Printer Efficency - Opinions

[kontiki99]

Just floating this idea as a trial balloon, I have never taken it up as a cause.

I work in a department with a dozen networked printers and maybe 100 engineers.

What do you think of having a clerk walk through the department with a cart of paper and toner cartridges checking and load every paper tray of every printer, fax etc every morning.

Having an engineer refill a tray as a one-off event doesn’t seem like a big deal.

If the paper isn’t readily there, someone may have to go for a walk and get the key, sign out supplies etc. Sometimes multiple engineers head off to different supply cabinets.

In any case, while a machine is out of paper the print jobs back up, two or three people start to loiter by the printer. Person in a rush runs pack to send the job to another printer etc.

There is always someone struggling with how much paper were using too.

I wouldn’t mind if we set aside dedicated printers with cheaper recycled paper for proofing if that made a significant cost difference.

 

[ajack1]

It will always be cheaper to have a clerk doing this kind of duties rather than an engineer, if you also only allow a few people to use the store cupboards I think you will be surprised how much less stationary you get through, I have never been able to work that one out myself ;-)

On the downside I would guess you don’t expect engineers to sit in front of a screen for hours on end (it is certainly against the law in the UK) is this one of their breaks and if so would they actually do anything more productive in this time if it is? Also do you have hours when you have engineers working but not clerks? If so who fills things then?

For proofs and internal use only cheaper paper and low quality print settings as well as black only where possible will also save money, whether the money saved is greater than the time an effort involved in getting people to do that is less certain.

 

[MadMango]

We have storage under each fax/printer for paper and ink/toner cartriges. We are expected to fill the machines as-needed with supplies from the storage area. There is a facilities person that keeps the storage areas stocked. Works well for us.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
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[epoisses]

Just let those poor engineers have a walk from time to time. The clerk will always be smoking, having lunch or be on holidays when the paper runs out 10 minutes before your presentation to senior management.

 

[Ashereng]

If you don't have to do something, chances are you won't know how to do it. I know I am like that.

I prefer to know how to change toner cartridge, unjam a printer/copier, and how to fill it up with paper. This way, when I am working late, I at least can print my stuff out.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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[KENAT]

One thing I'd say is don't have all the cartridges locked up in a stationary cupboard that is only opened once a week.

(Yes I worked somewhere that did that, yes jobs were sometimes held up because of it.)

 

[MikeHalloran]

We had repeated minor squabbles about whose job it was to go get the paper and/or maintain local stocks of it. Okay, the squabbles were not so minor; thanks to ISO, we were devouring paper, and it was a big campus.

We asked the paper supplier to deliver it to the point of use, i.e. to monitor and restock each networked printer, just like the fastener supplier did for nuts and bolts. Problem solved.

( Okay, _that_ problem was solved. )



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ivymike]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a blackbelt project.

 

[MedicineEng]

Isn't there a secretary that can handle this issue?
around here the secretary controls the stock of paper, but she doesn't charge it to the printer. The paper is in a cabinet next to the printer and when it is finished the next person put a ream of paper in the printer.
Every week or so the secretary will send an email to central office and they will order the paper for all departments. The supplier delivers the paper in each location.
This works for us but we are not 100 engineers...

 

[MikeHalloran]

We had 2000+ people on the net, of which maybe 1000 were engineers or technicians. The secretaries balked because of the sheer volume of paper being moved around.

Then the world changed. We were downsized in a "merger of equals". Yeah, right.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MadMango]

Mike Halloran, speaking of ISO, I worked for a medical device manufacturer, they actually had a SOP and DOP covering how to change paper and cartidges. Some yahoo determined that having paper and ink was a requirment in order to print out reports, and that not having them would affect quality... the peeble rolled down the hill from there.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[MikeHalloran]

My outfit was also a medical device manufacturer. They didn't have SOPs for changing paper, but they did have a PDM system, and an SOP that once you printed something, it had to be assumed obsolete and shredded immediately. If you wanted to keep a paper record of something, each page had to be marked 'reference only' or something like that.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[HgTX]

Secretary? We don't have secretaries. That would be government waste. For a while there we had "admin techs", but we're supposed to be letting attrition get rid of most of them as well.

For some reason paying engineers and trained inspectors to do administrative tasks is not government waste.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[KENAT]

Mike,

At the aerospace defense place I used to work at we had similar SOP. Unless it was a 'controlled copy' it had to be marked up "reference print only, will not be updated".

Actually makes a lot of sense even if a pain at times.

Our current place seems to have piles of paper next to the printer. I'm not sure who puts them there though. For our plotter an external stationary guy comes around about once a week and checks if we need more paper, we maintain one spare roll.

Not sure about cartridges.

 

[jmw]

Computers, the great con:

"The paperless office"
It never materialised and I guess the amount of paper used is growing exponentially. In my last company pallet loads of paper seemed to arrive daily and get stacked up around each printer.
The main problem never seemed to be running out of paper but the printer packing up... the service engineer seemed to have his own parking spot.

"Fewer Staff"
Well, no more typists but a lot more filing staff and a raft of expensive IT people.

Don't get me wrong, but I miss the solvent smell from the copier machines we used to have. Maybe, like vacuum cleaner aromatisers, they ought to add the solvent smell back in?


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

You should be sure that they regularly replace the ozone trap filter on xerographic copiers; that stuff is not good for you.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[BJC]

This reminds me of thr "A, B, C work" theory. method etc.

"A" Work is work only you can do.
"B" Work is work is work someone else can do with your supervision and/guidance.
"C" Work is work anyone can do without you.
No one ever winds up doing all "A" work. IF you find yourself doing to much "B" and "C" your not doing yourself any good and it's time to change something.

 

[HgTX]

The more paperless we get, the more I seem to print. I still need to look at stuff on paper, so I print a reference copy, but then the reference copies get tossed when I think I'm done with them, so the next time I need one I print another...

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[SylvestreW]

on a serious note, why have so many printers? I worked at a place with a similar setup and it was painful. Where I am now, there's two copy rooms, each room has two highspeed, superduper, whistledixie, printers. They hold 2000 sheets of 8.5x11. and 500 of 8.5x14 and 11x17 respectively.

initial cost is definitely up there but cost per page is significantly reduced in the long run.

 

[rhodie]

Eng-Tips Kaizen:

1. Assign 1 engineer per day the task of loading all printers. (If there are 100 engineers, then roughly you are chosen for duty 3 days out of the year.)

2. Randomize day assignments, post e-mail reminders to Scheduler Software.

3. Have all supplies delivered to your location by vendor and stored on a cart.

3b. Take advantage of new hires by forcing them to substitute on your selected days.

3c. Force them to get coffee for you, too.