Review of the number of printers according to environmental objectives
Based on an explicit ambition for reduced environmental impact (energy, paper, resource utilisation, etc.), we have now begun a review of how many printers we really should have in total at the university.
Actions will take place on an ongoing basis during the work. The goal is to have the whole review ready before the summer.
Since the start of eduPrint (2018), we have clearly reduced our print volume. We have even been so good that we have decreased more than expected. In general, it can be said that today we are at about 50 % of the volumes we had at the start. The agreement with the supplier specifies an intended balance between the number of printers linked to the number of employees/students and the print volume. A so-called balance value. If the number of printers goes beyond that balance value, costs will be added. The reduction we have now leads to more printers than this computational formula allows for.
In the years that have passed since the introduction of eduPrint, we have also had several large staff and local relocations. We have not followed these up with also investigating the need for printers based on the new situation. In both of ours, we also have a number of low-use premises, premises that have been intended to be served by a specific designated printer. We have other scenarios where several printers are within the same area but which now serve a low number of offices/premises. Here, an investigation needs to show where the writers do the best. We also need to review whether it is reasonable that all the printers we have today should remain.
In step 1 we invent printers based on location and utilisation. The work on this part of the review has already begun. The result will lead to a proposal for possible moves to improve/efficientise usage per printer. We will also look at matching against the staff groups/students that are in the vicinity of the indentified printers.
In step 2, further investigation will show that possible printers will be removed altogether. Prior to any moves and downloads, we want to seek a dialogue with affected organisations in the best way to better understand any needs that are not shown with general statistical data.