PARAMUS, N.J., MAY 24, 2006 – NAPL (www.napl.org), the trade association for excellence in graphic communications management, has established the eKG Customer Focus Awards. To be bestowed annually, the inaugural awards will be presented at NAPL’s 2007 Top Management Conference, slated for March 7-11, in Santa Barbara, Calif. “Developing a truly customer-focused organization is now a business imperative. The time for printers to take a job-by-job approach to business is gone. Today’s printers must gain insights into their customers’ businesses and develop the products and services that can help them become true strategic partners that contribute to their customers’ success,” said Joseph P. Truncale, NAPL president and chief executive officer, in announcing the new award program. “Running a truly customer-focused organization has always given companies a competitive advantage but, in today’s hyper-competitive business environment, it’s become a prerequisite for success. NAPL has established this comprehensive recognition program to underscore the importance of adopting a customer focus and using it to guide your company’s strategic direction.” The new awards will recognize those printing and graphic communications companies with superior customer relationships 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 is perceived by its customers compared to its competition. The Competitiveness eKG has been surveying printing company customers for 13 years. The findings have resulted in a comprehensive database that NAPL can draw on to benchmark for eKG clients how their performance ranks compared with other companies and what they can do to improve their QCI. “The benefits to participants of the Customer Focus Awards competition extends well beyond the award itself,” notes Truncale. “More importantly, participating in the program will help graphic communications companies put a program in place for getting concrete, actionable information on how to strengthen their customer relationships and what they need to do to create value for customers. Also, being identified as an eKG Customer Focus Award winner will help distinguish them in the marketplace by identifying them as a company that is truly focused on the needs and objectives of their clients.” The eKG Customer Focus Awards include Merit, Silver, and Gold honors and a Chairman’s Circle award, the competition’s highest honor. For more information on the NAPL Competitiveness eKG and the eKG Customer Focus Awards, please contact Joseph Truncale at 800.642.6275, ext. 1310, or [email protected].