Smith System, specializing in professional driver training, recently held its 2004 Corporate Conference to announce new products, honor and train employees and celebrate its success. The conference was held Jan. 6-10 at the company’s headquarters in Arlington, Texas. The first of its kind in the company’s 52-year history, the event brought more than 50 professional trainers from around the country together with the corporate and sales staff. The proceedings included presentations by executive management on the state of the company, introductions to new products, review of current products, sales training workshops, and on-road workshops for Smith System instructors. Jim Smith, vice president of training, introduced several new training courses at the event. These include the Incident Review Course, a new class on accident investigation, and a commercial airline ramp safety course, targeted to operators of fuel trucks, catering trucks, and other ramp equipment used at airports. Smith also conducted a review of online training programs and the SmithSAFE fleet monitoring program. In addition, trainers worked with training auditors to sharpen their classroom and on-road driver training skills. “Driver training is more important today than ever before,” said Tony Douglas, president and CEO of Smith System. “Our training programs continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers, while maintaining the basic concepts that have been tried and tested. Clients continue to tell us that nothing beats on-road training for delivering bottom line results. We are looking forward to another great year of improving driving safety for commercial fleets.” The conference also included a meeting with international trainers to discuss the unique challenges of adapting to local customs. Smith System has delivered driver training in 51 countries and in 24 languages around the world, including Africa, Russia, Europe, China and India. For a full list of videos, training aids, and courses, call Smith System toll-free at (800) 777-7648 or visit www.smith-system.com. About Smith System Smith System Driver Improvement Institute, Inc. was founded in 1952 as the nation's first fleet driver safety training organization with on-road, hands-on safety education techniques for experienced drivers. Smith System delivers behind the wheel instruction to more than 15,000 fleet drivers each year and has presented their program in 51 countries. In the past decade, Smith has provided services to more than half of the current Fortune 500® fleets and is the only company in the industry that guarantees the quality of their training. In addition to its on-road training and extensive video and DVD library, the company offers web-based education and fleet monitoring. For more information, visit www.smith-system.com.