MFD Solutions are launching their own public sector agreement to supply photocopiers, Multifunctional Devices and Managed Print Services specifically designed for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Academies and Colleges. MFD have been busy speaking to a number of Schools over the past 12 months to gain valuable information on the types of reprographic equipment currently being used and the associated costs, some of our findings have been quite encouraging however some have been quite shocking!

The copier / printer industry in general is focusing on the ‘Shift to Services’ with Managed Print still being the hot topic.  MFD’s all encompassing solutions mean we are able to provide a fully managed document service to Schools to provide the following benefits:-

• Reduced purchase and lease costs for photocopiers and multifunctional printers
• Reduced service support and maintenance costs for photocopiers and multifunctional devices
• Remote service management monitoring print volumes, real time fault logging and consumable usage
• Print Management solutions enabling Follow-Me printing, automatic print tracking, document security features
• Reduce environmental impact of printing by routing jobs to the most environmentally friendly printers, MFDs
• Reduced consumable costs for desktop printers (laser and inkjet), MFPs and copiers including toners, drum units, staples, fuser units and waste toner containers
• Industry leading hardware, consumables and solutions from Canon, Lexmark, Brother and Print Audit

Although MFD have the ability to deploy the above nationwide we still try to concentrate our efforts in our key business areas which include London, Surrey, Middlesex, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

Our range of photocopiers and solutions can be viewed by following the links below:-

• Canon B&W Photocopiers
• Canon Colour Photocopiers
• Canon Print Management Solutions
• Canon Colour Laser Printers
• Canon Colour Copier Consumables
• Canon B&W Copier Consumables

Please contact MFDs public sector specialist on London 0208 9121481 for further information and to arrange a free consultation.

MFD Solutions London have now added a range of Canon colour laser copier and imageRUNNER / imageRUNNER Advance consumables including laser toner cartridges, drum units, waste toner bottles and staples to it’s website today. MFDs consumables sales team has grown considerably over the past year and looks to be one of our key growth area’s in 2012.

More and more businesses are looking to save money in all areas, consumable costs including printer cartridges and copier toners are often overlooked, MFDs dedicated sales team look at each clients portfolio of products such as photocopiers, multifunctional devices, laser printers, inkjet printers and fax machines and provide them with a bespoke proposal to manage all of their office print and copy based consumable items.

MFD have formed relationships with a large number of manufacturers, distributors and independent trade suppliers of consumables so we can offer leading brands inc Canon, HP, Lexmark, Brother, Xerox, Ricoh, Toshiba, Oki, Epson, Konica Minotla, OCE and Samsung. The large number of consumable suppliers we partner give us an unrivaled stock supply of both original manufacturer branded and non-oem / compatible / remanufactured consumables.

• Canon Colour Photocopier Toners,

• Canon Colour Photocopier Drums,

• Canon B/W Photocopier Toner,

• Canon B/W Photocopier Drum

Today MFD Solutions Ltd have received confirmation from Canon UK that for 2012 they will be classified as a Canon business partner with ‘Advanced Office Imaging’ status.  MFD enjoyed great success in 2011 as a Canon business partner and look forward to building our relationship further by committing to Canon hardware and solutions.

uniFLOW has been awarded the BERTL Best Device Management Solution 2011. Karsten Huster (NT-ware) says “The BERTL’s Best award reflects our ongoing efforts to provide customers with an integrated and flexible platform solution for print and scan management needs,”. “From its very beginning, customer requirements have been the driving force behind uniFLOW. With version 5.1 uniFLOW now addresses end users’ mobile printing needs in today’s business world. This is enabled as part of a company’s managed print solution, retaining full cost control, print and network security.”

BERTL particularly highlighted uniFLOW’s outstanding performance as to:

• Track print and copy costs on networked MFPs, printers as well as locally connected desktop printers
• Perform secure pull printing at any printer simply by using employee badge or PIN Code
• Provide streamlined support for entire fleet with the support for non-MEAP enabled devices and embedded applications for many popular 3rd party devices
• Scan documents into back end document management systems as a highly compressed PDF or in an editable format
• Enhance document security by taking an image of each copy, print, fax or scan which can then be processed for restricted keywords

Why uniFLOW?

