FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mutoh America Defines Customer / Application Focused Solutions For Large Format Printers
New Products That Enhance Customer Application Solutions To Be Introduced At The International Sign Expo In Las Vegas This Week

Contact:
Angie Tucker
Competitive Edge Communications
714-335-2206
atucker@socal.rr.com

Editor's Note: Product images can be downloaded from the Mutoh Web site here  

TEMPE, Ariz., April 2, 2003 - Mutoh America Inc., a worldwide leader and manufacturer of large format digital inkjet printers today introduced its new Customer /Applications Focused Solutions Program and three new products that enhance the company's lines. Mutoh will launch its new Industrial Outdoor Toucan 64-inch six-color, and Commercial Falcon II Outdoor 64 and 87-inch four/six-color printers at this week's International Sign Expo in Las Vegas. Mutoh's Customer / Application Focused Solutions Program, driven by customer need, has been developed to provide reliable, high quality printers and printing systems that satisfy the most demanding, high volume industrial applications to light volume, on-demand printing.

With a wide variety of factors that customers must sort their way through, such as print speed, color specifications, durability, resolution, price/performance, cost of operation, and the flexibility of media, and inks, Mutoh now makes the selection of large format digital printers easier than ever before. By conducting extensive market research within the industry, Mutoh realized the need to simplify the selection process based on customers' needs in specific output categories. These customer-based solutions are divided into five categories that include three Outdoor categories - Industrial, Commercial and Retail - and two Indoor categories - Commercial and Retail. By answering just a few key questions, customers can be directed to the right solution category for their application needs.

"Because Mutoh offers the broadest line of large format inkjet products on the market, we created product categories to help customers decide which Mutoh product best suits their requirements," stated Mutoh America's Vice President, Business Development, Guy Cipresso.

Industrial Outdoor
The Industrial Outdoor solutions include the Mutoh Toucan 64-inch printer, available with a four or six-color option, and the Toucan 87-inch six-color. The Toucan provides dependable, high volume industrial print speeds up to 800 square feet per hour, and true image quality print resolutions up to 720 dots per inch (dpi) for outdoor applications. Toucan's advanced print technology delivers durable outdoor prints that are water and UV resistant for up to five years. Featuring maximum productivity, and low cost of operation, the Toucan provides industrial print shops with a quick return on investment, leading to higher profits.

Commercial Outdoor
Mutoh's Commercial Outdoor solutions include the new Falcon II Outdoor, a high-speed, wide-format, mid-volume production printer for outdoor applications. Available in 64 and 87-inch models, the Falcon II Outdoor offers a variety of advanced features that provide enhanced performance, enabling it to meet production demands in an easy-to-use solution. With print speeds of up to 300 square feet per hour, and a maximum print resolution of up to 1440 dpi, the Falcon II Outdoor provides commercial outdoor print shops with excellent return on investment and high quality output that is water and UV resistant for up to three years.

Retail Outdoor
An affordable, easy-to-use, low volume printing solution, the Falcon Outdoor is designed to bridge the gap between outdoor durability and price. Available in 46 and 62-inch models, the Falcon Outdoor prints at speeds up to 156 square feet per hour and provides a maximum print resolution up to 1440 dpi. The Falcon Outdoor produces prints that are water and UV resistant for up to three-years.

Commercial Indoor
The Falcon II is a high-speed, photo-quality, wide-format production printer for commercial indoor applications. Available in 50, 64 and 87-inch models, the easy-to-use Falcon II offers high volume printing at maximum speeds up to 430 square feet per hour with a maximum print resolution up to 2880 dpi. With a variety of advanced features, the Falcon II provides enhanced performance, high reliability, and the versatility of using both dye and pigment inks. The Falcon II utilizes drop-on-demand Dynamic Variable Dot imaging technology to produce multiple dot sizes. This allows the printer to adjust the size of the ink droplets in its nozzles instantly, resulting in finer detail, smoother gradients and solid, crisp colors that are closer to true continuous-tone imaging.

Retail Indoor
Mutoh's Falcon Plus is a high quality, easy-to-use printing solution for indoor on-demand applications, and is available in, 46 and 62-inch models. This affordable wide-format printer is designed for low volume printing jobs with a maximum printing speed up to 156 square feet per hour. With a maximum print resolution up to 1440 dpi, the Falcon Plus utilizes diagonal interpolation technique to greatly improve apparent resolution and fine detail clarity. The Falcon Plus offers six-color ink versatility and users may select either dye or pigment. The ink drop size can also be adjusted to help compensate for resolution and media dot gain.

About Mutoh
Mutoh Industries, Ltd. was founded in 1952 in Tokyo, Japan, to manufacture and distribute mechanical drafting products. Mutoh later introduced a broad line of flatbed and roll-fed pen/pencil plotters that established Mutoh as a worldwide leader in X-Y motion systems and printer and plotter technology. Since then, ISO9000-certified Mutoh Industries, Ltd. has become the world's foremost manufacturer of large format piezoelectric printers. Mutoh manufactures printers and related peripherals for some of the biggest names in the pre-press, sign and graphics industries. Mutoh has key engineering manufacturing and distribution centers in Japan, Belgium and Tempe, Arizona, home to subsidiary Mutoh America. For more information about the new Customer- Based Solutions and the latest Mutoh printing technologies, please visit Mutoh's booth at the International Sign Expo in Las Vegas. Visit Mutoh America on the Web at www.mutoh.com, via email at marketing@mutoh.com or by calling 602-414-4613, or 800-99-MUTOH (800-996-8864).