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V O L . X X I N O. V M A R C H 9 , 2 0 1 5 26 "It's a huge time-saver," he says. "It used to take sev- eral days — a week, two weeks, even a month — before we could see the actual component we had designed. Now, our engineers have the ability to create a design during the day, print it at night and, while the concept is fresh in their mind, test it the next morning." Farr joined the company in January , bringing to his dual role more than years of experience in the industry, including senior management posi- tions with Springs Window Fashions and Hunter Douglas, the window-covering industry's two largest companies. He scouted potential sites in several states before persuading the company's board of directors that the ,-acre Brunswick Landing would be the best location for RollEase to set up a research and development facility to lead the next wave of innova- tion in the window-covering industry. "We wanted to be around like-minded busi- nesses who are using new technologies," he says, citing as two examples Brunswick Landing's TechPlace, a business incubator for technol- ogy companies that opened in January, and the Composites Engineering Research Laboratory, owned and managed by the Maine Composites Alliance at Southern Maine Community College's Midcoast campus. "For us, we couldn't think of a better place to be located." Located inside the former headquarters of the Navy survival school in Maine, the ,-square- foot building underwent a multi-million renova- tion before opening last spring as the R&D hub for RollEase, which, in addition to its headquarters Stamford, has distribution warehouses in Lenoir, N.C., and Phoenix, Ariz. e heart of the innova- tion center is the "measure and model" room, which is equipped with machines for testing the tensile strength of materials, as well as their susceptibility to fading and degrading under sunlight. Two •D printers and a scanner line one wall of the room. "ere's nothing newer. at's about as new as you can get," Farr says of the smaller printer that happened to be printing a dozen window-covering components of different shapes and sizes at the same time. e larger unit can print as many as parts simultaneously. At least two more printers will be added to the array in the months ahead. e •D printers use a "fused deposition modeling" technology that can create layers as thin as a human hair and production-grade thermoplastics suitable for making everything from concept models to functional prototypes and end-use parts. e center's •D scan- ner — originally developed for jewelers and dentists — uses a "white light" system and a base that swings and rotates to create the precise detailed CAD digital blueprints that guide the printing process. Form, fit and function are the guiding principles for the innovation center's team of design engineers, technicians and project managers. Printed prototypes, as well as revisions of existing RollEase components, undergo further testing in an adjacent room, where "life cycle" machinery mechanically lower and lift shades thousands of times to simulate years of daily usage. "Any component we make has a lifetime war- ranty," Farr says, underscoring the importance of giving prototypes intense rigorous testing and vali- dation before launching them in the marketplace. RollEase customers play an important role in that process, he adds, noting that the innovation center was designed to encourage easy collaborations in which ideas for improvements can be explored quickly and effectively by using •D technology. In one example, he pointed to a wall with several competitors' shades installed next to a new RollEase prototype recently made at the center, whose performance against the com- petition could be easily tested … not only by his design team, but also by potential customers visiting the center. "Here, our engineers handle everything from start to finish," he says. "It's a huge motivator for our engineers to see a project through — from mar- ket research, product design and testing all the way through to delivering a 'manufactureable' product." And if something doesn't work just right, he says, with •D technology it's a simple matter to modify the design, print out a new prototype and see if there's any improvement. Much of the workflow, Farr says, is geared to making continuous process improvements — the equivalent of hitting singles to move a runner eventually to home plate. But RollEase Innovation Center is also going for the long ball in its R&D efforts — the window-covering equivalent of Big Papi hitting a home run at Fenway Park. "For us and the industry, we want to really excel in new product development," he says. "We're a company that's made a significant investment in innovation. We could have located anywhere, but we chose to be right here in Maine." J M C , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t @ . F O C U S NET WORK C ABLING / AUDIO VISUAL / SECURIT Y / WIRELESS / TELEPHONE connectivity point design & installation / ME - NH - MA / 866-782-0200 / connectivitypoint.com Connectivity is everything. Voice. Data. Video. Reliable access to technology is critical to your business. Connectivity Point is a Maine-owned company specializing in network cabling, audio/visual equipment, security solutions, wireless access and telephone systems. We design and install the connectivity for what's coming next. We're like IT guys. With tools. FREE ES TIMATES at connectivitypoint.com » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E P H O T O / JA M E S M C C A R T H Y RollEase Innovation Center in Brunswick uses a 3-D scanner to create a CAD blueprint used in making parts for window coverings.

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