Leeds Beckett University has over 25,000 students and 3,000 staff, making it one of the largest universities in the country.
Up to 2,000 students enjoy free access to wide-format printers within the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology at Leeds Beckett University.
The large format technical printers housed within the Faculty sat outside the Universities Pull Print environment which often resulted in students sending duplicate print jobs to multiple devices and the creation of enormous paper and ink wastage.
A rapid increase in usage and a significant rise in annual operating costs however magnified the problem and maintaining the delivery of efficient services whilst controlling costs became a challenge.
The Faculty turned to DTP Group, the existing managed print service provider for the University, to create a solution that would enable them to reduce print wastage and annual wide-format print costs.
In order to streamline the printing experience, DTP developed a bespoke solution to support the wide format printers which linked to their existing SafeCom interface.
This ensures that when a print request is sent by a student, the printer will only print the document on the device at which the student has swiped their university card, eliminating waste and duplicated costs. The new system also provides a reporting and tracking service for the wide-format printers as well as allowing just-in-time monitoring of ink levels.