Inkjet & Digital Printing

Océ, Fujitsu and Capgemini bring personal touch to save millions of pounds for UK taxpayers

Monday 09. July 2012 - Technology being used by Fujitsu from Océ, a Canon Group company, has personally revolutionised documents sent out by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in a deal that will save millions of pounds for UK taxpayers.

As material sub-contractor to Capgemini in the Aspire Partnership that provides IT services into HMRC, Fujitsu delivers printing services that ensures that correspondence to UK taxpayers is printed securely, economically and within specified lead times.
Fujitsu has invested in three Océ JetStream inkjet colour production systems – the world’s leading high-speed inkjet technology platform – in a deal that, together with service contracts, is worth £9 million in the first three years alone.
The company prints over 500 million A4 printed images a year as part of this contract that avoids the need to source pre-printed documents, which could take up to six weeks to arrive. Instead, each document can be immediately personalised on a white sheet of paper that is cut directly from a paper reel fed directly into the Océ JetStream printer. The use of Océ PRISMA and other software allows Fujitsu to take its existing artwork into its new data-stream without making any changes. This enables the transition to a white paper solution which is contributing to saving hundreds of developer man hours over the life of the contract.
In an additional security measure, Fujitsu has installed extra OCR cameras on the Océ JetStream production printing systems that read special pre-composed code lines that ensure the integrity of each printed page.
Fujitsu Production Manager Darryl Hyde, who runs the company’s print sites at Warrington and Shipley, said: “The real desire has been to simplify the supply chain and the amount of pre-printed stationery and to cut down costs in providing a fully in-line solution that provides 100% integrity and security. Previously we had over 100 different pre-printed stationery types – now we literally start with a white sheet.
“Over the three years of the contract we will print over 1.6 billion images on white paper on over 1 billion sheets of A4 paper. The new system of printing has removed the need to pre-print on over 14,600 rolls of paper weighing over 6,200 tonnes as well as the need for over 250 additional lorry journeys, which equates to 50,000 less road miles. This is contributing significantly to HMRC’s 10% carbon emissions reduction target.”
Craig Nethercott, Director of Océ UK’s Production Printing, said: “The British Government has made a big issue of the requirement for robust technology that delivers on all promises, which includes HMRC. And Prime Minister David Cameron is on record as wanting to find cost savings to keep our country safe amid what he has termed ‘perilous economic times’. Fortunately, our Océ JetStream systems have proved to be even more effective than ever imagined on top of helping to control costs for UK taxpayers in an environmentally-friendly way.”