Regent's University London

Regent’s University London move forward with a tailored solution from Toshiba, in a bid to streamline their printer fleet, achieve greater reliability, increase user convenience and cut printing costs.

Printing Innovation at Regent’s University London: Toshiba's Game-Changing Solutions

Regent’s University London has recently installed in its two campus locations the latest printers and MFPs (Multi-Function Printers) from Toshiba. All of the new devices were installed and commissioned in just a few days without disruption to normal university activities. The size of the printer fleet has been reduced by 60%, while increasing reliability and user convenience. The University management is expecting to save hundreds of thousands of pounds each year and improve its green credentials thanks to Toshiba’s Carbon Zero scheme.

Delivering smart savings to Regents University

In a bid to streamline its printer fleet, achieve greater reliability, increase user convenience and cut printing costs, Regent’s University London asked a number of printing solutions vendors to offer proposals for a new printer fleet. Toshiba Tec was chosen and initially conducted an audit on the two sites - the main one in Regent’s Park in London and a smaller one in Marylebone High Street, London. After carefully assessing the requirements of staff and students on both locations, Toshiba consultants put forward a tailored solution and an installation plan.

The university uses A3, A4 and wide-format printers – the last being essential for fashion courses where students need to print their work in A1 and A0 formats. A key requirement for the new fleet was that it should offer increased reliability, thereby reducing the need for an onsite maintenance team for troubleshooting and repair services.

“When we presented our ideas, we were very much aware of some particular considerations,” explains Toshiba business services consultant, Tom Gaffikin. “We knew that there was a need for resilience within our plans, and this was achieved by standardising all devices. This meant that machines could be moved around the building without any impact on system efficiency. We also specified machines with large paper capacity as this increases user convenience and also helps to enhance productivity.”

The machines were deployed over a period of five days in August 2019 during the summer vacation. The Toshiba team completed the project smoothly and with minimum disruption, whilst also achieving a seamless transition between the facilities provided by the old machines – which had to be removed from site – and the new fleet.

“A major motivating factor for installing a new printer fleet was to achieve cost savings on our print operations,” said Nicola Kelly OCIO Business Manager at Regent’s University. “This was particularly important as we believed our existing printer contract to be uncompetitive. We were very impressed with Toshiba’s proposal from the outset because the company provided us with a clear and unbiased report on our existing systems. Toshiba was also very good at consolidating our requirements and, as a result, managed to reduce our fleet to 63 MFPs and four wide-format printers.”

Good for the finances, and the environment

Training and support were included in Toshiba’s package, and the machines were configured with ‘follow me’ capabilities provided by PaperCut software. This software allows users to easily manage their print assets, collect usage data by location and device, identify inefficiencies and implement cost recovery and allocation strategies to maximise system productivity and return on investment. This means that the university will achieve much lower costs per copy. PaperCut was also implemented on the Marylebone site which previously had no print management system.

In addition to delivering substantial financial benefits, the A3 and A4 MFPs are carbon offset through Toshiba’s industry-leading environmental Carbon Zero Scheme. This scheme allows for the total carbon footprint of a device to be offset, including that associated with parts procurement, manufacture and transportation. Carbon offsetting is achieved by investing in projects that save the emission of, or absorb, an amount of CO2 equivalent to that produced in the manufacture and delivery of the machines.

“The environmental benefits of our new printing systems are very much in line with the university’s policies and commitments,” added Nicola Kelly. “We see carbon offsetting, alongside energy, consumables and maintenance savings as essential steps toward greener operations across the campus. When we approached vendors of printing solutions, we wanted to find a partner that shares our values and ethos rather than just a supplier – and Toshiba delivers for us on every front!”

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