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S I G N & D I G I T A L G R A P H I C S • June 2017 • 15 Heat Transfer Warehouse Gives Back to Troops Fargo, North Dakota-based Heat Transfer Warehouse, a distributor of heat transfer materials, recently gave U.S. troops a "touch of home" by part- nering with Operation Shoebox, a non- profit that provides hands-on support for troops deployed overseas and care packages for their homecoming. The company gathered everyday necessi- ties from deodorant and shampoo to Starburst candy and magazines. From January through mid-Decem- ber, Operation Shoebox sends out more than 50,000 care packages along with a handwritten "Thank You American Hero" note. This is the first time the company has participated in this initiative. In addition to Operation Shoebox, Heat Transfer Warehouse gives back in a number of ways, including its annual Adopt-a-School, Giving Hearts Day program, and more. Roland Founder Ikutaro Kakehashi Dies at 87 Ikutaro Kakehashi, an electronics and musical visionary who founded the global corporation Roland, has died of heart failure at age of 87, according to an announcement from ATV Corp., the company he founded late in life, and led until the time of his death. Kakehashi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1930, and at 16 opened his first business, the "Kakehashi Clock Shop." Continually pursuing his twin passions of electronics and music through the decades, Kakehashi launched the Ace Electronic Industry Co. in 1960 and, in 1968, formed a joint company with the legendary American organ com- pany Hammond. Following the partnership with Hammond, Kakehashi decided to go it alone and founded Roland in 1972. The company's synthesizers, drum machines and other devices soon became wildly popular and were adopted by musicians of all genres. In 1981 AMDEK Corp. was established as a subsidiary of Roland and was manu- facturing electronic musical instrument kits, but soon introduced the DXY-100 pen plotter, which could be connected to a computer to produce architectural drawings and schematics. In 1983 the subsidiary changed its name to Roland DG, which stood for digital group. By 1986 it had produced its first 3D milling machine, and the following year its first engraver. In 1988 released its first cutting plotter and, in 1995—the same year Kakehashi became Roland's chairman—the company came out with the Color CAMM PNC-5000, which it calls the world's first thermal transfer technology color printer/ cutter. Two years later it introduced the CAMMJET CJ-70, the world's first wide-for- mat inkjet printer/cutter, which printed using water-based pigment ink. Today the company's wide-format printers, cutters and engraving devices are in use all over the world, as are Roland's musical instruments.