Nowadays, everyone is looking for ways to cut down their carbon footprint. Unfortunately, it can be fairly expensive to “go green”. Having a green printing strategy can help you save money at the same time as saving the environment.

Office printing consumes a lot of paper and energy. Based on average usages, it is very easy for your office to contribute tens of thousands of pounds of greenhouse gases to the environment a year.

One simple and effective way to reduce your office’s carbon footprint is to set your printers and copiers to default with two sided printing. By turning two pages into one, you can reduce paper usage by 50%. This small step can save up to 60 trees annually and eliminate up to 14,000 lbs of greenhouse gases. It could also save your company money by using less paper!

Not long ago, cellular phones were simply used for phone calls. However, today we can e-mail, text, surf the internet, take pictures, and even watch movies on our cell phones. It is very clear that we expect a single device to do more than just one task. This should not be any different in the workplace.

With the digital revolution in full swing, people are getting more and more used to working with a myriad of devices, each designed to make our lives just that little bit more convenient. The traditional office probably includes printers, fax machines, copiers and scanners. These devices not only take up physical space, but they also consume financial resources. 

Just as our cell phones have integrated with other devices, a multifunction printer (MFP) can combine various document-related tasks into one easy-to-manage machine. With a MFP, your company can cut overhead costs and free up valuable space. Plus, you can help enable remote employees with easy online integration.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., August 26, 2010- SignDirector™ is an efficient way to electronically distribute and manage signage across retail operations

OKI Data Americas, which markets its products under the OKI Printing Solutions brand, introduces the SignDirector Solution, a web-based application that allows retailers to react quickly to the marketplace by printing signs on-demand at the store level. Compatible with OKI’s digital color printers, the solution allows stores to easily print onsite with OKI’s driverless printing capabilities, reducing the need to outsource or print and ship signs because the right signs are immediately available from corporate. 

“This solution is ideal for corporations that want to streamline processes and better manage in-store promotions across all locations to increase efficiency and time to market,” said Terry Cruikshank, Sr. Manager, Industry Marketing at OKI Data Americas. “SignDirector gives headquarters full control over in-store signage and reduces outsourcing and eliminates wasted signs through electronic distribution. Additionally, the solution simplifies the printing process for store employees, therefore overall productivity increases.” 

The SignDirector Solution from OKI Printing Solutions helps companies simplify in-store sign printing and become more cost-efficient. Through the use of unlimited defined merchandise departments and store groups, promotions can be localized and quickly updated to reflect product availability or other adjustments.  Store personnel simply log into the company portal and select the signs needed by name or thumbnail and click print. 

Tokyo, August 23, 2010 — Fujitsu today announced that Murata Machinery, Ltd. (Muratec), which manufactures and sells communications equipment including multifunction printers, as well as factory-automated systems, machine tools and other industrial equipment, has recently deployed Fujitsu's chemical substances management system. Muratec's decision to employ the system, which is compliant with the EU's REACH(1) chemical substances legislation, was made to further enhance the company's compliance with chemical substances regulations as part of its broader environmental efforts. The system, which began operations in June 2010, is being used as a new information platform for Muratec Communication Equipment Division, which designs and develops multifunction printers and related equipment.

PLEMIA/ECODUCE, Fujitsu's chemical substances management system, has made it possible for Muratec Communication Equipment Division to accurately track any toxic chemicals used in its products, while making major improvements to the speed, efficiency and quality of its process for managing chemical substances. The company plans to use the system to strengthen its green procurement, of which purchasing eco-friendly components and materials is a major priority.

Background
In 2005, Muratec Communication Equipment Division was among the first to build a chemical substances management system that is compliant with the EU's Restrictions on Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS(2)) and deploys a database system that links with its components list. Within the Muratec Communication Equipment Division, there remained a need to quickly build a database system with the flexibility to serve as an information platform for global regulations and provide robust support for chemical substances management processes. This was essential to help the division meet the EU's initial notification deadline of May 2011 for a company importing an amount totaling over one ton per year of a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC(3)) that is present above a concentration of 0.1% by weight in each product, as well as to comply with the latest green procurement survey format promulgated by the Japan Green Procurement Survey Standardization Initiative (JGPSSI(4)) and the Joint Article Management Promotion-consortium (JAMP(5)).

It is very easy for your IT team to become overwhelmed by end user issues and lose sight of your company’s core business initiatives. Many of these end user issues relate to office printing. Paper jams, offline systems and supply shortages consume IT professionals because rarely can they fix these issues remotely.

Luckily, there is a solution. Managed Print Services (MPS) can help your IT personnel focus on their tasks. Furthermore, MPS will make your entire printer fleet more efficient and cost effective by eliminating printer management from the tasks of your IT team and providing the following services:

· On Site Service: A certified technician will come to your office to take care of any service issues with your devices.

