Palo Alto, Calif. – HP has opened a 60,000-square-foot experience center to showcase its graphic arts portfolio and educate customers about new opportunities made possible by digital color printing solutions.
Housed in newly renovated space at HP's Alpharetta, Ga., campus in metro Atlanta, the Graphic Arts Experience Center is a sales hub and world-class training facility for graphic arts customers and prospects throughout the Americas region.

Visitors can see their challenging jobs completed using solutions from HP and members of the HP Graphics Solutions Partner program in the Experience Center's real-world production-floor environment. The site also will host educational workshops on marketing, print business management and other subjects.

"This is both a demo center and an important training facility where HP consultants and outside industry experts can meet with customers to discuss the best approaches to building a thriving business," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "The Experience Center gives us the opportunity to inspire and educate graphic arts professionals seeking to take advantage of the accelerating analog-to-digital transformation."

The new Graphic Arts Experience Center will include solutions for the commercial, direct mail, technical, publishing, signage, labeling, packaging and pro-photography printing markets, including:
- the HP Designjet L25500 low-volume, latex ink signage and graphics printer;
- the HP Designjet T7100 printer and T2300 eMFP solution for technical printing applications;
- HP Designjet Z3200, Z5200 and Z6200 large-format printers for professional photography, fine art, proofing and indoor displays;
- HP Indigo 3550, 5500, 7500 and W7200 commercial digital presses;
- HP Indigo ws4500 and WS6000 labels and packaging digital presses;
- HP Scitex FB500, FB700 and FB7500 UV ink, flatbed, industrial signage and graphics printers;
- HP Scitex LX600, LX800, TJ8600, XP5100 and XP5300 latex and UV ink industrial signage and graphics printers;
- HP SmartStream production workflow solutions; and
- HP Specialty Printing Systems, including a C400 Color Print Module for mail, transpromotional and web offset imprinting, and a monochrome thermal inkjet engine for product identification printing.

HP plans to add an HP T200 Color Inkjet Web Press to the Graphic Arts Experience Center later this year.

Five networked conference rooms in the facility adjoin its sizable equipment display area, providing a convenient one-stop resource and meeting location for industry groups and associations.

HP Capture business development offerings on site

Training opportunities at the Experience Center include HP Capture "Ignite Your Growth" business development programs that help print service providers learn ways to launch dynamic new marketing campaigns, expand their reach to new markets and connect with their customers in more relevant and effective ways.

The Experience Center also offers several additional HP Capture services, including one-to-one consulting from HP on digital vs. analog job costing, business planning and analysis using HP SmartPlanner 3.5 software. Customers can learn how to improve their workflow efficiency, color management and productivity by working with their consultants using the HP Workflow Solutions Navigator program.

Combining and growing resources for a better "Experience"

To create the Experience Center, HP consolidated two Georgia facilities – a Dunwoody-based HP Indigo demo center and the Marietta-based U.S. headquarters of HP's 2005 Scitex Vision acquisition.

Theresa Mattioli, former manager of the HP Indigo site, manages the new Experience Center, working with the Dunwoody and Marietta facilities' combined product demonstration staffs. Calin Shope, a former HP digital press presales consultant, recently joined Mattioli's team as the center's new customer experience manager.

Information on visiting the HP Graphic Arts Experience Center is available at www.hp.com/go/graphicartsexperience. Industry groups and associations interested in booking meetings can call +1 866 312 8943.