SIMAC, Denmark
The first thing that meets the eye in the hall is a gigantic well-polished brass bell. Next to that is a showcase with a model of the ship that once housed the bell. The 585 feet long Regina Maersk from Odense Steel Shipyard.
Regina Maersk is not the only ship one meets in the building that houses SIMAC. The maritime history is seen everywhere here at Svendborg International Maritime Academy where young ship’s officers and marine engineers are being educated. They are here to get acquainted with the laws and the ways of the sea, but there is also time to surf the internet. That used to result in huge amounts of printed-paper; also some that was forgotten or should never have been printed in the first place.
This was the motivation behind the installation of SafeCom’s payment and print management system in the summer of 2005 that the 400 yearly students now use. “Our paper costs had exploded and we could see that the students printed a lot more than they needed; especially around hand-in time for term papers”, says IT-manager Kent Hansen.
24 hour service
Before the introduction of SafeCom the academy office personnel had to handle the money each time a student wanted to buy a copy card. When the staff had gone home for the day it meant no more printing if you had run out of credits.
That was not a lasting situation for a school that is open 24 hours a day giving the students the possibility to work outside office hours. With the new system all credits to print and copy are bought over the internet. “This saves the personnel some of the tiring and time consuming tasks”, says Kent Hansen.
When a new user prints for the first time he or she gets an email with a puk-code. After initial registration the user simply uses a card with a magnetic stripe, for example a student card or a social security, card to login and collect his prints from the nearest machine.
SIMAC chose to install the SafeCom system when they had to change a larger fleet of small printers into five medium sized MFP’s, two color laser jets and an ordinary laser printer.
Balance on the web
Any user can administer his or her personal print account via the SafeCom Web Interface . Here they can monitor transactions, save documents for later, views their current balance and charge their account.
After a few start-up problems with updating the balance the users can now charge their account via the SafeCom ePay module. Payment is done over the internet with Dankort, VISA and other credit cards.
Today an ordinary black and white print costs 0,50 DKK and a color print costs 1,25 DKK. “Even though the students had to get used to having to pay for their printouts it only took a few months before they could see the advantages of the system”, says Kent Hansen. “It has made them think twice of whether they really need to print the entire 200 page report or just the two pages they have changed”, says the IT Manager.
It is not all bad news that the students now have to pay for both print and copy jobs, because they can have part of the revenue themselves. SIMAC has a foundation that has for several years been helping the students if they needed financing for a study related or social event.
Previously the foundation received the revenue from copied compendiums and other material used for teaching. It still receives this but now the revenue from students printing and copying also flows into the foundation.
Goodbye, print safely
The amount of paper purchased has fallen and life has become easier for the employees. Not least in the IT department on 1st floor. Before SafeCom they had to manage 25 different print drivers. Now they have only one print queue for the 100 pc’s at the academy. Many students have their own laptop PC and access to SIMAC’s wireless network so they can also print with SafeCom.
Even though the every day at SIMAC has become electronic it is not completely without a touch of personality. Once the print is retrieved from the machine the user gets a message saying “Goodbye, print safely”.