Like the wise man once said, THINK before you INK!

We all know printer cartridge recycling is great for the environment, but did you know that it could be great for your wallet too? Anyone who uses printer cartridges can make money from recycling them – from massive corporations all the way down to small households with a single home printer.

The principle is the same as recycling bottles and cans at the grocery store – you turn in used cartridges and they hand you cash! The only difference is that you’ll need to find recycling centers that specialize in used printer ink/toner cartridges since they have the proper equipment needed to extract all of the properties that make up the cartridges.

Some recycling centers accept piece by piece whereas other centers only accept in bulk. If you want to raise money for charities, many nonprofit companies do work with recycling centers making this a perfect way to donate money.

Before you can determine how much money you’ll make varies depending on the condition and the type of printer cartridge. It’s important to inspect the cartridges before you turn them in for recycling. You could end up without any money back or worst case scenario, some remanufacturing centers may charge a penalty for every cartridge that they consider too damaged to reuse.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, be sure that your used cartridge isn’t cracked and to wrap it up in bubble wrap or newspaper before placing it in a box. The packages you purchase your printer cartridges in include directions on repackaging them properly.

Having a cracked cartridge defeats the whole purpose of recycling to make those extra bucks!

After your cartridges are inspected, wrapped up properly and ready to recycle, you can then choose a company that accepts your cartridge type and request that they send you a recycling package designed for ink/toner cartridges.

Most recycling centers will send you a postage-paid, self-addressed, protective package to help you securely mail your used cartridge to them. There are very few centers that will require a shipping fee if you’re sending in bulk amount but more often than not, recycling centers will either pre-pay your shipping or else send someone to come and pick it up.

Most places typically accept used cartridges for between $1 USD to $4 USD for each approved cartridge. It’s also good to note that recycling centers usually pay more for toner cartridges than they do for inkjet cartridges.

Recently, with a bigger realization of how important recycling cartridges can be to our environment, many people have realized the goldmine laying within ink/toner cartridges and have made businesses out of it, paying up to $20 USD for each accepted cartridge!

Now that you have the know-how of recycling your printer cartridges – how much money will you get back?

When we’re talking printer cartridge recycling, there are several terms are often used, but seldom understood. Much of the time, these terms are confused for each other, and sometimes the cartridge recycling layperson is left just plain confused.

Printer cartridge recycling definitions

Recycled Cartridges: These are any cartridges that are considered recycled, meaning some or all of their parts come from what would have been waste. The cartridges have to made of at least 20%-30% recycled materials to fall into this category.

Cartridge Recycling Process: The cartridge recycling process includes; breaking down damaged cartridges, repairing won cartridges, refilling with new ink, and quality testing before the cartridge is resold.

Refurbished/reused/remanufactured: These terms can be used interchangeably to describe cartridges that have gone through the recycling process and are ready to be, or already have been, resold.

Refilled Cartridges: These cartridges are not considered “recycled” because they are not broken down, and they have had no parts replaced. They are just used cartridges that have been refilled with ink or toner. You can buy ink refilling kits and refill your cartridges at home, or you can take them to a shop to be refilled. It’s important to remember that refilling cartridges won’t do anything for routine wear and tear damage to your cartridge.

Virgin Cartridges: These resources hogs are terrible for the environment. They are brand new cartridges made up of 0% recycled material. The best thing to do with these cartridges is recycle them when they run out of ink.

Some printer cartridges are made from brand new material, and some are made from recycled material. A cartridge has to be made up of some waste from previously used cartridges to be considered a ‘recycled’ cartridge.

How Printer Cartridge Recycling works:

The journey from used to cartridge to shiny new cartridge is not the same for every one that is recycled, but they follow the same general process.

First, the cartridges arrive at a remanufacturing center and are sorted according to their model and condition, then they are broken down into their base parts.

Cartridge parts that are too damaged or worn are replaced, sometimes by new parts and sometimes by pieces from other cartridges that came in undamaged.

