Your office printer is a valuable piece of equipment. It prints numerous documents to streamline client communication and help you stay compliant. However, you need to make sure you’re making the most of this device by maximizing its efficiency.
How to Make Your Office Printer More Efficient
There are many ways to optimize your office printer, and the following tips will help you do so.
Make Sure You Have the Right Equipment
The main thing you should do when streamlining your office printer is to evaluate the existing hardware and processes. Identify the tasks your device takes longer to perform than normal and figure out how you can speed up those areas.
One of the ways you can quickly introduce changes is to be sure your team members are using the right printing software and hardware. Cutting-edge devices can lower costs, accelerate tasks, and make your business more efficient.
For instance, if you use an old office printer for multiple copy and print jobs, it might not be able to manage the workload. In that case, consider upgrading to a faster, more modern device. It can shorten the time your employees have to wait for the printer to do its job. Additionally, newer printers are less prone to malfunctions, reducing frustration and delays caused by broken equipment.
Fully functional printers can save you a lot of money in the long run, but only if the equipment suits your volumes and operations. To ensure this, you should consult expert suppliers before making your purchase. You can discuss your requirements to determine the right device for your company.
For instance, a professional may recommend buying a multifunctional printer rather than a standard device. It’s a cost-effective alternative that saves money and time by performing several tasks, such as printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. This upgrade also requires less space and doesn’t force your staff to leave their desks when scanning or faxing a document.
Be sure to look at your office print systems closely before adding new equipment. This way, you’ll be able to accurately determine the necessary updates.
Place the Printer Appropriately
Location doesn’t just matter in real estate. It’s also essential to improving the efficiency of your office printers.
The key consideration in this respect is who uses your printers the most. These can be your administrative employees who scan paperwork frequently. Hence, they spend more time with the devices than others. You should place your printers as close as possible to these workers to speed up their routines.
Figuring out the ideal location is easier if you have the right number of printers. It enables you to position the devices near all team members, ensuring high efficiency across the board. This optimizes your printer use and staff time.
You should also consider how much noise your printers make or the noise made around your printers due to chatting and paper shuffling. If possible, place the devices away from the primary work area to minimize distractions and disruptions.
Understand the Capabilities of Your Printers
When looking to boost the efficiency of an office printer, you often start using it for multiple tasks, not just printing paper. But beyond scanning your documents, you may not realize your device has many other capabilities. Take the time to understand your printer’s features.
For instance, it might be able to staple and sort to save administrative time. Others come with secure printing to keep people from violating your privacy policies. Some devices even let you assign the key operator to improve efficiency and resource management.
Note which printer features are being ignored and which features can help your employees be more productive. You may start relying on your devices to a greater extent, stop wasting time on administrative duties, and focus on money-making activities.
Use High-Quality Toner
It might be tempting to cut your office printer costs by buying low-quality toners. While this can provide some initial savings, it can also cause two major problems.
The most significant problem is reduced print quality. Your text and images may have smudged sections and fuzzy edges. The other issue is that the type doesn’t last nearly as long as high-end products. This means you’ll need to purchase cartridges more often, and your printer may cause more downtime since you need to replace the cartridges.
Therefore, don’t take a chance with cheap cartridges. Invest in top-rated toner from reputable providers to ensure professional-looking documents whenever you use your printer. This will also increase your cost efficiency and minimize downtime.
Utilize Your Economy Mode
Most office printers have a draft or economy mode that requires less toner or ink. If you use this as your default setting for routine tasks, you can dramatically reduce costs. You can also switch to advanced modes for your presentations or other crucial documents.
Try Pull Printing
Many corporate printing systems come with pull-printing features. This system requires your employees to manually enter security codes when printing documents. While they need to get up from their chairs, pull printing typically lowers the amount of uncollected paper in the device.
Should You Incorporate Digital Documents?
There’s no getting around using your office printer on a daily basis. However, this doesn’t mean you should use physical documents only. Another great way to maximize efficiency and increase the lifespan of your printers is to use digital papers whenever possible. This includes PDFs, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs files you can send via email.
Office Printer Streamlining Made Simple
There’s no need to be held back by ineffective office printer usage. Implement the above tips, and they’ll make all the difference in your daily routine.
If you’re interested in brand-new printers for your New York, Totowa, Pennsauken, Edison, or Ft. Washington office, contact Docutrend today!