Designed to provide an exciting yet practical demonstration suite for new and existing customers, Roland DG (UK) has opened its innovative Creative Centre as its UK head-quarters in Somerset. Located just minutes off the M5 at Clevedon, this new facility has been planned to show all of the company's solutions in a walk-through lay-out, with its families of machines complemented by comprehensive production examples from each system.

The Roland Creative Centre is rich in the types and varieties of application which can be produced using its equipment, including full-colour wide-format printers, high quality vinyl cutting, routing and engraving. These examples of output show how the company's systems can generate productive and unusual solutions, demonstrating how even modest investments can be used to create profitable, eye-catching work on all types of material.

The layout of the new Creative Centre enables visitors to view the production processes, from start to finish, showing initial designs being processed before being passed to the output device. Full-colour jobs can be seen generated with Roland's VersaWorks RIP before being sent to one of the company's printers, and the same artwork can be used to demonstrate how the different ink technologies can be used for high quality and unusual results.

Unlike most showrooms, the purpose of the Creative Centre is to emulate a true production environment so that visitors can see how Roland's machines work in day-to-day situations. Visitors can also compare solutions to assess which suits them best with experts always on-hand to discuss creative opportunities and how they can be generated using the best combinations of machine and material.

"Roland's existing and potential customers come from all walks of life, and various different areas of commerce and industry; because we know every requirement is different, we understand the importance of not categorising our solutions or our users," states Jerry Davies, managing director of Roland DG (UK). "The concept of digital production means that it can be used by everyone, from start-ups through to established organisations wanting to enter into new markets. The comprehensive suite of systems displayed in our Creative Centre shows new avenues of flexibility and versatility for a vast range of business opportunities."

The Creative Centre takes visitors through all the different processes on offer from Roland, and how results can be created quickly and easily. The solutions demonstrated include photo impact engravers and production options for rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, precision milling and engraving. These are complemented by the company's renowned families of vinyl cutters, and the latest generation of wide-format ink-jet systems including print-and-cut automation, featuring solvent-based metallic and white inks and UV-curable options, again with white ink, plus clear varnish.

Davies concludes: "Our Creative Centre offers far more than a demonstration suite, enabling users to stretch their creativity and gain ideas about how to generate more profitability. All of our production solutions are backed up by our comprehensive RolandCare support, and specialist courses at the Roland Academy are available for users wanting to move into new business opportunities which we can help them unleash."