Once the cartridge has been reassembled it’s filled with new ink or toner. Then it’s tested for defects or errors. Any cartridge that is not up to snuff is rejected and goes back through the recycling process.

Finally, the recycled cartridges are labeled sold, both on online and offline. They are usually marked as “remanufactured”, but they can also be called refurbished or reused.

Remanufacturing is used most often, but it isn’t the only way to recycle printer cartridges. If the cartridge is not too damaged, it can be refilled with ink or toner. This can be done at a local specialty printer store, or customers can buy refilling kits and try their hand at it from home.

For eye-opening Cartridge Recycling Stats <- Click on this hyperlink.

The benefits of recycling are widely known, even people that aren’t the environmental type are getting in on it. Printer cartridges are one item that goes above and beyond when recycled. Why? Just take a look at a few facts about printer cartridge recycling.

• Every month 25 million printer cartridges end up in landfills. About 11 cartridges are thrown out every second!
• The plastic in cartridges will take 10 centuries to decompose.
• A single printer cartridge uses over three quarts of oil for plastic materials and production.
• Recycling the cartridges leads to remanufacturing. Remanufacturing keeps over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal from reaching landfills.

When you recycle printer cartridges you are helping to preserve resources on a massive scale. Up to 97% of material from a recycled cartridge can be reused. This can even help lower taxes, since we pay taxes to maintain landfills.

Refilling empty cartridges with new ink or toner is another reuse option. If gently cared for, some cartridges can be refilled up to 15 times. Though, most cartridges end up damaged, and can only be refilled about 6 times. But, think about how waste you’d reduce if you refilled a cartridge 6 times and the recycled it.

Here’s something that deserves your attention- recycling cartridges can help create jobs our current tough economy. Remanufacturing plants employ thousands of people, all over the world!

Today’s post will become a classic because it’s so relevant for anyone who is in technical support or has to deal with customer service requests. It’s a contribution from Daniel Pinter of B Technologies.

Below are a few examples of genuine help desk calls that have been sent around the Internet. I post them here for your enjoyment. After all if you have a fleet or printers or copiers, I am sure you’ve heard your fair share of excuses!

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, I can’t print. Every time I try, it says ‘Can’t find printer’. I’ve even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can’t find it…

________________________________________________________

Tech support: What’s on your monitor now, ma’am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at Woolies.

________________________________________________________

Customer: I can’t get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?

Customer: Yes, I’m sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?

Customer: Five stars (*****)

________________________________________________________

Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I’m writing my first e-mail.

Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter ‘a’ in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?

________________________________________________________

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.
Tech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: “No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.”

These were sent to me by Daniel Pinter of B Technologies.

Google “transactional marketing” or “relationship marketing” and you’ll get thousands of hits with titles like “relationship marketing vs transaction marketing”. Basically, transactional marketing is thought of as a thing of the past, while relationship marketing is the bright future that businesses should be striving towards.

Transactional Relationship Marketing: The Cost Effective and Environmentally Friendly Strategy

Transactional Marketing

“Transactional marketing is an approach that focuses upon one-off exchanges with consumers.”

“Transactional marketing: Orientation towards single purchase. Limited direct customer / supplier contact. Focus on product benefits. Emphasis on near-term performance. Limited level of customer service. Goal of customer satisfaction. Quality a manufacturing responsibility.”[ii]

Relationship Marketing

“Relationship marketing is a business philosophy which aims to develop strong relationships with a range of stakeholders, such as suppliers, media, intermediaries and public organisations, as well as with customers.”

“Relationship marketing is a form of marketing that emerged in the 1980s, in which emphasis is placed on building longer term relationships with customers rather than on individual transactions. It involves understanding the customers’ needs as they go through their life cycles. It emphasizes providing a range of products or services to existing customers as they need them.”

The new kid on the block is a strategy called Transactional Relationship Marketing, or TRM. This is a process trademarked by direct mail company, Hermes Precisa (HPA).

