Bacardi-Martini Ltd

Bacardi-Martini Ltd goes green with ColorQube, cuts print cost and carbon footprint in one move.

Bacardi-Martini Ltd is one of the world’s largest spirits companies, producing iconic drinks brands such as Bacardi rum, Dewar’s scotch whisky, Bombay Sapphire gin, Cazadores tequila and Martini vermouth.

The company has approximately 370 staff in the UK.  The head office in Winchester takes care of sales, distribution and finance, whilst Bacardi Global Brands is situated in London.

The relationship between Xeretec and Bacardi is long-standing, dating back to 1999. Throughout this period Xeretec has worked closely with Bacardi on a number of technology refreshes which have been carried out at both premises.

As with the majority of companies, Bacardi is continually seeking ways to work more efficiently save costs and is extremely aware of its carbon footprint.  It was these three drivers which were critical to the most recent upgrade program which was completed by Xeretec in 2010.

The project involved Xeretec replacing ten of Bacardi’s existing printers, with ten new Xerox ColorQube multi-functional devices. The ColorQubes utilise patented ‘solid ink’, an award winning colour printing technology which was able to meet the criteria set out by Bacardi.
 
Unlike ink or powdered toner cartridges, solid ink is essentially a block of colour that produces superb copies at a fraction of the cost of traditional colour copying. Moreover, the solid ink sticks are long lasting, with a machine typically producing over 55,000 pages before the ink ‘stick’ needs replacing.

“We really like the practicality of the solid wax sticks,” says Jay Patel, Service Desk Manager at Bacardi. “We can simply add more wax sticks to the reservoir even while the machine is still in use”, he continues “The old machines were using quite a lot of resources, not just consumables but also electricity.” The ColorQubes have been awarded an Energy Star rating for reduced power consumption and produce 90% less waste than comparable laser devices because they require less packaging.

By deploying ColorQube’s Bacardi have removed the responsibility of disposing of waste because the solid ink packaging is made from re-used consumer waste and can be recycled anywhere.  “Bacardi is very aware of its impact on the environment and is keen to do as much as it can in this area,” says Jay Patel.

The ongoing management of consumables has also been eased, “Where we used to have a large rack of toners, now we only need a small cupboard because we only need to store the Xerox wax trays, which are very small. The ColorQubes have made a big difference to us,” he continues.

Xeretec has integrated a Safecom swipecard mechanism into the ColorQubes which enables Bacardi to manage the machines very effectively.
 
Bacardi staff  carry Safecom cards integrated into their building ID’s which when swiped allows them to log onto the ColorQube device and copy, scan, print or email. In using Safecom in conjunction with the ColorQube Bacardi can now monitor user requirements, which in turn provides a detailed view of overall business needs.

As an example of the benefits of Safecom the analysis could identify that one department might use more A3 paper whilst another might use more colour. Safecom also enables Bacardi to manage and re-order the right quantity of consumables and rotate the machines so that they are used evenly.

The installation at both Bacardi buildings was completed by Xeretec over a single weekend so that there was no disruption to the workforce or the operation of Bacardi as a whole.

In summary, Bacardi’s desire to have a print infrastructure at both locations that would facilitate improvements in operational efficiency, generate costs savings and help the environment has certainly been met with the ColorQube solution.  Bacardi has seen the ongoing management of consumables eased and they anticipate making a projected cost saving of £20,000 over a three year period. In addition the reduced packaging associated with the ColorQube assists with their environmental policies.

November 2010

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