In 2004, Sharp Corporation established standards for Super Green Products, and the company has been committed to improving its environmental sustainability management ever since. In fact, since 2004 all Sharp production facilities have been ISO 14001 certified. This ensures that Sharp’s environmental management and pollution preventing systems are maintained.

As a Copeco customer, you can participate in Sharp’s free recycling program, which offers convenience for you and keeps toner cartridges out of landfills. In this post, I’ll share the benefits of this environmentally friendly program and how you can participate.

Recycling That Is Convenient

When it comes to recycling, collection is half the battle. Sharp makes it easy to gather and ship your toner cartridges using its Bulk Recycling Kit. It contains:

• 3 pre-addressed, prepaid Sharp cartridge collection/shipping boxes
• 3 clear plastic liners
• 3 zip ties

Each collection/shipping box can hold up to 10 used toner cartridges. We suggest placing each box in the mailroom or near your Sharp printers and copiers for easy placement of used cartridges. Once a box is full, a liner and zip tie ensure no leakage during shipment.

The final step is to simply put the prepaid package in the mail—it really is that easy! Sharp is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of its products, including safe disposal at the end of a product’s life. The “Stop, Drop, Recycle” program is proof of that promise. All consumables are 100 percent recycled with zero waste going to a landfill.

Interested in recycling? Businesses and organization in the Canton, Akron, and Toledo areas can contact us. Let us help you help the environment!

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Sales Manager Randy Hudson supplied fundamental tips on the scanning process, including how to file electronic documents and how to take advantage of converting paper documents into editable formats. The bottom line is that regularly using the scanning feature on your Sharp printers and copiers is sure to save you time—something we could all use more of today!

If you are a business owner or employee in the Canton or Akron area, we do not want you to miss out on the other events in our Snacks & Solutions training series. From using your color copier to its fullest potential to identifying areas for cost reductions, our upcoming sessions are sure to help you better utilize your Sharp copiers and printers. Sessions include:

• Document Management, April 18. Learn how to better organize and retrieve your scanned documents while minimizing paper usage.
• Color Class, May 16. Create your own fliers, posters, brochures and more. Discover how your color copier can make handling print jobs easier and more cost-efficient by printing in-house.
• Document Security, June 20. Learn about Sharp’s Security Suite and how to protect your company from identity theft, stolen information, unauthorized use and more.
• Managed Print Services, July 18. Analyze your current printing environment, identify total print expenditures and create a customized cost per print plan to realize significant cost reductions.
• Production Printing, Aug. 15. Learn how Sharp delivers versatile functionality for busy workgroups and how you can add impact to your communications without breaking the bank.

Class size is limited, so register online now to ensure your spot in our next free lunch and learn training session. Each class runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3784 Highland Park NW in North Canton. For business owners in other parts of Ohio, including Toledo, contact us! Copeco can meet all your Sharp printer and copier needs.

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• It takes an average of 20 minutes to retrieve a paper document, but only 40 seconds to retrieve an electronic one.
• 68% of workers do not have proper access to the information they need.
• 30% of a worker’s day (2.5 hours) is spent looking for information.
• 30% of paper documents are lost each year.
• A misfiled paper document costs $120 to recover.
• A lost document costs $350 to recreate.

Once a document is scanned into your computer, you can convert paper documents into editable formats compatible with Word and Excel. In addition, you can convert forms into “fillable” documents instead of completing them by hand—talk about a time saver! I will give you step-by-step instructions on the scanning process, tips on how to file your electronic documents, and discuss the many other benefits of using electronic document retrieval.

Class size is limited, so if you are a business owner or employee in the Canton or Akron area, we do not want you to miss out on this free informational event. Register here. And if you are a business owner in other parts of Ohio, including the Toledo area, Copeco can meet all your Sharp printer and copier needs. Contact us today!

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Lines On Your Copies?

The first step is to check the slit glass. All modern digital copiers that feature an automatic document feeder have a slit glass. This is the little strip of glass beside your main table glass that your documents are scanned over when using the feeder to make copies.

Any type of build-up or residue will translate into lines across your copies. This residue can be easily cleaned off with a soft cloth and a little bit of isopropyl alcohol or even window cleaner. Completely dry the slit glass, and those lines should be a thing of the past.

Spots On Your Copies?

Also frustrating when trying to complete that time-sensitive copier and printer job are spots on your copies. First check to see if the spot is in the same location on every copy. If so, the reason is most likely something on the table glass. The most likely culprits are white-out and ink from inkjet printers. An easy fix is to try cleaning the table glass with window cleaner or isopropyl alcohol.

Service Techs A Phone Call Away

Of course, if those solutions don’t resolve your problem with your Sharp copier or printer, Copeco’s service technicians are always just a phone call away. You can even request service on our website by filling out a simple service request form. One of our technicians are guaranteed to respond within 4 hours for emergency calls, and within 8 hours for all other calls. Our printer and copier techs often arrive within 1-2 hours of your call, with our average response time being 1.5 hours for all service appointments.

