Palme Duschen

About the company

Founded by the Prader family in 1972, bathroom fixtures retailer PALME Duschen is renowned for its innovative shower stall designs. It develops and manufactures product ranges and custom designs from its production facility in Taufkirchen, Austria. PALME Duschen employs 200 people across various departments, utilising a full range of IT services.

The challenge

At the heart of PALME Duschen’s IT is an ERP system which printers and other devices must be compatible with. Printers often run at top speed to produce documents, including delivery notes, invoices and quotes. The printer infrastructure had become highly extensive, with printing supplies taking up an entire room at one point. Johann Hosner, Managing Director, PALME Duschen took this as a sign that PALME Duschen’s equipment situation was due for an overhaul.

The solution

Prior to working with OKI, PALME Duschen operated a host of individual programmes in order to meet its extensive requirements.

OKI’s on-site inspection at PALME Duschen revealed an equipment inventory of 45 printers and just four multifunction devices.

As the equipment was purchased or replaced over many years, a considerable number of models were being used – 21 in total, made by five different manufacturers.

As part of the overhaul, print spend had to be analysed in detail in order to obtain transparency and cost control. The printing costs for the existing infrastructure were calculated by OKI so they could be compared with a new Managed Print Services solution.

Selecting the most appropriate devices had been a challenge, due to the many specialised programmes used in PALME Duschen’s business processes. The organisation’s ERP system had previously required duplicate printers to be set up, this had led to complexities with printer models and user interactions with the devices. The IT administration was evidently in need of optimisation.

Incorporating all user requirements was another key priority. In marketing, for example, colour printing is essential for proofing layouts or reviewing changes to brochures. During the implementation, PALME Duschen employees were still able to access fax facilities and continue their day to day tasks as usual. Due to fluctuating temperatures and dust in PALME Duschen’s storage area, specific conditions had to be met in order to ensure toners and equipment remained in optimal condition.

All areas of concern were taken into consideration and addressed by OKI in order to find the ideal solution to improve efficiencies and meet PALME Duschen’s print requirements.

“Of all the potential partners we considered, OKI provided the most conclusive assessment for a suitable and optimised solution,” said Hosner. “The service was excellent from the very start, just as you would want from a long-term service agreement.”

The benefits

Since adopting OKI’s Managed Print Services, PALME Duschen has achieved the following:

Total savings of €62,500 over an operating period of five years
Having all printer requirements met through a single source
38 new devices from OKI, reducing the fleet from 21 printer models to five
Eight multifunction devices – with print, scan, copy and fax capabilities
Reduced storage for toner and spare parts from an entire room to half a cupboard
Simplified operations in IT administration
Effective and easy to follow training
Improved overview of operations through standardised technology and monitoring tools

The future

With OKI’s Managed Print Services now in place at PALME Duschen, the business has a much more streamlined printing process, along with a more spacious office. Employees can now spend their time servicing customers, rather than outdated printers and equipment.

The OKI Smart Managed Print Services programme encompasses a range of tried and tested methods and tools to establish the current state of an organisation’s print related costs and processes before OKI create a professional bespoke proposal to suit individual customer specific requirements. Our sales and engineering staff work closely with our key partners to offer Managed Print Solutions with maximum customer value.