McDonald`s saves on print costs, increases reliability

Oki printers pay for themselves within six months

A year ago, McDonald`s was faced with a challenge in terms of managing its rising printing expenses.

With alarmingly high consumable costs and unreliability from the inkjet printers it had deployed across its nationwide footprint, the restaurant chain needed a more cost-effective printing solution that would allow for increased reliability, lower running costs and improved on-site support service.

Oki CSD, the corporate solutions division of Printacom, SA`s sole Oki importer, in conjunction with McDonald`s support partner, identified the need for cost reduction and increased reliability and suggested a new approach to the printing requirement McDonald`s had throughout its chain of stores.

"With a variety of inkjet printers deployed across SA, McDonald`s was paying an average of R2.70 per printed page - an alarmingly high figure considering the fact that on average each store at McDonald`s was printing in the region of 200 pages per month," says Peter Vieira, business development manager at Oki CSD.

Taking those consumable costs into account, each store at McDonald`s was spending in the region of R540 on printing each month.

"Added to this burden, every time an inkjet printer failed it would be replaced with a different brand or model of printer. This meant that McDonald`s had to buy a new set of consumables for each replacement unit and wasn`t able to standardise on a single type of ink cartridge.

"We conducted a ROI (return on investment) study to gauge how the scenario would differ if McDonald`s was using a single brand and model of printer, while switching to the more cost-effective laser printer technology," Vieira explains.

"Inkjet technology was clearly not right for what McDonald`s required, since this type of technology is best suited to the home environment where print speeds and volumes are not as high," says Vieira. "Laser technology has become one of the most cost-effective solutions for businesses, with the lower consumables cost per page quickly making up for the slightly higher purchase price. Reliability was also a major consideration, less down time means less frustration and higher productivity, this was all taken into account when looking into the solution for McDonald`s."

The ROI study revealed that using Oki`s range of mono laser printers with their separate drum and toner consumable setup, would drop printing costs to approximately R76 per month, resulting in each printer paying for itself within the first six months. The printing solution was also provided with a three-year on-site warranty, allaying fears of inadequate support that McDonald`s might have had.

"On seeing the reduction in cost, we were extremely excited and rolled out the Oki printers immediately," says Mervyn Pillay, IT manager at McDonald`s South Africa. "The roll-out continued over the course of a year, as and when the company needed to replace its inkjet units. A year later, the majority of stores at McDonald`s nationwide have moved to Oki printers, resulting in a dramatic reduction in print costs."

Vieira says that in the region of 60% of stores at McDonald`s are using either an Oki 14EX or Oki B4300 printer, saving on costs and benefiting from increased reliability and print performance.

"Besides these benefits, it is clearly better for the restaurant chain to standardise on a single printing platform, since it makes for far simpler management of consumables procurement and ensures that faulty units can be swapped quickly and efficiently, with little reconfiguration and user education," adds Vieira.

"Advising companies on business printing solutions is our core focus at Oki CSD, and with Oki`s comprehensive range of dot matrix, mono and colour laser printers we are able to cater for a wide variety of business printing needs. Time is a valuable resource and should not be wasted on poor technology," concludes Vieira.

"The new printing solution has reduced our print costs, maintenance costs and made for less downtime," says Pillay.

"The service provided by Printacom was of a high quality and we believe this solution goes a long way to strengthening our ongoing relationship with them," concludes Pillay.