The fine print

With Arbour Week marking the start of this month, the issue of paper use, printing and the impacts on the environment once again came into the spotlight.

David Maginley, managing member of print services company Paperserve, says there's recently been a surge of interest in managing printing environments. “I think people are waking up to the huge cost savings to be made.”

Most companies are looking to improve their carbon footprint and sustainability, adds Andrew Griffith, product manager for office products at Konica Minolta SA. “There's a new trend in the document management industry towards reducing one's impact on the environment.”

However, Maginley says that while environmental issues do resonate with employees, changes in the way businesses handle their printing has been shaped more by financial considerations than environmental ones.

“If you tell a staff member they have used the equivalent of a small rainforest printing out their latest cookbook at work, for example, they will probably think twice before printing another one. However, we are still coming out of the global recession, so for most the focus is not on environmental benefits, but rather on cost saving for the organisation,” he explains.

At the moment, says Griffith, a focus on 'green' printing is only really prevalent in the large companies, which require suppliers to detail their environmental credibility in requests for proposals. “It's not the ultimate deciding factor, but it's a deciding factor nonetheless,” he adds.

This awareness hasn't filtered down to the small and medium-sized enterprise market yet, notes Griffith. “In time, companies are going to be forced to think about it more.”

Griffith explains that printing impacts on an organisation's footprint in three ways. “The first is obviously the use of paper; second is the typical electricity consumption - which includes how much power a device draws when in use and not in use, as well as the carbon dioxide (CO2) it emits while in operation.”

Third is the question of toner technology, says Griffith, as this is responsible for varying amounts of CO2 emissions, depending on the heat produced during the fusing process.

The industry is moving and shaking... we are seeing huge developments happening.

David Maginley

Maginley notes that figures from research portal Conservatree show the average office employee consumes 10 000 pages of paper per year, equivalent to approximately 1.2 trees per year.

Apart from paper consumption, toner and ink cartridges have a significant impact on the environment, he adds. “Greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing a single mono toner cartridge have been calculated to be approximately 4.8kg CO2 per cartridge.”

Maginley adds that more than 350 million cartridges are thrown out to landfills each year. “By 2012, 500 million laser cartridges and 1.8 billion ink cartridges will be dumped in landfills.”

Minimising the effects of printing requires a broad approach, according to Maginley. This includes the use and disposal of materials and addressing printing habits. Creating a rules-based printing environment is key, he adds.

“By tracking and reporting usage, users are held accountable, which cuts out delinquent copying and printing. It makes a big difference,” he explains.

Beyond this, it's a question of the processes and procedures introduced within the organisation, says Griffith. These include devices being compliant with energy regulations and putting innovations in place to reduce energy consumption.

“Use software that can track energy consumption for better management,” adds Maginley. “Set rules in place, such as automatic switch-off at night, or when devices are not in use for a certain amount of time.”

According to Griffith, it's imperative that suppliers consider the environmental aspects of products and services, from the manufacturing process to the packaging and distribution to operational use, and how recyclable materials are.

One misconception still common among businesses is that 'going green' is too expensive, says Maginley. “Many companies think green is for 'other companies' or companies that already have a green product or mission.”

'Green fatigue' is also setting in, he adds. “People are getting overwhelmed with greening initiatives. So you need to present real sustainable, accountable and measurable strategies for the greening of their print environments in order for them to take note.”

Furthermore, while customers today are more informed and intelligent, they are also more pressed for time, Maginley notes. “If you are going green with your presentation of managed print services, you need to communicate strategy clearly with documented statistics of how the service impacts on their environmental initiatives.”

The printing market has experienced enormous flux in recent years, says Griffith, first moving to digital and then to selling solutions rather than products. He believes the industry has reached the third stage of evolution in what has been a dizzying series of changes, with the focus now on fully managed print services (MPS).

“The industry is moving and shaking... we are seeing huge developments happening. There is a huge trend towards outsourcing the printing environment and there seems to be two factors that are driving this,” adds Maginley.

The first is that as the price of printers continues to fall, manufacturers are moving away from their traditional product-centric portfolio of hardware and supplies towards a services-based offering.

“This affords the vendor a better relationship-building platform, but also allows them to begin selling services at a higher level than just simple print management,” he says.

“Secondly, printer manufacturers, specialist print consultancies and traditional outsourcing and integration partners are exploiting the knowledge gap within organisations as they struggle to realise any significant savings on their document output through their own efforts.”

Maginley notes there is no visibility within the organisation to allow management to evaluate the service they are receiving from the vendors.

“For every other industry this is purely a back-office function,” says Griffith, adding that companies often allocate their best resources to manage that function. “But if you get an external party to manage the entire process, it frees up resources to focus on the core business. The organisation can then hold the supplier accountable by measuring the reduction in CO2 and other metrics.”

According to the Kyocera Rethinking Printing 2010 report, with organisations placing a greater focus on cost, and printer management often a burden on IT departments, the tangible benefits of MPS represent an 'easy win' for IT departments.

The report adds: “Despite the much-trumpeted rise of tablet/mobile computing, and the ever-present rumour of the impending paperless office, office workers are printing as much as ever, with no signs of an imminent change.”

“A paperless office is about as realistic as a paperless toilet,” says Griffith. “Despite the range of new digital platforms and services like fax-to-e-mail, print production seems to be increasing.”

In future, he adds, companies will move beyond just traditional cost saving via paper and consumables. Electricity consumption and improving sustainability from an environmental perspective will become increasingly important.

“The industry has seen such a rapid march of technology in the past five years, and going forward I think the focus will remain on saving costs and offering a better way of doing things with regards to sustainability,” says Griffith.

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