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As the Government department
responsible for the environment, Defra
(The Department for Environment
Food and Rural Affairs) has an interest
in reducing the environmental impact
of its operations and finding ways to
save money.
On the advice of IBM, its IT managed
services provider, Defra recently replaced
the ad hoc procurement of printers
and consumables with a managed print
service (MPS) delivered by Oki. In doing
so, it has cut costs and reduced CO 2
emissions from office printing by 47%.
Covering 120 of more than 170 Defra
sites across the UK, the solution devised
by Oki is a classic MPS implementation
featuring printer rationalisation;
automatic just-in-time consumables
delivery; remote monitoring; agreed
service level agreements (SLAs);
telephone and engineer support; and an
all-inclusive fixed cost per page.
Removing large numbers of printers
from your business won’t only
save money; it will also help cut
carbon emissions, as new MPS
implementations for Defra and
Logica demonstrate.
Site visits
Before devising a solution, Oki analysed
printer deployments and business
processes at Defra sites throughout the
UK, from large central London offices to
small remote buildings in the Shetlands
and Orkneys.
“We audited 170 sites nationwide,
noting the devices and site
requirements,” explained Rob Brown,
business manager for Oki Managed Print
Services. “Just because an environment
has A3 colour MFPs doesn’t mean they
use A3 or the advanced features such
machines offer: they might just need an
A4 mono device.”
Based on its observations, Oki
suggested a reduction in the number
of print devices from 1,384 to 548,
standardisation on a balanced selection
of Oki models and the introduction of
paper-saving measures.
“Reducing the fleet on such a scale
brings big savings in power consumption,
and the machines have deep sleep mode
that delivers further cost reductions and
CO 2 savings, which in total amount to
nearly 50%,” Brown said.
He added that Oki is also encouraging
more responsible and efficient printing
practices. “Defra itself had some simple
requirements like using default duplex
and mono output, but we also integrated
secure release functions, which improves
document security because a document
isn’t released until the user enters a PIN
number, and made the move to MFPs
and scan-to-email and scan-to-network
to improve document processes. In
the future, we aim to consolidate and
remove fax machines.”
As part of its service, Oki provides
quarterly reviews and continuous
assessments of how processes can
be improved, based in part on Oki’s
on-going monitoring of print activity.
Although Defra sites are far-flung, they
are connected to the main central
network, which allows data collection
agents to monitor printers remotely,
check consumables levels and pick up on
any problems as they happen or, in some
cases, pre-empt them. Data on printer
usage also makes it possible for Oki to
fine-tune printer deployments in line
with changing printing habits.
HP and Logica
Business and technology services
company Logica is another organisation
eager to reduce its carbon footprint.
“We first measured our carbon footprint
in 2006 and started a universal campaign
called Stamp Down our Carbon Footprint,”
explained Logica’s UK head of health, safety
and environment Arlette Anderson. “Having
set a base line, we are now two years into
a long-term goal to reduce our carbon
emissions by 50% by 2020.”
As part of this programme, Logica
has enlisted HP to help reduce the
environmental impact of printing by almost
6,000 users at 23 UK locations.
An independent white paper, Alternative
Thinking About Printing, produced jointly by
HP and Newfield IT calculated that 5,000
print users generate 560 tonnes of CO2 a
year and use over 200 Megawatt-hours of
electricity.
To reduce power usage, cut costs
and streamline its print, Logica signed a
Managed Print Services (MPS) contract with
HP. As part of the MPS, HP shrank Logica’s
printer fleet by replacing many personal
printers with MFPs that print, copy, scan
and fax.
The current landscape includes 83
mono and colour HP MFPs and HP LaserJet
printers. Fleet rationalisation combined
with the greater overall efficiency of new
HP print technology and the use of remote
management to set economical ‘sleep’
and ‘wakeup’ times has enabled Logica to
achieve a 32% reduction in energy usage for
document printing.
The main culprit
HP and Newfield IT’s White Paper revealed
that the electricity needed to power a fleet
of printers for 5,000 people accounted for
14.5% of CO2 emissions, with toner and
ink usage responsible for 6.5%. By far the
biggest source of CO2 emissions was paper.
“Our total annual footprint was some
30,000 tonnes of CO2. Paper contributed
between 300 and 400 tonnes of that total,
or over 1%,” Anderson said. “To reduce
paper usage we introduced various print
reduction initiatives like poster campaigns, a
‘No Print Day’ and a ‘Think Green – Keep it
on the Screen’ initiative for email.We have
made duplex printing the default and have
implemented a Follow Me solution.”
As a result of these measures, Logica has
reduced the number of prints output from
16 million in 2006 to 9.7 million in 2011
and cut carbon emissions relating to paper
use from 407 tonnes in 2006 to 254 tonnes
in 2011.
Logica is well on track to achieving its
overall target of a 50% emissions reduction
by 2020, based on annual reductions of
6%. It achieved the 6% figure in 2009, but
increased savings to 10% in 2010 and 23%
in 2011.
Oki suggested a
reduction in the
number of print
devices from
1,384 to 548...
“
Managed Print Services