Note: Blog Publisher’s comments appear at the end
of this post.
To
begin, in my e-mail in-box this morning, I found an e-mail from Canon,
subject above. The e-mail led me to a
White Paper published by Canon on this subject.
Here’s
what the e-mail said:
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For large
format documents, which approach gives you the best cost control?
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There is no
clear-cut answer as to which is the better way to go, but only you can make
the decision that will change your company’s bottom-line results! However,
recent customer data shows that it is not unusual to save 46% or more on your
outsourced large format printing costs when printing in-house. Other major
decision factors for printing in-house include:
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Quality
Control — Maintain
consistency with the quality of your prints when printing in-house
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Document Waste — Print only what’s needed and
stop paying for unwanted excess material often provided by outsource vendors
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Meet Deadlines — Be more productive by
effectively managing your own schedule and staying on top of your projects
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Download our
FREE white paper now to stay ahead of the competition and find out if
printing in-house or outsourcing your printing projects is optimal for your
company!
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And, here’s a few paragraphs from the White Paper I downloaded. (At the end of the blog
post, I’ll provide a link so that anyone who wants to can download the White
Paper.)
Printing Large
Format Technical Documents—
What’s Best:
Print In-house or
Outsource?
In business, one
of the many keys to success is effective control over expenses, no matter how
big or small the organization. One area that often gets overlooked in AEC
business operations is the cost of printing large format technical documents.
Because large format technical documents are such a critical part of an AEC
firm’s operations, the question becomes; should you print your large format
documents in-house or outsource the printing of them?
Like many
questions, there is no clear cut easy answer; it depends on a number of
factors. For example, if you just consider the actual drawing costs as measured
in cost/sq. ft., it generally is less costly to print in-house.
Based on current
market survey information, outsourced printing costs can be as high as $40/page
for 24" x 36" color printed maps and construction documents and
$4.50/page for 24" x 36" black & white printed construction
documents. Printing these same documents in-house can usually be done for much
less with an investment in a large format printer. In fact, recent customer
data shows it is not unusual to save 46% or more on your outsourced large
format printing costs when printing in-house.
Blog Publisher’s Comments:
My first comment: Where
the White Paper says this, “One area that often gets overlooked in AEC business operations is the cost
of printing large format technical documents.”
While
that may have been an accurate statement many
years ago, it certainly hasn’t been the case for many years. Over the 28
years that I was active in business development in the reprographics business,
I met, and spoke to, hundreds of A/E customers; it was rare to find any A/E
customer unaware that plot/print costs added up.
My second comment: Apparently, the folks at Canon Solutions
America are unaware that “cost” is not the major issue; the major issue is “cost recovery”. Many A/E firms are entitled to recover the
cost of plotting/printing. That’s the
primary reason why “tracking” software is so important – and in widespread use
in – I’m speaking of tracking software such as AbacusPCR, SepiaLine and
SmartPlot. And, this issue is why its
very wise for A/E firms to outsource plot/print work to reprographers, whether
outsourcing is in the form of outsourcing to a reprographer’s production center
or outsourcing to an in-house FM service managed by a reprographer (or both
methods.)
To Canon’s credit, they did say this in the White Paper in the “pro’s
and con’s section”: “Instead of buying the machine, there are providers that will only charge
you for what you print, plus a nominal monthly service fee. This model gives
you a unique option to pay for only what you use without making an upfront
investment, but have the convenience of an onsite device.”
My third comment: In the White Paper, Canon Solutions America
says this, “Based on current market survey
information, outsourced printing costs can be as high as $40/page for 24"
x 36" color printed maps and construction documents and $4.50/page for
24" x 36" black & white printed construction documents.” Where the heck did these prices come
from? I’d surely like to examine the
survey that Canon mentions! As high as
$40/page for 24x36 color construction documents? Really?
That works out to a price of $6.67 per sq ft for color CAD prints! I don’t know of a single reprographer who
gets anywhere close to that price for Color CAD prints (and I know a lot of
reprographers.) And, as high as
$4.50/page for 24x36 black & white prints?
That works out to a price of $.75 per sq ft. Again, really?! In Canon’s defense, they did use the term, “as
high as”. But, to me, that’s very
misleading advertising.
In defense of Canon, it is Canon’s objective to sell as much equipment
(and consumables) as they can, so no one can fault Canon for reaching out directly
to A/E/C firms with White Papers like this one.
Reprographers who offer FM services could benefit from what Canon says
in its White Paper. Reprographers who don’t offer FM services will not. (Are there really reprographers who don’t yet offer
FM services?)
As promised, here’s
a link to get to the White Paper Canon published:
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