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Konica Minolta bizhub 7085 Production Printing System
Kenai Peninsula Borough, in Kenai, Alaska gets faster, cheaper, more reliable printing with the Konica Minolta bizhub 7085 production printing system.
The Client
Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kenai, Alaska
The Kenai Peninsula Borough is a governmental entity located in southern Alaska, whose governmental responsibilities are comparable to that of a county. The Borough encompasses an area the size of Massachusetts and New Jersey combined, with a population about 1/400th of those two states.
The Situation
In early 2003, the Borough purchased a pair of Konica 7085 Production Printing Systems (now Konica Minolta bizhub PRO 7085) from the local Konica Minolta dealership, Frontier Business Systems.
“When the Borough’s purchasing department bought the 7085, I don’t believe that they fully understood that they had purchased a high-end network printing device,” said Bob Jones, MIS Systems Manager, Kenai Peninsula Borough. “But, that decision to purchase the copier necessitated a business process shift for our forms processing. It turned out to be the event that “pushed us out of the plane’.”
To help Kenai Peninsula Borough maximize the value of this high-end network printing device, Frontier’s Branch Manager Terry Linebarger suggested that Kenai Peninsula Borough meet with Konica Minolta’s Professional Services Group (KMPSG), a diverse team of systems consultants, project managers and integration engineers who work with clients to deliver highly customized business solutions.
The Challenge
KMPSG consultants learned that Kenai Peninsula Borough was using an old Xerox 4850 printer in their data center but had a desire to replace it due to a number of factors. Maintenance and operation costs for the Xerox 4850 were upwards of $24,000 per year, reliability was becoming a problem, support for the device was difficult to obtain, and the Xerox FSL forms it used required substantial programming resources to maintain, and changes took time and careful planning to complete.
“They knew the pain, but they didn’t understand the options to solve it,” said Tom Huskisson, manager, Konica Minolta Professional Services Group.
The KMPSG team explained the process of migrating the printing from the Xerox to the Konica Minolta devices and the cost savings that would be realized from utilizing the equipment they already had, versus with a new Xerox device.
The Solution
Based on its analysis, KMPSG recommended implementing the PlanetPress software suite from Objectif Lune, a printer centric technology that enables Konica Minolta devices to be used for variable content document printing, including electronic forms. This software would be a great fit for Kenai Peninsula Borough’s needs, providing that PlanetPress would function effectively with the data stream from their Unisys mainframe.
The Borough’s Unisys mainframe was outputting more than 60 different forms using Xerox Metacode, and the Xerox was connected to the mainframe via a proprietary connection. This connection meant that the only computer capable of sending data to the Xerox printer was the mainframe. The PlanetPress Suite would change this by allowing any network-attached printer to print any of the forms.
The Proof
Initially, Jones and Tony Oliver, the Applications Development Manager at Kenai Peninsula Borough, greeted the idea with skepticism. They were aware of the variety of software applications available to move their forms to a Microsoft Windows platform and maintain their current functionality, but there was a concern over the time and cost restraints of such a conversion. To overcome this concern, KMPSG offered to do a proof of concept free of charge using a sample data stream from the mainframe to prove that PlanetPress would work in their environment.
Kenai Peninsula Borough agreed and sent data for one of their most complex forms – a Tax form – as a “make or break” test. KMPSG received the data for the form and provided them with the proof of concept in less than 48 hours – which was enough to convince Kenai Peninsula Borough that it was possible to move their forms off of the Xerox.
“We had asked for a proof of concept because we had envisioned the forms conversion process to be a major undertaking,” said Jones. “Konica Minolta made it sound easy, but we still had engrained insecurities about the feasibility of completing the project without significant costs or disruption of business. The proof of concept clearly proved that it could be done quickly and cost effectively, and it has worked out very well.”
The Results
Kenai Peninsula is now using PlanetPress to print forms such as its Greybar, Tax, and assessment forms from its legacy host system to the Konica Minolta bizhub 7085. In addition, due to the ability to print to any one of the Konica Minolta bizhub 7085s from the network, the Borough can quickly print manuals, product documentation and other documents on demand – a significant time and costs savings over their current use of HP Laser printers for these types of documents.
The technology upgrade has delivered immediate benefits. Maintenance contract costs have been reduced by 30 percent per year over the Xerox and the accessibility to service is dramatically improved by working directly with Frontier.
In addition, the Borough estimates that the ROI will be rapid due to the difference in hardware costs versus replacing the Xerox device, and the productivity improvements of the Borough’s staff, resulting from the forms migration. Additional cost savings will be realized by reducing the ongoing cost of creating and maintaining the Borough’s forms, as PlanetPress makes it possible to modify and administer forms without programming.
The migration of the forms to the network also increases the connectivity of Kenai Peninsula Borough’s full inventory of printing technology. High–volume distributed printing is now available and using three networked devices rather than one eliminates the risks of productivity loss due to printer failure. (If one Konica Minolta bizhub 7085 is being serviced, print jobs can simply be rolled over to the next available printer without any time lost.)
“The 7085s have brought us faster, cheaper, more reliable printing and offers us the true potential to move our printing closer to an on-demand, distributed model,” said Jones.
From a staffing perspective, this project also will allow Kenai Peninsula Borough to maximize the knowledge of their IT staff. With the Konica Minolta bizhub 7085s, they are no longer handcuffed to the printer and can re-focus on their primary roles such as managing the non-print related hardware and software in the data center, while lower salaried employees will be able to run the print operations.
Reduced equipment costs, reduced maintenance, faster and distributed printing and simpler forms maintenance are benefits that can be expected from most printing technology upgrades. However, as Kenai Peninsula Borough experienced, by utilizing the full range of services that a digital imaging vendor such as Konica Minolta offers, a business process transformation can also occur that delivers productivity and efficiency benefits that affect the entire organization.
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