Xerox has unveiled the industry's first calculator designed to help customers pinpoint opportunities to reduce their environmental impact while reducing costs. The new proprietary software tool measures the overall impact a company's document technologies have on the environment.
The Sustainability Calculator is the newest assessment tool available through Xerox Office Services. It evaluates the current office environment of printers, copiers and multifunction devices and then measures environmental benefits that could be achieved in terms of energy and paper use, solid waste, water, air and greenhouse gas emissions. This tool provides customers with the first fact-based measurement of their environmental footprint.
"This calculator cracks the code to help offices of any size really understand just how 'green' their offices are or could be," says Rob Abraham, MD of Bytes Document Solutions, the authorised distributor of Xerox products to 24 sub-Saharan countries.
"The same people who are environmentally conscious at home are starting to bring this awareness to work, but in many cases, they haven't known where to start. Xerox designed the Sustainability Calculator to be an effective environmental assessment tool. It provides customers with actionable recommendations to help them achieve their green objectives and in doing so realise cost-savings and efficiency gains that come with an optimised office environment."
The Sustainability Calculator not only tracks document technology from Xerox, but also printers, copiers and multifunction devices from other companies.
For offices which want a quick assessment of their environmental footprint, a scaled-down version of the comprehensive calculator is available on Xerox's Web site at http://www.xerox.com/thoughtleadership. Visitors get a sneak peek at how the calculator can effectively help their company, regardless of its size. The quick Web-based assessment provides how to tips and advice on smart ways to make offices greener. One company that has benefited immediately is global defence and technology company Northrop Grumman Corporation. The calculator was able to show one sector where it saved 27% in energy usage, 26% in greenhouse gas emissions and 33% in solid waste. This sector of Northrop Grumman had more than 2 000 printers, hundreds of multifunction printers and standalone copiers prior to leveraging Xerox Office Services - which optimised the office to less than 1 100 devices.
Xerox populated the calculator with metrics such as equipment specifications and usage patterns with the original number of devices. Following that, the calculator evaluated the new office configuration and was able to demonstrate areas where Northrop Grumman had achieved sustainability savings. Xerox will report metrics on Northrop Grumman's office equipment throughout the year as the company continues to simplify the office settings of six other sectors.
How it works
The Sustainability Calculator employs proprietary algorithms and document assessment research to deliver data about a company's entire fleet of office products, from printers to multifunction devices and copiers, regardless of the equipment supplier. The Sustainability Calculator can also provide information on the impact of printing on two sides or using different types of papers. Preliminary testing of the calculator proves that customers realise both environmental benefits and cost savings.
After the initial analysis that generates a detailed sustainability evaluation of their operations, Xerox partners with customers to create an energy-saving office environment. Some of the changes can be as simple as moving devices to different locations, to replacing personal and single-function products with multifunction products. The calculator can also detect opportunities for customers to become smarter paper users and to reduce waste. It provides information on the impact of duplex printing or using different paper stocks.
Xerox's focus on sustainability dates back more than 20 years and is woven into nearly all aspects of how it designs its products and selects its suppliers.
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Xerox Corporation is the world's leading document management enterprise, providing the industry's broadest portfolio of colour and black-and-white document processing systems and related supplies as well as document management consulting and outsourcing services to businesses of any size.
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