native connectivity capabilities. Critical production data—downtime logs, make-ready waste, job costing—relied on manual collection and estimation. While this approach had served the industry well in previous decades, Merlin’s growing job volume, increasing versioning complexity, and accelerating turnaround demands required a more sophisticated approach.
The shop needed a system that could seamlessly digitize performance tracking, systematically reduce make-ready waste, and provide leadership with the real-time visibility necessary for smart, timely decisions. After testing a solution from a different vendor that failed to deliver usable data for 18 months, Merlin made the strategic decision to implement SpencerMetrics CONNECT with AUTOMATER.
Immediate Impact: From Visibility to Value
The transformation was both immediate and measurable. SpencerMetrics CONNECT brought unprecedented operational transparency to Merlin’s production floor through strategically placed 50-inch monitors that displayed real-time performance data, giving operators instant feedback and keeping teams aligned around shared goals.
This enhanced visibility delivered impressive results across multiple metrics:
- Make-ready time reduction: 2.37% improvement in setup efficiency
- Print time utilization increase: Over 3% boost in productive press time
- Sellable output growth: 2.5% increase in quality production
- Annual impact: Over 3.6 million additional good prints, representing more than $330,000 in additional revenue
These improvements weren’t just numbers on a dashboard—they represented fundamental operational enhancements that strengthened Merlin’s competitive position and profitability.
Evolution Through Adaptation: Five Years of Sustained Value
Today, Merlin Printing continues to rely on SpencerMetrics CONNECT as a cornerstone of its daily operations. However, the system’s utilization has evolved in tandem with both the printing market and the company’s operational maturity. The market shift following COVID fundamentally changed the print landscape, and Merlin’s ability to adapt demonstrates the resilience that data-driven operations provide.
Where the initial implementation focused on establishing new operational rhythms and maximizing immediate efficiency gains, the current application emphasizes trend monitoring, rapid issue resolution, and maintaining consistency in a leaner operation. “If I see something that goes out of whack, I jump on it immediately,” explains Steven Vid, President of Merlin Printing. “Waste is usually under 3%. If it ticks up to four, I know something has happened.”
This evolution from reactive to proactive management exemplifies how CONNECT grows with a business, providing increasingly sophisticated insights as operational processes mature.
Navigating Market Transformation: From Inserts to In-Store
The printing industry’s evolution over the past five years has been dramatic, and Merlin’s experience illustrates how data-driven operations enable successful adaptation to changing market demands. The company’s business mix has shifted significantly from its traditional foundation of high-volume newspaper inserts and flyers with versioned runs exceeding 60,000 pieces.
As newspaper distribution declined and advertiser business models evolved, retailers who once printed city-wide circulars began requesting smaller quantities—often just 500–1,000 flyers for in-store use. This shift created new challenges: increased digital print volumes for short-run jobs and reduced web press utilization, which transformed Merlin’s operation from a six-day-a-week, multi-shift production to a more streamlined four-day schedule with two web presses and four press crews.
Despite this fundamental change in operational rhythm, CONNECT’s value remains unchanged. As Vid notes, “The moment something goes sideways, that’s when you’re glad it’s there. Without it, you’d be blind.” Recognizing the evolving landscape, Merlin has expanded CONNECT’s reach to include their new Canon digital press, automatically capturing job data, media usage, ink consumption, and various production metrics across their diversified equipment portfolio.
"If I see something that goes out of whack, I jump on it immediately. Waste is usually under 3%. If it ticks up to four, I know something has happened."
Mastering Complexity: Data-Driven Versioning Excellence
In today’s print environment, versioning is no longer a specialty service—it’s the standard expectation. Whether producing 15,000 grocery flyers for Store A and 20,000 for Store B, or tracking subtle variations across dozens of SKUs, complexity has become an integral part of daily production at Merlin Printing. This reality makes data clarity more valuable than ever before.
SpencerMetrics CONNECT enables Merlin to dissect performance by job version, operator, and run length, providing management with precise insights into actual make-ready time, waste patterns, and labor inputs. This granular transparency serves dual purposes: optimizing internal efficiency while strengthening external pricing strategies and building client trust through demonstrable cost justification.
“We used to estimate job cost differences,” Vid reflects. “Now we can show exactly what each version requires to produce, and explain why.” This capability transforms complex, short-run work from a challenging unknown into a precisely managed, profitable opportunity. The focus shifts from simply producing more to understanding exactly what each job demands, every time.
From Data to Strategic Decisions
One of CONNECT’s most enduring contributions has been its ability to illuminate previously hidden inefficiencies and transform them into competitive advantages. From the initial implementation, the system enabled Merlin to benchmark production teams, identify waste patterns, and validate job costs with unprecedented accuracy—particularly critical when managing multiple job versions.
This transparency proved invaluable for both training initiatives and performance management, as it created accountability based on objective data rather than subjective observation. Today, that same transparency maintains rigorous internal standards within a more efficiently staffed operation.
“We’re not a shop of thirty employees,” Vid explains. “So when something’s off, everyone knows it. But the data gives me the facts to support decisions and improvements.” While the team has moved beyond relying on constant dashboard monitoring, CONNECT’s role in maintaining quality standards and operational consistency remains fundamental to their success.
The Enduring Value Proposition
Five years after implementation, when asked directly whether CONNECT remains a worthwhile investment, Vid’s response is unequivocal: “No question. It never stops providing important information. You may not need it every day, but when you do and you don’t have it, you’ll regret it.”
This endorsement reflects more than return on investment or performance metrics—it speaks to operational resilience in an industry characterized by constant disruption. Whether facing technological evolution, pandemic-driven market shifts, or changing customer demands, Merlin Printing has found stability and confidence in reliable, actionable data.
The contrast with their previous vendor experience underscores CONNECT’s reliability. Where the competing system provided 18 months of unusable data with minimal support, CONNECT delivered immediate, clean, actionable insights backed by a team that understands both engineering excellence and operational realities.
As SpencerMetrics continues to advance their platform with AI-powered analytics for enhanced trend analysis and deeper insights, their commitment to supporting legacy equipment ensures that established operations like Merlin can bridge the gap between proven infrastructure and evolving digital expectations. As Vid summarizes, “They do some pretty amazing things.”
The Strategic Advantage of Data-Driven Operations
Merlin Printing’s journey represents the new reality in print manufacturing: legacy equipment remains valuable and productive, but operational expectations for visibility, speed, and efficiency continue rising. Systems like SpencerMetrics CONNECT don’t simply digitize existing processes—they create the analytical foundation that supports smarter, faster decision-making across every aspect of production.
Even with reduced press utilization, the ability to track performance precisely, minimize waste systematically, and maintain consistent pressroom standards has never been more crucial to sustained profitability. This is exactly what SpencerMetrics continues to deliver: the operational intelligence that transforms good print shops into great ones, enabling them to thrive regardless of market conditions.
For print manufacturers seeking to unlock hidden revenue and maximize profits through vendor-neutral, automated production analytics, Merlin Printing’s experience demonstrates that the right data partnership doesn’t just improve today’s operations—it builds the foundation for tomorrow’s success.
"We used to estimate job cost differences. Now we can show exactly what each version requires to produce, and explain why."
"No question. It never stops providing important information. You may not need it every day, but when you do and you don't have it, you'll regret it."