Transactional Relationship Marketing

“TRM uses ‘essential’ communication, such as electricity or phone bills, to give marketers the ability to reach potential users. By tapping into customer profiles and buying patterns through payment transactions, TRM delivers relevant promotions to customers based on their buying trends and without the need for a separate customer relationship management system.”[v]

By combining essential mail (that is: invoices, bills, etc) with specially and personally targeted offers, HPA have created “Transactional Relationship Marketing”.

HPA say that by analysing people’s spending habits and sending them personally targeted promotions, they are getting double-digit response rates, where the industry average is single digits.[vi]

How does Transactional Relationship Marketing work?

HPA gives an example of how large telecommunications companies might use TRM.

“… a hypothetical example of a telecommunications company, which holds the profiles of two million people who call the United kingdom each month and an airline that annually flies thousands of people to London. The airline can target its offer by piggybacking on the telco’s essential communication to its customers.”[vii]

But how would it work for a small business?

Let’s say, for instance, that you run a pharmacy. You have a certain percentage of your clients on 30 day accounts.

When the clients are being billed, you notice that Mr X. has been buying large quantities of mouthwash and floss. So, when Mr X.’s bill goes out to him, it does so with an offer from a local dentist.

The offer may be for a free consultation, x-rays, cosmetic assessment or teeth cleaning with new equipment. In fact, it may be an offer that incorporates all of these elements, allowing Mr X. to self-select and choose what he feels will suit him best.

The offers should be more enticing than merely a coupon. A professional copywriter can help you (or the dentist) put together a sales letter.

It’s important when using sales letters to test a number of variations. You’ll need multiple headlines, body copy and calls to action. How many multiples? This 3 x 3 matrix, courtesy of Dr Marc Dussault, Managing Director of Exponential Programs, works well for a medium sized mailout.

Of course, the permutations of this are more than just three letters – for instance you could test headline 2 with body copy 1 and call to action 3.

The dentist may include, with the offers, educational material such as a survey on dental hygiene, a FAQ on dental cosmetic procedures or a “Top 5 Dental Cosmetic Dangers to Avoid” brochure. This will help to cement him as the pre-eminent source of dental education in Mr X.’s mind.

TRM is a strategy in which everyone wins.

Mr X wins because he gets something he needs being offered directly to him. He receives educational material that is of direct benefit to his situation. Perhaps most importantly, he doesn’t need to feel embarrassed about asking for this information – because it has confidentially and sensitively come to him.

The dentist wins because he has a qualified lead with whom he has now built rapport and to who he is now a pre-eminent source of dental education. Using this strategy alone, a dentist could easily fill his practice without doing any other kind of advertising – saving him, potentially, thousands of dollars each year.

You win because you have offered your client something that is very valuable to him – with no motive other than to help him out. This also builds your pre-eminence with Mr X. – after all, who is he more likely to go to for his pharmaceutical needs? The mega-hyper-super-store that just opened down the road and who may be a few dollars cheaper? Or the pharmacy that has sent him educational material and promotional offers that increase the quality of his life?

The environment wins because you are reducing waste – not only are you sending several promotions in one envelope, the promotions are also targeted, going to people who will actually value them and who are unlikely to just throw them away.

Of course, you could accept payment from the dentist for the advertising. Better yet – you could form a host-beneficiary partnership with the dentist. In return for the TRM promotion, the dentist could send a letter to all of his patients, recommending and endorsing your pharmacy. You might even work out a trailing commission arrangement, so that you each get a certain percentage of sales for the lifetime of the client.

