Pfizer Laboratories, a major pharmaceuticals company devoted to the research and development of human and animal pharmaceutical products, has reported savings of more than R1.5 million over the last three years through a comprehensive printing consolidation exercise throughout its South African operations.
This saving was achieved through the reduction of its 172-strong copier, fax and desktop printer environment, with the associated decrease in toner and paper use.
Pfizer currently operates 30 Xerox multifunction devices (MFDs) nationally, provided and maintained by XBC Network Products. Plans are afoot to further reduce this environment from 29 to 19 MFDs when Pfizer moves to its new offices in Sandton.
Bytes Document Solutions is the sole authorised distributor of Xerox products and solutions in 24 sub-Saharan countries. XBC Network Products is one of its concessionaires.
The original contract, awarded in 2003, is worth R3 million, while the newly signed three-year contract is valued at an additional R2.5 million over the next three years.
"The recent decision to renew the Xerox contract is based on the successes achieved during the first contracted period," says Theo Hattingh, business technology director at Pfizer. "Our mission was not necessarily to find the cheapest solution provider, but rather a service provider capable of providing technology with a standard user interface across the model range so users enjoy a consistent experience. The technology we sought needed value-adding functionality that would enhance our productivity. Security was also a key component to be addressed consistently throughout. Central management, support and auditing of the equipment had to be easily achievable. The Xerox multifunction devices in use at Pfizer cater to each of these needs."
The Xerox MFD implementation is completely departmentalised, with the departments collectively printing more than 350 000 black and white pages and 55 000 colour pages a month. This translates into a total annual print run in excess of 4.86 million pages.
The consolidated printing environment has enabled an increase in productivity through users having the right machines in the right place at the right time, the ability to print to any device and a common user interface across all the devices. The company`s new office is equipped with a 10Gb local area network with wireless access, which means users can print from almost anywhere in the building to any of the devices, further enhancing productivity.
"Pharmaceutical companies tend to put a printer on everyone`s desk, a practice that is hugely inefficient and expensive to manage and maintain," says Elton Abdinor, sales director, XBC Network Products. "An environment such as this is time-consuming in terms of acquiring the printers, supporting them and distributing all the necessary consumables. It also compromises overall security initiatives, opens a backdoor for rogue procurement, increases the complexity of asset management and decreases organisational control regarding use of the printer."
"Pfizer has rejected this approach, opting to rather solidify its control over its printing environment," says Ashley Groenendaal, Xerox sales and marketing support manager at Bytes Document Solutions. "Its consolidated Xerox MFD environment applies the required levels of security that allow users to hold print jobs in the queue until released by a password at the device. In addition, the high speed LAN was further exploited by configuring MFDs with fax cards capable of faxing using the standard IP protocol rather than analogue fax lines.
Consumables are more easily controlled and abuse of the machines more effectively curbed. Device usage reports enable the finance department to accurately allocate printing costs to each department, regardless of what devices were used. In so doing, departments are given greater control over their particular output and printing costs."
Pfizer Laboratories is a R1.5 billion-a-year entity that employs close to 1 000 people across South Africa, and forms part of the Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Share