Merlin Printing Reduces Waste and Improves Productivity Using CONNECT

Merlin Printing was facing problems finding a reliable way to collect machine and shop floor data from its vintage Heidelberg (Booth N1643) web offset presses. With growing demand, its manual data collection methods became inefficient, inaccurate, and outdated. Additionally, management needed access to accurate job cost data in order to better understand their makeready waste and the true cost of production for job versioning.

The Heidelberg presses were the place to start. Like most legacy conventional printing presses, there was no digital communication available to automatically collect data. This equipment needed to undergo a digital transformation to enable automatic connectivity. Once automatic data collection and analysis were in place, Merlin knew they could better understand their operation, run a smoother shop, and be more proactive in averting costly issues.

Solution

Merlin installed SpencerMetrics (Booth N1613) CONNECT with AUTOMATER on its presses. Operators appreciated the convenience and usability of the data collection module, while management was able to monitor operations and perform detailed analyses of uptime and downtime activities.

After two years of use, the system continues to exceed Merlin’s expectations. Merlin is now able to compare repeat jobs, understand the different costs of each job version, track labor efficiency and waste, understand the reasons for variation, and get more production output in fewer hours. Real-time dashboards encourage press operators to work more productively, reduce management supervision, and provide clear shop floor visibility for preventative and corrective actions, avoiding downtime and associated delays.

Results

Comparing production metrics and KPIs from the early stages of installation over time shows real operational improvements and increased productivity.

Changes in print and makeready (setup) time, each a percentage of total overall production time, directly impacted profitability. Merlin saw printing time increase from 68.7% to 72.1%, an increase of 3.4 points and an improvement of 4.9%. Makeready time improved by 12.9%, which means it is producing more good output and using less paper and labor time to produce similar jobs, respectively. In addition, it had a 39.7% reduction in waste prints. OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), a measure of Merlin’s operational productivity, inched higher going from 60.7% to 62.9%. 

By increasing print time, Merlin produced more than 3.6 million additional good prints than they would have at the earlier average production rate. Assuming a value of $0.04 per print, more than 50 working weeks per year this is projected to be worth more than $330,000 additional annual revenue.

“We were impressed with the AUTOMATER technology. They not only promised but delivered fast and reliably. CONNECT is easy-to-use, and is providing more value than we expected. AUTOMATER really brings our legacy big iron into the new age of production tracking. With real-time visibility, we can focus on improving our [costs] and our clients’ costs,” says Steve Vid, president at Merlin Printing.