Sept 28, 2006 -- KBA North America, a leading sheetfed offset press manufacturer based in Williston, Vt., is strengthening its sales team and dealer relationships by making a number of new appointments. In its fast-growing West Coast territory, Rick Parks will be overseeing the district sales managers as the new regional vice president of sales. On the East Coast, Jeff Tignall has been give responsibility to handle sales for the Mid-Atlantic region. For the ever-expanding dealer market, Dan Macke is newly-responsible for the KBA dealer network as the distribution manager. Newly-instated regional vice president for the West Coast, Rick Parks brings a wealth of knowledge about press sales and western regional printers to his new position with KBA. Parks, who will be based in the Los Angeles region, will be overseeing all district sales managers along the Pacific seaboard from southern California to western Canada. Parks joins KBA after serving as the general manager of the West Coast for another press manufacturer for the past seventeen years. Prior to that position, Parks worked for eight years for his father's printing business, Bernard Litho, in Knoxville, Tenn., which specialized in large format printing. He gained considerable knowledge about the inner workings of a commercial printer as well as sales and support and customer accounts. Solutions-oriented; partners with customers "I'm a solutions-oriented person who likes to partner with my customers," says Parks. "KBA shares my commitment. That's why I'm pleased to be joining a company that shares my beliefs. In addition, KBA has new developments in hardware and applications that deliver results in today's competitive environment. KBA supports customer solutions for specific applications rather than the one-size-fits-all mentality." Jeff Tignall's new position as a district sales manager for KBA requires him to be responsible for the Mid-Atlantic region of Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. He will be based out of his Baltimore, Md. office. Tignall has spent 20 years in the graphic arts industry primarily with Bottcher America selling graphic arts consumables such as rollers, blankets, chemistry, and press supplies, and assisting in product and sales training. Shared philosophy with KBA "I have always believed that you must treat each customer as an individual and address their individual needs," says Tignall. "It wasn't long before I recognized that KBA shared the same philosophy. Custom building each press to meet customer specifications and investing in additional factory trained service personnel to make insure customer satisfaction are only a few reflections of this philosophy. They have a true commitment to their customers throughout the organization as a partner in their business and I look forward to being a part of their dramatic growth in the US market. There is a buzz in the industry about KBA and I am excited to have the opportunity to represent their product line." Dan Macke joins KBA as its distribution manager overseeing and strengthening KBA's new dealer network across the US and Canada. Macke has strong skills in this area having been a graphic arts dealer himself for 12 years and working for another press manufacturer as their southeast manager supporting dealers in ten states and Puerto Rico. His experience also includes seven years spent as national sales manager and general manager president positions with Polly USA, the manufacturer of Polly sheetfed presses, where he brought a new brand to the marketplace and also set up a dealer network nationwide. Win-win situation for dealer/KBA/customer "I am excited about working with KBA because their programs allow the dealer to provide very high tech products to their customers," says Macke. "In the past this was difficult because of the cost and experience needed. Our program at KBA doesn't require the dealer to "be a reseller" nor invest in service support. Instead, the dealer acts as our sales person and the customer buys direct from KBA and is supported by our service staff. KBA gains new customers that are growing and the dealer gains product that was to "expensive to handle". This is a win-win-win situation for the dealer/KBA/customer." "Having Rick Parks, Jeff Tignall, and Dan Macke on our team will be an additional boost to our entire effort of having the best customer service in our market," says Ralf Sammeck, KBA North America's president and CEO. "All of these men will highly represent KBA's commitment to having leading edge press technology and our desire to partner with our customers and help them to differentiate themselves from their competition." KBA North America is a leading supplier of sheetfed offset and digital presses located in Williston, VT. It is a member of the KBA Group, a leader in the manufacture of sheetfed offset, digital offset, web offset, rotogravure directory, security, and newspaper presses.