SANTA BARBARA, CA, MARCH 12, 2007 – Joseph P. Truncale, president and chief executive officer of NAPL, the trade association for excellence in graphic communications management, met on March 8, 2007, during the Association’s Top Management Conference in Santa Barbara, CA, with executives of three diverse graphic communications companies to discuss how they apply best practices in their organizations. That far-ranging conversation is available in a new NAPL podcast, available at no charge on the NAPL website. Joining Truncale on the podcast were: - NAPL Board member Maudie Briggs, president and chief executive officer of Morrison Communications, Morristown, TN, a 72-employee commercial printing company doing about 70% of its business in the tourism market. - Don Bergeron, executive vice president of Daily Printing, Plymouth, MN, the largest employee-owned printing company in Minnesota. The 114-employee-owner company operates from a 70,000 sq. ft. facility with room for expansion, and offers offset printing, digital and variable data printing, die cutting, foil stamping and other services. - Jerry Mechell, president, Swifty Printing & Graphics, Arlington, Texas, which has experienced an average growth of 15% a year since 1990. In that time, the company has expanded from a four-person operation to a 18-employee organization today doing about $2.3 million in sales and offering a variety of print and print-related services mainly to small and mid-size commercial businesses. Briggs, Mechell, and Bergeron, along with David Harding, president and chief executive officer, Harding Poorman Group, Indianapolis, IN, participated in a session on “Best Practices” on March 10 at NAPL’s TMC 2007. During the audio podcast, the three company leaders discussed best practices in terms of operations, employee training, staff recruitment and retention, customer feedback, and other key areas. A common theme throughout the discussion was that all three company leaders cited a focus on the customer as the origin for the development of their best practices and all have processes in place for continually monitoring—and responding to—the evolving needs of their clients. “All the programs we’ve introduced in the last 12 months have com from responding to customer needs or requests, including our expansion into digital printing,” said Bergeron. “We want to be the customer’s resource for all their print and print-related needs,” said Mechell. “We’ll make sure we can provide them with everything they need, even if we have to outsource it.” “Our main focus is trying to make our customers’ life was painless as possible,” said Briggs. “It’s customer care at the highest level.”