Industry News Brother sets its sights on Mutoh
B E
rother has made bold steps to acquire Mutoh in a multi-million-pound deal. The company has proposed to buy more than 4.6 million shares of the wide-format printing manufacturer at ¥7,626 – or £35.94 – a share, with the whole deal coming to roughly £160 million.
The move to acquire Mutoh has been made as Brother looks to secure its market position, expand its product
offering and enhance the corporate value of both companies.
The offer is set to stand for 30 business days from its initial proposal on February 5, ending on March 23. This is to allow shareholders to assess the situation and give time to decide how they wish to proceed.
The minimum number of shares needed to reach a purchase is 3,042,700, but Brother intends to buy all, whether that be through the initial bid or via a squeeze-out.
100th sale for Engineered Printing Solutions DTO inkjet printer
ngineered Printing Solutions has made its 100th sale of its single-pass DTO inkjet production
system.
This milestone marks a major step in the manufacturing industry’s shift from analogue decoration to high-speed digital production.
EPS executive chairman, Ken Stack, said: “Digital DTO has moved from early adoption to mainstream production, driven by the need for agility, automation, and measurable ROI. “Our next 100 systems will help shape the future of manufacturing for brands that demand reliability, fl exibility, and world-class engineering support.” Manufacturers today must support shorter batch sizes, long-tail SKUs, quicker changeovers, and on-demand customisation – needs that traditional
pad, screen, and offset printing cannot meet cost-effectively due to tooling costs, long setups, and skilled-labour reliance.
Single-pass digital DTO eliminates plates, clichés, screens, and setup fees, enabling rapid artwork changes, variable data, and inline 2D code traceability without reducing production speed. Rising labour costs and workforce shortages are also accelerating digital adoption. Single-pass UV inkjet reduces labour hours by up to 81% while aligning with automation-ready workfl ows, including robotic loading, pretreatment, inspection, and unloading. Because digital DTO is
software-driven, brands can maintain consistent print quality across shifts while minimising operator training and dependency.
With the acquisition, Brother will gain access to the full Mutoh range, including UV, UV-LED, dye-sublimation, and textile solutions for the print and signage markets. Popular options are the 64-inch Mutoh XpertJet 1641SR Pro II wide-format press and the XpertJet 1682UR UV LED roll-to-roll printer.
Brother also owns Domino Printing Services since 2015, having bought the company for £1.03bn.
FastEditor hits half a million product configurations
One of the 500,000 mock-up visualisations F
astEditor has reached a major milestone with its Product Hub now offering over 500,000 production-ready product confi gurations. Designed for visualisation, mock-ups, print proofi ng, and automated production output, the hub has become a cornerstone for scalable operations in Europe’s promotional products, merchandise, and workwear markets.
single-pass DTO inkjet production system | 6 | March 2026
The Product Hub connects distributors, webshops, and internal sales teams to a growing supplier ecosystem, standardising product data, print specifi cations, and automated output generation via FastEditor’s Logo Editor and Studio Tool. Rick Molenaar, FastEditor CCO, said: “Reaching 500,000 confi gurations is meaningful because every setup is production-ready, allowing our partners to scale without manual DTP, correction loops, or production risk.” The milestone refl ects broad supplier coverage across promo goods, merch and apparel, and workwear, including brands like: Stanley/Stella, Fruit of the Loom, Tricorp, and Blåkläder.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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