Vermaak and Partners, the independent clinical pathology service, has reduced its printing cost per page, maintained quality, reduced maintenance downtime, enhanced its environmentally friendly image, and reduced risk to its 24x7 operations since it acquired new Xerox Phaser solid ink colour printers and consumables from Prodoc Business Solutions.
Prodoc Business Solutions is a concessionaire of Bytes Document Solutions, authorised Xerox distributor to 27 sub-Saharan countries.
Vermaak and Partners print exceptionally high volumes of reports and statements every month. Those reports are provided primarily to doctors in intensive care units (ICUs) and casualty wards across the country, and all colour documentation is produced on 37 of the newly released Phaser 8860 solid ink printers.
“We are the only pathologists to print pathology reports that show abnormal results in colour which directs clinicians immediately to the areas that require their attention,” says Elizma Ludick, practice manager at Vermaak and Partners. “Doctors need accurate information as quickly as possible, and it is extremely important that our output is high quality and clearly legible.”
The solid ink blocks or cubes used in the Phaser 8860DN printers are less costly than standard ink or toner-based replacement cartridges, consume less storage space, and the overall cost per page over specific volumes is lower than other equipment.
An added advantage of the Phaser 8860DN is that it is an environmentally friendly machine that produces 90% less waste than a typical printer cartridge, which has a major, positive impact on land fill reduction. It is also less costly than standard ink- or toner-based replacement cartridges, consumes less storage space, and the overall cost per page over specific volumes is lower than other equipment.
“The quality is very good, an important factor in our business, but the cost is lower,” says Ludick. “We print a lot of information on each page, including spider graphs, to help the doctors quickly and accurately illustrate trends, so the print must be very clear. We used to only produce enhanced images but with the new Phasers 8860 we have reverted to standard images and the quality remains very good.
“We e-mail reports to doctors, but many of them still find it extremely useful to have a printed copy available immediately. I have not had a single paper jam in the past year on the machine I use personally.”
Vermaak and Partners has offices in Pretoria, on the East Rand, and Mossel Bay, with 12 laboratories around the country.
Prior to appointing Prodoc Business Solutions to supply Xerox Phaser printers, the business used another brand of printer and the service partner at its Mossel Bay operation failed to supply additional ink cartridges at a critical juncture.
“The printer ran dry over the weekend and the supplier was not available,” says Ludick. “I had to authorise the manager to buy a retail inkjet printer to keep the reports coming out. It was an additional and unnecessary expense and a major risk to our service.”
Prodoc Business Solutions first supplied Vermaak and Partners with Phaser 8200s in mid-2003 and has kept the pathology service up to date as new models have been released. The business looks at replacing older models every three years when it becomes financially viable.
The new model Phasers were ordered in two batches across 2009 and 2010.
“The solid ink Phasers reduce the maintenance and running costs of owning printers,” says Chris Stoltz, GM: Graphic Arts at Prodoc Business Solutions. “They use fewer consumables, are more robust, and can handle larger volumes. They are also environmentally friendly since, once the solid ink cartridge is spent, there is nothing to throw away.”
“The Phaser 8860 is designed for small to medium-sized workgroups with high print volume demands,” says Ernest Leong, product manager at Bytes Document Solutions. “When print volumes pass the four reams per month mark, then the total cost of ownership of the Phaser 8860 drops below that of a standard laser printer producing monochrome documents. Solid ink technology helps to achieve that. The cartridge-free ink sticks are simply dropped into colour-coordinated ink trays, require minimal packaging, and generate 90% less waste than comparable laser printers.”
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