The 2026 NAPIM Summer Course took place at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC from July 27–31. Appalachian State University houses one of the premier graphic communications departments in the U.S. and offers excellent instructional facilities along with state-of-the-art ink laboratory and printing training resources.

This course served as a comprehensive “foundation” program that began with fundamental concepts and advanced into more complex topics. This unique, one-of-a-kind, week-long course provided attendees with a solid understanding of printing ink formulation, performance, and testing.

Designed to appeal to both technical staff (formulators, in-plants, chemists) and non-technical staff (sales, support personnel, and newcomers to the industry), the course included actual production press demonstrations and introduced new ways to improve skills while maximizing productivity.

Instructors included printing and ink experts from: Evonik, BASF, Appalachian State University, Harper Corporation, Impact Imaging, Kustom Group, NAPIM, Sun Chemical, and others.

Each Summer Course instructor was carefully chosen not only for their technical expertise, but also for their ability and interest in communicating complex information in a classroom setting. And while this course occurred annually, it was not the same as previous years—each session was reviewed, refined, and improved to ensure the most current and up-to-date information was provided.

Attendees left this year’s course with new knowledge and experience in their fields and a new network of industry colleagues.  Over the years this course has evolved and improved to meet the training requirements of our current industry. NAPIM very much looks forward to the 2027 Summer Course and the opportunity to provide increased, focused and in-depth instruction and hands-on training to next year’s class.