ODS is Europe’s largest CD and DVD manufacturer with a daily output capacity of 100,000 CDs and 60,000 DVDs in its UK facility in Swindon. ODS is the pan-European distributor of Universal Pictures International Entertainment products and provides a full service to all its customers from origination and content management, through production, storage, despatch and delivery of the finished product.
The Challenge
In 2006, Alan Daines, senior technical support specialist at ODS, was preparing to upgrade the company’s printer fleet. His primary aim was to reduce consumables costs: “Printed documents are central to the smooth running of the business, from works orders to invoices and statements,” explains Alan. “Our accounts department can get through an entire toner cassette in a single day when they are printing invoice runs, so it’s important that we minimise the cost of printing and that each department has a device appropriate to its needs.”
Chase Morran plc suggested that Alan could reduce his consumables costs and receive full servicing and maintenance support for his print hardware if he opted for a managed service contract using Kyocera ECOSYS printers on a cost-per-click basis. Ian Harmer, Service Manager at Chase Morran, explains: “For customers with high print volumes, a managed service is the ideal solution. It consolidates print costs down into a single quarterly payment which covers all consumables, servicing and maintenance. You have total visibility of all costs associated with printing, and service and support is included. We demonstrated that ODS could make significant savings compared with their legacy system.”
While the costs savings offered were encouraging, it was important that the new hardware was able to offer the same level of support for the various automated forms whose generation is essential to the smooth operation of the business, as Alan explains: “Our previous system operated a forms solution so we needed to be able to replicate that. The forms are at the heart of our production and accounting processes, so ensuring the integrity of the data they include throughout the production process is of paramount importance.”
The Solution
Chase Morran, in conjunction with printer manufacturer Kyocera, suggested that a forms solution from specialists Varidoc could not only replicate the forms that ODS was currently using, but offered more flexibility for future development.
Varidoc developed a cost-effective solution for ODS using its DocForm variable data and personalisation printing software. DocForm interrogates data spooled from the Sage 9500 accounting system to automatically generate the seven business critical forms used by ODS: Order Acknowledgement, Statements, Job bags, Invoices, Credit notes, despatch notices and DVD spindle labels (which include printed bar codes). DocForm routes some of the forms to Kyocera printers in the relevant locations (e.g. job bags are routed to the warehouse floor), while others are generated electronically for emailing to customers. The forms have been designed for clarity to ensure that work instructions are straightforward and limited to a single sheet of duplex printed paper to avoid instructions being mislaid.
Future Plans
Alan said: “We’ve also undergone significant expansion in recent months, notably in our accounts department, which has grown from six to eighteen people. This means that the printers in accounts are being over-used, but thanks to the managed service contract with Chase Morran, it is easy to re-deploy our print hardware so that the accounts department now has access to a higher volume printer.”
Key Benefits
“Overall the move to a managed print service and the DocForm software has gone smoothly,” continues Alan. “The Kyocera hardware is reliable, costs are reduced, and we don’t have to worry about servicing or support as that is all ably handled by Chase Morran. We have a good relationship with the team at VariDoc so any queries regarding forms are quickly resolved. We’re very satisfied with the efficiency and cost savings that we’ve made, and look forward to reaping further benefits in the future.”
