4 Ways to Get Better ROI from Your Wide-Format Printer

In today’s competitive market, maximizing return on investment (ROI) is essential for businesses, especially when investing in valuable equipment such as wide-format printers. In addition to selecting the right printer to meet your specific needs, there are several other key factors that can significantly impact ROI and drive greater profitability.

Epson SureColor T-Series T2. Image source Epson.

1. Selecting the Right Media and Materials

Media Rolls.
Choosing the right media for your printing needs can help reduce costly reprints and waste, optimize print jobs and streamline project turnaround time. For general technical and CAD printing, 20-pound bond paper is often the most cost-effective option, as it’s widely available to shop from online resellers and reseller providers. When possible, buying media rolls in bulk can also lead to savings, as some resellers sell in two-packs or offer discounts for purchasing multiple rolls. In addition, larger rolls may also be more economical, as the cost per linear foot often decreases as the roll size increases. There are printer options in the market that can handle rolls up to 500 feet long, making bond media more cost-effective when it includes more paper on each individual roll.

Using bond paper for general prints and CAD drawings instead of more expensive media can also help reduce waste and control costs. Dual roll printing solutions can also help optimize efficiency and cost — these printers automatically switch between two rolls, making it easy to keep a roll of inexpensive media for general printing tasks, and a roll of higher-grade media for more special print jobs.

Ink.
Ink is another area where businesses can help improve ROI. Generally, ink costs per milliliter decrease when using larger capacity ink cartridges, bottles and packs. To maximize savings, consider printer models that support high-capacity ink delivery systems or larger cartridges. For example, there are printers today that offer up to 700 mL ink cartridge capacity, reducing the frequency of cartridge changes. There are also supertank options featuring refillable ink tanks with low-cost ink bottle refills.

For high-production poster and CAD printing, consider printers that use large capacity ink packs. These models not only reduce the time spent changing out ink but can also be less expensive per milliliter compared to similar cartridge-based systems.

2. Tracking Estimated Costs

Tracking estimated costs is essential to maximizing your ROI, and leveraging intelligent cloud-based solutions can help make this process more efficient and precise. Beyond the hardware, many CAD printers now include software and services that offer detailed cost reporting and usage monitoring.

For example, there are free cloud-based services that can track ink and media usage for each print, so users can better estimate and understand estimated printing costs and profit margins. This service can be accessible from smart devices and laptops, enabling cost management and monitoring from virtually anywhere, even while on the go. Users can view live status of the entire printer fleet, output production rates, and equipment utilization, and run reports to view total production efficiency and uptime. Leveraging an advanced platform that can draw from vast amounts of usage data can help provide the insight needed to make critical business decisions.

3. Get Prints Right the First Time

Choosing the right workflow and accompanying software that meets your needs is an important step to ensuring prints come out correctly the first time, minimizing the need for costly and time-consuming reprints that waste materials and ink. The right software can greatly simplify the printing process by offering intuitive tools that streamline every aspect, from job setup to final output.

For example, there are advanced software solutions today that offer a drag and drop workflow with a preview to help generate the correct print size and format the first time. Users can easily see what output looks like before printing and make any quick adjustments, which can help deliver optimal results and consistent prints in just a few clicks.

4. Access Control and Administration Tools

Printers offer users more control than ever before through administration tools and technologies that enable access control and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) integration. Administrators can regulate printer access with PIN codes or badge readers and restrict printing for non-essential users and unauthorized print jobs. Additionally, these tools enable detailed tracking of print activity, allowing administrators to monitor what was printed and which workstation it came from. This technology can be integrated with existing third-party print management services, providing a more comprehensive view of printer activity across multiple printers, sites and fleets.

Visibility is key, and being able to monitor print data across the fleet offers crucial insights into print activity, allowing administrators to identify high-volume areas where print volumes can be reduced or optimized.

Key Takeaways

Maximizing ROI from your wide-format printer requires a strategic approach that includes selecting the right materials, managing ink costs, leveraging access control tools, and closely monitoring print activity. By implementing these practices, businesses can help reduce costs, minimize waste, enhance overall efficiency, and ultimately drive better ROI.

Watch Epson and Cadalyst's on-demand webinar on how to choose the right CAD printer or plotter for your office.