Melville, NY – 11 October 2022 — Marathon Press Inc. (“Marathon”), one of the most unique printing and photo labs in the United States, has invested in efficiency and productivity automation with the SpencerMetrics LYNK® solution. LYNK provides fully automated, touchless, real-time data collection, monitoring, and reporting from multi-vendor, multi-technology production equipment.
Marathon offers full-color digital printing, email marketing, graphic design, web-to-print online ordering, specializing in printing yearbooks, children’s books, photo books, and specialty books. Marathon is also a wholesale outsource provider for other printing companies and online photo businesses. Their Norfolk, Nebraska production facility operates high-end digital production equipment from multiple vendors including HP, Konica Minolta, Horizon, etc. With thousands of short-run variable jobs to track, the manual steps required for job recording were no longer reliable and accurate. Costly reprints, due to lost orders in production, were adding up and Marathon was challenged to automate their data collection and reporting processes in order to support their operational needs and growth. They turned to LYNK to support their desire for accurate tracking of what was and what was not printed within their on-demand print facility.
LYNK’s multi-vendor, multi-technology direct digital machine connection now supports Marathon’s automation initiative. LYNK automatically tracks machine status, jobs and counts, and reports various KPIs such as utilization, production volume, speed, as well as job production details – all without any human intervention. The real-time production dashboard provides immediate visibility into job production status. Easy-to-use cloud-based analytics show historical details allowing understanding of production trends and enabling data-driven business decisions. Marathon’s team uses the data provided by LYNK on a daily basis; appreciating the ease-of-use of the system, as well as the immense amount of actionable data provided. LYNK is fully integrated with Marathon’s order management system through LYNK’s restful API – providing job production validation to avoid unnecessary reprints of already printed jobs, more uptime, and higher efficiencies.
Max Alewel, Director of Operations at Marathon Press said, “SpencerMetrics has been great to work with and has helped immensely with our internal order tracking. Their support has been very responsive, and they are always willing to help make our process better.”
“LYNK helps businesses like Marathon leverage the power of automation to attain new levels of performance and efficiency that empower the business to succeed,” said Catherine Fiasconaro, Vice President of Operations at SpencerMetrics. “The power of SpencerMetrics allows for real-time monitoring and action, resulting in higher efficiencies, greater profitability, and increased customer satisfaction.”
About Marathon Press
Marathon Press was established in 1980 with only 3 employees and has grown from its early days as a traditional printer into one of the most unique printing and photo lab companies in the country. Marathon provides products and services geared towards photographers and professionals. Marathon also has a full-service, award-winning website and print design team, making for easy cross platform design, brand and marketing capabilities. Marathon’s GreenPrint production facility is FSC certified and abides to the most stringent standards.
About SPENCERMETRICS LLC
Dedicated to serving user needs in modern production printing through innovative software solutions and services, SpencerMetrics provides intelligent solutions to data collection, monitoring, and analysis of both digital and conventional packaging, printing and finishing equipment. The patented CONNECT and the LYNK solution are enterprise-grade platforms that collect accurate multi-vendor machine data as well as shop floor information; they merge and analyze the data in real-time, and present detailed information and robust reports which allow users to make data-driven decisions that increase efficiency and optimize their workflow and machine utilization. These vendor-neutral solutions are designed for ease of use, providing operational insight and enabling shop managers and owners to better control their investments in machines, labor, and overhead to maximize their ROI.