Nottingham College reclaims control of its print with Konica Minolta
The result is faster turnaround, improved quality, lower costs, reduced waste and a print environment that supports the college’s wider digital and sustainability goals.
Nottingham College has transformed its entire print environment by returning to an in‑house print room and streamlining its multifunctional print device (MFD) fleet in partnership with Konica Minolta.
After a period of rising outsourcing costs, inconsistent turnaround times and an oversized fleet of MFD devices, the college needed a more efficient, sustainable and reliable approach. Working with Konica Minolta, it consolidated production into a single, modern print room equipped with high‑performance print, booklet finishing and AccurioPro Flux workflow automation, while reducing the MFD estate to a streamlined and well‑managed core.
Challenges
Nottingham College’s print environment has undergone several transitions in recent years. Historically, the college operated a large, centralised print room but a variety of reasons led to the college attempting to outsource much of its production print work - a shift that ultimately created a series of operational and financial challenges.
When Yasir Rafi joined in early 2020, he inherited a fragmented print estate: more than 140 MFDs of varying ages and types, a mixed inventory of desktop and inkjet devices, and a reliance on ad‑hoc outsourcing that was proving costly and inefficient. Staff were printing “silly amounts”, as Yasir commented, and the lack of a coherent print strategy meant that high‑volume or specialist jobs were being pushed through devices that were never designed for them.
Outsourcing the print room operations created additional pressure on service delivery and management. Turnaround times often proved too slow for the college’s fast‑moving academic environment, and the volume of purchase orders required to manage external print jobs became difficult to manage.
Solution
To regain control of its print environment, Nottingham College made the strategic decision to reinstate its print room and consolidate its production print operations. The college approached Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd as its trusted partner, both for the production print room and for the wider MFD fleet, following a competitive framework refresh led by Yasir.
The new production print room was equipped with a modern, high‑performance suite of devices including a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C4080, an AccurioPress C7090, an AccurioPress 6120 mono engine, and an Epson large‑format printer. Each Konica Minolta engine was paired with an SD513 booklet maker, enabling the college to produce high‑quality finished materials in‑house. The entire workflow is now managed through Konica Minolta’s powerful AccurioPro Flux workflow, giving the print room team a centralised, automated and highly efficient way to manage incoming jobs.