References:

[ii] Dr Chaston, I., “New Marketing Strategies: Evolving Flexible process to Fit Market Circumstance”, Sage Publications, 1999, page 8, table 1.1

[iii] Beech, J. and Chadwick, S “The Business of Tourism Management: Glossary”, Pearson Education, November 2005,

[iv] Wikipedia entry, “Relationship Marketing”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_marketing

[v] Blackie, T., “Lifecycle Potential: Bill sweetener”, BRW, June 28-August 1 2007, page 106

[vi] Blackie, T., “Lifecycle Potential: Bill sweetener”, BRW, June 28-August 1 2007, page 106

[vii] Blackie, T., “Lifecycle Potential: Bill sweetener”, BRW, June 28-August 1 2007, page 106

“Carbon credits are recognised reductions or absorptions of carbon. Credits should be certified and recognised by a certificate owned by the individual or company who has created the greenhouse gas saving. Over time, companies or individuals who create more certificates than they need can sell these to others wanting to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”[i]

Both commercial and non-profit organisations throughout Australia run carbon credit schemes, where you pay a certain amount, generally between $2.50 and $3.00 per tree needed to offset your emissions, for the company to plant trees on your behalf.

Where the organisation is non-profit, your donation is 100% tax deductible.

The aim of these schemes is to make you ‘carbon neutral’ by planting enough trees to remove the same amount of carbon from the air as you are producing. This will help to reduce global warming.

Read More »»

10 Reasons To Choose A Printer Fleet Management Solution.

1. Get price transparency: Knowing your costs across the organisation makes for better financial management.
2. Reduce employee frustration: There is nothing worse than trying to get your work done with a faulty printer, fax or copier in your way of your deadline.
3. Upgrade to new equipment to save costs: A little known fact is that when you upgrade your equipment, you usually can reduce the cost per copy because it’s more efficient.
4. Consolidate all the costs to a Price Per Copy: Reducing all the direct and indirect costs to a price per sheet printed means you’ll know what’s worth printing and what’s not.
5. Reduce printing: By having a Printer Fleet Management Contract in place, you will probably reduce your overall printing by 10 to 25% just because of transparency and Correct Device Alignment.
6. Correct Device Alignment: Having the right printer, copier or fax in the right place is critical to your staff working effectively as is that equipment’s functionality and capability.
7. Improve productivity: By having better equipment that works, productivity will improve if only by a few percentages points, it still adds up to thousands of dollars on the bottom-line.
8. Simplified Management: With an all-encompassing contract, a Printer Fleet Management Agreement means less management time devoted to what is often a distraction to core activities.
9. Transform a capital cost to an operational expense: Often, companies prefer to remove capital expenditure from their balance sheet and place it as an operational expense on their Profit and Loss Statement for budgeting and financial engineering purposes.
10. Vendor Independence: Being held to ransom by an equipment manufacturer is one of the primary reasons people choose a vendor-independent Printer Fleet Management Solution.

More and more corporate executives are informing themselves about recycling, carbon footprint and sustainability issues, which is why we’ve developed a series of articles to help you navigate through all the jargon.

Global warming seems to be what everyone is talking about at the moment. Even politicians, who have for so long avoided discussing it, are starting to take a stand as they realise how important this issue is becoming to voters.

In a recent survey of businesses by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 100% of respondents said that they viewed climate change as strategically significant to their organisation in the next five years.[i]

Large corporations are instituting environmentally sound plans, looking at ways to cut their emissions and to ensure they can answer increasingly difficult consumer questions about their commitment to the environment.

It’s not as easy to develop an all-encompassing environmental plan. However, the current focus on this subject is bringing many new options to light, such as carbon offset schemes. These schemes allow you to pay a non-profit company a certain, tax deductible amount (dependent on the size of your carbon footprint) and they will plant trees to offset your emissions.

What is a carbon footprint?

“A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.”

“Carbon footprints represent the effect of human activities on the climate in terms of the quantity of greenhouse gases generated through individual lifestyle choices.

“When you drive your car, take a flight or turn on a light, you produce carbon dioxide emissions that add to global warming.”

Your carbon footprint is made up of two parts: your direct footprint and your indirect footprint.

What is a DIRECT carbon footprint?

Your direct footprint measures emissions from the fossil fuels burned in order to deliver the amount of energy you use (electricity and gas) and to power the transportation (car, bus, train, plane) that you use regularly.

What is an INDIRECT carbon footprint?

Your indirect footprint measures the emissions from everything else – from your garbage through to your business equipment – from their manufacturing through to what it takes for them to eventually degrade.

