Anglo American Coal South Africa turns to managed print solution

Reduces total cost of printing by 30%

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The challenges

Move to a Managed Print Solution Sometimes in business, you can combine the longest relationships with the newest technologies. To do this, you need a supplier who’s prepared to move with the times, and to embrace innovation.

That’s the situation that faced Anglo American Coal South Africa: it was a longstanding Nashua customer for more than a decade, but it recognised it was time to shift to a Managed Print Solution (MPS).

“We wanted to be smarter with our printing, and to optimise document output,” says Deon van Heerden, IM manager – site management at Anglo American Coal South Africa. “Cost saving was the primary driver, but we also wanted more control over our printing, for example to set colour and mono printing, and to make support easier.”

The solution

50% fewer devicess To provide its MPS, Anglo turned to Nashua. Van Heerden says, “We had a long history with Nashua, they knew us well, and we’ve always been happy with their service. It made sense to approach them, and it was an easy decision to make.”

Nashua has provided printers and multi-functional devices (MFDs) at 11 sites, under a contract that rolls all costs into a fixed price per page. In many cases, shared MFDs have replaced printers on users’ desks.

After the initial three-year contract expired, Anglo renewed its MPS contract for another four years. As part of this renewal, it further rationalised its number of printers, as van Heerden explains, “We’ve now got around 580 machines, which is about half of what we had before the MPS solution – with the contract renewal, we have been more aggressive in taking away printers that aren’t really needed.”

“The implementation went smoothly, and Nashua did a good job to comply with all of the safety and security requirements for working at a mine, such as access and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” says van Heerden. “Nashua finished the rollout before the planned end date, and there were no problems.”

Anglo, a long-term Nashua customer, moved to a Managed Print Solution, which has improved control, cut costs, and halved the number of devices needed.

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“We wanted to be smarter with our printing, and to optimise document output.”Deon van Heerden, IM manager – site management, Anglo

American Coal South Africa

Management softwareAnglo uses print management software from Nashua, which allows it to control users’ printing in great detail, for example to set limits on how many colour pages each person can print per month – helping to drive substantial cost reductions.

Van Heerden comments, “We have put a mix of 70% mono and 30% colour as the target – some mines achieved that easily and maintain it, and one mine has achieved a 90/10 mono/colour mix.”

“The software gives us more functionality and more control than previous print management software we have used, and it is more user-friendly,” says van Heerden. “Nashua gives us the tools to control printing, for example the mono/colour balance, then it’s up to the mine management to set the criteria for their site.”

Overall, the managed print solution has saved Anglo around 30% of its print costs, and has also enabled it to reduce its print volumes.

On-site support There is a tough environment at many of the mines, with coal dust liable to get into the printers. Even so, the devices have performed well, as van Heerden comments, “We have seen good reliability, and we haven’t had any major issues.”

Nashua provides seven technical people dedicated to the Anglo account, who are based at Anglo’s mines, which enables it to achieve a mean time to repair faults of less than two hours. Nashua keeps stocks of toner on site, as well as spare machines that can be quickly swapped in if a fault cannot easily be fixed in place.

“Nashua’s service is excellent,” says van Heerden. “If there’s any problem, they can sort it out very quickly, and they manage the toners and consumables for us.”

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Challenges33 Drive down costs, improve control,

and simplify support

Solution33 Managed print solution rolled out over 11 sites

Benefits 33 Reduced overall printing costs by 30%33 Cut number of printers by 50%,

to around 580 machines33 Decreased print volumes33 Improved control, including cutting number of

colour pages printed

Customer SummaryCustomer Name: Anglo American Coal South AfricaCustomer URL: www.angloamerican.com Industry: Mining

“Nashua understands our business 100% correctly. Their account manager knows where the printers are better than I do.” Deon van Heerden, IM manager – site management, Anglo American Coal South Africa

Nashua provides reports that Anglo’s IT team discuss with each mine manager on a monthly basis. Van Heerden says, “The managers find the reports very useful, and we use them to help us drive further rationalisation, and to understand where we can move devices around when they are under or over-utilised.”

“Nashua understands our business 100% correctly,” says van Heerden. “Their account manager knows where the printers are better than I do – that’s the level of knowledge Nashua has.”

Future plans For the future, Nashua is working with Anglo to further reduce the number of devices, and to cut the number of colour pages printed, thus decreasing costs. Anglo is also looking at how to migrate from its current managed printing solution (MPS) to a fully managed document services (MDS) solution.

“Overall, the project has absolutely met our objectives,” says van Heerden. “Nashua’s guys go out of their way to help us, including out of hours, and they are definitely the company to stay with in terms of printing.”

For more information please visit www.nashua.co.za

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