Managed.IT - issue 60

22 01732 759725 SUSTAINABILITY just more sustainable but also economical and reliable – qualities that still trump sustainability, even if the latter has moved from the fifth most important buying criterion to third equal with security. “At the end of the day, people don’t want their printers to let them down. Because we use heat-free ink technology, as opposed to the thermal ink technology used by some manufacturers, we don’t have to heat up anything in any part of the machine. This means the reliability of our parts – of which there are very few in our machines – is that much greater. Our piezo head, unlike a thermal head, isn’t exposed to constant heating up and cooling down, so we are able to deliver really long-life consumables and use long-life components. It is not unusual to have conversations with dealers who have never visited a machine of ours because it has never had a problem.” He adds that a heat-free printing process enables Epson devices to be used in inhospitable environments without the risk of paper jams and misfeeds that can occur on laser machines when damp paper comes into contact with a hot fuser unit and curls more than it should. “We don’t have those problems because there is no heat. We have put machines into some very testing environments, including an oil pipeline in the rural Scottish highlands, where the temperature is not great and the humidity is very, very high. The site is not managed very often, but the machine just keeps performing.” Heat-free printing This trend clearly plays to the strengths of Epson’s heat-free inkjet printing technology, which it has been promoting as an economical, low-energy alternative to laser printers. With ever more success. Although laser printing is still the dominant technology in the office environment in terms of printers sold, when it comes to the number of pages printed the two technologies are approaching parity. “That’s not just because pages in the home are predominantly printed on ink devices, or because at the other end of the scale a lot of the volume printers on the transpromo and mailing side are inkjet devices. We are gaining market share in the centre, too, and expect to see quite a considerable shift over the next 12 months – because of our approach and the fact that other manufacturers seem to be getting onboard,” explained Wells. “I understand Kyocera recently brought out a high-volume mono ink machine and see that Canon has entered the market with a range of mid-range A3 ink devices. Konica is expected to scale down its KM1 inkjet device for the office space, as is Ricoh with theirs. While the split is currently just under the 50:50 for total pages printed, within the next 2 to 3-year period, we think it will tip over and more pages will be printed on inkjet devices than on laser.” Wells emphasises that people are making the switch for commercial reasons as much as for environmental ones, pointing out that Epson devices are not There is little doubt that the last 12 months have seen renewed focus on sustainability as everyone has become more aware not only of our vulnerability to natural forces but also our capacity to improve the environment by our actions and perhaps even our willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good – something that politicians might want to bear in mind when they meet up at COP26 in Glasgow in November. Richard Wells, Head of Business Sales at Epson UK, says he is already seeing the effects of greater environmental awareness in the business world, where Epson has long advocated a more sustainable approach to office printing. As evidence, he cites more stringent energy-consumption requirements within the qualitative and commercial evaluation by NEUPC (North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium) for the NEPA (National Education Printer Agreement) framework through which universities and higher and further education bodies can acquire printers and managed print services. “It was pleasing to see power consumption and consequent CO2 emissions built in by a well recognised framework provider – and built in by choice, rather than just being down to the encouragement of manufacturers like ourselves,” he said. “NEPA told us they made the decision after their customers – the universities and colleges – said what they wanted to see in the new contracts, and we are expecting to see something similar from other framework providers. Scottish Procurement are going through an exercise now and we understand that they will have energy consumption in there; there are even rumours that it will be an element of Crown Commercial’s requirements.” Squaring the circle Epson printers are proof that sustainability doesn’t have to be at the cost of performance. Managed IT finds out more from Richard Wells, Head of Business Sales at Epson UK Richard Wells Although laser printing is still the dominant technology in the office environment in terms of printers sold, when it comes to the number of pages printed the two technologies are approaching parity