Spotlight on Charlotte’s New Demo Center

Pete Rounds Opens Charlotte Athens Paper Division

In September of the year 2000, Pete Rounds opened the Athens Paper division in Charlotte North Carolina.
The division successfully weathered the 2009 recession and has grown steadily. In 2011, Charlotte began selling wide format equipment.

Pete Rounds said, “We were asked to participate in wide format by our commercial printing partners. Commercial printers are the fastest growing segment of wide format. As they pursued a new line of business they wanted to work with vendors they already knew and trusted. We have worked hard to justify that trust, and believe we have gained the expertise and knowledge to be a resource for them.”

One of the first on the sales team to see the potential for wide format was Thornwell Guthery. Thorny started by becoming an expert in wide format media, helping clients select the right substrate for an application. He followed that by becoming an expert in wide format equipment.

In October 2015, Charlotte expanded their facility and added a wide format demo center with a training room. The goal for the facility was to help customers make informed decisions by allowing them to see live demonstrations on HP latex printers and finishing equipment including cutter/plotters, laminators and banner welders.
With equipment on-site, Thorny took his product knowledge a step further. He learned to run the equipment, and produced many of the graphics at the Athens facility, including the wallpaper you see when you walk in through the front door.

Pete, Thorny and the entire Athens Charlotte team are excited about the demo center. Along with equipment demonstrations, it will showcase printed samples showing different applications and offer free seminars for industry experts on topics such as specialty applications, RIP alternatives, and wide format sales training.