Carinox S.A. Purchases Third Waterjet Cutting Machine from Flow International Corporation.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

KENT, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2003

Purchase of Custom WMC Gives Carinox Edge in Military, Aerospace and

Nuclear Power Generation Markets

Flow International Corporation (Nasdaq:FLOW) announced that Carinox S.A., Madrid, Spain, recently purchased its third ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) waterjet cutting machine.

Recognizing the versatility of waterjet technology, Carinox, which already owns Flow's T11-2000 2x4 and WMC 3020 waterjet machines, needed a larger envelope to cut a variety of parts out of large, thick materials -- ranging from four-inch-thick armor plate to metal sheets for ship parts measuring 12 meters (36 feet) long -- without time-consuming tool or machine changes. The company approached Flow International, who custom-designed a version of its Waterjet Machining Center (WMC) with Dynamic Waterjet (DWJ) and conventional cutting heads, enabling Carinox to cut different parts simultaneously on one machine to maximize productivity and revenue potential.

The machine's large cutting envelope features twin bridges, which are broken into dual work zones to maximize machine utilization. One cutting head has DWJ with Active Tolerance Control, which changes the paradigm of waterjet cutting by cutting parts more precisely, faster, with higher quality and no taper.

"After receiving a new contract that required cutting of very thick material, combined with our existing customer needs, we needed a machine that could run multiple shifts a day and cut different parts simultaneously," said Jorge Rodriguez, Waterjet Division General Manager. "By customizing the WMC machine with two bridges and two cutting heads, we're able to cut different parts independently at the same time, helping us save valuable production time."

Additionally, Rodriguez said Carinox is able to eliminate its welding operations. Previously, Carinox needed to cut multiple small pieces of metal and weld them together to produce the part. Using the waterjet, they are now able to load one large piece of metal onto the waterjet machine and cut the required part in a single pass -- saving valuable time and money.

About Carinox, S.A.

CARINOX, S.A. provides solutions for various industries, including petrochemical, naval, military, automotive and water cutting for all types of industries. For more information, please visit http://www.carinox.com.

About Flow International Corporation

Flow provides total system solutions for various industries, including automotive, aerospace, paper, job shop, surface preparation, and food production. For more information, visit http://www.flowcorp.com.