Case Studies

A new electronic health record system delivered by Ricoh is giving doctors at German hospital group KHWE quicker access to essential medical information to help them provide better outcomes for their patients. Meanwhile, the digitisation of the company’s administrative documents is significantly improving the efficiency of the organisation itself.

Paper-free Prescription

Katholische Hospitalvereinigung Weser-Egge (KHWE), a German healthcare company that operates four hospitals, five retirement homes and two schools, was keen to modernise its internal systems by digitising every one of its patient records.

This will allow medical staff instant access to the relevant information they need to make decisions about treatment and so directly benefits patients. Naturally, respecting the confidentiality of this patient data is essential so the information must be held securely. At the same time, KHWE wanted to digitise its own paper-based administration systems – such as personnel archives, contract management and invoicing – therefore improving the organisation’s overall workflows was also a key objective.

Modernising Document Management

To meet KHWE’s needs Ricoh created a bespoke system covering both patient records and administrative processes which could be integrated into the company’s existing IT infrastructure. 

Business Problem

One of the country’s leading providers of voice and data communications had long recognized the benefits of proper labeling and has practiced some form of labeling for many years. According to a senior field service engineer with the company, “we used a typical handheld labeler and typed in information we felt relevant to the application, but often forgot to include something (like the service number to call) or there was inconsistency in the format, making some labels difficult to read.” They tried preprinting their labels, but this presented problems with custom data, and there were so many different applications that it became impractical to preprint so many kinds of labels – not to mention the impossible task to manage the inventory for hundreds of installers all over the country. Handwritten labels solve some of these problems, but they are time consuming as each field service technician struggles to print legibly.

Labeling is a thumbprint of professionalism and the company was determined to find a labeling solution that meets their requirements.

Business Solution

The company made organization changes, including a new corporate logo which provided an opportune time to identify and standardize on a better labeling solution for the company. Since this group had positive experience using P-touch® electronic labeling machines in the past, they approached Brother to help them find an ideal solution. The field service technicians specialize on installing WANs (wide area networks) onsite for commercial accounts like retail stores and restaurants, and required a portable labeling solution that will work in any of these installation environments. They needed a solution flexible enough to label a 56K line, all the way up to a DS3 (T3) which contains 28 T1 lines; and needed to label all equipment these lines are connected to: panels, modems, routers, switches, network cables and power cords. They needed to control the look of the labels to be consistent for any company installation, but required flexibility to add new designs for future customers with special requirements. Finally, they needed the labeler to print the new corporate logo on the label as a mark of professionalism. 

Company Profile

Hilltop Press, a division of National Graphics Inc., is a high quality, commercial printer in Indianapolis with $19.3 million in annual sales. It provides services ranging from prepress through bindery and fulfillment from a new 115,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the Indianapolis airport. Hilltop serves large accounts in the retail and corporate communities and in the puzzles and games industry, producing elegant annual reports and corporate communications along with striking point-of-purchase graphics. In January of 2004, the company – a long-time conventional press operation – launched Hilltop Express, a new digital and small press division.

Challenge

Provide conventional press customers with digital solutions that solve corporate headaches. Expand customer service options and open new income streams through digital capabilities like variable data printing (VDP). Maintain Hilltop’s quality reputation.

Solution

Hilltop Express chose an EFI Fiery® EXP6000 color server and Xerox® DocuColor® 6060 Digital Color Press.

Results

Hilltop gained easy access to industry-leading Fiery functionality, breakthrough power and speed and unmatched color quality. It gained the flexibility to provide corporate clients with digital solutions to challenging print problems and it opened new income streams by providing expanded service options, including powerful variable data printing (VDP).

The Challenge

In a time of severe financial hardship, a North Carolina School district’s large fleet of black and white HP® desktop printers was only adding to the problem. Printers were scattered everywhere and the district couldn’t determine how much these devices were really costing them. Many were broken or running heavy volumes, had little or no toner and had very poor print quality. Still, teachers desperately needed to print and found creative ways to keep the devices running.

Some purchased supplies for their own printers. Others brought in old HP inkjet printers from home, which put added ressure on the IT department to fix them. All of this created a situation that was out of control in terms of cost management and accountability. That’s when the district’s IT director turned to Xerox for help. 

The Solution

Using the Xerox methodology of assess, design, implement and manage, the Xerox team went to work, first doing a complete volume, cost and quality assessment of the district’s print fleet. The 60-day assessment gave Xerox a true picture of the print volumes being run on the district’s 55 copiers, 40 network printers and 440 classroom HP desktop printers. Xerox discovered that the district’s monthly cost to manage and maintain all of these devices was extremely high. Xerox then proposed a strategy to consolidate the standalone black and white devices with Xerox® MFPs, which would give the teachers the ability to print in color and the incentive to move away from the classroom printers. To help reduce the cost of printing in color, Xerox® ColorQube technology was used with its three-tier pricing. This gave the teachers the ability to add color and highlight text on their lesson plans for less than the cost of printing on their classroom HP printers. Pcounter software was also added to the mix, giving teachers the freedom to print from any MFP on campus, while allowing the district to centrally manage its costs down to the individual user and device.