FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2003

Mutoh America Announces New Toucan Hybrid Two-In-One Industrial Flatbed Printing System

TEMPE, Ariz., September 9, 2003 - Today, Mutoh America Inc., a worldwide leader and manufacturer of large format commercial inkjet printers announced the introduction of the Toucan Hybrid, multi-purpose printing system. The Toucan Hybrid is a flatbed for inkjet printing on rigid substrates, but can be converted to a roll-to-roll printer for printing on flexible goods in a matter of minutes. The Toucan Hybrid’s versatility produces high-quality, outdoor durable images on a variety of uncoated, rigid or flex, low-cost materials.

"The Toucan Hybrid is based on our popular Toucan 64-inch, 6-color industrial outdoor platform. Mutoh customers have been very pleased with the high quality and productivity of the Toucan, but have been after Mutoh to offer a flatbed printer", said Guy Cipresso, Vice President, Business Development. "We provided the best of both worlds with the Toucan Hybrid, a printing system that delivers high-quality output on flat, rigid substrates up to 3.5 inches thick, as well as on flexible roll media. This versatility is an important feature for many production shops trying to maximize capital equipment investments to satisfy their customer output requirements."

The Toucan Hybrid, when configured in flatbed mode, accommodates rigid substrates up to 64' wide x 118' long x 3.5' thick. Print speeds and resolutions (up to 720 dpi) will vary depending on the substrate. The Hybrid’s flatbed mode head heights are adjustable to accommodate substrates from .08 to 3.5-inches thick. Lasers are used for precise head height adjustment. The Hybrid quickly converts to a roll-to-roll printer where it delivers typical production print speeds of up to 400 sf/hr and high speed printing of up to 800 sf/hr. Outdoor durability of up to 3 years without lamination and up to 5 years with lamination is possible at resolutions up to 720 dpi and print widths up to 62- inches. Bulk ink reservoirs allow refilling on-the-fly, and a heavy-duty motorized feed and take-up system handle a wide variety of media effortlessly. The Toucan Hybrid includes a 21GB hard disk drive along with Mutoh’s Thunderbird PostScript print server and ISIS Print Manager software.

The Toucan Hybrid includes installation and six-month on-site warranty service. Expected ship date is January 2004.

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 Mutoh America, please email us at sales@mutoh.com or by calling 602-414-4613, or 800-99-MUTOH (800-996-8864).

Mutoh America, Inc.
2507 West Erie Dr. #103
Tempe, AZ 85282
Phone: 602-414-4613
Fax: 602-414-4645
E-Mail: Kmellott@mutoh.com
Website URL: www.mutoh.com