News Releases

-- TARRYTOWN, NY, August 3, 2006-- Hitachi America, Ltd., Industrial Systems Division, today announced CL1000, an acetone based, low volatile organic compound (VOC) cleaning solution for its small character inkjet printers. This cleaner has less than 2.5% VOC and meets Southern California’s Air Quality Management District regulation 1171. Acetone is VOC exempt due to the fact that does not cause ground level ozone formation. --

Regulation 1171 applies to external cleaning solutions only, make up fluids and inks running in coders are exempt. The CL1000 cleaning solution should not be run in the coder, but only used to clean off the print-head.

Hitachi has sold more than 35,000 printers worldwide and every new generation of printer improves to meet the customer requirements worldwide. The company’s newest line of continuous ink jet printers are the PXR series and will fully meet new European RoHS Directive (Restriction on Hazardous Substances, Directive 2002/95/EC), which will be enforced as of July 1, 2006 in EC countries. RoHS Directive prohibits that electrical and electronic equipment contains lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

The combination of CL1000 cleaning solution and the lowest evaporation of solvent with low print head cleaning is the best solution to the environment.

For further information contact Hitachi at inkjetprinters@hal.hitachi.com. Or visit us online at www.hitachi.us/ijp. To learn more, please visit Hitachi at Pack Expo, October 29 – November 2, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

Hitachi America, Ltd., Industrial Systems Division, supplies a broad range of industrial products and services. The division supplies sophisticated industrial equipment, components and services for application in pharmaceutical plants, food & beverage processing, steel making, mass transit systems, chemical plants, and other manufacturing facilities.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics, computer systems and products, and consumer electronics, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout North America. For more information, visit http://www.hitachi.us.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.