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Wide format printer manufacturer Roland DG threw open the doors of its new high-tech Sydney premises at its official opening last week. The new facility, located at Frenchs Forest, is the latest chapter in what has been an exponential rise to prominence in the industry for a company that that was founded in Melbourne by two staff in 1984, distributing pen plotters from Japan. Today, Roland Digital Group Australia has evolved into a company now employing over twenty people with an annual turn-over approaching $20 million.As the result of its aggressive Research and Development program, Roland Digital Group Australia is now exporting globally through its new production and manufacturing facility. This has been established to meet the growing export demand for a locally developed range of after market accessories.
Masahiro Tamioka, Roland DG managing director, made the journey from the Japanese headquarters to officiate the opening, and presented the Australian team with a lavish Japanese figurine to mark the occasion.
The company also took the opportunity to demonstrate its two latest offerings to the printing market – the Roland SJ-1000EX grand format inkjet printer, and the new Flat Jet series of flatbed inkjet printers.
The four-colour SJ-1000EX is Roland DG’s first venture into the grand format market. It offers 2.6m wide prints, printing at 45sgm per hour at 360dpi. It is capable of printing at a maximum of 1440dpi and can handle a variety of paper and plastic-based substrates for the manufacture of billboards, banners and vehicle wraps.
The Flat Jet series is yet to be officially launched, but a preliminary demonstration showed the printer capable of printing on a variety of materials, including plastics, stone, wood and glass, at 1440dpi at widths up to two metres.
Marcus Adler, newly appointed managing director at Roland DG Australia, believes the wide format market in Australia is the hot sector of the printing industry, and says his company is ready to ride that wave.
"We can do what all the offset guys can’t do – we can be flexible. When it comes to high volume print, offset is always going to struggle against such emerging markets as China and India, but with our range of printers, we can offer our customers extra value as opposed to razor-thin margins," says Adler.