Why does YOUR carbon footprint matter?

While Climate Change has been a topic of conversation for some time, recent climate-related issues, such as Australia’s drastic water shortage, have made it a subject people can no longer ignore.

More and more, consumers are looking at the ways in which the companies they choose to do business with are affecting the environment. This isn’t a passing fad – it’s a recognition by the general public that something must be done now to combat these environmental issues and that every one of us has a part to play in fixing the planet.

It won’t be long before those businesses who don’t recognise this huge change in public perception begin to feel the economic impacts of not being seen as a ‘green company’.

Stay tuned for additional definitions and clarifications on this new component that needs to be considered within your Printer Fleet Management decisions and deployments.

[i] PriceWaterhouseCoopers, “Carbon Conscious: Survey of executive opinion on climate change in Australia”, December 2006

Today’s blog post is one of those classic videos that summarises how tricky something can be and put a humourous twist to it. The reason we include videos in our blog is because life’s too short to be taken too seriously.

We’ve all been where this lady is at – we just didn’t quite have her sense of humour to create this video. Think about it the next time you spend a few minutes at the copier and I am sure you’ll feel a little better – thanks to Michelle!

This is a question that many clients ask. Check out these 3 cases… It’s quite surprising isn’t it? In future posts, we’ll address how you can reduce your carbon footprint when it comes to Printer Fleet Management.

How Big Is Your Carbon Footprint?

What Is Your Carbon Footprint?

Paperless Company Myth Debunked

For more than two decades we have been proclaiming the imminent arrival of ‘a paperless world’ but the fact is, we are no closer to it than we were then. If anything, there are more businesses now than before; therefore, more paper is being used than ever.

The very popular TV Show, ‘The Office’, that’s based on a paper manufacturing company called Dunder Mifflin, pops automatically into my head.

Their motto is: “Limitless Paper for a Paperless World!”

It’s comedic and yet rings true at the same time.

Rumour has it that companies will be losing their filing cabinets by upgrading digitally, people will be saving the earth and paper will be a thing of the past, but how much of this factual?

That’s what we’re here to discuss!

It’s not that some companies are not trying to go paperless because in some countries, the technology needed for going paperless is readily available and even inexpensive.

It’s the simple fact that companies won’t! Read More »»

Are you an Environmental Pirate or Evangelist?

For every ‘Yes’, give yourself 1 point.

What your score means:

1-3:            You’re an Environment Pirate! Your lack of attention to your energy usage is probably costing you hundreds of dollars every year.

4-7:            You have Environmental Amnesia! You know that the environment is important and you try to do the right thing … but sometimes you get so caught up in life that you just forget about it. Check out our tips below to help keep you get back and stay on track.

8-10:            You’re an Environment Evangelist! You are very aware of the environment and the damage that high levels of energy consumption can have – both on the planet and on your wallet!

How to improve your rating AND save money!

So, you’re an Environment Pirate.  Your lack of energy efficiency isn’t only bad for the environment – it’s costing you money! The following table shows how you could be saving hundreds of dollars every year, with next to no time investment, by changing a couple of simple things:

Ask your energy company whether they have a scheme whereby you can invest in renewable energy sources.

How to cure Environmental Amnesia: You’re on the right track. Your energy efficiency levels are okay, but it can be easy to forget some of the things that you know you should be doing! Here are a few tips to help you stay on track:

• Put signs above light switches reminding you to turn them off when you leave the room.
• Got kids? Why not make washing up by hand and hanging out clothes part of their weekly chores?
• Buy an air conditioner with a timer so that you can set it to turn off automatically just before you go to bed.
• Buy a weekly bus / train / public transport ticket – you’re less likely to be tempted to drive to work if you’ve already paid for your ticket.

Environment Evangelists: Rejoice! It’s the environment evangelists of the world who will help to ensure there is a planet here for all of us. Even so, here are some suggestions of things you can do:

• If you haven’t already, consider joining a carbon offset scheme where non-profit organisations charge you a small amount to plant trees on your behalf in order to offset your carbon emissions.

