In today’s business world, effective management of a print fleet is crucial. While print jobs, scanning, and quality printing are essential functions, uncontrolled printing can lead to excessive spending on consumables like ink and toner cartridges. This is where print fleet management comes in. By implementing proper strategies, you can optimize consumable usage, achieve significant cost-savings, and ensure your printing infrastructure aligns with your specific business needs. This article explores key practices for effectively managing your printing consumables and streamlining your print operations.
Good consumables management is a key aspect of effectivein print management. And with good reason: by controlling the use of printing consumables, you keep your budget under control and reduce your company’s environmental impact. Indeed, wastage of ink and toner cartridges is commonplace in printing environments. By managing your consumables correctly, you can reduce the cost of purchasing new toner and ink cartridges. At the same time, you limit the amount of waste your business generates. Of course, to achieve this result, you need to take strict measures. This includes utilizing dedicated software solutions like a print management solution. These solutions can provide valuable insights into your entire printer fleet‘s consumable usage, helping you optimize printing processes and minimize waste.
What tips for better managing consumables ?
There are several steps you can take to limit waste and save money.
Establish Printing Rules
To effectively reduce waste and the printing budget, you need to set up printing rules, also known as a printing policy. Here are some practices to encourage responsible printing among all users and optimize workflows to minimize unnecessary printing:
Reduce the number of pages printed to the strict minimum.
Implement a document management system to encourage the use of electronic files and reduce reliance on physical printing.
Limit the number of users authorized to print.
Print documents on both sides and in black and white.
Print in draft or economy mode.
Use economical text fonts: Arial, Calibri and TNM (Times New Roman).
Use electronic files to limit daily printing volume.
By establishing these printing rules within your printing policy, you can create a more streamlined and cost-effective printing environment.
Monitor And Control Consumable Levels
If you let all your staff print, consumables are bound to be wasted. But even if you limit the number of pages printed, there’s no guarantee that they won’t be over-used. To identify unnecessary printing, you need to monitor and control the print flow. This can be done using print management software with secure printing , remote monitoring and print audit functionality. This tool will give you a clearer picture of the situation. In particular, you’ll know which users are printing the most documents. Depending on the results, you can take more specific action. Note that some software packages offer detailed reports over a set period of time.
Use Quality Consumables For Printing
The choice of ink or toner cartridges also influences consumption and printing costs. To reduce consumption over the long term, consider opting for high-capacity cartridges. This choice extends the life of the consumables and reduces the frequency of replenishment. Additionally, to streamline procurement and avoid multiple purchases from different suppliers, consider using multi-brand consumables (compatible ink cartridges) that are compatible with various printing devices. These interchangeable cartridges are particularly beneficial for printer fleets consisting of devices from different manufacturers such as Brother, HP, Canon, Toshiba, Xerox, etc.
See the difference between original and compatible ink cartridges.
Recycle toner and ink cartridges
Printing in large quantities not only increases overall print infrastructure costs but also generates bulky waste, contributing to environmental pollution. To mitigate this impact and align with sustainable practices, consider implementing recycling programs for consumables, particularly ink cartridges, as part of your fleet management services. Integrating such initiatives into your Managed Print Service (MPS) not only reduces environmental harm but also offers financial benefits. By recycling used consumables through a fleet management solution, your company can minimize its environmental footprint and promote responsible resource management.
Educate And Train Users
Last but not least, to encourage users to apply new printing processes, an awareness-raising phase is recommended. They need to be made aware of the benefits of reducing paper, toner and ink waste. By understanding the benefits of good print management, including consumables, your staff will be more inclined to respect them. Of course, you can’t expect your staff to integrate your new business processes immediately and without difficulty. For this, you’ll also need to plan a training phase. Remember, It’s essential to ensure that the new printing methods are user-friendly for quick adoption.
KPAX Manage, your fleet management solution
Are you looking for an efficient, high-performance tool for managing print flows and multifunction printers (MFPs)?
Choose KPAX Manage, a leading fleet management software designed specifically for professionals. Our software is packed with features to help you manage every aspect of your customers’ print fleet. From optimizing the use and ordering of consumables to managing access rights to printing devices.
Our multi-brand software solution is compatible with a wide variety of printing devices from different manufacturers. This ensures seamless integration into the existing print infrastructure of your own or your customers’ print fleet.
So don’t wait any longer to take advantage of the power of our fleet management solutions!
