Lexmark Newsroom

After one year of partnership, Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK) and Rhodia, the world leader in specialty chemicals, announced today the first results of Rhodia’s worldwide printer fleet consolidation.

To overcome the difficulties of managing a multi-vendor, heterogeneous, aging printer fleet consisting of laser and inkjet printers, Rhodia launched the PRIMA (Print Management) project to respond to three main objectives:

• Reduce printing costs by signing a global printing contract
• Improve user satisfaction by using homogenous, modern and future-proof devices
• Reduce the impact on the environment by consolidating and upgrading the printer fleet and multifunctional devices and by reducing the number of pages printed

Lexmark met the key criteria in Rhodia's list of requirements by proposing a printing strategy tailored to each of the group's entities and supporting the company in printing change management.

The objectives defined at the beginning of the project were achieved within a year of entering into the partnership with Lexmark:

• The printing devices were consolidated and upgraded on 13 sites. The printer fleet went from 3,170 devices (83 percent personal
  printers, 17 percent network printers) to 630 new devices (12 percent personal printers, 88 percent network printers), which represents a reduction of 80 percent.
• By upgrading the printer fleet, printing the same number of pages consumes 68 percent less energy, and the number of ink cartridges has been reduced by twenty-five.
• The number of pages printed on operations sites has been reduced by 43 percent whereas the initial objective was 10 percent.
• Seventy-seven percent of the pages printed in black are printed two-sided, which reduced the paper consumption by about 60 percent.

By choosing Lexmark as the printing solutions partner, the initial financial goal to reduce the printing costs on each site by 20 percent was exceeded, and in most cases, was closer to 40 percent.

Lexmark's ability to help Rhodia reduce the environmental impact of office printing also contributed to the success of the project. The environmental impact was reduced in particular by:

• Configuring two-sided printing by default to reduce the number of pages printed
• Setting up shared devices to replace the numerous personal printers

For example, at the Belle Etoile site, reducing the number of devices and the extensive use of the two-sided function decreased the number of printed pages from 177,000 to 108,000, and the amount of paper consumed each month by 534 kg.

"Lexmark's approach met all our expectations at the financial and environment levels by reducing our paper consumption by almost 60 percent," said Christine Peron, director of IT operations at Rhodia Europe. "We completed this project knowing that our business issues had been heard and understood. Lexmark also developed a printing strategy that was tailored to each of our sites and they helped us change our printing behavior all along."

"Lexmark has strategic partnerships with a number of enterprises around the world that are willing to optimize their printing infrastructures," said Marty Canning, Lexmark vice president and president of its Printing Solutions and Services Division. "Lexmark's approach ‘Print Less, Save More’ is well received by large international organizations that want to reduce paper waste, improve the efficiency of their document processes and reduce costs."

ABOUT RHODIA

Rhodia is an international chemical company resolutely committed to sustainable development. As a leader in its businesses, the Group aims to improve its customers’ performance through the pursuit of operational excellence and its ability to innovate. Structured around six enterprises, Rhodia is the partner of major players in the automotive, electronics, flavors and fragrances, health, personal and home care markets, consumer goods and industrial markets. The Group employs around 14,500 people worldwide and generated sales of €4.8 billion in 2008. Rhodia is listed on Euronext Paris.

ABOUT LEXMARK

Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) provides businesses and consumers in more than 150 countries with a broad range of printing and imaging products, solutions and services that help them to be more productive. In 2008, Lexmark reported $4.5 billion in revenue. Learn how Lexmark can help you get more done at www.lexmark.com.

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