Incorporating uniFLOW into your document processes will lead to real improvements in the control and efficiency of Canon multifunctional devices (MFDs). This powerful software is open, modular and configurable, so it can be adapted to fit the specific needs of different businesses: large corporations, small offices, education establishments, local government, copy shops and print rooms.

Scalable to any size

uniFLOW fits perfectly with any size organisation. It is available in 10,50, 150 and unlimited user versions to provide scalability and flexibility regardless of your business type. Its web-based architecture allows the software to be run over multiple buildings, locations or sites with all the data stored in a central SQL Server database.

Modular Architecture

The core functionality of uniFLOW can be extended with various additional modules. Each module provides exciting new features to the system that allow the benefits of uniFLOW to be extended into other parts of your business.

From providing secure printing for mobile devices to allowing users to capture documents directly to Microsoft SharePoint, uniFLOW really is an end-to-end office management system. For organisations with a print room or professional printing requirements, uniFLOW integrates with Helix Production Workflow to provide job ticketing, internet job submission, variable data printing and print room management capabilities.

uniFLOW Version 5.1 available now!

Mobile Submission

uniFLOW v5.1 provides several different methods* for users to submit jobs including via email, uploading a job via a web browser and printing directly from an application using an Internet-enabled driver. uniFLOW also supports the integrated print functionality of iOS (Apple iPad / iPhone) devices.

Mobile Release

All of the print release capabilities within uniFLOW are seamlessly supported for mobile users. Mobile jobs can be released from any uniFLOW controlled printer via card access or pin code. There is also a uniFLOW native app for Apple iOS devices like iPod, iPhone and iPad. The app enables the mobile device to identify the printer, for example by a QR code, select a print job from the user’s personal print queue, make necessary print settings and release their job.

Advanced Device Management

uniFLOW v5.1 allows IT Managers to control the print environment by collecting information about device status, meter and consumables. Information is gathered across a complete, multi-vendor (Canon and third-party devices) print fleet and can be used to effectively manage consumables, inform customers and service providers about issues and maintain device uptime.

Improvements in Universal Driver technology

The uniFLOW v5.1 universal driver contains an improved image compression technology resulting in smaller file sizes and faster processing. Further, the Canon PCL6 Generic driver is now supported for secure printing workflow, allowing organizations using the Canon PCL6 Generic driver to enjoy the benefits of making finishing changes at the Canon iR ADVANCE, which in the past was only possible with the uniFLOW Universal Driver.

Embedded Applets for Secure Printing

To extend third-party device support, uniFLOW v5.1 features embedded applets for Konica Minolta devices. This applet provides secure printing capability when configured with the uniFLOW server. In addition to the Konica Minolta applet, NT-ware has previously developed applets for HP and Xerox devices.

For more information on uniFLOW please visit MFD’s – Solutions/Print Management area.

Photocopier service support agreements

In most offices a malfunctioning photocopier will cause serious logistical issues and a great deal of frustration. Furthermore, due to the complexity of most modern machines they can be very costly to repair. Because of both these points, it is common practice to have in place a service level agreement (SLA) or maintenance support contract; so that for a pre-arranged monthly/quarterly/annual fee, a third party will take on the responsibility of ensuring all photocopier servicing and maintenance. The arrangements for maintenance contracts vary but if you lease or rent your photocopier, it is likely that you will also be bound to an ongoing service arrangement; so be sure that you have read all the small print. Regardless of this, however, the following should give you a better idea of the sorts of conditions and level of service to expect. Consider these points when assessing contracts: Will you have to pay a fixed monthly fee, a fee based on the volume of usage or both? How long will it take to send out a technician if the photocopier breaks down? Will the contract cover the cost of parts and labour if the photocopier needs to be repaired? At what cost will the photocopier consumables (toners, drums, fuser unit etc) be supplied?