· Maintenance: Like all mechanical devices, printers require maintenance. With MPS, your devices will receive preventative maintenance to minimize printer downtime.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., August 18, 2010

The innovative pro510DW is now available for shipment, producing short-run color continuous print jobs on various roll tag, paper and label stocks

OKI Data Americas, which markets its products under the OKI® Printing Solutions brand, is excited to announce the OKI pro510DW digital color web press is available for shipment, along with product accessories. Priced at under $46,000, this game-changing product can print short-run color continuous tags and labels with the ability to also produce up to 85,000 prints per day. With various data capabilities, no two labels will look the same! The web press will be displayed at the upcoming Labelexpo Americas, Graph Expo and SGIA Expo to showcase live the product’s innovative capabilities. The pro510DW is also available for purchase through #1 Network dealers.

The compact and easy-to-operate web press produces customized continuous web printing with exceptional color quality. The pro510DW digital color press also supports an optional re-winder to produce roll to roll printing expanding its uses into production applications. Unlike anything else in the market, businesses can now produce a wide range of color tags and labels in-house as needed.

“With the pro510DW, our customers can now print short-run professional quality color labels and tags, allowing them to increase the level of customization to more customers, at smaller quantities without significant cost penalties, said Rich Egert, Strategic Technology Providers, General Manager for OKI Data Americas. Businesses can print on-demand as needed, significantly changing the supply chain practices for label of the past. With the ability to produce the exact quantity needed, they don’t suffer from large overruns which are customary on roll press runs.”

Did you know that documents can cost your business up to 3% of your annual revenue? And a large portion of this expense comes from office printing. However, when properly managed, you can reduce your printing expense by nearly 30% while simultaneously increasing productivity in your office.

The first step to decreasing costs is to centralize the purchase of printer supplies. Often times, print supplies are purchased by individuals or departments. Furthermore, print cartridge expenses become buried in supply budget lines, making print costs impossible to track.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., August 10, 2010- “Color Lab” experiment conducted at the International Society for Technology in Education Conference supports theory that people retain more information with color images

OKI Data Americas, which markets its products under the OKI® Printing Solutions brand, conducted an informal “Color Lab” experiment at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to test the theory that color visuals help increase learning and retention.  The interactive presentation proved the theory to be true, as 100 percent of the experiments showed participants scored better with questions that pertained to the color images versus the black and white images.

Twenty-one “Color Lab” experiments were conducted over the three-day tradeshow at the OKI Printing Solutions booth. The booth attracted 290 show attendees to participate, ranging from teachers, administrators, IT practitioners and other education professionals. Three sets of color and black and white images were presented to each group followed by multiple choice questions pertaining to each image.  Each group received printed results from their experiment, emphasizing the positive impact color had on their learning retention. 

Offices everywhere continue to explore how they can reduce their carbon footprint. However, many offices fail to realize that some of the biggest power consumers are copiers and printers.

With today’s multifunction systems, it is very easy to install a single machine that will print, copy, scan and fax. A typical workgroup consumes 481 kWh per month and costs over $600 per year to power. Now think about how many workgroups are in your company and see how more devices, may not always be better.

Reducing the power consumption of your printer and copier fleet makes both environmental and economic sense. Here are a few ways that we can help you accomplish this:

Solution 1: Device Consolidation

A practical solution for decreasing costs is consolidating devices with multifunction systems that print, copy, fax and scan. Today, there are many options available that include compact desktop systems, robust workgroup and even departmental systems.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., August 3, 2010- OKI Data Americas, which markets its products under the OKI® Printing Solutions brand, today announced it will be showcasing the innovative proColor Series at four upcoming graphic arts and production tradeshows to demonstrate the line’s ability to deliver short-run on-demand color output across various media types including envelopes and labels.  The proColor Series will be displayed at the following shows:

Label Expo (September 14th – 16th 2010) 
Chicago, IL
Graph Expo (October 3rd – 6th 2010) 
Chicago, IL
SGIA Expo (October 13th – 15th 2010) 
Las Vegas, NV
Graphics of the Americas Expo (February 24th – 26th  2011)
Orlando, FL

“The proColor Series is truly a line of innovative products, allowing companies to produce short-run color print jobs in-house rather than outsourcing,” said Rich Egert, Strategic Technology Providers, General Manager for OKI Data Americas.  “The tradeshows give us the ability to increase exposure of the proColor Series and conduct live demonstrations with customers to show how these products can help grow their business.”

The proColor line was launched in January 2010, disrupting the graphic arts and production market with the pro810 Series, pro910 and pro930 cut-sheet printers, pro900DP digital color press and pro510DW digital web press.