Hybrid office and light production printer - is there such a thing?

[lexcreate]

We are a small office that currently has a Toshiba estudio5506ac for an office copier and a SHARP-MX-6580N for a production printer. We are networked and would like to scan to a network folder, but that hasn't worked due to firewall issues. On the production printer, we print booklets once a year, business cards, labels, posters up to 11x17 on card stock and sometimes we duplex 11x17 card stock. We print books occasionally and we have a trimmer attachment. We have FIERY on the production printer. Since our print volumes have diminished significantly, it would be ideal to have only one printer, preferably that can do some of the light production work, but have it used as an office printer. Typical double-sided, staple, 3 hole punch and that's about it.
Is there such a thing? Would love some feedback. Alexis.

 

[Ynot_UK]

The Sharp model you have, although now discontinued, was categorised by the manufacturer as a "high end MFP" and yours appears to be well loaded with options, i.e. booklet making, trimming (and punch?)

I do wonder if you already have what you "think" you're are looking for, if that makes sense?

If you choose a smaller MFP with a booklet maker option, it's unlikely to have a trimmer. Card stock does not duplex successfully on many MFPs and even if it does, the registration is unlikely to be accurate or consistent. For the straightest paper path, you may end up using the bypass tray for heavier card then refeeding for the second side. On any machine, the bypass tray is the poorest for registration.

Digital presses aka production machines don't make good office printers for ad-hoc emails and letters. The biggest frustration is likely to be the time to get a single copy out, which as you know is virtually instantaneous on a desktop laser of MFP.

Unless there is a reason you have to change (end of lease, space limitation, etc) in your position, I would keep the Sharp and possibly offload the Toshiba.

 

[jwheeler]

I was typing the same thing as @Ynot_UK , then I saw his post pop up.

The SHARP unit is already what you're looking for. It's not a production unit, it's a high-end office unit, which has the ability to do some light production work. If you read through the brochure here, you'll see most of the features are geared towards the office environment such as scanning/printing to/from mobile devices, converting documents to Word/Excel, PowerPoint, making OCR PDF's, etc...all features that a commercial print shop would never use.

I used to sell production gear for Konica Minolta and often found office environments like yours where a sales rep sold a high-end office unit with the Fiery controller, and the Fiery is what usually led to confusion for office staff. I would suggest talking to your SHARP rep or service tech about switching it over to the SHARP controller and print drivers. You'll find it much easier to use. And since it sounds like you've barely used it, I would just hang on to it for a while since it has plenty of life left.

Also, there's no reason why it shouldn't be able to scan to a network folder. You just need an experienced IT person either from your company or from SHARP to come set it up.

 

[azehnali]

whats wrong with your sharp?

 

[TJPrinter]

The Xerox PrimLink C9070 is a MFP and it can be outfitted with the same type of feeders and finishers as the production level machines. I don't see how this would be any different than what you already have, other than giving you a new machine with a new lease. For a low volume user, the finishing that you have seems to be overkill and is costing as much as a second printer would likely cost.

 

[bcr]

We are a small office that currently has a Toshiba estudio5506ac for an office copier and a SHARP-MX-6580N for a production printer. We are networked and would like to scan to a network folder, but that hasn't worked due to firewall issues. On the production printer, we print booklets once a year, business cards, labels, posters up to 11x17 on card stock and sometimes we duplex 11x17 card stock. We print books occasionally and we have a trimmer attachment. We have FIERY on the production printer. Since our print volumes have diminished significantly, it would be ideal to have only one printer, preferably that can do some of the light production work, but have it used as an office printer. Typical double-sided, staple, 3 hole punch and that's about it.
Is there such a thing? Would love some feedback. Alexis.

Sounds like you already have what you are looking for. Just get someone who knows what they are doing to fix the firewall issue.

I use Ricoh c5310s in a combination production and office walk-up setup and the main issues are warming up time (can take 2 minutes before printing if it's asleep), and ease of use re changing media in trays, not to mention the use of equitrac for follow you printing making my admin access to the production menus and fiery interface slower and more frustrating

 

[[email protected]]

In regards to your scanning/firewall issue, since you have a Fiery you may already have the solution and not know it. To test it do the following; open a browser on any PC workstation and enter in the IP address of the Fiery in the URL locator and hit Enter. If you are brought the Fiery's webpage then you're golden.

This is the way it would work on a Ricoh printer but I'm not totally sure about other brands. From the printer's touchscreen select the Fiery icon and then select Scan. Select "Mailbox = On" and then select "Public Mailbox". Make your scanning choices (resolution etc) and then scan your documents. Go back to the browser and select Documents and you should find your scan file listed there. At that point you can download and save it to wherever you need to.

What's happening is that the file is being saved to a folder on the Fiery itself and you're just accessing it through a web browser! It's the plan B that I always try to use when a customer has those kinds of IT access issues.

 

[bill kahny]

I have both a ricoh and canon with a server folder assigned to scan to, for 1 touch scanning. years ago a tech set up the canon, it was easy to save the settings on the ricoh so I did it myself.