PARAMUS, N.J., SEPTEMBER 15, 2006 - NAPL (www.napl.org), the trade association for excellence in graphic communications management, has announced the winners of its inaugural eKG Customer Focus Awards. Established this year to recognize printing and graphic communications companies with superior customer relationships, the inaugural awards will be presented at the 2007 NAPL Top Management Conference, slated for March 7-11, in Santa Barbara, Calif. Companies are selected for the awards based on their performance in the Quality Competitive Index (QCI). Determined by the results of an NAPL Competitiveness eKG, the diagnostic tool favored by many of the graphic communications industry's leading companies, the QCI is a comprehensive indicator of how a company's customers perceive it compared to its competition. "The companies being honored with eKG Customer Focus Awards represent a broad spectrum of the industry, from small printers to large graphic communications companies in a range of sectors. However, they all share a strong customer focus and use it to guide their company's strategic direction," said Joseph P. Truncale, NAPL president and CEO, in announcing the awards. Stephan Carter, president and chief operating officer of Komori America Corporation (www.komori-america.us.), which sponsors the awards, noted that "a company's ability to be customer-oriented is perhaps the single most important factor in whether that company succeeds in today's business environment. Komori is very pleased to be sponsoring these important new awards, which honor companies that have distinguished themselves as organizations with a true customer focus." Winners of 2006 NAPL eKG Customer Focus Awards are: Platinum award: Hederman Brothers, Ridgeland, Mississippi; Neyenesch, San Diego, Calif.; TGI, Inc., Flint, Mich.; EU Services, Rockville, Md.; and Branch-Smith Printing, Ltd., Fort Worth, Texas. Gold award: Think Patented, Dayton, Ohio; Branch-Smith Publishing, Forth Worth, Texas; Suttle-Straus, Waunakee, Wis.; Action Printing, Fond du Lac, Wis.; and Bolger Vision Beyond Print, Minneapolis, Minn. Silver award: Art Litho, Baltimore, Md.; Arbor Press, Royal Oak, Mich.; SPG Graphics, Indianapolis, Ind.; Michigan Paperboard, Battle Creek, Mich.; and Sandy Alexander, Clifton, N.J.