Wake Forest, N.C. — Southern Lithoplate, Inc., the graphic communications industry’s fastest growing supplier of digital and analog lithoplates, today announced the formation of a new international sales department. The new program will focus on meeting the prepress and pressroom needs of customers outside the continental United States and Canada. This initiative is an integral component of the company’s strategy to broaden its base and serve newspaper publishers and commercial printing operations in Central and South American, European and Asian markets.

“Southern Lithoplate has been providing timely and dependable shipments of quality lithoplates to newspapers and installations across the oceans and continents since 1981,” said Steven Matttingly, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Through the recent acquisition of Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging, Inc.’s offset printing plate business, Southern Lithoplate is exceedingly well positioned to deliver next-generation violet and thermal plate solutions to customers and dealers worldwide. As a single source of plate systems, we offer short lead times and rapid order turnarounds so international customers’ production and inventory requirements are satisfied quickly and efficiently.”

To support this initiative, Southern Lithoplate has appointed industry veteran David Baygents as Director of International Sales. Baygents came to Southern Lithoplate from Konica Minolta, where he served in a similar capacity.

“We are very pleased to have David join us at this important juncture of organizational growth and expansion of our product portfolio,” Mattingly said. “We believe that the combination of David’s deep understanding of international business and strong technical background will be a terrific asset to our customers and dealers.”