In this question-and-answer session, Jim Joyce, Xerox’s senior vice president for North American Office Services reveals how clients, like Northrup Grumman, can use Xerox’s Sustainability Calculator to reduce their environmental footprint and optimize their office performance.

What does the Calculator provide a client that was not available before?

The calculator provides clients with the first fact-based measurement of their environmental footprint associated with office printers, copiers and multifunction devices and how they are used. With the calculator, it’s possible to review data on relative energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste and pinpoint opportunities to reduce their environmental impact.

What metrics does the calculator use to evaluate an office’s sustainability?

By understanding the client’s current configuration of printers, copiers and multifunction devices we’re able to insert data into the Calculator and estimate the relative energy their current setup is using, track the relative greenhouse gases associated with the energy use and determine relative solid waste produced from an office optimization. The environmental burdens are estimated from a life cycle perspective. This includes factors that span raw material extraction, manufacturing, use and disposal. The unique thing about Xerox’s Calculator is that it does not just account for our own devices – but also is able to “crack the code” on the environmental impact of all the devices in an office – regardless of manufacturer.

How does Xerox Office Services (XOS) consult users on determining desired results and setting goals?

Principals work closely with clients in order to obtain accurate data for inclusion in the calculator. The Calculator then evaluates several variables and through proprietary software estimates the environmental savings of the optimized scenario for each set of machines across the enterprise. The principal can then carefully explain the results by comparing the “before” and “after” configuration for clients to help them see what they can do to save in energy use as well as reduce solid waste and emissions into the air and water.

Making this plan actionable is the next step. We work with our clients to redesign documents and existing processes to ensure they are able to reach their sustainability goals. For Northrop Grumman, in particular, we will continue to report metrics on their office equipment throughout the year in the company’s Integrated Systems division. This will show how well the company is meeting its goals, as it rolls out these best practices across an additional six business units.

How does the Calculator help clients such as Northrop Grumman?

The Calculator can detect opportunities for organizations to become smarter about using print consumables like paper to reduce waste. It also provides information on the impact of duplex printing or using different paper stocks. For Northrop Grumman, the Calculator was able to show the company’s Integrated Systems division how XOS was already helping them reduce energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste.

The Calculator is truly a part of Northrop Grumman’s overall corporate push for environmental sustainability. It has been helping the company measure how far it has come, where it is today and where it needs to focus its efforts in the future to ensure environmental, operational and cost savings for office equipment and operations.

In the case of Northrop Grumman, how were recommendations made by Xerox?

We’ve been working with Northrop Grumman since early 2007 – so for this client, we actually used the Calculator to demonstrate that not only were they saving money by working with Xerox – but they were also lessening the negative impact their division was making on the environment. When we first began working with Northrop Grumman they had more than 2,000 printers in their Integrated Systems division. We immediately recommended a consolidation plan that optimized efficiency and cut the number of devices to 1,100.

After the initial assessment, we’ll now be working with them to track metrics on the company’s office equipment throughout the rest of the year as they consider implementing similar office optimization strategies throughout the entire organization.
Additionally, we’re going beyond office devices to optimize their workflow processes and supply chain, giving Northrop Grumman and even greater competitive advantage in the marketplace.

What is the biggest challenge for users after they use the calculator?

As with any change, reorganizing the office environment impacts employees’ daily routines. Typical results of the Sustainability Calculator will encourage offices to decrease the total number of devices in use in the office. This may eliminate personal printers on employees’ desks and require them to use new devices that are more centrally located.

Where some would view this as a potential negative, our experience has actually found that users welcome the opportunity to access new devices that are of higher quality, offer more features and provide additional functionality – even if the machines are a few steps away from their former device location. We’ve also found that most users are not satisfied with their current environment, be it the service and support response, the ability to protect confidential information, and the limited functionality and features of their current devices. In the end, the migration to a new office environment positively received by end users if proper change management techniques and communication are associated with the strategy.

With the Sustainability Calculator results, we now provide a tool for corporate leaders to demonstrate to employees that not only will the company save money by consolidating devices, but it will also have a positive impact on the environment. Additionally, the tool will address many of these leaders’ long standing challenges with the output environment as a whole.

Are there any common improvements companies can make to create a more sustainable office environment (in setting up equipment, consolidating, and using consumables?)

In addition to the Sustainability Calculator, we are constantly looking for ways to help our clients be more environmentally conscious. We recently released the following paper tips to help our clients and all organizations reduce the environmental footprint of their offices. These tips include:

• Use both sides of the paper: Duplex printing is the single best way to reduce paper use. Choose copiers, digital printers and multifunction devices that have this option and set duplex as the default print mode setting.
  


• Go digital: Save on postage by sending electronic files and let the recipient decide if printing is needed. Replace paper files with electronic ones and use the scan-to-file option on multifunction devices.


• Be selective: Print only what you need. Preview to avoid printing pages you don’t really need, or that may only include a boilerplate. Don’t stockpile forms or letterhead that could go out of date. Implement guidelines to help drive end user consideration and understanding when printing items like email and other documents that can be better leveraged in digital form.


• Know Your Products: Implement products that are more environmentally friendly, like biodegradable ink, organic toner, and Energy Star® compliant copiers and printers that allow for duplex printing.


• Reach for the right paper: Use environmentally preferable paper – like Xerox’s High Yield Business Paper that is produced using half of the number of trees of conventional paper, uses 35 percent less waste water to produce and lowers total energy use by 15 percent. Print on paper certified through global organizations such as the Forest Stewardship Council or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certifications, or use paper with recycled content.


• Recycle: Collect used paper so the fiber can be used again – recycling fiber saves trees, reduces energy and water use, requires fewer chemicals and keeps paper out of landfills. Look for branded paper products from the Forest Stewardship Council and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certifications that were manufactured using raw materials harvested from certified sources and can be tracked from harvest through distribution. Additionally, consider recycling parts and materials from existing office equipment.

How can a company get the most benefits out of using the calculator?

Companies who work closely with us will receive actionable advice from their XOS representative on how to lower their environmental footprint. Tackling the challenge sector by sector, department by department, as Northrop Grumman did, is often a smart way for companies to manage the process. Once the first department implements recommendations based on their Xerox Office Assessment and estimates reduced environmental burden using the Calculator, these can be repurposed across other departments – encouraging the entire organization to embrace recommendations provided from the Calculator and XOS representative.

Listen to Patricia A. Calkins, Xerox’s global vice president of Environment, Health and Safety discuss the Calculator in this podcast or read CEO Anne Mulcahy’s speech, “Sustainability: Crisis and Opportunity.”