A project called PRINTcess, an advanced printer service, was initiated by former UTAR students namely, Wong Zhe Jia Fook, Liew Chi Hoe, Lian Wei Kang and former Multimedia University student Choong Yong Jie. The official launch of PRINTcess took place at Sungai Long Campus on 26 July 2018.
PRINTcess is the first student project under the Unovate Centre (UC), a new centre which is partly under the Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation (DCC). Invited to launch the ceremony were DCC Head Ching Yen Choon and Assistant Manager Esther Thien Pik Kim. The project aimed to reduce the burden of the students in terms of reducing the hassle of looking out for printer shop and the time taken to queue up for the computers.
“As fresh graduates, we understand the situations that students normally encounter in terms of printing their study materials. The process of achieving this idea was tough because we were students and we had no income. Hence, we had to do a part-time job to earn some savings for our business. However, we came out with the idea of PRINTcess to make sure our juniors in the future will not face the same problems that we went through,” said Wong Zhe.
He then continued, “For traditional printing service, we have to queue up to use the computers and the printers might not be configured or started yet, which waste a lot of time. Now, with PRINTcess model 5520, students will be able to print 55 pages per minute. It has very high stability and less likely to be jammed. Our system allows users to make advanced configuration settings anytime and anywhere. A QR code will be generated once the settings are made, then the users will need to scan the QR code at any PRINTcess located at UTAR and the documents will be printed.”
When asked about problems encountered, Wong Zhe said, “The first challenge was encountering technical problems. Our team was made up of three Civil Engineering students and one Electronic and Engineering student. Since, there was only one person who was equipped with this technical knowledge, a lot of time was consumed.”
“Our goal is to become the largest printing company without owning printing machines, one that is similar to the Grab Car concept. They do not have cars, but they are the largest transportation application in Malaysia. We have adopted that concept,” said Wong Zhe when asked about his future planning.
Listed below is the guidelines on how the PRINTcess printer service is used:
For the payment
method, users can choose either one of the three options below:
Established on 17 January 2018, Unovate is a combination of the Chinese character ‘优’ (you) and the English word ‘innovate’. The new word means ‘excellence in innovation’. The objectives of establishing the UC were to foster an entrepreneurial culture in the campus and to nurture and accelerate the successful development of young businesses or start-ups during their early years.
“We have recruited three teams under the UC. However, PRINTcess is the first startup team to launch their project. We are currently looking for creative students who have the passion to set up a new business and join us. They are more than welcome to visit us for consultations; if they have any problems or if they wish to propose their ideas. Once they have proposed their ideas, we will think about the product’s suitability for launching. In the meantime, we can also discuss with the students to make further improvement until they get the approval from the upper management,” said Esther Thien.
She then continued, “Training will be provided for students who wish to join us.” She also encouraged the students to commercialise their product at the campus to test the market before considering the real market.
PRINTcess helpers assisting the new users on the application during the roadshow
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