Merck saves over 30% in printing-related costs and reduces Eco footprint
By Cara Shockley, Imaging & Printing Group, Enterprise Campaign Manager
Drew said that about five years ago, most Merck employees had a personal printer on their desk and a heavy-duty copier nearby. Fax machines were scatted throughout offices. The cost of all that technology was high: it was expensive to acquire, use, and dispose of, and it was wasteful. The company targeted printing as an area where it could improve.
After taking steps to improve print management on its own, Merck partnered with HP to develop an overall Managed Print Service solution (MPS) and transform its fleet of personal printers into a small but managed set of shared devices. Many employees were reluctant to give up their personal printers. However, with support from Merck’s top executives --- who led by example and were among the first to give up their personal printers --- the deployment was overwhelmingly successful as employees started recognizing the benefits. I think that we can all relate to the resistance to giving up personal printers --- we went through a similar transition at HP many years ago and I could name a dozen different ways people tried to hide their personal printers. I was impressed with how through the leadership support at Merck how effectively and quickly Drew was able to drive that change.
One major concern Merck did face with the elimination of personal devices was the need for employees to print sensitive materials securely. HP had secure print enabled in the solution. Once the employees were shown how to use this feature, this hurdle to adoption quickly fell.
One of Merck’s primary goals was to enable productive work habits. The company standardized on a common fleet of devices with consistent interfaces that people could use easily. With a mobile workforce and international travelers, making the print environment consistent globally was paramount to delivering ease-of-use. Also contributing to the success was training and a company website that displayed floor plans and overlaid the location of the printers on it. From this website an employee can quickly locate the printer closest to them with the right capabilities, click on an icon and be connected to the printer. No need to search for or write down print queue names and then try to figure out how to install the printer or the print driver.
Being a good corporate citizen is something Merck takes seriously and environmental impact is of growing importance to employees and Merck communities worldwide. The HP Managed Print Services solution has reduced the number of devices at Merck by more than 80%. There is now, on average, one HP output device for every 12 employees, and all are ENERGY STAR-certified. As a result of that change alone, the company has dramatically reduced the energy consumption of output devices. In one facility Merck reduced the number of devices from 2,733 to 280. The energy savings from that site alone amounted to more than $40,000 per year. More improvements followed after Merck set all devices to duplex printing by default. Nearly 30% of Merck’s printing today is duplexed, reducing the company’s paper usage by several million pages monthly.
There’s also increased focus at Merck on improving business processes through MPS. “Early on, the focus of managed print was on reducing what you spend,” Drew says. “Later, we learned to leverage new capabilities. That’s when workflow improvements begin to take hold, and you change employee thinking and behavior. In the long run, that’s where the biggest benefits lie. Implementing a managed print solution is just the beginning. It creates a foundation that enables reductions in waste, introduces new business capabilities, and streamlines workflow process.”
HP Managed Print Services are custom and flexible implementations designed to meet the specific needs of each customer. We’ve already helped customers like Merck save up to 30% in overall printing costs. Best of all, with HP’s Printing Payback Guarantee, its risk free! We’ll cut your printing costs or we’ll cut you a check. This is how: We’ll study your organization, assess its particular needs, then project your savings. If your organization doesn’t reach those savings within 12 months after implementation, we’ll cut you a check.
Learn more about the HP Printing Payback guarantee.
