ROMULUS, Mich. - Detroit Newspaper Partnership’s Sterling Heights, Mich., production plant was the focus of September’s International Newspaper Group annual conference, which drew hundreds of production executives to suburban Detroit.

DNP spent more than $175 million upgrading the facility, which features six GeoMAN presses from MAN Roland Inc., prepress systems from Agfa and Burgess Industries Inc. and a towering ASRS from Siemens Dematic.

DNP’s David Hunke, chief executive officer and publisher of the Detroit Free Press; Keith Pierce, senior vice president of operations; and Dan Kim, vice president of media integration.

 Jack W. Nuckols, chair of the department of printing, West Virginia University Tech Community & Technical College, and Becky Brubaker, vice president of operations at the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. ING presented the college with a $500 Chuck Morrow Honorarium aimed at helping printing students who exhibit exceptional press production skills.

Nuckols said the school anticipates dedicating its new Production Innovation Center early next year. The facility is geared at training students who want to make a career out of newspaper production.

Earlier this year, the school received a $300,000 donation from U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.) to help build training labs at the center.

Next year’s ING meeting will be held in Kansas City, Mo., Sept. 18-20, in cooperation with The Kansas City Star. The paper this spring opened its $199 million production plant downtown.