 
Typical photocopier contract terms
A typical photocopier contract will usually charge you a fixed monthly fee plus an additional fee for every page printed over an agreed limit. This is because a heavily used machine will obviously require more in the way of consumables and maintenance than one that is used very rarely. In a similar vein to mobile phone contracts, there are usually lots of different price plans to choose from and these should range from those with very low monthly fees, lower copy limits and higher costs per excess page; to comparably very high monthly fees including unlimited copier use. As pointed out above, in any office a broken photocopier will cause problems, especially as it‟s fairly standard to have a combined photocopier and printer. In order to minimise the disruption this causes, any good maintenance contract will have a predetermined response time, within which the supplier is obliged to send out a technician. It is not uncommon for this to be the same day or even just a matter of hours, provided that the supplier is called within certain times. It should also make absolutely clear who will pay for parts and labour and under which circumstances. However, this will vary drastically depending on who owns the photocopier, and therefore should be thought about well in advance of purchasing a copier outright.

 
Alternatives to service contracts
In some cases it‟s possible to have an extended warranty for your photocopier (small A4 desktops). This will usually only apply to lower value machines (sub-£2,000), where it is not economically prudent to take on a service contract. Extended warranties will usually cover much less than a typical service contract and it is highly unlikely that a technician would be sent to your office on the same day as the call-out. As such, relying solely on a warranty will usually mean longer delays to repair your copier.

MFD Solutions provide Canon photocopier service support nationwide.  Our key business area’s are London, Middlesex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.  We can provide service support in all others regions of the UK through the Canon UK dealer support network.  If you already own or lease a Canon photocopier and are looking for a new service support company the please contact MFD on 0207 1998150.

Office photocopiers are an expensive piece of business equipment, and companies looking to procure one may be reluctant to spend thousands of pounds in one go (unless they’re cash-rich or simply don’t entertain the idea of paying interest on leases). There are many different payment options with their positives, negatives and occasional pitfalls.

Photocopier Leasing Broadly speaking there are two main types of lease. But within these categories, every lease contract is different. When you’re leasing a photocopier it’s absolutely crucial that you check the terms and conditions of the contract, because while the right lease can be a useful option, some leasing companies terms and conditions are less than transparent in the small print.

Photocopier Lease rental This involves paying for your photocopier over a period of time specified in the contract (usually a 2-5 years). Almost all of these stipulate a minimum term for the lease, so if you want to back out early and upgrade the photocopier you will have to pay the remaining instalments up front. The important thing about this type of payment is that the leasing company retains ownership of the photocopier even after the lease expires and title of the equipment is generally offered to the original supplier for a set fee. Be aware of this when you’re signing the contract – some people end up paying thousands of pounds over a period of years under the misapprehension that they will own the photocopier at the end. This is not always the case. The positive aspects of this sort of agreement are you don’t have to pay any large one-off payment, and that it usually entails a maintenance service and the option of upgrading to a newer model free of charge.

Photocopier Lease purchase A lease purchase agreement follows the same idea as lease rental – lower monthly or quarterly payments over a fixed period of time – but when the lease comes to an end you are given ownership of the photocopier. As with lease rental, you must pay a settlement figure up front if you wish to end the lease and get ownership before the minimum term is up. With all leases you should thoroughly check the terms of the contract, including the interest rates on the total amount payable. Also be careful regarding what happens at the end of the agreement – sometimes your lease will run on beyond the minimum term unless you expressly say you wish the contract to end. Maintenance agreements and consumables (paper and toner) are sometimes, but not always, included in the terms of the lease.

Photocopier Rental Renting an office photocopier is the best option for those who know that they only need the equipment for a shorter period of time. You will not get ownership of the machine unless you agree a final fee with your supplier, but unlike lease rental the minimum term can be anything from one week to twelve months so there is much greater flexibility in length of use. Photocopier rental is usually provided through second hand / used photocopiers with maintenance/online service support  for the duration of the agreement.

Photocopier Purchase Buying an office photocopier outright requires you to pay the full sum up front, which in turn may mean you have to take out a bank loan. This is why leasing is often a more preferable method for financing the deal, because the schedule of payments is more reliable and transparent than the repayments of a standard loan. If you are cash rich though, you won‟t be tied down to any form of lease contract and you can choose to either take a service support agreement or simply take a call-out based approach. The downside is you‟ll need to provide all the extra paraphernalia such as paper and toner and if the photocopier requires attention you will be charged in the region of £85-£125+vat for the call-out.

