Plus Dane Housing Halves Print Costs and Advances Paperless Goals with Toshiba

Plus Dane Housing is a housing association operating across Liverpool and Cheshire, providing affordable homes and community services to thousands of tenants and residents. As a socially responsible organisation, Plus Dane is committed to managing its resources efficiently — both to protect the public funds it stewards and to reduce its environmental footprint.

The Challenge

Like many housing associations, Plus Dane had accumulated a print fleet that had grown over time without strategic oversight. The number of devices across its sites was larger than necessary, and the associated costs — covering leases, consumables, service, and energy — were higher than they needed to be.

At the same time, the organisation was pursuing green, paperless office objectives. Staff were being encouraged to reduce their reliance on printed documents and embrace digital alternatives, but the existing print infrastructure offered little in the way of reporting or management tools to support this cultural shift. Without visibility of who was printing what, where, and in what volume, it was difficult to set meaningful targets or measure progress.

The Solution

Toshiba carried out a thorough audit of Plus Dane’s print estate, assessing usage patterns, device locations, and business requirements across all sites. The findings confirmed significant scope for rationalisation.

The resulting solution replaced the existing fleet with a smaller number of strategically positioned Toshiba e-STUDIO multifunction printers, each equipped with the functionality to handle the organisation’s print, scan, and copy requirements. A comprehensive reporting suite was deployed alongside the hardware, giving management detailed insight into print volumes, usage trends, and cost allocation.

The rationalised fleet was supported by Toshiba’s managed print service, covering maintenance, consumables, and ongoing optimisation.

The Results

The new Toshiba print infrastructure immediately reduced annual print costs by 50%, freeing up budget that could be redirected towards homes and services for the organisation’s communities.

The enhanced reporting capability proved equally valuable. For the first time, Plus Dane had granular visibility of print activity across the estate — data that supports evidence-based decision-making around paper reduction targets and digital transformation priorities. Management can now identify high-usage areas, track progress against green objectives, and target education and behavioural change initiatives where they will have the greatest impact.

The combination of lower costs, better functionality, and meaningful environmental progress has positioned Plus Dane well on its journey towards a leaner, greener, more digitally-enabled operation. The Toshiba partnership provides both the technology platform and the ongoing support needed to sustain and build on these gains over time.