Grab The Reins

You are the copier expert for your organization. Therefore you should manage all of its copiers. Find out why.

AT MANY companies, copiers are available in various departments for the convenience of employees. But who should control the selection, purchase and maintenance of this equipment? In too many cases, it's being left up to the individual department to make these crucial decisions.

But who is more likely to choose the most appropriate copier for the situation—and get it at a reasonable price? Is it the accountant from the fifth floor who doesn't know duplexing from collating? Or is it you, the in-plant professional, who already has good relationships with many vendors and is an expert on copier features?

The answer should be obvious.

"Copier professionals will be better informed on copier issues and not swayed by a salesperson's hype to acquire more copier than is necessary," stresses David McCall, manager of the convenience copier division for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "The copier professional can keep up with the new technologies much easier than an office professional, who has other duties to be concerned with."

Ease The Process

Everyone wants his or her job—and life—to be a little easier. By taking on the duty of managing departmental copiers, you will remove one more worry from your internal customers' lives. In the process, you will gain new responsibilities, making you and your in-plant more valuable to the organization while taking back some control of the organization's document needs.

This was a main selling point to customers of the in-plant for Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, and it allowed the shop to take control of all copier concerns. According to Ronnie Hooks, manager of printing and facilities management for the Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based shop, the in-plant consolidated over 700 different copier contracts into one—and now is in control of 890 copiers throughout the company. This has lessened the paperwork burden placed on the departments and has saved Lockheed Martin Energy Systems money.

"We make sure we enforce the terms of the contract," Hooks explains. The in-plant has a full-time employee who is dedicated to making sure each department is satisfied with the service it is receiving from its copier.

On top of taking over paperwork and maintenance concerns, many in-plants are in charge of providing copier supplies and consumables. Again, this is a way to offer more services to your customers and make the in-plant a more valuable part of the organization.

At Boeing's St. Louis location, consumables such as paper and toner for all 500 convenience copiers are ordered through the in-plant. The same is true at Boeing's California, Kansas and Washington facilities, according to Mark Niederschmidt, senior manager of office systems at the St. Louis site. He says this is important since the in-plant already is buying paper for printing, and has a working knowledge of paper vendors.

"We know what works and what doesn't work," Niederschmidt says. "We order supplies, paper and toner so it all comes from the same people."

By pooling the paper orders, companies can negotiate better prices, he maintains. Plus, because ordering is being controlled by a centralized unit within the organization—the in-plant—it can be handled much more efficiently.

Vendors Everywhere

When different departments are permitted to choose their own copiers, an in-plant manager can only sit back and watch as vendors from slews of different companies march in with their proposals. This often results in different equipment for each department. When negotiating a copier contract, the addition of just one new copier won't fetch the same price as if you were buying or leasing in bulk for several departments.

"Imagine the economic benefits by acquiring copiers in volume," urges McCall of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "A company can get a much better deal acquiring 400 copiers at once instead of 400 departments each acquiring one copier. The savings that the company realizes in staff time alone—consider having 400 people all go out and look at the same copier—will more than pay for the time spent having the in-plant looking at the copier choices."

Also, the company will be given a certain amount of clout with the vendor if they know it is a large account. This often equates to better service for the customer.

"Once the vendor understands that all the copiers in the company are interdependent and that you could replace all the copiers in the company if they don't solve a problem, they work harder to solve it," notes McCall, whose in-plant oversees more than 200 copiers on campus.

Hooks, of Lockheed Martin, has found it easier to deal with just one vendor. IPG's 1998 Manager of the Year says he experienced bickering and bad-mouthing between vendors when more than one company was being used at his facility.

Downsizing to one vendor has also cut down on the number of meetings the in-plant has to have with copier companies.

"The more copiers and more copies you produce, the better negotiating tool you have," explains Hooks, whose contract with Xerox is on a pay-per-click basis.

Also, if the same copier models are in several departments, employees who switch positions will already know how to use the copiers in their new areas, cutting down on training time.

Dealing with just one vendor may not always be possible though, since a single copier line does not necessarily satisfy every need. Hooks admits that he may have to think about contracting with more than one vendor in the future to keep his customers up to date as more digital copiers emerge.

Quick Look

• Become your organization's copier authority, and make all decisions that have to do with copiers.

• The more responsibilities you take on, the more valuable you are.

• Pooling all copiers under one contract will get your organization a better deal from vendors.

• Providing consumables for convenience copiers allows the in-plant to control the kind of paper and toner being used, and purchase it in bulk.

• Once the vendor understands that you can replace all the copiers in your organization if it doesn't solve a problem, the vendor will work harder to solve it.

• Downsizing to one vendor cuts down the number of meetings the in-plant has to have with copier companies.