All of our techs carry a large inventory of common parts and supplies in their car to get you up and running in no time. In the unlikely event that we cannot get a needed part within 2 days for your machine, we will bring you a comparable loaner machine to meet your needs.

At Copeco, our technicians pride themselves in their ability to take care of your printer and copier needs. If you own a business in Canton, Akron, Toledo as well as other parts of Ohio, contact us. Our service technicians are happy to help!

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When I have to make a big decision about a product or service, I usually start by reading reviews. I want to see not only how others have rated the product I’m considering, but also how they’ve successfully incorporated it into their life and workflow (or not).

If buying or leasing one or even a fleet of new multi-function printers is on the list for 2013, I encourage you to read success stories from Sharp, a worldwide leader in copier and printer technology.

Whether you need greater printing capacity or advanced software that can increase your office productivity, there’s an example for you to consider.

• How Sharp printers helped a luxury hotel become even more efficient and eye appealing with remote access and exceptional color copies.
• A member-owned B2B organization was able to access and share documents electronically, thanks to Sharp’s multifaceted document management system.
• One Pennsylvania municipality got a handle on its rapidly growing housing allotments with Sharp docSTAR™ MapConnect portal.

This is just a sample of the many ways Sharp business machines have positively impacted the function and capabilities of organizations all over the United States and world. If your office is located in Canton, Massillon, Akron, Toledo or elsewhere in Ohio, give us a call. We’ll be happy to share our local success stories and perhaps even make you one of them!

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However, with a billion results (most often in written form), it can also be time consuming to find what you need via search engines. Sometimes, you just want someone to show you.

If you use Sharp copiers and printers at your office, I invite you to check out Sharp’s YouTube channel, including its dedicated multi-function printer playlist. It includes lots of great how-to videos like this one:

In addition to getting an over of Sharp’s user interface, the videos will also teach you:

• How to rotate a page
• How to move or delete a page
• How to use the image preview feature
• How to change languages
• How to do a two-sided flip and more!

I invite you to check out their channel today and learn how you can get the most out of your Sharp office products.

Would you prefer on-site assistance? If you manage a business, school, church or other organization in Canton, North Canton, Akron, Toledo or elsewhere in Ohio, our trainers and technicians are available to help you! Just give us a call at 1.800.852.0274 or contact us via our website.

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Over the more than three decades we’ve been selling and servicing copiers and printers in Canton, Akron, Toledo and many other Ohio cities, we’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff. I’ve asked our service technicians to share the strangest (and, in some cases, funniest) things they’ve seen people do with their office equipment. We hope this encourages you to take even better care of your copiers and printers, so that they will take good care of you and your organization in 2013.

Construction Paper, Wall Paper and Printers Don’t Mix

Service tech Mark Rader shares his favorite stories:

Teachers love to be creative – sometimes too creative. I once had a teacher run black construction paper through a copier, thinking the copies would come out darker.

Another teacher cut down wall paper to 8- 1/2″ x 11″ pieces and ran it through the printer. This turned out to be a major problem, as the wall paper was the kind that you wet down and stick. When it went through the printer’s fuser, it wrapped around the roller. Uh oh…

Finally, one of my customers received a fax on thermal paper, which is heat-sensitive paper that’s designed for use in a thermal printer. She decided to run it through the copier to copy something on the back side of it. Surprise, surprise, the paper came out black. Lesson: thermal paper and copiers don’t mix!

Don’t Use Copiers Like a Microwave

Service tech Cory Hartley talks about a sticky situation he once encountered:

Scanner bulbs used to be made with halogen, which gives off heat. (Today, manufacturers use xenon, which remains cool.) A customer with a halogen-bulb scanner called about constant jamming in the document feeder.

The problem was perplexing, but we finally got the customer to admit that one of his employees liked to warm up his doughnuts on the copier glass. Turns out the film from the glazed doughnuts were making it impossible for the feeder to run documents over the glass. Once we cleaned that up, everything worked just fine. But we did wonder where all the photo copies of the doughnuts ended up.

Copiers Don’t Make Good Mousetraps or Condiment Storage

Service manager Ed Brudzinski reports that, on more than one occasion, techs have found mice caught in the gears, which definitely will stop a machine. He says, “Printers are a bad way to catch mice.”

After an office celebration, our service techs discovered mustard and ketchup packets inside a copier. Copiers are also not a good place to store condiments.

Store Your Office Supplies Somewhere Else

Here’s a word of advice from our tech Paul Hull:

Never keep paper clips on the copier or remove staples near a printer. When this stuff falls into a machine it usually results in a service call.

Do you have a funny story to share about how someone at your office has used a copier or printer? Share it with us in the comments below! Happy New Year!

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For the past two years, we’ve run a program called Helping Hands for the Hungry, collecting non-perishable food items to donate to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. We’re also participating in Coats for Christmas, an initiative of A Community Christmas.

