Schools can generate over £10,000 per year from their reprographics department, the more ambitious schools can generate considerably more. After all many schools hire out their other assets such as sports, teaching and catering facilities.

By printing just an hour extra per day over the school year the school could provide black and white and colour printing services to their partners, stakeholder, feeder schools and local businesses all at attractive rates.  

Much will depend on the schools existing equipment, but most schools are well equipped to manage an increase in production and no new equipment would need to be purchased.  

Remember also that when you renew your printing equipment at end of lease, higher volumes generally attract lower click rates.

As a former manager of a reprographics unit, please call John Price on 07862 735779 for some ideas and suggestions.

Every few years schools need to refresh their printing systems, usually at the behest of the incumbent printer reseller or main dealer. They need to make a living and they do so by selling printers, clicks, bolt-on’s  and sometimes consultancy.

We DON’T sell printers, but we do have a passion for printing. Your friends who want to sell you printers have targets to meet, whilst there are some good suppliers, sadly some may exploit a good relationship and sell clients more than they need.

Public sector framework agreements are a popular choice, but they can also limit choice, usually at the expense of the smaller local suppliers who can frequently offer better deals.

Why not get the views of someone who is vendor neutral, who only wants to see you get the right equipment for a fair price, call John Price on 07862 735779 for some free advice and ideas.

Use a good quality paper stock but it does not have to be a premium product, please avoid the cheap supermarket grade product. Stack the paper according to the pack direction arrow.

If you are printing A4 then it maybe more cost effective to print 2-up on A3 / SRA3 and trim to size, especially when printing in colour. Many (but not all) printer contracts charge per sheet irrespective of size.

If you are outsourcing printed work have you considered that you could print on your current machines? You could save money by doing more work in house.

It is estimated that 70% of reprographics staff do not know the full capabilities of their equipment. Get the supplier to provide more training, some framework agreements allow for extra days on-site training at no cost to the school.

John Price has been working with digital printing systems for 20 years, give him a call for some advice on 07862 735779.

This is an article around generating school income, publised by "The Key" which maybe useful

The Key

This an interesting report by Brown Jackobson LLP that has interesting reserarch.

Report