Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire– 10 January, 2011– Faster response rates to student and staff printing requests, together with thousands of pounds in additional annual cost savings, have been welcomed byThe Open University, whose 200,000 students make it the UK’s largest.

Four years after the OU introducedOcédigital printing systems and software to re-equip its print facility into a central unit to benefit its own 4,800 campus and regional staff as well as thousands of students worldwide, the campus at Milton Keynes has now taken delivery of an Océ VarioPrint 6160 cut-sheet production press and upgraded its software.

Eoin Diver, The OU’s Operations Support Manager, Information Technology, said: “We have a demonstrably better machine that is far more reliable than the administration focused printers it replaced and is proving to be extremely cost effective and flexible. 

“Taking advantage of the duplex click charge, we anticipate savings of around £5,000 per annum on the basis that 50% of our mono work will be done on the Océ VarioPrint 6160. More significantly, the fact that the new unit is 60% faster than the one it replaced, has greater paper capacities and a higher duty cycle, mean we are able to be increasingly responsive to print requests and, importantly, do so with reduced staff effort.”

Print volumes in Milton Keynes have dipped overall from 24 million a year in 2007 to less than 18 million now. The Océ VarioPrint 6160 now prints an additional five million images a year previously done on less-productive systems, thanks to its reliability and ‘just-in-time’ capabilities where much of the output, for instance large calendar runs, can be printed on demand.   

In line with the university’s desire to remain at the forefront of electronic submissions and job ticketing, it has also upgraded its software to the latest Océ PRISMA™ to create greater day-to-day efficiencies and has become the world’s most prolific user of the system. One benefit is that jobs containing both colour and mono output can be printed on different machines and then remerged again.

Stephen Lynch, Océ UK’s Director of Document Printing, said: “This is another example of how we work closely in association with organisations such as the OU to ensure it has the most cost-effective and flexible solution that is best suited for its volumes and requirements. We are delighted that our world-leading print and software systems are continuing to encourage staff to follow ‘best practice’ in the art of improving efficiency and quality, while at the same time saving money for the OU.” 

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Further information from Colin Harding, of Shaw Communications,

tel 01344 761208, mobile 07730 435400, colin.harding@shawcommunictions.co.uk

About the Open University 

The Open University (OU) is the largest higher education institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning.  Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 1.6 million students and has more than 250,000 current students, including 20,000 overseas, learning in their own time using course materials, online activities and content, web-based forums and tutorials and through tutor groups and residential schools. 

The OU has been highly rated for teaching quality, and has been at the top of student satisfaction rankings in the National Student Survey since it was introduced in 2005.  70% of students are in full-time or part-time employment, and three out of four FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff to take OU courses. 

The OU supports a vibrant research portfolio and in the UK's latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), the University climbed 23 places to 43rd, securing a place in the UK's top 50 higher education institutions

Regarded as Britain’s major e-learning institution, the OU is a world leader in developing technology to increase access to education on a global scale. Its vast ‘open content portfolio’ includes free study units on OpenLearn, which has had 11 million unique visitors, and materials on iTunes U, which has recorded over 28.5 million downloads.  The OU has a 40 year partnership with the BBC which has moved from late-night lectures in the 1970s to prime-time programmes such as Life, Coast, James May’s Big Ideas and The Money Programme. 

Visit www.open.ac.uk 

About Océ