Extruder and thermoformer Xito SA de CV has invested $4 million in a new PET sheet extrusion line that will almost double its current production capacity of 19 million pounds a year.

According to Norman Wright, owner and chief executive, Xito will increase its sheet production capacity by 17 million pounds a year with the new line, acquired from a European supplier whose name Wright would not disclose. The line began production in August.

Since launching the company in 1990 in Atizapán de Zaragoza, near Mexico City, Wright has invested $9 million in sheet machinery, he said by email.

“This next semester we expect a [business] growth of 45 percent based on our new sheet line,” he added. “We feel that, with our … new capacity, our exports to the U.S. will gain significantly.”

About 85 percent of Xito’s production is for the Mexican market, 10 percent is exported to the United States and 5 percent to Central America.

Xito employs 150 and produces sheet from either recycled or virgin PET, with or without a sealable barrier of polyethylene/ethylene vinyl alcohol.

It can make large master rolls as well as smaller rolls for vacuum formers or thermoformers that need specific sizes. Gauges run from 8-40 mils.

Xito also thermoforms PET sheet into cake domes and food containers. The company uses sheet with an inner layer of recycled PET in those applications, Wright said.

Most of the company’s sheet is made from hot-washed PET flake, supplied by sister company Petall SA de CV, which is located nearby.

Petall is one of several other companies owned by Wright. The others are disposable plastic cutlery maker Xactico SA de CV and distributor Wow Plastics Inc., whose warehouses include one in Rosenberg, Texas, just south of Houston.