Since partnering with Ricoh for their document management, AAPT predict they will save nearly $A750,000 in reductions in power consumption, paper, toner and fleet size within four years.

The savings include a 22 percent reduction in paper alone in just six months, representing an environmental saving equating to 2.65 tonnes of CO2, or approximately 35 trees.

The improvements have been realised since a staged implementation of a suite of software solutions and a consolidation of their print fleet by Ricoh.

“When we started the rollout, our target was to reduce operating costs­ – power, toner and paper – by 10 percent in the first year. We achieved that almost immediately,” said Jodie Black, AAPT Project Manager, Property and Facilities.

“And with the reduction in print size along with a continued focus on change management within the company, the Ricoh solution is enabling us to save almost 50 percent on document printing, copying and management.”

The Ricoh solution has reduced AAPT’s printer and multifunction device (MFD) fleet by 50% along with the implementation of Equitrac Office for fleet management and security, GlobalScan to streamline document scanning and routing and @Remote for comprehensive fleet remote access and reporting.

Equitrac Office’s Follow-You Printing automatically redirects all print jobs to a secure server until they are released when authenticated by a user at any of AAPT’s MFDs. Unprinted jobs are automatically deleted from the system after 24 hours, saving on waste while increasing document security.

“In only six months there were more than 160,000 pages either not printed because users were able to take advantage of the ability to delete print jobs or were automatically purged from the system,” said Black.

Another solution implemented by Ricoh is @Remote Green Reports, which provides AAPT with detailed usage reports.

“The @Remote Green Reports provide AAPT with information on MFD activity and print volumes which have proven instrumental in helping the company reduce operating costs by supporting change management,” said Kathy Wilson, General Manager, Production & Business Solutions for Ricoh Australia.

“By understanding their business we have helped AAPT change the usage habits of their employees. Not only have they greatly reduced their carbon emissions, but they have realised improved business efficiency–saving them a significant amount of money and delivering a quick return on investment,” Wilson said.

“The big thing is that where previously we were running only a straightforward print device fleet environment, the partnership with Ricoh has given us an effective and efficient document and printer fleet management solution – and there’s an enormous difference between the two,” said Black.