Hospital Holding puts pressure on costs
10/01/2010
Catholic Hospital Holding St. Nikolaus Lippstadt realises significant savings through OKI’s Output Management Concept
THE CHALLENGE
The German hospital organisation Katholische Hospitalvereinigung St. Nikolaus Lippstadt has optimised its entire printing infrastructure in three hospitals through a comprehensive and professional output management concept. With OKI Print Optimizer the hospital group is now printing at a monthly flatrate, which keeps its costs transparent and predictable. In addition to cost savings in the double figure percentage range, the processes in all departments have been improved within a short period of time. In addition, the administration of consumables has been greatly simplified across the board.
Printing in black & white as well as colour is part of the daily “ward round” for the 1,000 employees based across three hospitals. Be it in the doctors’ offices, administration or marketing departments, the ambulances, operating theatres, x-ray wards or in the warehouse – the hospital group prints more than 4000 pages every day. Capacity and reliability of the printing systems installed is key for the organisation. Without the smooth operation of the printers, work processes would be interrupted, periods of waiting would ensue and sensitive medical data, such as anaesthesia protocols, would not be available when they are needed.
In total, the hospital group achieves a monthly print volume of 127,000 pages, most of this in mono. Colour print pages occur in several medical areas, e.g. for the graphic display of diagnostic procedures or in anaesthesiological administration. In addition there are non-medical departments, which print in colour as well as black & white, such as administration, finance or marketing.
Mixed printer landscape leads to rising costs
The founding of the hospital group in 2002 united the administration of Lippstadt’s Dreifaltigkeits Hospital and nearby Geseke’s Hospital zum Heiligen Geist. Two years later the Marien Hospital Erwitte joined and completed the group. All three hospitals came on board with their own, historically developed printer infrastructure. The disadvantages of this heterogenous mix soon became apparent: Spread over three sites, the group was using just under 200 printers from 4 different manufacturers with a wide variety of technologies. As Jürgen Lammert, Head of IT, describes “We were stuck in an equipment maze of 45 different inkjet and laser printers. Ordering and managingthe multitude of consumables for all printers was highly time intensive. Taking into account the three separate sites with their decentralised warehouses we also had to deal with quite a few communications errors.”
The situation was further aggravated by the short life cycles of certain printers, which led to replacements, which again led to new consumable types which had to be managed. The result was that huge sums were tied down in stock. And lastly, the replacement of consumables by employees turned out to be ineffective and prone to mistakes. Yet there was another reason to look for a more effective printing environment: “Increasingcosts forconsumables meant that especially older models turned out to be bottomless pits”, explains Lammert.“The hospital group tried to counter this development by using refills, but this only lowered the print quality, while increasingthe number of complaints – in the end not helpful at all. Nonetheless the print volume rose continuously so that our infrastructure could simply not keep up and we had long queues in some business areas.”
THE SOLUTION
Optimising costs, infrastructure and processes
Being faced with rising print costs and at the same time a reduction in productivity, it was an easy step for the hospital group to look for a conclusive output management solution, which promised to optimise costs, infrastructure as well as processes.
“We came up with a comprehensive evaluation process of a number of print concepts. At this stage both Ricoh and OKI Printing Solutions had put interesting offers on the table. After an analysis of the status quo, both companiespresented their respective solutions,” remembers Christian Larisch, Managing Director of the hospital holding. In the end the Hospitalvereinigung St. Nikolaus Lippstadt decided to go for the OKI Print Optimizer proposal. Larisch outlined the reasons for this decision: “Key from my point of view was the better cost effectiveness of the OKI solution. In addition, the model consolidated our output infrastructure, so that we now only use two models, but wehave managed to increase our productivity significantly. Not forgetting the fact that it is easier to enter a longer term relationship, if you have a partner that you trust.”