MFD Solutions in London give our clients the choice of all of the purchase and lease options above, for more information please contact on 0207 1998150.

The range of options is vast when it comes to choosing a photocopier for your office. For starters, there is an extremely large number of actual photocopiers on the market to choose from, all of which have different speeds, functions and prices. Then there is the manner in which you purchase it; either buying it outright, leasing or renting. And finally, you will need to consider the maintenance and service arrangements to deal with the inevitable hiccups that will occur during its operational life. This guide aims to discuss some of these options and help you make the right decision when choosing your photocopier.

Your photocopier requirements

Assessing your needs is the key to choosing the right photocopier, as the volume and type of copies you need to make will ultimately determine the machine best suited to your office. Thinking about the following points should help start that process: How many copies will you need to make on a monthly basis? Will you need both colour and black & white copies? What size copies will you need to make and on what sort of paper would you like them? Will you need additional functions such as image editing or double sided printing? Will you expect your photocopier to also act as a scanner or fax machine?

Desktop photocopiers

This term can be misleading, as although desktop photocopiers are smaller than their floor standing counterparts, they will normally take up the best part of an average desk. For small to medium sized businesses with a limited number of users, these can be a very reasonable option. Although their tray capacity, print speed and sorting options are often more limited than that of floor-standing photocopiers, at the top end of the market desktop photocopiers offer just as many image editing features as their larger counterparts.

Floor-standing photocopiers

Most medium to large offices or those with a high demand for print services will find that a floor-standing photocopier is best suited to their needs. As the name suggests, these are larger, stand-alone machines which, due to their size, generally have much larger tray capacities and can print on larger paper formats.

Floor-standing copiers typically have printing speeds of 20-105CPM and a maximum print volume of 1,000,000 copies per month. At the very highest end of the market are giant printing hubs capable of 110CPM+, but generally these are used by professional printing companies rather than in offices where printing and copying is not the first and foremost task of the day. Most copiers also feature an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder). This means that the machine can make multiple copies of multiple different originals, so there is no need to actually stand next to the copier and replace the document being scanned. Floor-standing copiers are also often known as MFDs or multi-function devices. This is because they also incorporate a scanner, a fax machine or a printer (or all of the above). Often these features are accompanied by OCR (optical character recognition) software, which can recognise text and convert paper documents into an electronic format for editing. Obviously the more features you want in your machine, the more you will have to pay (see Pricing). They can also offer a number of print sorting options which are unavailable with smaller models, including hole punching, stapling, booklet making, laminating and comb binding.

TOP BRANDS

Canon Photocopiers

The Canon imageRUNNER and imageRUNNER Advance series offers a range of photocopiers from desktop to high-end printing systems. Perhaps the most comprehensive range of solutions, environmentally friendly with the best nationwide maintenance support and the lowest total cost of ownership of all the brands listed.

Hewlett Packard Photocopiers

Used to cater for the lower end of the market (mostly desktop machines) however they are making waves in the managed document services arena with a range of print solutions and office multifunctional devices.

Konica Minolta Photocopiers

The Konica Minolta “BizHub” is one of the most popular and respected models of photocopier on the market. They produce a whole range of office machines with specialist high-end copiers for the professional print room.

Kyocera Photocopiers

Kyocera copiers generally fall in the middle market. They produce office copiers and multifunctional devices (MFDs)  that range between 15 and 60CPM that are more compact than most major brands. They are also one of the more openly environmentally friendly brands.

Panasonic Photocopiers

Panasonic deal mostly in home office and small office machines – the largest machine in their range is capable of 60CPM. They also have one of the most reliable service and maintenance track records.

Ricoh Photocopiers

The Ricoh “Aficio” range offers photocopiers and multi-function devices for every type of business, including professional printing at the very highest level.

