Nanyang Junior College, one of Singapore's 18 Junior Colleges, has a student body of 1,800. Its library boast a huge resource of over 35,000 books and 30 networked computers.  It had also set up a print station in the library for its students' convenience.  However, the print station has contributed greatly to the school's crippling annual printer toner bills of $20,000 - the result of indiscriminate printing and wastage. At its peak, the printer toner is changed almost on a weekly basis, even though each toner cartridge prints up to 15,000 pages.

Mr Tam Choong Chor, Subject Head of IT said, "Students can freely print their assignment submissions, CCA material and internet research as long as they provide their own paper.  The school bore the cost of the toners, which we do not mind. However, we observed that the wastage was extremely high as there were stacks of printed sheets that no one claimed everyday."

The print station was setup as part of the network of 30 computers in the library.  Students can send their print jobs from any of the 30 computers and it follows the traditional network printing order of first in-first out.  Students will then go to the printer and feed it with their own paper.  Often, it's someone else's printout that will appear because of the print order, which creates frustration as well.
 
The Challenge
Mr Tam was faced with a challenge on how to cut the huge annual toner bill, as well as make the printing process more pleasant for the students.  The traditional first in-first out network printing queue gives very little control to the students.  As they may sit at the computer for half an hour and send out 10 different print jobs before feeding the printer with paper, and by the time they feed the paper, it's no longer their print job, causing frustration. They would probably try to print again, causing wastage.
 
The other cause of wastage is that because the toner is free and paper is cheap, students print indiscriminately.
 
Mr Tam had to find a print solution that would give more control to the students in managing their print order and was also exploring ways of charging students for their printouts to eliminate wastage.  He explored the feasibility of using stored valued magnetic strip cards found in some self-serviced photocopy centres. None seemed to fit their requirements until he came across Epson PrintMaster.
 
The Epson Solution
Epson PrintMaster is the only pay-per-print system that uses the EZ-Link card for payments.   As every student and teacher owns an EZ-Link card, it eliminates the administrative nightmare of managing a different payment system.  The money is electronically deducted from the students' card and deposited into the school's bank account.  Every month the school will receive a statement of transaction.
 
With the EZ-Link card, the deduction is instant and Mr Tam receives a weekly report on how much money has been deposited into the school's bank account through the EZ-Link payment system linked to the Epson PrintMaster.  These reports help him monitor and manage the printing resource, manage and reduce resource wastage in the school.

Epson PrintMaster is a simple to implement and use pay-per-print software.  Up to five laser printers can be linked up with each Epson PrintMaster installation to a PC.  Nanyang JC's implementation of the Epson PrintMaster in the library comprises of a PC with PrintMaster installed and 2 Epson laser printers.  Epson AcuLaser C4000 is a colour laser printer which can print up to 16 pages a minute, and Epson EPL-N2120 monochrome A3 printer which can print up to 21 pages a minute.  PrintMaster connects to the library's 30 computers through the school's existing network.
 
While the typical network print follow a print order, PrintMaster allows print jobs to accumulate in the installed PC.  Only when the students are ready, do they move over to the PrintMaster PC to activate their print jobs.
 
They can even change their mind and choose not to print something they had originally sent. They have full control at the print station with Epson PrintMaster.  Only upon confirmation, will the reader deduct the cost of printing from their EZ-Link cards.  With the cost worked in, students no longer need to bring their own paper.
 
And at the end of the day, the administrator can simply clear the remaining print jobs on the server, eliminating wastage.
 
The Result
And since the PrintMaster was implemented in the library at the beginning of 2005, after four months, not a single toner cartridge needed to be replaced.  The reason why the toner replacement rate has dropped from nearly once a week to once in more than four months is the elimination of wastage.  Epson PrintMaster helps the school reduce its toner wastage by passing on the cost of printing to the students.
 
"Now that the students have to pay for their printouts, they think twice before printing anything. The number of pages printed out has dropped tremendously, which means that most printed pages in the past were unnecessary."
 
The previous paper wastage became more than just a cost issue.  It also became an issue of tidiness.  Because of the wasted printouts, sheets of paper were spewed over the tables the printers sat on. With the new PrintMaster, wastage has been eliminated and the areas around the new printing station are kept tidy, since students now value every single print-out.
 
The frustration students felt when their paper is used to print someone else's print job is eliminated when Epson PrintMaster gives them full control over the print station.
 
"PrintMaster is a good system, as it help us cut down on wastage, and is a worthwhile investment," said Mr Tam.  He has since implemented a second PrintMaster station in the shared computer lab and is also exploring other implementations in other parts of the school.
 
Key Benefits of implementing Epson PrintMaster
* Better resource management, eliminating toner wastage
* Full print control, allowing students to print what they want, when they want
* Uses EZ-Link Card, an existing payment system every student already uses, which is easy to administer and cheap to implement

For more information on Epson PrintMaster, please contact us at product@esp.epson.com.sg.