• Don’t keep what you’re doing to yourself – share it with others and inspire more people to become environment evangelists! Write an article on the things you’ve done that other people could replicate. Send it to your clients and suppliers. You could also submit it to trade or industry association publications. Then, use your environmental initiatives to inspire others by organising a promotional contest.

*            Savings are approximations based on a three bedroom house and using http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html and http://www.uic.com.au/nip37.htm to calculate approximate energy usage and price, respectively.

We all hate it when the paper jams in our printer. This short 3 minute YouTube video explains the different types of jams you can encounter as well as suggestions to resolve the problems your paper stops jamming.

This humorous commercial highlights why copier and printer quality matters…

This is a common question we get asked often. This short, 2 minute YouTube video explains the different types of inks available on the market in plain English without technical ‘geek speak’ and three letter acronyms.

It’s provided here to help you become better informed about your printers and copiers because, as a print or copy fleet manager, you have a lot of capital invested in them.

The more you know, the better your decisions will be when it comes to optimising that investment and on-going maintenance responsibility!

Today’s blog post is a useful printer copier tip we found on YouTube – in ONE MINUTE it explains why you don’t want your printer or copier to run out of ink.

You can damage your equipment by trying to squeeze those extra few pages out of an old cartridge.

A close friend and master investor recently explained this disarmingly simple, yet immensely powerful concept to me. I thought it may be of value to you – that is if you’re looking for that extra 20, 50 or even 100% return on your share (and other) investments.

Imagine you make a stock investment and as soon as the trade is concluded, you lapse into a coma. You wake up days, weeks, months or years later. How will you know if you wake up happy with your investment?

The answer is obvious – the  lessons are not.

If your return is MORE than you expected, you’re happy. If not, you’re disappointed or depressed.

So what are the lessons and how do they relate to Printer Fleet Management?

Printer Fleet Management Lesson #1

You usually don’t fall into a coma after making a trade. Instead, you track every single daily (hourly?) up and down movement and rarely, if ever, play the trade/investment through to your original “decision-making horizon” – the period over which you originally invested.

Many investors invest with a “let’s see what happens” approach that has them constantly second-guessing themselves, creating immense levels of stress and sub-optimising their returns. If the stock goes up, they might sell prematurely, if it goes down, they might sell at a loss in fear of a further drop.

You need to approach your investments KNOWING ahead of time your particular decision-making horizon for EACH decision, so that you can appropriately mix and match investment size and risk/return with the decision-making horizon in mind thus MAXIMIZING returns and MINIMISING stress and lost opportunity (costs) this includes Printer Fleet Management that needs to have a multi-year horizon to achieve economies of scale and discount of volume.

Printer Fleet Management Lesson #2

The second lesson is selecting the right investment for the right decision-making horizon. Some investors ‘day trade’ stocks whereas others have a buy and hold strategy – BOTH benefit from knowing how long their horizon is. The worst thing you can do is buy, hold and lose sight of time. Returns are TIME DEPENDENT. A 100% return sounds great, but if it took 10 or more years, in today’s terms, that is a very poor return on capital.

So, how do you select the right stocks with a decision-making horizon in mind? You must MATCH the projections of growth with YOUR horizon. If a company has a 3-year plan that is attractive, but your decision making horizon is 1 year, that’s a sub-optimal match just based on the time line.

When considering your Printer Fleet Management Decision Making Horizon, it’s paramount that it match your corporate objectives and reporting cycles taking into consideration financial and managerial accounting milestones (e.g. Financial Years, etc.).

Printer Fleet Management Lesson #3

Make the trend your friend and match it to your horizon as much as you can. If a company has an aggressive growth strategy within a bigger trend (e.g. commodities) that you believe they can deliver on AND your horizon and their projections match up, it’s definitely something you want to consider and put on your short list.