After collecting 300 pounds of food in 2011, we decided this year to set our goal at 500 pounds. So far, we are well on our way to 1,000 pounds! Each employee who donates can place a “hand” on the poster in our office. As you can imagine, the display is covered with hands.

If you’re not familiar with the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank or A Community Christmas, which are both non-profit organizations, let me tell you a little bit about them. The foodbank does an amazing job of sourcing food for the needy in Carroll, Holmes, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas and Wayne Counties. Because of the size of its operation, the foodbank can purchase large amounts of food for less and distribute it throughout its eight-county service area, feeding nearly 180,000 people each year.

A Community Christmas is a Stark County all-volunteer organization that is dedicated to coordinating Christmas giving throughout the area to serve as many as possible. The Coats for Christmas program, which last year generated more than 2,200 coats, is one of many the organization spearheads. There are 81 local drop-off locations (including our office) where people can donate new and gently used coats in all sizes for infants, children and adults. The coats remain in Stark County and are available at no cost at Goodwill stores and at Calvary Mission.

On behalf of Copeco and all our employees, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas! And we hope that our efforts will make an important difference for those in need this holiday season.

As a copier and printer technician for more than 25 years, I’ve seen quite a few paper jams. If you need to get one cleared as fast as possible, try these quick tips. Although I work mainly on Sharp copiers and printers, many of these ideas will work with any brand.

5 Ways to Fix a Paper Jam on a Sharp Printer

1. Make sure the paper is loaded correctly into the drawers. I know this sounds elementary, but improperly loaded paper has been the cause of many a paper jam.
2. Try fresh paper. If the paper in the copier hasn’t been used for a while, particularly in the summer, the paper is more likely to get jammed.
3. Fan the paper before you load it. Paper that’s been separated will run through the machine better. Also, when you open a new ream, run your thumb through it to get rid of any glue from the wrapper.
4. Check the paper quality. I invite you to read my recent blog post on why paper quality matters, but here are the basics. Poor quality paper is not uniformly cut and contains high amounts of moisture and dust. When you use cheap paper, what you end up with is curled paper, dusty machines and lots of jams. You get what you pay for.
5. Try a different paper drawer. If you can’t get something to print from the main drawer, use a different one. Don’t forget to change the location in the print dialog box on your computer.

Common Mistakes People Make When Clearing Paper Jams

When paper is jammed way down in the copier, you will need to follow the directions on the display to get it out. Again, I know this is elementary, as all Sharp printers (and most other brands) will walk you through removing a paper jam. However, there are a few things you should not do:

• Do not open doors and start ripping things out. Paper should always run in a certain direction. If you pull it back, you end up pulling things backwards that are not meant to go backwards. So, always follow the directional arrows on the user-friendly knobs. On a Sharp, they are colored bright green or blue.
• Do not use sharp objects to remove paper. It can cause further damage. Even jewelry can inadvertently damage a printer.

If you still cannot find the problem, it’s time to call a service tech. Pick-up rollers, feed rollers, clutches and drive mechanisms do wear out, so that may be the case. Businesses and organizations in Canton, Akron, Toledo and other parts of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania can contact us. Our service technicians are happy to help!

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What Is Active Directory?

Essentially, active directory is a directory service that functions as a central clearinghouse for all authentication and authorization transactions by user, computer, printer and/or group. A system administrator can use it to control access to folders, documents, software installation, updates and more based on various security identifiers.

This management tool, when it first came out with Windows NT (remember that?), was cutting edge, and it still is. However, it does have some drawbacks:

• You can only allow or disallow access to documents.
• It’s hard to track or audit who is accessing documents and what they are doing with them.
• People that have “read only” access can still open that document and email/print/save it another version, or convert it to a PDF, before modifying it.
• Individuals with full control can easily (albeit accidentally or purposely) destroy or delete the document.

Why Use a CMS with Active Directory?

One of the best ways to overcome the active directory drawbacks and improve your document security is by adding a content management system, or CMS, into the process. When the two work in tandem, you get:

• Much finer granularity in permissions. The CMS offers more than a dozen permissions, as opposed to just read/write within the Windows environment.
• A detailed audit log for tracking exactly what users are doing to documents (i.e., printing, emailing, modifying, etc.).
• A system that ties easily into your current active directory environment for easy administration. It allows for “single sign-on” ability, meaning there’s no need for maintenance of users within the system. Individuals just log into a PC and the system knows who they are and what they are permitted to do.
• The ability to allow/disallow a variety of actions (such as modify, email, print, view, delete and more) down to the individual user level.
• The option to create a new version of a modified document, so that you never lose your original, no matter what permissions the end user has.

The combination of CMS and active directory are ideal if you do a lot of document scanning and management with your copiers and printers. If your business is located in Canton, Akron, Toledo or elsewhere in Ohio, contact me. I’d be happy to discuss in more detail how these two systems can work together to make your documents safer.