Samsung Photocopiers

Samsung produce multi-function devices for the lower end of the market, mostly desktop machines priced under £2,000.

Toshiba Photocopiers

Another mid-market brand, offering medium sized office multi-function devices, generally under the £10,000 mark with their eSTUDIO range.

Lexmark Photocopiers

Generally referred to as MFPs (multifunctional printers), Lexmark are another brand making waves in the MPS (Managed Print Services) arena with a range of low-end printers and MFDs right through to floor-standing high throughput offices machines with embedded workflow solutions.

Xerox Photocopiers

The inventor of the photocopier and perhaps the most comprehensive range of high end systems.  Xerox success in the last five or so years has been in the corporate and managed print services sectors with large mutli-site, multi-national contracts.

MFD Solutions specialise in Canon Photocopiers however we also supply and service Lexmark, Toshiba, Konica Minolta and Ricoh Photocopiers.  Service support can be arranged nationwide although our core business areas are London, Surrey, Middlesex, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

Canon have extended their very generous promotion of a free image reader and document feeder for the C5000 range of colour multifunctional devices (MFDs) to all of the authorised UK dealerships.  The RRP for the colour image reader unit – B1 is £2,995+vat, MFD offer substantial discounts for the entire imageRUNNER Advance colour range and coupled with the promotion makes the C5000 series an easy choice.

The Canon C5000 range is made up of 8 colour devices ranging from 30ppm (Canon iRC5030) to 51ppm (Canon iRC5051) and create the perfect mix of quality, speed, reliability, eco-friendliness and functionality.

To enable people to be more productive, the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5000 Series seamlessly integrates with the way you work, automating your paper intensive workflows and providing the perfect platform for document communications. Network users benefit from timely electronic document distribution with seamless integration into systems like Microsoft® SharePoint™, Adobe, uniFLOW Output Manager and iW360. High quality colour printing is made easy thanks to impressive finishing capabilities.

The consistent thinking behind the design and development of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE Series makes installation, integration and administration of even large-scale deployments, relatively simple to handle. Devices share a common look, architecture, printer driver and intuitive user interface, keeping training requirements to a minimum.

A new embedded controller ensures fast document processing. But for more demanding environments such as a design agency or production setting, there is a choice of Fiery controllers that deliver optimum performance and outstanding colour reproduction.

To prevent documents getting into the wrong hands, devices can be easily set-up so that users must identify themselves, for example by using your company’s login procedure or a card system. Once authenticated, users gain access to all their personal settings and can print out documents that have been held securely on the device’s hard drive.

Device hard disks are especially easy to remove for temporary offsite storage, heightening data security and allowing secure protection against fire risks. The device can also be configured with dual hard disks enabling data encryption (adhering to Common Criteria EAL 3) and disk drive mirroring. This means that in the unlikely event that a drive fails, the device will continue to operate using the alternative drive, with no data loss or damage. Highly detailed logs are also held within the device and can be exported as .CSV files.

Groundbreaking environmental efficiency We aim to reduce the environmental burden in all stages of a product’s lifecycle, with an aim of protecting the planets precious resources. That’s why we set out to manufacture a Series with a small footprint. Low consumption and emissions the devices incorporate the world’s first high-grade fire retardant bio plastic, made from plant-derived organic resources. Carbon dioxide emissions are also reduced, through the use of green materials and an environmentally concious distribution strategy. Where possible, recycled plastics have also been utilised.

New toner technology makes it possible to fix toner to its substrate at lower temperatures, reducing energy costs. A sleep mode cuts consumption to 1.5W or less and noise levels are also reduced for a better working environment. Each device also conforms to the latest international environmental standards such as Energy Star and ROHS.

The imageRUNNER ADVANCE Series helps you seize the initiative to reduce both energy consumption and costs. High quality document creation means that brochures and mail pieces can be produced – without outsourcing to a local print shop enabling big savings.

Duplex printing cuts paper consumption and, on a cost per print basis, could almost halve your print costs. Powerful software such as Canon’s uniFLOW Output Manager contributes too. When documents are sent to print, they can be automatically routed to the network device with the lowest cost-per-page, enabling significant savings over time. Plus, secure access means documents can be “held” until users are ready to collect them at the device – preventing wastage caused by forgotten documents discarded in output trays.