When evaluating your printer and copier fleet – you want to be aware of the trends that are in play and what the next waves of technological introductions will be. A reputable Printer Fleet Management company will be able to summarise this for you as well as keep you up-to-date with what’s happening now and what’s around the corner.

Printer Fleet Management Lesson #4

When you’re in a coma, you can’t keep researching and over-analysing every option available. When you are awake you can – but that  doesn’t mean you should. Of course there’s a fine line involved and interpretations of this lesson will vary between investors, but Warren Buffett is notorious for sticking to his horizons even when everyone’s telling him he’s wrong. His bank account is proof that he knows something few people ever learn!

Because Printer Fleet Management can only be justified over several years, revisiting it monthly or quarterly just doesn’t make sense. An annual review is sufficient to fine tune and adjust unless there are extenuating business or economic circumstances that preempt the annual review.

Printer Fleet Management Lesson #5

Last and most importantly – you can use this secret to unlock unlimited opportunities in other investments you make – be they in real estate, projects, personal or entrepreneurial ventures. Once you KNOW how long you’re in for, you can make the necessary time, effort and resource commitment to ensure a stellar return or outcome.

When you match them up, it’s like all the stars in the universe lining up and magic starts to happen. When you don’t it’s as if everything is conspiring against you producing disappointing or disastrous results.

Summary:

The most simple secrets are often the most powerful and valuable, like this one – every single successful ‘master’ investor alludes to this concept and I can guarantee you it’ll improve your results. How much? As much as you abide by its principles!

Today’s blog post is adapted from several original articles written by Dr Marc Dussault, an award winning author, columnist and now popular  blogger as the World’s #1 Exponential Growth Strategist it’s been adapted to Printer Fleet Management because we know that an optimal decision requires a match between a clearly defined Decision Making Horizon and the agreement.

Today’s blog post is adapted from several original articles written by Dr Marc Dussault, an award winning author, columnist and now popular  blogger as the World’s #1 Exponential Growth Strategist. This blog post deals with rapid equipment obsolescence and the impact on Life Cycle Costing (LCC). This is important when you consider the possibility of leveraging Print Fleet Management within your organisation.

Rapid obsolescence and the impact on Life Cycle Costing

The industry is currently in the midst of a technological revolution where the equipment used and services requested are changing at a furious pace. The rate of change has been so rapid that some equipment has been made obsolete before even being launched, other equipment has been launched only to be obsoleted in 6 months. Capital investments, traditionally made over long term horizons, of 5,10, and 20 years must now be made over 1,2 and 4 years.

Firms historically expect a new piece of equipment to remain a profitable investment for 15 to 20 years yet the obsolescence cycle for new technology has now slipped under three years. Very little reprographic or electronic copying equipment economic life will exceed five years. No capital investment should be considered with over a three year payback. Consequently, a higher profit percent than prevailed in the eighties will be needed to offset a reduced life cycle.[i]

Life Cycle Costing (LCC) [ii], is the total cost of ownership for a piece of equipment. Frequently, the initial cost is very small in comparison with operating and support costs. It is estimated that 80 percent of the cost of owning and operating a piece of equipment occurs after the item is purchased.

Issues related to Life Cycle Costing:

