The following briefs were gathered by Plastics News reporter Steve Toloken at PlastImagen '97, held Sept. 9-12 in Mexico City.
TPI Mexicana adding presses, blow molder
TPI Mexicana SA de CV is spending $1 million this year to add four machines to its Mexico City facility, and plans to create a maquiladora in a joint venture with another unit of its French parent, TechPack International.
The company's four new machines — three injection presses and one blow molding machine — will arrive between the end of September and December, said Francesco Cecchetti, technical director of TPI Mexicana. Ceccetti is also president of the Asociaci¢n Nacional de Industrias de Pl stico AC, one of Mexico's main plastics trade groups.
The new machines will make narrow lipstick containers and an undisclosed new product, Cecchetti said. Two of the injection molding machines will have 60 tons of clamping force and the other will be a 130 tonner.
The maquiladora will be a partnership with Henlopen, a New York-based unit of TechPack International, and will manufacture mascara cases, he said. Initially, it will operate out of TPI's Mexico City plant, with one injection blow molding machine. It should be operating in two months.
Molder Autonoma plans new facility
The Mexican unit of a Canadian molder very likely will build another facility north of Mexico City, company officials said.
Autonoma de Sopla SA de CV, a subsidiary of Woodbridge, Ontario-based Compact Mould, is considering opening the shop in Queretaro, about 120 miles north of Mexico City, said M. Javier Petrucci, vice president of Autonoma. It is ``95 percent'' likely the new plant will open, he said.
About 70 percent of the production of the new plant will be exported to the United States and Canada, compared with 30 percent of current production, he said. The company makes molds for products such as soda bottles and cosmetic cases.
The 15,000 square-foot facility will employ 15 and cost $500,000 to start. The current facility, in Mexico City, employs about 15.
Compounder to open second plant in '97
Mexican compounder Pigmentos Quimicos SA de CV plans to add a second factory, possibly in Guadalajara, by December, according to spokeswoman Ana L. Gomez Perez.
The operation would be the firm's second production facility, with the first in Ecatepec de Morelos, outside Mexico City. The company has a sales office in Monterrey.
The $500,000 plant would have one extrusion line, and would make masterbatch pigments and additives, she said. The factory would employ about 20. The firm also is considering adding a blow molding machine to produce bottles at its Ecatepec facility. The company currently reports about $600,000 a month in sales.
Compounder adding new extrusion line
Especialidades Industriales y Quimicas is beginning production on a new, $2 million extrusion line that will produce thermoplastic rubber compounds, said sales manager Jose Flores.
The company, in Tlalnepantla, Mexico, does about $20 million in business annually compounding rigid and flexible PVC, polypropylene and thermoplastic rubber, he said.
The firm bought the line about 18 months ago but it is just now coming on-line.
