Printer Problems

Printer Problems

Ken

University Of Phoenix

Computer and Information Processing

CIS319

Oct 28, 2006

Printer Problems

A small company with high performance printing requirements must be practical but comprehensive when it comes to selecting the right printer or printers to meet the needs of the business. When a printer becomes antiquated and unreliable, the cost to the company can be staggering. The hidden costs of productivity loss are incalculable but substantial enough to warrant serious attention quickly. Investing in new printing technology can bring many benefits to any office, especially to an office that prints as much as 1700 sheets per day with as few as 30 employees.

The current situation regarding the printer situation at Ken & Associates law firm requires immediate attention. The printers require maintenance with unprecedented frequency. As the printers age, the maintenance costs begin to approach the cost of much more expensive printers and their reliability is appalling. Constantly calling for maintenance and having to share other printer's will increase the wear and tear on the functional printers until they also require maintenance. This can eventually bring a small company to its knees and slow productivity to a halt. The bottom line; it is time to make an investment in the company's future, and laser printing technology is worth the extra initial cost since it is more reliable and has far fewer moving parts which increases the reliability(Robb, 2005, 1).

Since Ken and Associates has a LAN, the interface for the new printing solution must include 10 BASE T or 100 BASE T connectivity. The LAN will allow all of the office personnel to take advantage of all the features the printers may have. Since the printers have different features, the printer of choice can be selected for printing by any user on the LAN. In the interest of security for the company's sensitive and confidential documents, one printer should be dedicated to the officers and their administrative staff and should have password protection. Its physical location should be somewhere that is accessible only to the officers of the company and their assistants. Since they print the highest volume of documents, that printer should be the HP color Laser Jet 5550.

The HP 5550 has a huge storage capacity in the paper tray. It is not the fastest printer that was selected for comparison but it is quite fast at 27 pages per minute black and white or color. This printer can nearly meet the 1200 sheet per day printing requirements for the officers and their assistants without a paper refill (channelonline.com, 2006, 1), which over time could generate substantial time savings for the administrative assistants. The total cost of the printer including three years of maintenance is $8131.00 not including the price per sheet to print. Considering the potential improvement in productivity and reduction of wasted time this is a bargain.

The remaining staff of 20 "knowledge workers" can use the HP Laser Jet 4730XS Multi Function Printer. The 4730XS is very fast and also multi function. The machine can copy, scan and fax for the entire office as well as print. The 4730XS is capable of printing 30 pages per minute, black and white or color, and is ready to print in 16.5 seconds from the power save setting and 10 seconds when it is already on. Once printing begins, this printer can be relied upon to print 5000 to 9000 pages before it has a paper jam (shop.atriniti.com,