Attendees learn concrete practices to increase productivity throughout the plant at Productivity in the Pressroom: Back to the Basics--The Road to the Future,  November 6-7, 2002, in Chicago. PARAMUS, N.J., and WHITE STONE, Va., Sept. 17, 2002--Optimizing productivity in the pressroom is a higher-than-ever priority for graphic arts companies, as a troubled economy and increasing competition continue to squeeze already thin profit margins. Productivity in the Pressroom: Back to the Basics--The Road to the Future, sponsored by the Research & Engineering Council of NAPL, will provide attendees with practices and procedures they can immediately put in place to address a range of productivity issues plant-wide.  The two-day meeting, to be held at the Marriott O’Hare Hotel in Chicago, Nov. 6-7, 2002, focuses on the all-important basics of running a pressroom efficiently and cost-effectively, including: downtime, makeready, troubleshooting, color management, automation, buying capital equipment, and training. Attendees will learn through presentations by early adoptersof new technologies, printer “case histories,” and interactive, educational sessions led by experts in their fields.   This meeting marks the R&E Council’s 28th Annual Progress in the Pressroom Seminar. This year, as a result of the Research and Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry’s recent merger with the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), seminar planners were able to draw on NAPL’s considerable speaker resources to supplement the Council’s already strong lineup of printers, vendors, and other industry experts.   Productivity in the Pressroom is an essential learning experience for anyone involved in pressroom operations and/or responsible for the implementation of new technology, including pressroom managers, quality control managers, product managers, or company owners/presidents.  Registration: R&E and NAPL Members, $615, first registrant; $490 additional registrants; Non-members, $715 first registrant, $590 additional registrants. To download a PDF of the seminar brochure and a registration form, please visit www.recouncil.org/events/2002-ProgPress.pdf or register by calling NAPL at (800) 642-6275, Option #3. About the R&E Council of NAPL: The R&E Council of NAPL, founded in 1950 as the Research and Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry, Inc., merged with the National Association for Printing Leadership in September, 2002, to become the R&E Council of NAPL. It is a worldwide technical trade association whose membership comprises printers, publishers, vendors, suppliers, educators, and consultants. In addition to its conferences, the organization holds technology breakfasts at key industry trade shows and conducts two Steering Committee meetings at which critical trends affecting the graphic arts industry are explored in depth.   About NAPL: Chartered in 1933, NAPL is a not-for-profit trade association representing some 2,000 printing companies in the $88 billion commercial printing industry. Its mission is to “enable the printing community to profit from change” through a full range of management, educational, and economic information and analysis services to its membership. In addition to on-site training at its Center for Professional Development in Paramus and its Management Institute leadership program at Northwestern University, NAPL provides consulting services and an annual Top Management Conference for printing executives. The organization’s Printing Economics Research Center, a source of late-breaking data and analysis on trends within the graphic arts industry, produces its Economic Edge newsletter and annual State of the Industry Report. It publishes Printing Manager magazine, proprietary newsletters, books, and special reports, and NAPL Blue Book Cost Studies. NAPL is one-third owner of the Graphic Arts Show Company, which produces such major events as GRAPH EXPO and PRINT.