With increasing awareness of resources and sustainability, and a continuous pressure to keep costs down, businesses need to switch their way of thinking. They need to stop stockpiling consumables and start taking advantage of technology and digitalisation to streamline their purchasing, following a system that resembles just-in-time to plan and purchase their copying and printing consumables.

Managed Print Services is the perfect way to do this.

By streamlining your purchasing and ordering only what you need, when you need it, you can reduce your costs and the impact that you have on the environment.

Taking this approach towards your purchasing means that you’ll reap the added reward of reducing capital tied up for long periods of time.

How costs spiral for traditional decentralised organisations

Traditionally, businesses had cost centres dotted about the business, each one responsible for their own purchasing. These decentralised cost centres would be responsible for all purchases – from printers and photocopiers to a constant supply of Bic biros.

The downside is that each cost centre chooses different equipment. Sales may choose a Ricoh copier, whilst procurement invests in Canon copiers. As each brand of copier needs different toner and ink, purchasers in each department purchase the correct toner for their printer.

One day, the copier for the sales team breaks down. The team is working on an important pitch and they need a printer to effectively review and then deliver the pitch. However, the lead time for the copier they already have is several weeks. They don’t have the luxury of time, so instead, they invest in a new copier, a different brand. Of course, the toner and ink purchased previously isn’t compatible with the new hardware, so sits in the cupboard until it dries out and gets sent to landfill.

How Managed Print Services can boost your sustainability

With Managed Print Services, the story changes. When we start working with a new client, the first thing we do is evaluate their printing network. We identify obsolete technology and opportunities to streamline the printer fleet to ensure that, wherever possible, organisations can capitalise on economies of scale with their consumables.

By planning your fleet of printers and copiers, it’s possible to ensure that, wherever possible, the equipment uses the same consumable components, reducing the likelihood of ink and toner being wasted. It also means that the organisation can capitalise on economies of scales, wielding more bargaining power to get better prices as they purchase more units of a particular make and model at the same time and from the same supplier.

In addition to this, all of our clients benefit from software that alerts them when ink or toner starts to run low, giving them plenty of opportunity to order replacements. By doing this, it’s possible to reduce the stockpiling of these consumables that, over time, dry out or become lost or forgotten as individuals leave the company.

With early alerts as and when these items run low, there’s no need for organisations to keep stocks available, reducing the capital that they need to tie up in stationary.

Another way that using Managed Print Services can boost your sustainability is by reducing your energy usage. You can read more about this in our article here.

There are many other ways that working with a Managed Print Service Provider can boost your sustainability credentials. If you’d like to learn more or to see how working with ASL can boost your sustainability and decrease your energy spending, call us on 0190 848 9417.

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