• Reliability- The probability that a system or product gives satisfactory performance for a specified period of time when used under stated conditions. In the case of new technologically innovative products, it is critical to specifically define performance as well as conditions required to obtain that performance. Products are usually “Beta tested” prior to being launched and the results of these tests can usually be obtained from the manufacturer and/or firm involved in the trials.
• Maintainability- Refers to those features of a product that contribute to its ease and cost of repair. With advances in technology, the ease and cost of repair may shift to new components. It is the buyer’s onus to ask such questions. Many specialized trade publications publish pre-release technical evaluations that could prove to be very useful in this regard.
• Availability- The probability that the equipment will be in operating condition at any point in time. “Leading edge” technology is not for the risk averse. Such technological leadership requires that risk be carefully evaluated and considered within the firm’s strategic business plan.
• Commonality- Depending on the size of operation and number of similar types of equipment, commonality can save a lot of operating and support dollars. Often, a service contract on all of the company’s equipment can be arranged with the manufacturer at a fraction of the total of all the service  contracts on all the company’s equipment- even if they are different. Commonality of parts and technology are also important considerations. With digital systems, there is a commonality in the underlying computerization processes. An Information Systems (IS) support person may in some cases be well worth the investment in managing and optimizing the company’s computer systems and processes. This is especially true in “Open System” environments where all the systems “talk to each other”.
• Upgradeability- This feature is particularly important in a highly volatile market such as digital technology. Although somewhat limited, such future transitional possibilities are critical to the feasibility of many high-technology based capital investments. Upgradeability has shifted in recent years from costly physical (hardware) upgrades to much less costly software or program updates.
• Compatibility- If the equipment in question is to work as a component of a larger production system, interfacing issues and associated costs are of critical importance. It should be apparent that reprographic companies are no longer facing simple independent product purchasing decisions, but rather are looking at their company’s overall reprographics strategy. Today, companies don’t buy machines, they buy systems, and they need to know that they can grow with these systems. [iii]
• Capacity- The equipment’s capacity specifications will enable you to define labor required for given production volumes. Analysis of multiple variations will also be possible, i.e. would it be more economical to have two smaller machines or one larger one?
• Operability- Easy operation lowers labor and training costs. In digital reprographic systems the importance of this point cannot be overstated.
• Essentiality- Identify those sub-assemblies or options essential to meet your basic needs and budgetary constaints. Some experienced salespeople use techno-lingo or double-speak to confuse the buyer or hide product weaknesses. Complex principles need to be simplified and clearly understood by the buyer to ensure that they make “common sense”. Many options are made available on digital products to assist in the sales process to the manufacturer’s very diverse clientele. Identifying specific needs are critical to not overloading the purchase with options that will not serve a useful and cost-justifiable purpose in the buyer’s particular applications.

The following areas should be carefully reviewed for cost impact:

1. Consider the cost of acquisition versus the cost of operation and general support. With digital equipment there is an additional type of support contract to consider above and beyond the traditional hardware maintenance contract- a software contract. Software contracts generally include upgrades and technical telephone support.
2. Compare the costs of competing equipment but compare both the front end costs and the costs for the life of the system. Due to the variety of solutions available in the digital area, this comparative analysis is a most  challenging endeavour.
3. Compare the differential costs of the current system versus the cost of the proposed new system; does the new system really offer a savings over the existing equipment?
4. Get to know the equipment industry, as the rate of technological innovation increases, the risk of product obsolescence increases.
5. Cost of disposal. Will the equipment have a residual value at the end of its useful life? Unlike traditional reprographic equipment, digital equipment retains practically no residual value.

Note: When evaluating the costs of a new technology, do not take a vendor’s claim as gospel, get a second opinion from either a trade association, consultant or client using the same technology in essentially the same conditions. Be wary of referrals from vendors, they won’t refer you to disgruntled clients, try to find your own.

Preparing your firm for NEW technology

The implementation of new technology requires that;

1. A true need be diagnosed (and justified)
2. An appropriate solution is available to meet this need (often needs are only partially met as a result feasibility suffers or is altogether unachievable)
3. Top management support the chosen solution
4. That the organization be ready to implement the new technology effectively. For example, who will be responsible for it and how will it affect workflow?
5. Resistance to change should not be discounted, but rather seriously considered. If resistance is high, preparatory measures should preceed its implementation.
6. Assign a change champion who will be responsible for the technology’s successful implementation.

Note: Change in technology will also mean an increase in the importance of training and in some cases, retraining.

[i] Bob Neely, “The reprographic industry of the 1990′s”, Repro Report, September 1990, pg. 10-12

[ii] Frank L. Hicks, “The real cost of graphic equipment”, Plan and Print, December, 1980, pg. 14-18, 39

[iii] Gene Oddo, “Facing the Transition Dilemna”, from a manuscript of a speech given at the International Reprographic Association’s Annual Convention in 1992.