Copier Machine Replacement

Global digitalization is quickly transferring office activities from the old forms of handling and processing data to a more complicated, but time-saving and effective interaction interface. In order to stay timely in the constant technology revolution, companies must consider assessing and reevaluating the trending innovations in the respective industries to preserve and promote their offering of quality products and services to their customers. Staying timely in the tech environment entails a constant upgrade of new discoveries, which make work easier in the company. In the article, “Technology Level and Economic Efficiency: Investment Decisions within the Framework of a Central Development Program,” Soos (1983) states that a company should employ advanced technology in order to maximize economies of scale and efficiency. The tech support team offers advice and recommendations to the company management for consideration and adoption.

In the research, the company has to make a decision that will determine constant efficiency in serving the customers in the near future. Currently, the company is operating with the use of five-year-old machines for printing and copying services. The machines are becoming ineffective because the company has grown for the last five years and has experienced an increase in customer base in comparison to the five-year-old base (Soós, 1983). In order to keep offering quality services, the company should replace the old machines with Canon printing and copying machines, which can handle the current workload of the company. In fact, the application of the recommendation will cut the costs of constant servicing and repair of the old machines.

The recommendation will provide reasons for the necessity to replace company’s old equipment; the recommendation will also present the benefits the company will enjoy from the equipment. The adoption of the recommendation by the general manager will persuade the top management to implement the idea of purchase Canon machines as the replacement for the old machines. This recommendation will improve workers’ efficiency, create more time for the workers to engage in other developmental activities for the company, limit resources budgeted for tech support and help in the overall performance of the company.

Discussion

The advantages of technology include efficient machines, which are fast and time saving. In the article, “An International Comparison of Technology Adoption and Efficiency,” Hultberg, Nadiri, and Sickless (1999) claim that time and technology dictate a change in work performance. In fact, changes in technology make companies follow the trends; thus, the companies must be efficient, as the world will leave them behind otherwise. Businesses around the world heavily depend on technology to outperform and compete effectively in the industry (Hultberg, Nadiri, & Sickless, 1999). In order to keep up with the delivery of effective service, companies must equip with the appropriate technology, which will help them to achieve their goals and objectives. The process of change may be simple or difficult depending on the size and management system of the company. Medium-sized and small companies, which do not have enough resources to incorporate tech service departments that oversee the company’s tech responsibilities, usually perform poorly if they do not hire tech services from tech companies.

According to Barmum and Squire, technology affects the performance of employees, who directly contribute to the success of the company (Barnum & Squire, 1978). Linyuan Sun, the team leader of the technology department, realizes that the company has been facing challenges concerning the effectiveness of the machines in the offices; thus, there is a need to change old machines for more efficient equipment. The 5-year-old copying and printing machines have been malfunctioning often that has cost the department extra money on the budget; thus, the team leader decides to recommend  purchasing new machines to the general manager of the company because of their reliability (Soós, 1983). After the consideration of price, function, and warranty, Linyuan and his team finds out that canon machines are more reliable in comparison to other brands in the market.

Factors behind the Recommendation of New Canon Copying Machines

Actually, the purchase of canon machines will improve the efficiency in the office because of wide range of services and reliability. The company employees will be able to attend to urgent matters at a short time. The old machines in the offices are becoming inefficient because they have been serving the company for the past 5 years. At the time of their purchase, the company had only a few clients to serve in the market. Since that time, the company has grown in size due to the offering of high quality to the market; thus, the machines helped the company to obtain new customer at the time. According to Perelman (1979), the companies should ensure they change machines as the technology changes with time. Therefore, the old machines have proved their efficiency to the company. However, the replacement of old machines with Canon equipment will promote the efficient service of the company, as the company is of a bigger size and has more workload now. Before recommending Canon copy machines, the team leader has collected all the necessary information about different brands of copying machine in the market. The information and recommendation depended on the function, price, and warranty of the copying machines.

Function of the machines. The function of the machines is the most important factor for the recommendation of the Canon copying machines to the company. In addition to offering the same services as the old machines, Canon copying machines have added functions, which make them more efficient and reliable. In fact, the recommended canon machines can print, copy, scan, and fax (Canon, n. d.). Such functions of the machines make the brand appropriate for replacing the old machines. Actually, the new machines must offer the current functions of the old machines, since they represent basic company functions; however, the new machines should bring extra  functions for the operations of the company. The machines, which do not offer the basic functions the employees of the company use to make their work efficient, will cause the teams to underperform their duties and responsibilities or require extra effort (Hultberg, Nadiri, & Sickless, 1999). Such a situation will affect the employees and the company, since the company will not be able to achieve the goals and objectives. In addition, the customers will feel the effect, because they will experience delays in service and product delivery.

