Pilot Pens

New Zealand & Pacific Islands

Industry

Leading pen manufacturer Pilot Pens Australia wanted to improve its internal workflows to reduce costs and enhance overall efficiency through environmentally sustainable processes

“One of the main problems we had was the amount of paper we were actually using in the organisation, particularly picking slips for instance,” says General Manager of Finance and Administration Paul Astbury.

“We print 500 picking slips a day which turns into reams and reams of paper, so that was one of the issues that we faced.”

“Another challenge was the amount of filing we did. Lots of pieces of paper ended up in leaver arch folders, on shelves which turned into archives, and then into boxes and boxes, which transform into pallets sitting on the shelf in the warehouse.”

After a thorough assessment, Toshiba installed the e-STUDIO306LP, the first Multifunctional printer in the world containing erasable toner. It allows users to print documents, erase them and then reuse the paper. Pilot’s 306LP was set up so it could print up to 10 times on the one piece of paper before it would need to be discarded.

“We saw paper savings of over 80 per cent in the warehouse which has had a positive effect on our CSR and Environmental footprint.”

- Scott Thornton, Managing Director

On top of this, Toshiba set up a workflow allowing warehouse staff to automatically scan their documents before erasing them, therefore electronically archiving all their content to the server.

Pilot Pens Managing Director Scott Thornton says the company saw an immediate impact on paper wastage in the warehouse after implementing the Eco MFP. “We saw paper savings of over 80 per cent in the warehouse which has had a positive effect on our CSR and Environmental footprint.”

Pilot has also seen a shift in staff attitudes to paper processes.

Paul Astbury confirms there has been a cultural change within the organisation. “A lot of our processes have changed since implementing the Toshiba, particularly the scanning option available on the system. We’re now finding that we don’t feel guilty when we print anymore,” he says. “It allows us to print our internal documents and then scan them, re-print them again if need be. So that’s been a great opportunity for us here.

“The MFP also allows us to electronically file all our documents, which eliminates the need for all those other archive boxes and extra palletisation” Astbury says.

“Buying the first machine was a good opportunity to see how it really worked and I’ve got to say, the product does work,” adds Scott Thornton. “It works in our warehouse environment and its working right through our whole business.”

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