ACS (International)

About ACS (International) 

ACS (International) is a leading Singapore international school delivering a holistic curriculum under the ACS brand of education. Owned by the Methodist Church of Singapore, the school aims to develop well-rounded students who excel academically, physically, socially and spiritually while promoting a global mindset. With a community of students and staff from 30 nationalities, ACS (International) is committed to a holistic education of the whole person, body, mind and spirit.

Inefficient and Costly Print Environment

The school’s print environment then was made up of a system with multiple devices scattered across the school. Administrative staff and teachers shared printers for copying and printing various handouts, assessments and worksheets, making it difficult to keep information secure especially for critical and sensitive documents such as examination papers.

Managing print equipment was also labour-intensive and costly as there were no trained personnel for print operations. They were largely left to the school’s administrative staff, who had to allocate enormous time to small, trivial tasks, instead of being focused on greater value work.

Besides inefficient print processes, the school did not have a good understanding of costs and overall usage. As a result, the school’s management did not know how to optimise costs.

- Chia Choong Kiat, Director of Administration, ACS (International)

Raising Productivity and Document Security

Recognising that educational institutions require efficient print queue management as well as smarter, simpler workflows, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore put its decades of expertise in workplace and digital printing solutions to work in transforming ACS (International)’s print environment. Before making high-impact recommendations and implementing better optimised workflows, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore first studied the school’s existing print environment.

The first solution was to establish a centralised in-house print room, which would give the school better control over its quality of print, print management, print costs and security. The centralised print room would consolidate bulk printing operations under one roof, offering greater print efficiency while meeting the diverse print and finishing needs of educators. Instead of bogging busy administrative staff with print procedures, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore recommended outsourcing the role to an experienced print room operator in order to contain costs, reduce risks and drive efficiency.

The school’s print fleet was also right-sized to actual user needs. Instead of 20 print devices, the centralised print room was equipped with just two PrimeLink™ C9065 and B9110 monochrome production printers. These powerful devices were recommended by FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore based on the school’s print volume, utilisation rate and number of users and would provide optimal fleet support. Additional devices were also placed in the teacher’s office to support shorter runs.

The PrimeLink™ C9065 is an all-in-one, versatile multi-function device (MFD) that flexibly meets various demands while offering a multitude of functions. It guarantees high colour vibrancy and detail that produces clear printing of small texts and thin lines in 2400 x 2400 dpi print resolution. This ensures the consistent printing of impeccable, high-quality teaching materials with an offset-like finish. With print speeds of up to 70/65 ppm in colour and up to 75/70 ppm in black and white, the PrimeLink™ C9065’s fast turnaround fosters a quick print environment for ACS (International)’s educators, enabling them to work with greater momentum and agility. Furthermore, the MFD supports various paper weights and paper sizes of up to 660mm in length, as well as finishings such as stapling, punching, folding, bleed trimming and booklet making. This makes the in-house preparation of teaching materials a breeze for ACS (International).

The continuous mass printing of advanced quality materials is also made possible at ACS (International) with the B9110 monochrome printer, which minimises machine downtime. Equipped with technologies supporting high-speed printing, the B9110 printer features an outstanding print speed of 136 ppm for both 1-side and 2-side printing. The B9110 printer is also highly stable and offers good resistance against paper jam with its vertical paper inversion mechanism, which reduces the number of curves in the paper path. With the B9110, educators are assured efficiency, versatility and maximum uptime in their working environment while enjoying crisp and sharp high-resolution printing at 2400 x 2400 dpi.

As a digital transformation partner, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore went beyond optimising the school’s print fleet to simplify print processes through digital automation. To create a smarter and more seamless user experience, FUJIFILM Business Innovation Singapore digitally transformed how print requests are sent to the centralised print room. Using the XMPIE PersonalEffect StoreFlow™, a Web-to-Print software that works as an online print store, users can easily upload their print files on their desktop, tablet or smartphone, or select and order variable documents from an online catalog. As a digital storefront, StoreFlow automates order acquisition and implements an efficient, digital and intuitive workflow process, providing educators with a simple and familiar e-commerce experience. This ensures all print instructions are captured digitally and accurately instead of relying on verbal requests. And because each print job is tagged with a job ticket as part of the workflow, everything was just easier to track and manage.

Besides installing new print devices, Follow-You-Printing® would address the school’s need for more flexible and convenient printing options by enabling educators to release documents at any multi-function device (MFD) across different floors, buildings and departments. This provides exceptional printing mobility for busy educators, who can avoid devices that are in use or out of service. To release a print job, or make a copy or scan, users will have to be authorised using a staff ID. This prevents sensitive information such as test scripts and examination answers from sitting unattended.

For greater cost management and control, the school coupled Follow-You-Printing® with Equitrac Print Management. Equitrac is an enterprise-wide cost tracking solution that would track the school’s operating costs, hidden expenses, as well as recommend areas where the school can potentially spend less. As print jobs are released, the cost of each job would be assigned to respective departments, thereby enabling accountability and transparency. ACS (International) would be able to easily generate usage reports to study usage patterns, costs by user, department or account, as well as cost savings from unreleased print jobs.

Empowering Staff

Since the transformation of its print environment, ACS (International) has benefitted from better print reliability and workflows. With the set-up of a dedicated print room at ACS (International), administrative staff were relieved of all print-related issues. This freed up 40% of their time, which could be put to higher value-added uses such as managing student-centric tasks and providing management support. By outsourcing print duties to a trained FUJIFILM Business Innovation professional, the school also reduced 20% in costs. Sending bulk printing requests to the centralised print room is now also made easier and seamless by way of an intuitive digital storefront powered by StoreFlow.

ACS (International) also benefitted from greater document security and efficiency through secured networking and printing functions. As print jobs are now released only upon authentication, the school can ensure document confidentiality while reducing print wastages. Examination papers can be more securely printed in the dedicated print room and serialised where necessary to facilitate tracking, reducing the risk of leaving critical and sensitive documents exposed. Documents can also be printed in various formats, sizes and finishes to suit various teaching plans, including stapling or binding.

In addition to improved workflow processes, since installing Equitrac, ACS (International) now benefits from clearer accountability and predictability of print charges. It also enjoys complete visibility over its overall print costs and operations through monthly consolidated reports. Overall, educators and administrative staff have benefitted from the digital transformation, enabling them to focus on their core work while retaining mobility and flexibility for printing on-the-go.

- Chia Choong Kiat, Director of Administration, ACS (International)