Birmingham, Ala. – Print Promotions Group, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Encompass Health Corporation and serves as its in-plant provider of print and promotional products and services. SpencerMetrics LLC provides modern print production solutions that improve operational insight and enable cost reductions while maintaining high quality.

Print Promotions Group (PPG) has added Spencermetrics CONNECT® to enhance its multi-vendor pressroom operations. PPG's digital print production fleet includes various Xerox as well as HP Indigo presses.

PPG had two issues they were initially looking to improve. First they wanted to get a better understanding of their true press utilization, whether they have too much or not enough of various equipment and to refine their Budgeted Hourly Rate. Secondly, they wanted to set obtainable, realistic benchmarks for their production staff. CONNECT's real-time analytics promise to assist management in continuously improving their business operations.

“We were impressed with the analytics since we first met; now that CONNECT automates real-time data capture – from both Xerox and HP presses as well as our pressroom operations – it is a compelling addition,” noted Danny Kirkland, Director, Print Promotions Group. “We've had benchmarks for years but we didn’t have the real data to show if the operator had enough work, if we were down due to mechanical issues outside of the operator’s control, etc. Without better data, operators and managers often felt that they were handicapped by things out of their control.”

CONNECT automatically captures and analyzes multi-vendor equipment and accurate shop floor data – with breakthrough ease. Its focus on people and process enables immediate visibility into operations, while its cloud-based architecture enables sharing of best practices across geographies, and utilization as a key element in bringing Smart Factory/Industry 4.0 to the printing industry. Patent-pending analytics track various production metrics and KPIs for continuous improvement; they identify opportunities to reduce downtime waste with Lean Six Sigma, improve asset utilization, and maximize productivity to lower costs.

“We are extremely pleased to see CONNECT's multi-vendor focus bring value to another valued client,” said David Spencer, SpencerMetrics CEO.