Sponsored Content
By Significans Automation
Processing time cut 20 to 40 percent, labor reduced by three employees, and speed to market accelerated by GA CMP leader with customized automation from Significans Automation.
Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions in Alpharetta, GA offers a unique Centralized Marketing Platform (CMP) to manage multifamily property marketing activities. Services include apparel, creative design, on demand communication technology with online smart stores, print services, and promotional products and signage. Benson personalizes more than 500 physically branded product types, delivering scalable customization while maintaining brand consistency. Advanced production capabilities—including HP Indigo 15K and 7900 presses with variable data printing and embellishments, combined with G7 certification—ensure high-quality, color-accurate results across all outputs.
Major Issues Slow Production
With a staff of about 220, thousands of web to print (W2P) jobs are processed daily. This throughput was cumbersome to manage manually and labor intensive. Customer service representatives worked within its MIS system to manually download, imposition, and drop files to their presses. The process highlighted an opportunity to implement automation and drive operational efficiency.
In Fall 2024, Benson partnered with Marc Raad, president, Significans Automation. Keri Lively, director of strategic initiatives, Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions, recalls those early conversations. “We were producing a huge volume of printed pieces that each had their own unique production variables. We needed to streamline our data collection and increase our efficiency. First, we wanted to automate all our W2P files from our customers online smart stores, to be sent automatically to one of our two HP Indigo presses, depending on their unique production criteria. That was the first project we tackled together successfully.”
Next, Lively looked to automate the company’s nametag and maintenance-badge production. “Hundreds of nametags, each with distinctive features, run through our facility each day. Our operators had to create multi-up layout files manually to fit our presses. We aimed to eliminate this time-consuming process.”
Game-Changing Results
The Benson/Significans Automation team automated the nametag and maintenance badge workflow by filtering incoming orders based on specific production criteria. They developed a customized, automated workflow that optimally ganged all orders to reduce setup time. The new systems also triggered production based on quantity thresholds and accelerated time to market. Finally, they integrated all existing workflow systems, including W2P and Pace software, for a seamless flow of data. Several months later, Significans Automation further upgraded imposition capabilities by installing Enfocus Phoenix.
“As far as W2P, we eliminated one entire department staffed by three employees. Employees who manually drop job files saw a 20 percent reduction in their workload. Our nametag and maintenance badge operators reduced their processing time by about 40 percent each week. Moving forward, we intend to automate other areas of our business to boost speed to market,” shares Lively.
Brian Benson, founder/CEO, Benson Integrated Marketing Solutions, adds, “we believe employee throughput must increase rapidly to stay competitive as an organization. We monitor this by measuring sales per employee company wide and expect growth year-over-year in all parts of our business. Of course, great people are the backbone of all our success, but we must support them with smart workflows and automations. Significans Automation played a major role in helping us achieve this, and work towards our goal of completing 80 percent of our work in 24 hours or less.”
For an assessment of your workflow systems, please call Significans Automation at 877-463-4465.
Mar2026, DPS Magazine
