Printer downtime is more than an inconvenience. It reduces your profitability and causes unnecessary delays in business workflows which can push your efficiency and margins down.

By understanding the common causes of printer downtime, you can anticipate these issues and address them, before they have chance to wreak havoc with your workforce and impact your financials.

1.     Printer Overheating

One of the most common causes of not being able to use a printer when you need it is overheating.

How?

Printers have cooling systems built into them, but blocked vents, insufficient cooling systems and even faulty components can cause your printer to overheat and shut down. At which point, you have to wait and hope they cool down sufficiently and continue to work once they have.

What you can do

Ensure your printer is set on a flat surface and allow space around the printer for effective airflow and cooling.

2.    Printers need servicing

Printers are full of moving parts, so to keep everything flowing freely, printers need servicing on a regular basis; cleaning and greasing to ensure the key components continue to do what they’re intended for.

How?

The regularity with which printers need cleaning isn’t set in stone. It can depend on the volume of printing that goes through a particular device, how your users treat machines, and even the environment the printer is kept in. With all these variables, it can be difficult to second guess exactly when a printer will need servicing and to get it booked in without impacting productivity. And, with variable repair costs, when repair work or a service is needed, not all businesses have the budget to pay for repairs right away.

What you can do

Servicing costs and even repair costs can be spread out with a service agreement that enables organisations to plan in advance exactly how much they need to budget month by month to keep each node on their printing network active.

3.     Using generic toner

Using generic toner may save money in the long run but low-quality prints, excessive reprinting and decreased page yields can mean that you drive your printer harder than you need to.

How?

In generic toner cartridges, components may be ill-fitting and prone to leakage. At best, this can compromise the performance of your printer. At worst, it can cause catastrophic damage to your investment and reduce its lifespan. Many printer manufacturers will specify that a warranty is only valid if a certain brand of toner is used.

What you can do

Use the recommended toner for the device you have. If you have several different makes of printer, each requiring different toner cartridge sizes, you’re likely to have a high level of purchasing complexity. However, if you have the flexibility to update devices to synchronise your printer network within the same brand, or at least compatibility among cartridges, then you can simplify the purchasing and administrative complexity easily. Alternatively, some service agreements will deal with the monitoring and reordering of toner on your behalf.

4.     Always on the go

If your printer is always on the go, you could literally be running it into the ground.  This isn’t a problem if you have a printer designed to cope with this kind of 24/7 demand. However, if you don’t, you could find a plethora of problems lie ahead.

How?

Most printers aren’t designed to be left on 24//7. Newer models have auto on/off technology to reduce such problems. Printers that are always on the go can suffer from a reduced component life span and wear out faster than those of the same printers that are shut off effectively when not in use.

What you can do

If you have a service agreement where it’s possible to upgrade equipment, by being honest with yourself and your service provider about the demands placed on your printing fleet, you can at least be sure that you have the right printer to meet your needs. Even if you do genuinely require 24- hour service. Some flexible managed print services like ASL’s will also enable you to flex your printing resources as your demands change, so one printer doesn’t have to take a 24/7 burden of printing and more efficient and effective options become possible.

ASL’s managed print services can help you to manage your printer fleet proactively, ordering the right consumable components, scheduling services and ensuring printers are installed correctly and into the right kind of environment to make them last as long as possible and deliver the best possible return on your investment. To find out more about how ASL group can reduce your printer downtime and help you get the best possible return from your printing investments, contact us on 0345 207 7000.