Acquiring price of the new machine. The new machines are affordable in comparison to the aggregate amount of repairing the old machines. The cost is important because it will determine whether the company will afford the new equipment (The Comptroller and Auditor General, 2012). According to the research, the price of Canon copying machines was relatively cheaper and affordable in comparison to other brands with the same functions as the old machines. In addition, the aggregate cost of repairing the old machines is higher than the cost of buying and installing new cannon machines (Canon, n. d.). Nevertheless, the company can choose to either sell the old machines or sell some of its functional parts in order to recover the cost of procuring new equipment. What concerns price efficiency, the company not only acquires the machines but also gets free expert advice from Canon regarding the way to maintain the machines. Therefore, the acquiring price will not cause any financial instability and staff inefficiency at any moment.

Guarantee offer. Canon has promised to offer a two-year warranty. Several technology companies in the market offer warranties to their customers for the purchased items. Such a technique aims at restoring faith by quenching the customers’ doubts about the legitimate and working efficiency of their machines. According to the research results, most technology corporations offered guarantees, which covered the items only for a few months or up to one year. In fact, some of the warranties did not cover the item exclusively; the warranties only covered some parts of the copying machines such as the software (Gonzales-Prida Diaz & Crespo Marquez, 2014). Thus, the client must fund the repair in the case of any failure to the hard body. However, the data gathered about Canon copying machines was different from other brands. Canon machines come with a 2-year full cover warranty (Canon, n. d.). Actually, this warranty covers breakdowns of the machines for the period of two years since the purchase of the equipment. The warranty will prepare the technology support team for any future checkups and repair. Nevertheless, Canon Corporation will attend to any problems associated with the machines during the 2-year period. Therefore, the warranty will save time and money for the tech support team.

User-friendliness of the machines. All the machines in the market have specific operational guidelines. The guidelines determine the degree of simplicity to the user of the equipment. According to the research, canon-copying machines had simple guidelines for efficient operation. Similar to the old machines, the canon machines are simple to use because they use screen display with tips on data processing. Therefore, the company employees will find the new machines very interactive to use (Perelman, 1976). Thus, the recommendation does not expect any user to face unfriendly response while operating the machines. Such a feature will increase the reproductive rate of employees.

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Possible Rejections and Questions

In fact, the recommendation may face several rejections from the management and the machine users. Since the machines are cheap to acquire, the arguments may question whether the cheap machines will be efficient. However, the low price of the machines does not mean any inefficiency and propensity to breakdown more often. Actually, the research on the Canon copying machines conducted by Canon Corporation reveals that canon machines are among the cheapest copying machines, which offer several functions in one unit (Canon, n. d.). Some managers may argue that the tech support can keep the old machines and regularly service them instead of buying new equipment. The tech support can service the old machines regularly, but repairs will cost the company time and money. Servicing the old machines will cost money the company could use for other activities if it purchased the new canon machines. Moreover, the tech support team will get more time to deal with other tech activities that will increase the productivity of the company. Another reason not to object the recommendation is the frequent malfunctioning caused by regular repairs and high workload. Suggesting the firm to buy the same old machines would be unwise (Barnum & Squire, 1978). Due to the technological changes, the old machines have maintained the same functions with minor machine upgrades. Actually, Canon machines have more functionality. In the market, Canon machines are affordable, efficient, and fast; they can deliver both basic and advanced corporate functions.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The company is facing a number of issues related to printing and copying services. The issues do not have a huge effect on the company’s operations now, but  the problem will start affecting the quality of the services in the near future if left unattended. The old machines are currently affecting the performance and productivity of the employees because every machine malfunction stops the intended functions; thus, the employees, who depend on the machine, have to queue next to another machine in order to get the same services. Despite regular repairs by the tech support, there is a considerable gradual increase in the malfunctioning and decrease in the service offered by the machines (Gonzales-Prida Diaz & Crespo Marquez, 2014). The company needs to consider the recommendation report for replacing the old machines with Canon machines in order to control the current issues the employees face.

Actually, the new Canon machines will solve various problems in the company. The machines will increase the current reproductive level of the employees because they deliver five objectives in a single serving. The employees do not need to move from one machine to another in order to copy, print, or scan. Thus, the expected returns for the company will increase because the employees will have more time to perform other relevant duties for their positions.

In fact, Canon machines will come with a 2-year warranty plan. During this period, Canon Corporation will cover any costs in case of any breakdowns of the machines. Thus, the time spent by technicians on repairs and money spent on ink procurement will reduce. The tech teams will have more time and more resources to research the current technologies in the market, which can improve the services of the company. The advantages will increase the competitiveness of both the employees and the company in the market.

After replacing the old machines with the new Canon machines, the company may decide to sell the old machines to the individuals and other small organizations in order to recover a part of the costs the company incurred, when buying new machines. Therefore, the company should decide to replace the old machines with the canon machines.  Once the company approves the recommendation, the machines will help the company to avoid current and future inefficiencies. The employees will benefit more from the replacement, since they will not face malfunctioning printing and copying machines. The research shows that the employees will develop complacency and will not get full job satisfaction if they face inefficiency in their work again. In fact, the new machines will provide the employees with efficient working environment.