Sewickley, PA, January 30, 2007 -- The Association for Graphic Arts Training (AGAT) announced a partnership with the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation to co-present the 2007 PIA/GATF Continuous Improvement Network Conference. The event, now in its 17th year, is scheduled for April 15–18 in Jacksonville, Florida. AGAT will present a seminar track at the conference designed to help companies increase their productivity through efficient education and training. Sessions already scheduled include connecting employee training and development with continuous improvement, creating effective training sessions, building and energizing teams, partnering with vendors, and locating resources for continuing education programs. A special Train-the-Trainer workshop immediately precedes the conference. “The AGAT group sees how much continuous improvement and training are connected,” said John Meadows, AGAT president and training manager at Transcontinental Miami Valley. “Trainers play a key role in culture change since we know how to deliver the message in a clear, easy-to-understand manner with a structured, repeatable format. AGAT is excited to contribute its expertise to such a vital conference!” For over two decades, AGAT has been stressing the value of training and best practices, as well as improving members’ skills, knowledge, and professionalism. The PIA/GATF Continuous Improvement Network Conference helps printers strive for reduced costs and increased excellence in manufacturing and customer satisfaction through the use of quality concepts, philosophies, tools, and training. The conference will again feature a series of case studies in which offset and flexographic printers share the intimate details of their quality successes. The case studies focus on the real-life implementation of such basic concepts as lean work teams, sustaining improvement gains, value-stream mapping, 5S, and quick response makeready, and more advanced concepts of six sigma, cellular work systems, gage studies, and creating a culture of empowerment. The conference is also presented in partnership with the Foundation of Flexographic Technical Association. Information on the conference and the article 5 Things You Should Know About Quality is available at the conference web page at www.gain.net (visit “Events and Training”) or by contacting Ned Herrick at PIA/GATF at (800) 910-4283, ext. 712.