Świat DRUKU: Roland DG company is one of the most known and valued manufacturers of digital large format printers. It has achieved a huge success. Can you tell us more about the beginning and the history of the company? Which moments of its 30 years history could we count as the milestones for the company.

Thor Johansen: Our company was founded in 1981 as AMDEK, a subsidiary of the electronic instrument maker, Roland. Later in 1983 we changed our corporate name to Roland DG which stands for Digital Group.

In the beginning AMDEK cultivated the computer market with various products like guitar effector kits and OEM monitors. The motorized pen plotters were also a well selling product at that time, and were mainly used to visualize measurements like wavelengths and graphs. We saw great potential in taking the robotic movements of plotters and applying them on a less expensive scale for entertainment purposes. This idea led to the development of the musical notation plotter, the DXY-100, and thus the basis of all of our current products which stand on the shoulders of this initial development and expertise which all our Print & Cut products benefit from today.

Many company milestones and ‘world’s first’ spring to mind when asked about this as a natural result of our 30 years of experience in the business. Some of the most notable would of course be the launch of the DXY-100 pen plotter in 1982 which started a whole line-up of pen plotter releases in the following years. Also the release of the world’s first thermal transfer color printer/cutter; Color CAMM PNC-5000 in 1995 as well as the introduction of the world’s first wide-format inkjet printer/cutter, the CAMMJET CJ-70, capable of printing with water-based pigment in in 1997, paved the way for today’s core business within Roland DG. In 1998 we introduced to the market the world’s first 6 color 1440-dpi wide format printer, the HI-FI JET FJ-50. But more notably our company really struck a core with the release of the VersaCAMM SP-300 eco-solvent printer/cutter in 2003. This Print & Cut machine was designed to enhance on-demand production of small jobs and became a huge instant success worldwide. All of a sudden the graphical market lay open with the release of the SP-300 for anyone wanting to explore the possibilities. In 2004 we released our own user friendly RIP, VersaWorks which ships with all of our printers. This gives our end-users the ability to use our product and start production straight out of the box with no major investment in 3rd party RIP software. Added value to our printers was released in 2007 in form of Roland Intelligent Pass Control which delivers smooth graduations and flawless solid colors as well as the Roland Color System Library which optimizes color fidelity. 2008 marked the year of Roland DG’s venture into the LED segment with the release of the VersaUV LEC-300 UV-LED inkjet printer/cutter capable of multi-layered printing on a wide array of substrates. This series have since had new additions with the arrival of the LEJ-640 UV hybrid printer as well as the LEF-12 UV benchtop mini-flatbed printer. In 2009 we released a product which also gave us great pride. It was the world’s first printer/cutter capable of printing with metallic silver ink, the SOLJET PRO III XC-540MT. Now our end-users had an additional tool to differentiate their prints and offers to the market. The possibility to print with our silver ink has later been incorporated into our VersaCAMM VS series and our VersaStudio line to broaden the offer to our end-users.

Behind these milestones lie a great number of additional product releases which all have helped our company grow and maintain a role as pioneer and leader within the large format segment.

SD: What tendencies on the global markets can you see nowadays? Which markets are the most receptive? Where do you sell most of Roland machines? How important is the Polish market for your strategy?

TJ: The largest markets for Roland DG today are Asia, North America and Europe respectively. Being one of the major markets within Europe, Poland naturally has great significance for Roland DG North Europe A/S who maintains this market. The value of the graphic market of Poland lies in its desire and wish to expand as new technologies become available. To help us support Poland regarding sales and service we rely on Alma Trend, KML, Polkos and Scorpio as our authorized partners, who play a big part in maintaining our brand and market position. Concerning global tendencies we see a large interest in the LED product segment, which Roland DG entered in 2008.

SD: How does Roland prepare for market situation – prosperity, crisis, economic downturn? Promises the second wave of crisis in 2012-2013. How does Roland see this future, can we prepare for the crisis at all?

TJ: Since the crisis began Roland DG has invested large sums in Research and Development (R&D), which is why we now are able to release new products within UV. This shows that we as a company have not let the years of crisis stop our passion in finding new and improved products for the graphical market. Instead we have invested in the possibility of developing new and ground-breaking products and have received several prestigious industry honors for VersaUV technology, including past DPI, EDP and Label Industry Global Innovation awards and recently a Honorable Mention Award at this year’s SGIA in New Orleans, USA.

In short our business approach is long term, not short term, where we want to invest in value adding solutions for our customers.

SD: The large format printers are mainly used for producing of the printed advertisements. What do you mean about the competition of the advertising on the electronic media (digital signage)?

TJ: We acknowledge new technologies within our segments, but see nothing which indicates a drop in demand for printed solutions. We are certain that different technologies can complement each other and exist side by side as we see it today in the signage market.

SD: Roland as each of the modern companies develops the innovative technologies. In what direction do you plan the changes and improvements of Roland printers?

TJ: Roland DG follow the market trends very closely. We pride ourselves in doing our research well before introducing new products. This involves talking to our end-users for opinions and input on a global scale. This in turn enables us to produce products of high quality which we know there is a demand for. This is what our brand is known for and that is the course we intend to keep in the future. However In today’s competitive environment, excellent products are only the prerequisite to getting in and staying in business. Roland DG is dedicated to developing new and competitively priced products for legacy and new and exciting markets.

SD: How have Roland customers changed during the last 30 years? What about their expectations and the relations with them?

TJ: Roland DG users have changed along with us and our development, and Roland DG sees the customer as a strategic partner, and we promote a close and respectful relationship with our end-users. We believe that the strong appeal of Roland DG’s marketing message to the creative user, the exceptional products offered, and the company’s uncompromising support have helped develop and enviable bond between Roland DG people and our end users. The ability to keep a “customer for life” is an enduring value that has been a key part of Roland DG’s success formula.

SD: What is your opinion on the role of the technical support and advice for the customers in the operation of the company?

TJ: Technical support plays a very important role in the perception of our products and brand. Flawless technical support helps keep the customer content and his mind on his business as his livelihood is directly influenced if problems arise. Good technical support is priceless and is key in maintaining and keeping the end-user. That is why Roland DG North Europe is very focused on educating our Polish partner network to be able to handle service and maintenance for the products in their portfolio. Service certificates for all our service centers are currently being introduced in order to ensure a high quality level in all service and maintenance issues.