Article

Lasers get a leg up in kiosk apps

While laser printers are not as common as thermal printers in the kiosk world, lasers are gaining in popularity as businesses seek more sophisticated applications in self-service environments.

November 26, 2004

The Louisiana Department of Social Services faced a thorny and expensive problem: Keeping its forms up to date. In fact, about 30 percent of the more than 200 preprinted forms maintained by the department had to be destroyed due to revisions. In addition, expensive warehouse space was used to store the forms.

Enter Lexmark Inc., the Lexington, Ky., printer manufacturer. "Our job was to eliminate warehouses of forms, and to save on shipping costs for the state, to make the system overall more efficient," said Karie Lester, Lexmark's kiosk industry manager.

Louisiana officials installed an employee-activated kiosk to print up-to-date forms on a Lexmark laser printer. State officials are happy because payback on their investment is expected in the first year of operating the new system.

Lasers get a leg up

In the kiosk world, laser printers are not as common as thermal printers. But lasers are gaining in popularity as businesses seek more sophisticated applications in self-service environments.

Kiosk printers may be called upon to produce everything from simple information to tickets, receipts, maps, lists or purchase orders. They may be just two inches wide, or designed for regular paper. But what type of printer should be used?

"Laser printers represent some interesting possibilities," said Greg Swistak, president of Factura Inc., a manufacturer of kiosk enclosures. "The bridal registry industry uses thousands of laser printers in kiosks. And companies like BP Connect are using them for the printing of high-resolution maps available through kiosks in their service stations. BP wanted a map with a sharp image."

Bob Ventresca, marketing director for Netkey Inc., a leader in kiosk management software, said that while thermals are still "the dominant printer" for kiosks, laser printers are narrowing the gap.

Lexmark pioneered laser printer technology in the 1990s and was the first company to offer 600 x 600 dots per inch (dpi) monochrome laser printers, 1200 x 1200 dpi monochrome laser printers and a 12 page-per-minute (ppm) color laser printer.

Lester said the company has about 15,000 laser printers in use in kiosks. The company's products are used by many of the nation's top retailers and financial institutions. And Lexmark has 40 business partners in every aspect of kiosks to help customers find the right kiosk for their specific needs.

Team laser

This team approach was used with PNC Bank Corp., the Pittsburgh financial services company. PNC sought an extremely reliable printer in its self-service kiosks. It had to be a front-loading laser printer with paper ejection lining up with the paper chutes inside the kiosk itself. It also required two paper bins.

PNC, Lexmark and kiosk manufacturer Olivetti North America came up with the 4039 10-R laser printer to meet the bank's needs in both its kiosks and branch offices. A unique item in the 4039 10-R printer was MarkVision, Lexmark's printer management utility that allows a system administrator to monitor the printer's paper and toner supplies or even a paper jam -- all from a remote location.

Adding up the costs

Lexmark's laser printers range in price from $299 for a 16 ppm monochrome model to $6,249 for a color printer that prints 28 ppm for wide format printing. "Obviously there are many options customers can order to go with these printers which will alter the price," said Lexmark spokeswoman Nancy Fraley.

Those purchasing a printer should consider maintenance costs as well. Fraley said Lexmark estimates operating costs account for about 45 percent of the total cost of ownership. "In fact, 5 percent of the cost comes from the purchase of the printer and the other 50 percent comes from what we call hidden costs, for example network management and help desk calls."

Elaine Bresnick, vice president of Swecoin US Inc., a manufacturer of thermal printers, said ordinarily the cost of thermal printing paper is higher than that used in laser printers. However, the cost of the laser's print cartridges brings the price per page for laser printers to a level much higher than the cost of thermal printing.

Netkey's Ventresca said laser printers are generally more complex than thermal or ink jet printers. "Thus, there is a higher cost of installation for laser printers and a higher maintenance cost, but it's not radically more" than for other types of printers.

Matching the printer to the apps

Factura's Swistak said there is "no clear-cut choice" between laser printers and other kinds of printers. "It all boils down to functionality," he said.

For instance, Swecoin's thermal kiosk printers are designed for use in unattended applications such as ATMs, transactional kiosks, multimedia telephones, Internet public access kiosks, parking systems, vending machines, self-serve lottery/gaming machines and recycling machines. But that's not the whole story. Bresnick said Swecoin printers are also found at gift registries and human resource departments of companies.

More than 100,000 Swecoin thermal printers are installed in self-serve applications throughout the world. Swecoin's client list includes many world-class corporations such as IBM, Wincor Nixdorf, Tomra and Coinstar, plus all of the world's major kiosk integrators and designers, according to the company's Web site.   Lester said Lexmark is constantly discovering new uses for laser printers. "Kiosks are around to stay and the number of (laser printer) applications will continue to grow," she said.