Today we are further exploring the Quick Utility Toolbox by taking a closer look at The Accounting Manager.
Part two of four.
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Today we are going to look at the first utility within the Canon Quick Utility Toolbox, which is the Accounting Manager, also known as the accounting tool.
If you haven’t already installed this useful tool, you can download the Canon software utility?HERE?and get started.?
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Installation Set Up – Part One
After installation, you will be asked to add a printer. To do this click on the icon, which ‘sets up the printer which is to be cost managed’ (Arrow No. 1).
A new dialogue box will appear called Printer Management. You then need to click Add Printer as highlighted (Arrow No. 2).
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?Installation Set Up – Part Two
Once the printer is installed, if you click on the printer like we have done here, you will now see all previous print jobs. This will include information on file name, date and time, ink use per ml and media use per m2. In this example notice the cost per print is missing. You now need to add your media and ink costs.?
We will set up all our costs excluding VAT, as for many business consumers, they will be able to claim the VAT back. You will need to adjust your figures accordingly, to either include or exclude the VAT element.
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Installation Set Up – Part Three
To add your ink and paper costs simply select the printer in the right hand panel (as was highlighted in blue in the image above).
The unit costs icon (Arrow No. 1) will then be enabled. If you click this icon you will now be able to add ink, paper and other (additional) costs.
The PRO Series allows for multiple size ink cartridges to be installed at any one time depending upon your ink usage, allowing you to mix and match as desired from either 160ml, 300ml or 700ml.? However if you use the same size cartridges throughout, you only need to put the cost in once and then click Apply to All Inks (as indicated by Arrow No. 2).
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Installation Set Up – Part Four
Adding media is simple by selecting the paper tab in the Unit Costs window. You can then choose the media type in the drop down menu. Custom medias will appear in the list once the system has been updated.
Most medias are available in multiple widths, which can be added by selecting the Roll Paper sizes in the drop down menu.
From there you can select your roll length and the amount the roll cost you, either including or excluding the VAT element as applies to your circumstances.
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In this example we have added the cost for several media types. Notice the Canon Artistic Matte is available in both 17″ and 24″ roll widths with associated costs applied.?
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Installation Set Up – Part Five
Finally you can add any additional costs you require in the Others tab. In this example we have added ?0.03 per print to cover the cost of a Printhead over the initial twelve months. This is a great tool to help with factoring in additional costs incurred over and above the ink and media costs associated in any print job.
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Here at GDS we regularly print samples for customers using the Canon PRO 2000 in the demonstration room. This week we printed a full sized A1 photo at 300dpi using the Canon Heavyweight Gloss 255gsm. The quality was outstanding, but we were more amazed at the total running costs of printing an image of this size. To print an image in a lab of an equal standard is at least ten times the cost of what it is to produce using the Canon PRO 2000. Below is the image printing on the PRO 2000.
The prices today for an A1 image on a Heavyweight Photo Paper of either Gloss or Lustre (equal in quality to what we selected to print on the PRO 2000) is ?20.30 with Sim Lab (ProAm), ?21.71 with Loxley Colour and ?44.95 with Whitewall! These prices do not include the cost of shipping on top of these prices. Sim Lab charge an extra ?5.50 and have a 2 day turn around, Loxley Colour charge ?10.95 for a same day turn around and Whitewall charge ?5.95 for a 6 working day turn around! Prices quoted here are excluding VAT.
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To help put this into perspective…
Sim Lab – Total Cost ?25.80 + 3 days
Loxley Colour – ?32.66 + 1 day
Whitewall – ?50.90 + 7 days
PRO 2000 – ?2.91 + 5 minutes 52 seconds!
Yes, I hear you shouting “but the PRO 2000 costs ?1950” (price current as of the date of publishing this post).?
Read on…
I think you are in for a surprise!
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Not only can you get your prints almost immediately, but there are massive savings to be had when printing from your own printer as opposed to outsourcing your images.
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Think about this for one second. If you were to only print out 2 A1 Prints per week for 1 year, you could save between ?2380.56 and ?4990.96, when comparing the cost of printing on a PRO 2000 compared to outsourcing the printing and sending to a Photographic Lab.
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However, the average owner of a PRO 2000 is more likely to use their printer more often. Say for example, you print 15 A1 sized prints per week, which is not unfeasible for say a Landscape or Portrait Photographer selling their images. In fact this is quite a conservative figure for some, but will give you a good insight on the savings that can be achieved on printing this kind of volume.
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?So you could be looking at achieving SAVINGS of between ?17,854.20 and ?37,432.20. This does not factor in your profit margin, which would go wholly on top. Another thing to note is the figure given for the running cost of the PRO 2000 covers ink usage, media usage, plus a small margin to cover additional costs of a replacement printhead, if that need should arise.?
The Canon Accounting tool not only helps us to track our running costs but also provides true, real life insight as to the total cost of ownership. This is a fantastic tool for anyone in business who sells or produces images in their day to day line of work.
The image below shows the picture we printed on the PRO 2000 to demonstrate the Accounting Manager feature in the Quick Utility Toolbox. We deliberately picked an image, which was rich in colour and printed it on a good quality media to fully and fairly demonstrate the difference.
To see all of the series with the features of Canon’s Quick Utility Toolbox see HERE.
