Since WhatTheyThink spoke with Ralf Sammeck, president and CEO of KBA North America, last summer, the company has continued to serve notice on the printing industry that it is a force to be reckoned with. Armed with a portfolio of award-winning press technologies, the company is flexing its marketing, sales and service muscle in an effort to win the hearts, minds and loyalty of commercial and packaging printers across the U.S. and Canada. WhatTheyThink recently sat down again with Sammeck to review the company’s key accomplishments over the past 12 months, the initiatives it has underway, and the objectives it plans to achieve.

You cannot explain to a customer that if you will first buy our equipment we’ll find a way to take care of your service and parts. We invest first with infrastructure, service and parts, and then we go after the market. If you do it the other way, sell one or two presses and the customer is unhappy—what then?

WTT: KBA has been beefing up its North American organization, adding sales and technology personnel, and expanding and strengthening its presence in U.S. regional markets. Could you comment on these developments?