KBA North America, a leading sheetfed offset press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., is expanding its dealer network to include four new dealerships. The KBA dealerships will handle non-exclusive sales of the 74 Karat, Genius 52 UV, and Performa presses - three of KBA's mid-size format presses popular with small and mid-size commercial printers and digital shops. To become acquainted with the new presses and KBA's business approach, the new dealerships (and one existing dealer) attended a dealer training program held at KBA's Vermont demo center during the first week of August 2006. The dealers who attended the training program were: -Gene and Fran Brett of Brett Graphics, Horsham, PA -Brian C. Leonard of Coleman One, Fairfax, VA -Peter Doughty of Graphics Equipment Company, Portland, ME -Bryan Takos and Mark Weston of MB Graphics, Columbus, OH and -Pat Schmidt of Print Technologies, Omaha, NE. Much of the program was spent focusing on the three KBA presses, seeing a demonstration of the three presses, and hearing presentations on competitive and market overview. Part of the program focused on company policy and procedure. On hand to demonstrate and give presentations to the dealers were Thomas Goecke, Director of Corporate Marketing, Chris Travis, KBA technology manager; Crystal Flutur, KBA product specialist; Russell Snodgrass, KBA's Performa press demonstrator; and Bruce Hathaway, KBA Genius 52 and 74 Karat corporate demonstrator. The Genius 52 UV is the world's first waterless UV sheetfed offset press. The maximum sheet size is 14 3/16 x 20” and it can operate at 8,000sph. The 74 Karat 29-inch digital offset press produces waterless print quality and consistent color on a variety of paper media as well as substrates such as onionskin, board, plastics and canvas. The Karat features the unique Gravuflow inking system. The Performa 74 (20 x 29-inches) and 66 (19 x 26-inches) presses are available in two- to six-color models and are designed as economical entry points for smaller and medium-size businesses active in multicolor commercial printing. “We welcome our new dealers to the KBA family,” says Ralf Sammeck, president and CEO of KBA North America. “Having their loyal customer base and expertise will allow us to broaden our market for our award-winning presses and develop new business relationships.”