by Melissa Donovan
Part 1 of 2
Not every business requires heavy-duty production machinery, in fact printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) considered light and entry-level production are found in a number of environments including enterprise and copy shops. For our purposes, we classify light and entry-level printers in the 70 to 90 page per minute (ppm) range.
The enterprise environment finds great favor with this category of devices for numerous reasons including ease of use and smaller footprint in addition to connectivity and security features. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, connectivity is more important than ever before as remote working habits continue to trend. Many light and entry-level production printers and MFPs are equipped with specific features that address this.
Focused on Features
Users in the enterprise space look for a host of productivity-centric functions when it comes to the best light and entry-level production printers and MFPs for the job.
Kent Villareal, senior manager, product planning and marketing, Sharp Imaging and Information of America says in his experience, enterprise users consider “MFPs that provide the production-level print/copy quality, media handling, and finishing capabilities with the ease of use found on their office MFP down the hall.”
For example, in the Sharp family of products, there are over 30 MFPs from 30 ppm A4 models, all the way up to 80 ppm light production models that share the same user interface and controller architecture.
For those candidates without a full in-plant onsite, Bernard Matheny, senior portfolio manager, Ricoh USA, Inc., says they look for a smaller footprint, but a printer that can handle high volumes. “Often times, this is their first investment in production so total cost of ownership is also important, along with high productivity and exceptional image quality.”
“Light and entry-level production printers and MFPs in enterprise environments fill an important role by enabling in-house production and quick turnaround of print jobs. To meet these expectations, reliability with minimal user intervention and low-operating costs are pivotal. Also because such systems bridge the gap between smaller distributed workgroup systems and larger centralized reprographics departments, the products need to fit within closer quarters and must be easy to use,” summarizes Robert Covington, senior product manager, Toshiba America Business Solutions.
Toshiba’s color eSTUDIO7516A Series and monochrome eSTUDIO815A Series address these needs. At 75 ppm color and 85 ppm monochrome, a unique integral tandem large capacity feeder design doubles paper capacity without increasing footprint.
Combat Crime
Connectivity and security are are highly sought after features in this space. In the enterprise especially, sensitive data is handled on a daily basis, so it is important that the production devices are safely handling this information.
“In enterprise environments, security has always been a priority and the pandemic has only amplified this need, particularly with a spike in remote workers. Capabilities like secure print, secure scene, and VPN printing have boomed in the last 18 months, especially as enterprises look to combat and minimize cybercrime and ransomware,” explains Matheny.
Covington argues that connectivity and security are vital—but views them as prerequisites. “Increasingly, customers have a list of security features they need to check before buying. If they gloss over security, we point out the significance.”
Toshiba’s proprietary Wipe technology renders any data on the drive useless if removed from the MFP and placed into another device in an attempt to retrieve content. The approach handles the overwrite process immediately after the MFP processes the job. Users will see the term “erasing data” appear on the lower left corner of the front panel shortly after scanning a document.
Admittedly, Villareal shares that there isn’t an MFP sold today without the customer’s IT department being involved. “In this case, the ease in which users can connect to a device securely is of the utmost importance.”
Features included on Sharp’s MFPs in this realm include standard wireless and multi-layered security features such as firmware attach prevention and self recovery, application whitelisting, single sign-on through active directory, and an end-of-lease feature that can erase all data and personal information.
Pandemic Influence
Similar to any other segment of print, COVID-19 has influenced the enterprise and the placement of light and entry-level production printers and MFPs.
“The pandemic affected every facet of enterprise business. Initially, print volumes slid dramatically. Especially for organizations deploying light-production systems with many employees working from home. Though gradually we’re seeing employees return to the office,” notes Covington.
Forcing the identification of new revenue streams, Matheny has seen enterprises leverage the pandemic’s influence and utilize light production devices for internal communications to their employee bases. Additionally, since the printers in question are highly capable of many types of jobs, those that were traditionally outsourced are now produced in house.
This is made possible with devices like the RICOH Pro C5300, which can print on many media types while delivering high-quality color at high speed. “A high-productivity workforce like this can be leveraged in many ways, especially when it’s time to get creative with more short runs,” adds Matheny.
With more employees working out of the office, the need for connectivity—as mentioned above—is paramount. Even more so is the preference for bringing your own device into the workplace in response to health and safety concerns, according to Villareal.
In response, Sharp offers touch-less operation through applications (app) like Synappx Go, MFP Voice Commands with Amazon Alexa, and Sharpdesk Mobile.
Similarly, Toshiba’s eConnect TouchFree mobile app allows users to scan a quick response code on the MFP, and then the individual can access and control the system from their mobile device—without touching the MFP’s front panel.
Meeting the Needs of the Enterprise
Enterprise environments working with light and entry-level production printers and MFPs are lucky to be able to operate such timely devices in house. Many if not all of the hardware available today is equipped with the correct feature sets that address the unique needs of the enterprise—this is especially true in today’s pandemic world.
Of course, the enterprise isn’t the only segment of print benefiting from light and entry-level production printers and MFPs. The next article in this series looks at copy shops and their usage patterns.
Jan2022, DPS Magazine