Each sleek device is incredibly compact for such a powerful performer. And in offices where space is at a premium, an internal finisher, residing within the device’s main body, is a welcome addition.

Each device provides exceptional reliability, ensuring communication remains fast and efficient day after day. An innovative design feature means that in the unlikely event of a paper misfeed, recovery is always performed from the right hand side of the device – quick and simple.

Network management of your devices can be handled with Canon’s iW Management Console. This powerful, scalable software solution provides extensive capabilities to speed up problem resolution, streamline device control and automate common tasks, reducing the burden on your IT resources. Further help comes courtesy of Canon’s eMaintenance software, enabling automated remote diagnostics and consumables ordering.

MFD Solutions C5000 offers include some of the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry, public sector businesses will benefit from even further discounts  with toner inclusive service support starting from 3.5p per colour page.

Follow-Me Printing helps reduce waste and increase productivity.  

Instead of sending a print job to a specific photocopier or MFD on a network, the follow-me system allows the user to retrieve their print job from any device on the network. MFD Solutions quote “Our printer virtualisation solutions not only businesses on hardware and service support costs; the new follow-me-print solution also allows them to significantly reduce their paper and toner usage.”

MFDs systems are software based, requiring some hardware for authentication in certain environments. There are many ways to retrieve a print job. From a multifunctional device a user can input the data to commence the printing. It is also possible to authenticate using a smart card or a mobile phone/tablet. This system not only saves on administration; It also saves paper and toner on forgotten print jobs and ensures sensitive material won’t be left to possibly fall into the wrong hands.

MFD Solutions  is working with it’s solutions partners who provide follow me print solutions, including Canon, Equitrac, Lexmark and Print Audit to drive forward our Managed Print Service (MPS) offering to existing clients and new business clients in 2012 and beyond in our core business area’s – London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex and Berkshire.

MFD Solutions UK now offer Equitrac Embedded for Canon MEAP enabled photocopiers puts convenient and secure release of prints – as well as complete tracking of copies, scans and faxes – at your fingertips, in the touch screen control panel of your MEAP-enabled Canon imageRUNNER and Canon imageRUNNER Advance multifunction device (MFD).

Part of the Equitrac Office and Equitrac Express solutions, Equitrac Embedded for Canon MEAP copiers takes full advantage of Canon’s Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP) in MFDs widely deployed in office and education environments. This means now you can enhance document security, protect personal information and provide users the mobility and convenience of Follow-Me Printing with no terminals to purchase, install or maintain.

New levels of efficiency and control for walkup services.

• Simplify tracking and management of prints, copies and scans.
• Promote user mobility, convenience and productivity.
• Enhance security of printed documents released on networked Canon Photocopiers and MFDs.
• Manage total output volumes and eliminate waste.

Saving time, increasing productivity.

Follow-Me Printing with Secure Document Release increases mobility and productivity by freeing users to output documents at the Canon MFP of their choice – across servers, departments and even geographic boundaries.
Free from the reliance of a single print device, users can output documents when and where they are needed and avoid the inconvenience of printers that are busy or out of service.
For added convenience network login, ID entry or card reader support, on the device provides users instant authentication to access the full power of the Canon MFD without having to continually re-enter credentials for their allowed copying, scanning, faxing or email services.
Equitrac Embedded for Canon MEAP devices now supports “print and save” , “number of copies” and “forced monochrome” features. During the Follow-Me Printing workflow, users can now print a document and continue to make it available for later re-prints, specify how many copies of a released job will be printed and provide the User an option to print colour documents in monochrome.
Increase security, confidentiality and compliance.

With the Canon MFDs control providing access to Follow-Me Printing, it’s easy to keep confidential materials out of the wrong hands. Jobs can only be printed by the appropriate user when they are physically at the device to release. And by accounting for and reporting all document output activity, Follow-Me Printing helps organizations comply with HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley. Authentication is easily provided through Equitrac’s new proximity and magstripe card readers.