Analysis Shows Potential for Optimisation
For the hospital group in Lippstadt OKI Print Optimizer means an efficient output management via a single vendor at a monthly flatrate – from hard- and software via on-site service and financing to storage and delivery-as-needed of proprietary consumables. One key component of the proposed concept was the comprehensive – and cost free – analysis of all existing printer and copier hardware, including their commercial aspects. During the course of this analysis OKI identified the relevant print requirements in all three hospitals, the space assigned to the equipment as well as the environment and size of the work groups.
In addition, the value of all machines that were in place, existing (service) contracts with vendors and systems houses plus procurement of consumables, including paper were taken into account. “OKI compiled a streamlinedoutput concept, specifically tailored to our needs, which did not rely on generic statistics, but on real data gathered at our sites. The result painted a clear picture of our requirements, processes and total costs – and where thepotential for optimisation was to be found.” commented Christian Larisch.
THE RESULT
The implementation phase took place in the summer of 2008 all 196 legacy machines, from HP, Kyocera, Epson and Brother, were replaced by OKI equipment. The costs for this spring cleaning was included in the monthly flatrate and the exchange was done at no extra cost to the hospital group. This meant that the existing equipment maze of 45 different models could be reduced down to only two. Today, the monthly print volume of 124,000 pages mono and 3,000 pages in colour is handled by 144 OKI B6500dn mono printers and 45 OKI C5750 colour printers. This line-up is augmented by two A3 printers OKI C8800, which are in use in the marketing department for the in-house production of premium leaflets and brochures. As Jürgen Lammert highlights, “Due to the excellent print quality, we can also produce first class marketing collateral at all three sites with our A4 colour printers, whichare normally reserved for other functions.” Setting up the new infrastructure took only two weeks. Lammert’s three-man IT team took on the implementation themselves: “In a test we discoverd that the printers were very easy to integrate, so we decided to do set up the 189 machines with our own resources.” The old equipment was refunded by OKI.
Significant Savings and Workflow Improvements
Just three months after the migration the hospital group was able to register additional improvements on top of the increased commercial benefits: The infrastructure’s productivity had received a significant boost, which meant that the new systems were able to handle the increasing print volumes with no queues and waiting periods. As Lammert explains, “By homogenising our printer landscape we’ve achieved positive effects, especially on the wards.All users now have access to a high quality and speedy printer close to where they are working.
Another advantage we have noticed is that all printers are now connected to the network. Previously, when a printer failed or someone issued a large print job, waiting time could be very long. Now we simply re-route the printsto another printer on the network.” Connecting the printers via the network also facilitates their administration: Using OKI’s monitoring software PrintSuperVision, the entire output infrastructure is being monitored, so that failures are easily detected and can be passed on to the service partner. They can then interact remotely or send one of their technicians, as necessary. In addition, OKI PrintSuperVision allows the IT team to monitor productivity and distribution of the printers, augmenting their position where appropriate. Consumables are also closely monitored. This avoids long down-time periods, as the replacements processes have been greatly improved. Ordering and warehousing of consumables are now handled centrally. Due to the consolidation to two models, the amount held in stock has been greatly reduced – and staff can easily exchange everthing themselves.
In summary the hospital group has been able to reap major benefits from introducing a professional output management system. Lammert expressed his thoughts on the gains: “With OKI Print Optimizer we are looking at adirect reduction of costs of about 40,000 Euros over the course of the five-year contract.” And even regarding an extension of the system, to cover potential future growth of the group, Lammert is not worried at all, as additional equipment – including solutions from other vendors, such as copiers – are easily integrated in the existing agreement.
About Katholische HospitalvereinigungSt. Nikolaus Lippstadt
Catholic hospital group Hospitalvereinigung St. Nikolaus Lippstadt is a regional association of three catholic hospitals in Germany’s western towns of Lippstadt, Erwitte and Geseke. By offering a wide range of medical services for the whole county it has allowed the group to develop a multitude of medical specialties. With three hospital sites housing 580 beds, a total of 1,000 employees take care of an estimated 18,000 in-patients per year.
