Let’s face it, toner is expensive, so spending a little time on knowing how to save toner the RIGHT way may be a good investment. What is even more costly, however, is the amount of toner your company uses within a given time-frame. Since most employees do not think about toner during their day to day routine, a considerable amount of ink is wasted in printing costs. Thus, money is also wasted in the process.
As a start we will be giving you an introduction into what toner is, a little bit of history, what you should know about the the different types of toner cartridges and how toner refills help you saving toner costs, to finally show you how printing software can automate the process of toner saving.
What is Toner?
There is nothing new about toner. It has been around for decades (see below), and continues to evolve and improve as manufacturers embrace new techniques and materials for creating toner.
Toner is a powder that is placed in a cartridge and installed in laser printers and copy machines for the purpose of printing images, graphics, or text on thin printable material such as paper or cardboard. The earliest type of toner was derived from a combination of iron oxide and carbon powder. Manufacturers soon discovered that polymer was a better substance for creating quality toner that better adhered to the paper as well as produced a clearer image on the surface. During the printing process, the toner is exposed to extreme heat that melts it down via a fuser, and then adheres it to the paper.
First generation photocopiers were equipped with a reservoir. Users could pour the toner into the reservoir and it was released directly form the machine onto the paper. The challenge, however, was keeping the photocopier clean and keeping the toner dust from spreading throughout the inside of the machine. This led to the advancement of cartridges in the mid-80s. Cartridges could be inserted into a slot in the copier and removed when they were emptied. Unlike the built-in reservoir, cartridges were disposable and kept the toner contained. The result was a no-mess process that protected the machine and saved time and money on cleaning.
The Development of Toner Colors
During the early period of printer and toner development, the only color that was available for printing was black toner. It wouldn’t be long, however, before manufacturers produced color toner to enhance printed image and text. The earliest colors were red, blue, and black. This allowed printers to produce a limited range of both primary and secondary colors. Eventually, however, it was discovered that printers only required four main colors – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) – to widen the color range into a seemingly endless array of shades.
Toner Cartridges
Toner cartridges drastically improved both the efficiency and production of printing in corporate settings. Rather than waste time refilling and cleaning photocopiers, employees could simply open the printer, pull out empty cartridge, replace it with a fresh cartridge, close the printer, and move on. It was a process that was so simple that almost any employee could have access to the printer and perform the procedure, but on the other hand, this simplification in the process has also led to increased printing costs, due to cost of the toner cartridges, and additionally that ease of use has reduced the amount of toner saving.
With the introduction of the laser printer, companies could purchase standard printing cartridges or laser toner cartridges. Both operate in essentially the same way. The cartridge contains a fine powdery substance that is a mixture of plastic particles, coloring agents, and carbon. When these three are combine they produce stunning images with impressive clarity. The toner is transported from the cartridge to the paper by a drum unit that is electro-statically charged. Once the toner reaches the paper it is bonded with the paper’s surface using heated rollers. The entire process happens within split seconds. It is a highly efficient means of printing professional images onto paper.
There are three main categories of printer cartridges:
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). OEM is a fancy term for cartridges that are engineered and sold directly from the original manufacturer. For instance, if Hewlett Packard builds a printer and creates their own cartridges as an accessory, then the cartridges are considered OEM. The benefits of using OEM cartridges is that they are guaranteed to work with the machine. They also ensure that the printer’s warranty stays intact if you use the prescribed OEM products.
Compatible. Some companies manufacture cartridges but do not build printers. The cartridges are designed to fit into a wide range of printers from different manufacturers provided that the printer can accommodate the cartridge. Thus, they are considered ‘compatible’ with a given product. Compatible cartridges do have advantages such as lower cost. They can have drawbacks, however, such as lower quality or incompatibility, despite claims of being well-matched with a certain type of printer.
Remanufactured or refilled. Some cartridges can be sent back to a manufacturer to be refilled or repaired. Refilled cartridges are referred to as a ‘toner cartridge refill’ or a ‘printer toner refill’. The idea is to save money on repeated purchases. Although there are some minor issues with repairs and refills such as mixing new toner with old toner residue, the processes of remanufacturing and refilling a cartridge are largely successful and preferred by most companies.
Toner Saving Software
Now that you’ve learned what types of cartridges you should purchase, the next step is learning how to use them in a way that is efficient and productive. Although most staff in your office believes that the only way to save on toner is to print less or use less paper, these are only Band-Aids that do not solve the real issue.
A better solution is to utilize a software based printer management system, in short a toner saver software, that monitors and controls how much ink is actually consumed per job. For instance, software such as DocPath’s TonerMIST and PrintSLIM can actually create a framework within your printing system that optimizes each computer and printer’s efficiency as they communicate with each other while a document or image is being printed.
How does the software do this?
- The toner saving software specifies a fixed percentage of toner or ink that will used/saved per computer or a group of computers.
- A reduction rate in the amount of toner or ink used that is flexible enough to adjust to specific jobs or categories of jobs. The rate can vary from 0% to 100%.
- Reports are generated of how much ink is being used or saved during a specific job or a given period such as a week or month.
- The toner saving software allows a company to implement a controlled policy that is managed by a system administrator.
- Fully customizable print settings that are configured according to your business needs.
- The toner saving software settings can be adjusted per business departments, building segments, or specified job roles.
By combining smart purchasing decisions with innovative technology, you’ll find that you can save hundreds of dollars on cartridge toner costs each year while managing who uses the ink and what it’s used for.
André Klein
Freelance Consultant for DocPath