RESTON, VA – Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) today announced that it will participate in a partnership to produce literary works in book form to be donated to the Chicago city school system. The books will be produced live on the exhibit floor at the upcoming GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING, October 10 – 13, 2004 in McCormick Place in Chicago, through the efforts of a partnership, spearheaded by Delphax Technologies, Inc. The partnership, composed of leading manufacturers of printing and bindery equipment, which will each contribute to the process: - Delphax will print the interior pages - Gladfelter will supply the paper - KTI (Keene Technologies) will supply a splicer - MBO America will supply folders, - Muller Martini will do the binding, - Shuttleworth will supply the conveyor system - Stralfors will supply a cutter/stacker, and - Xeikon will print the book covers. The group was formed to create a full production line with the capability to produce classic literature for school students, and to help enrich school library collections at no cost to the school. The books, to be produced on site at the event, softcover, perfect bound publications featuring classic titles, include Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, Homer’s Odyssey, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, Daniel DeFoe’s Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe and a set of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. The books are used in a variety of English classes nationwide for ages 12-17. Each title is in the public domain, and widely accepted by most school systems as a welcome addition to their libraries. The city of Chicago school system has been selected this year to receive a large quantity of these books to be distributed throughout the city’s schools. The book files are created and prepared in advance of the event, and the books are printed digitally from the files live, on site in the display area, at a rate of 300 pages in about 5 seconds using a Delphax model CR2000 digital web printer. This machine, which will be introduced to the North American market at GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, can run such pages at a rate of 450 feet per minute. The publications are then collated, trimmed, stacked, glued, covered and bound automatically while visitors watch, and finished books are then offered to interested visitors as a sample of the various technologies working together. “Reading for pleasure is a habit we always try to instill in our students,” Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan said. “This generous donation from GRAPH EXPO and Delphax means a lot to us because it helps us promote that love of literature.” “We’ve been concerned over the last few years about the amount of high-quality materials produced to demonstrate equipment at our events that doesn’t get fully utilized,” said Regis J. Delmontagne, president of Graphic Arts Show Company, producers of GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO. “The Books for Schools program is a way to address that concern and at the same time do something positive for the educational program in our host city and promote the importance of books and literacy to the future of our industry and the nation. This is a program we’d like to see other shows emulate, both in terms of the community contribution and providing a worthwhile vehicle to use the materials produced in the sales process,” Delmontagne said. “This is our way of giving back to the community, to help promote and raise awareness of the literacy issues this country is experiencing, and to do something good for our kids,” said Bob Vandenboom of Delphax Technologies, and leading advocate of the Books For Schools program. “We’ve done this at other events, with great success, both in demonstrating the incredible speed and power of the assembled equipment, and in making sizeable donations to the participating school system, so that their budgets can be spread over a wider base of other necessary expenses to help kids learn to appreciate great literature. We’re thrilled to be working this year with the largest event for our industry in the Americas to really give this program some visibility,” noted Vandenboom. There are other advantages to producing such a program for all concerned, including the educational value to the attendee of seeing the differing types of equipment working in harmony to produce a finished product. GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO is produced by GASC annually, and is the largest most comprehensive tradeshow for the graphic communications industry in the Americas. More detailed information on this event can be found at www.graphexpo.com. GASC is owned by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES), and the Printing Industries of America (PIA). GASC is located at 1899 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 20191-4367 USA, telephone: 703/264-7200, fax: 703/620-9187, E-Mail: [email protected] or at www.gasc.org.