Graphicscalve s.r.l., a major printing company in Northern Italy, recently signed an order for a 12-color DIAMOND 3000TP Tandem Perfector and a DIAMOND 16 MAX commercial web offset press. The order marks several "firsts" for Mitsubishi, including the company's first Tandem Perfector (TP) to be supplied in a 12-unit (six-over-six) configuration and the first MAX-Series press to be delivered in Italy. Both presses are slated to arrive in Italy in April 2007 and will go into commercial operations in July.

Located in the foothills of the Alps approximately 100 kilometers northeast of Milan, Italy's second-largest city, Graphicscalve is primarily a magazine and commercial publication printer serving customers throughout the northern Italy region. The company currently operates two Mitsubishi sheet-fed presses and a commercial web offset press.

The DIAMOND 3000TP is the only sheet-fed press in the world that handles one-pass printing of both sheet sides without reversing the sheet after fully printing one side. For jobs requiring double-sided printing, perfector presses are much more productive than conventional singleside printing presses. The former are capable of shortening print delivery time to one-third since they do not require time for drying one side of the sheet - a process which can take up to one full day - before the other side can be printed.

Since their introduction in 2002, Mitsubishi's TP presses have been highly commended for the aforementioned features that precisely meet customers' printing requirements. To date Mitsubishi has received orders for more than 100 TP presses in total, with nearly 70% of these orders originating from overseas. The DIAMOND 3000TP-12 ordered by Graphicscalve represents the high end of the TP series with the capacity for 12-color printing (6 colors each on the front and reverse sheet sides).

The Mitsubishi DIAMOND 16 MAX is Japan's first shaftless drive commercial web offset press.This 16-page press achieves outstanding efficiency through extensive reduction in paper waste and shortening of makeready time. The DIAMOND 16 MAX offers flexibility to accommodate diverse printing requirements, from small to large volumes, all with one press.

Negotiations relative to this latest order were handled by Mitsubishi's exclusive press sales distributor in Italy, AssGraf S.p.A., and coordinated through the Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP) Europe office in France. Graphicscalve's high praise for its existing Mitsubishi presses and its successful evaluation of the two new presses are believed to be contributing factors leading to this order. The new presses will serve a key role in Graphicscalve's pursuit of higher quality and economic efficiency in printing.

On the strength of excellent productivity and print quality found in Mitsubishi printing presses, Mitsubishi aims to further accelerate its marketing activities in the U.S and Europe, as well as in the rapidly growing Chinese, Indian and other Asian markets.