Why "Count" (Measure) Paper Use?

	Understand what improvements can be made,
	Help justify and explain them to others,  and
	Later allow you to check that the improvements are working.

Your inventory should answer the question:  "How is paper used in my office?"

The inventory can be anything from short and general to extremely detailed.  Most likely it will be somewhere in between.  In the process of collecting this data, you are likely to discover possible improvements.  In many cases, people you contact who have information about one aspect of paper use will have more ideas. 

A paper use inventory is never "finished"—there are always more details that could be found.  At some point you will be too busy implementing improvements or will run out of time to devote to paper.  Leaving the paper inventory reasonably well documented can help you (or someone else) compare past use to future inventories to see changes.  The inventory can be shared with others, in your own organization or elsewhere.  Please send us your results.

As your inventory takes shape, you can begin to implement changes to improve your paper efficiency.  Ideally you will observe the results of the changes in less paper purchased and in other costs reduced.  However, effects often take time to show up and other changes (e.g. in business conditions, equipment, or operations), can obscure the effect of efficiency changes.

 
 

Introduction of imaginary company, "Clever Inc." The offices of Clever Inc. have about 100 full-time equivalent employees, all office workers, in one location.  Clever Inc. annually buys and uses about a million sheets of copy paper, or 5 tons, at a cost of about $5,000.  This is 10,000 sheets per year, which is typical of U.S. paper use.

 

We also describe figures for the United States as a whole, to give a sense of the total amount of paper use in its various forms.

 

Inventorying