InteSys Technologies Inc. has acquired an injection molding and assembly plant in Mexico from TriQuest SA de CV. Terms were not disclosed.
InteSys, a unit of Textron Inc., took control of the facility in the Apodaca district near Monterrey on Sept. 5.
``It is a good site ... in a part of the world where we see growth,'' said Michael Smith, recently named vice president and general manager of InteSys in Gilbert, Ariz. ``We believe it will be a site that will line up well with major clients who do business in Mexico.''
The plant employs about 150, including 12-15 core managers. The 70,000-square-foot operation has 32 injection molding presses with clamping forces of 120-500 tons.
InteSys operates another injection molding plant in Mexico - in Empalme, about 700 miles west of Monterrey. Major markets for both the Apodaca and Empalme plants include telecommunications, automotive and medical, Smith said.
InteSys has other plants in Gilbert; Costa Mesa, Calif.; Donegal, Ireland; and Brazil, the latter through a joint venture with operations in Sao Paulo and Manaus. In the past two years, InteSys has closed sites in Mount Prospect and Wheeling, Ill., and Fort Worth, Texas.
Providence, R.I.-based Textron acquired InteSys in October 1999. InteSys reports within the Tempo business of Textron Industrial Products.
TriQuest is a unit of Sealaska Corp., and the sale of the Apodaca plant further winds down Sealaska's financially troubled involvement in the plastics industry.
Juneau, Alaska-based Sealaska acquired 90 percent of TriQuest Precision Plastics of Vancouver, Wash., in December 1997, and initially supported TriQuest's expansion plans.
TriQuest began in 1964 as the captive molding division of an Oregon computer and peripheral manufacturer.
TriQuest's principal manufacturing facility in Vancouver was converted to a joint venture with Puget Plastics Corp. in October 2000; the venture closed in April 2002.
A TriQuest toolmaking facility in Baxter, Minn., was sold to Ultra Tool Co. of Grantsburg, Wis., in January 2001, and TriQuest closed a Calgary, Alberta, molding plant in December 1999.
Today TriQuest continues to own a prototype shop in Redmond, Wash., and, through its Mexican subsidiary, the majority of a molding operation in Zapopan, Mexico, near Guadalajara.
Nypro Inc. of Clinton, Mass., acquired a minority of the Zapopan plant in January and runs the operation as TriQuest-Nypro Guadalajara.
``Sealaska has refocused its manufacturing venture on the TriQuest-Nypro joint venture, which is proceeding according to its plan,'' Chris E. McNeil Jr., Sealaska president and chief executive officer, said by telephone. The venture ``continues to expand its business opportunities with existing customers and with diversity-supply initiatives with major federal contractors.''
Sealaska lost $21 million, largely due to asset write-downs, on 2001 sales of $146 million. More than 16,000 Native American shareholders own the company.