FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mutoh America Announces New Falcon II Outdoor Commercial Printing System


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 commercial inkjet printers today announced the newest addition to its Falcon II line with the introduction of the Falcon II Outdoor. The Falcon II Outdoor is 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 the demands of outdoor production printing. The Falcon II Outdoor 64- inch model will be on display for the first time at the International Sign Expo, April 3 - 5, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, booth #822.

"Based on the popularity of the Falcon Outdoor, the Falcon II Outdoor was developed to fill the needs of customers printing outdoor, commercial grade applications in moderate volumes," stated Mutoh America's Vice President, Business Development, Guy Cipresso. "The productivity of the Falcon II Outdoor is well suited to meet a production run of 128, 36-inch by 48-inch posters in an eight-hour shift - printing at 200 square feet per hour."

The Falcon II Outdoor utilizes piezoelectric drop-on-demand Dynamic Variable Dot imaging technology, which produces multiple dot sizes. This allows the Falcon II Outdoor 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.

The Falcon II Outdoor utilizes four or six-color Eco-solvent ink or the newly developed Eco-Plus solvent ink. Both inks produce prints that are UV and water-resistant for up to three years in outdoor applications. Mutoh recommends lamination to protect against abrasion and graffiti.

The Falcon II Outdoor is ideal for commercial outdoor printing applications, featuring throughput of up to 300 square feet per hour at 360 by 360 dots per inch (dpi). The Falcon II Outdoor can print a full color poster in just over one minute and a three by five-foot vinyl banner in three minutes. The Falcon II Outdoor offers a maximum resolution of 1440 dpi and includes a Mutoh version of Onyx RIP Center software.

Standard features of the Falcon II Outdoor include a 128MB image buffer, a starter set of ink, and for dependable unattended printing, a motorized media take-up system and automatic ink monitoring. The printer provides an adjustable head height support of 1.2, 1.7 and 2.2mm, and automatic media thickness compensation up to 1.0mm. Mutoh includes installation and one-year on-site warranty service with the Falcon II Outdoor. The Falcon II Outdoor 64-inch model, priced at $29,995, will begin shipping third quarter, 2003.

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 Falcon II Outdoor or the latest on Mutoh printing technologies, please visit Mutoh's booth (#822) 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).