“We plan to have the ribbon cutting next spring,” he said during a foundation stone-laying ceremony at the 1.48 acre site close to the provincial capital of Querétaro, 125 miles northwest of Mexico City.

The investment, which Braig said is worth “several million dollars,” is Engel’s most significant in Mexico since the Austrian multinational opened a sales and spare parts office in the Mexican capital in 1996.

Alberto Meade, general manager of Engel de MĂ©xico SA de CV, who reports to Braig at the Engel Machinery Inc offices in York, Pa., said Engel has close to 1,400 presses installed in Mexico, with clamping forces of 30- 2,500 tons.

While declining to reveal Engel’s share of the Mexican market, because “we don’t have reliable data”, Braig, nevertheless, made no secret of the company’s desire to boost business in Mexico.

“Why now, when everybody else is cutting [back]? Not many suppliers are making investments,” he said.

“First of all, the Mexican market is extremely important to us. We see it as a growing market. It is also a market that has grown in sophistication. We see injection molding applications [in Mexico] that are no different to anywhere else in the world. It’s our task to help our customers grow. We are a technology company, with many innovative products and processes. We’ve been here since 1996. We felt we needed to bring this to the next level.”

He added: “Ultimately we believe in the Mexican market, in our Mexican work force, our Mexican customers and their drive to get through this [global economic] crisis.”

In an interview before the ceremony, Braig said that Engel has increased its market share in the United States in the past 18 months.

He declined, however, to say what its share is today. He said customers with new programs that need new capabilities have sustained Engel through the slowdown. “It fits very well into what we do as a technology provider.”

The situation continues to be difficult on the large tonnage side, which includes automotive, housing and appliances, he said, where recovery is being undermined by large numbers of used machines on the market.

Asked how Engel’s scrap bonus scheme in the U.S., which is due to end at the end of September, has gone, Braig replied: “It has created interest. It’s something that people are looking at and particularly if it’s combined with some utility company rebates.”

According to Meade, the technical center in Querétaro will cover 21,500 square feet and house, among other facilities, a parts warehouse, a laboratory, two classrooms for training and a processing optimization area.

“We’ll have three machines permanently running,” he said.

Engel identified Querétaro as the ideal location for the center because “it’s located in the middle of the country and 60-65 percent of all Engel machines in Mexico are in the region.”

Half a dozen Engel customers already have manufacturing plants in the Marqués industrial park, on the outskirts of Querétaro, where Engel’s complex is located. They include GW Plastics Mexicana RL de CV, a unit of precision molder GW Plastics, of Bethel, Vt.

“Of the 13 machines we have, 10 are Engels,” said GW Plastics Mexicana plant manger Mark Wilson. They range in clamping force from 50 to 500 tons.

“We plan to buy more from them [Engel],” he said. “We are now in the process of expanding and will continue to do so as business requirements dictate. There are signs that the worst [of the crisis] is over.

“A lot of our work is new business and also transfer work and it seems as though customers are consolidating suppliers.”

With 50 employees in Mexico today, GW’s work force could be close to 120 within a year, Wilson said.

GW opened the Querétaro plant five years ago. “I’ve been here 18 months,” said Wilson. “I moved from El Paso, Texas, where I was with another firm. Querétaro’s a great location, centrally located and a very nice city. I’ve had no problems with security.”