Maguire Products Inc. (Booth E9101) is intent on conquering Europe with its auxiliary equipment.
Its next frontier is Germany, Europe's behemoth of plastic machinery production. Officials hope to establish Maguire Deutschland GmbH by fall.
``We intend to dominate,'' said Pat Smith, Maguire's vice president of sales and marketing. Although he can't disclose exact details for proprietary reasons, it will be a Maguire company.
``Our emphasis is being a global player. We have the infrastructure to do that,'' he said.
It's such a recent development that officials aren't even sure where it will be based.
``This is all brand-new stuff,'' Smith said in a June 24 interview at NPE. ``We have just begun this effort.''
But this much is certain: Maguire's year-to-date sales in Europe have increased 30 percent. Officials said they've done a good job penetrating Germany, where Maguire currently claims a market share of about 25 percent.
Maguire began its European sales effort in 1995. For 2002, 65 percent of the Aston, Pa.-based firm's sales were for export. Just last month, the firm announced a newly established network of agents throughout Italy, known as Maguire Italy. That effort is staffed by five sales agents, formalizing Maguire's presence there.
``[Germany] will be just like Italy, but even more so,'' Smith said.
Officials are thanking the weakened dollar for accelerating its effort. Additionally, the company could not have expected to penetrate Germany effectively without getting a foothold in Europe.
``German companies tend to buy German products,'' President Steve Maguire said in a June 24 interview at Maguire's booth.
The company operates a warehouse in Europe, with no plans of manufacturing there.
``We're very comfortable with our current manufacturing setup,'' Smith said. ``From a quality standpoint, it's not worth the risk to manufacture in Europe.''
For NPE, the firm is boasting several products, including new yield control software for extrusion operations. Officials said the software governs the entire extrusion process, boosting product quality and raw-material savings.
``Until the advent of our LineMaster technology, the vast middle ground of extrusion processors have had to choose between cumbersome and costly loss-in-weight yield control systems or very basic forms of extrusion control,'' Smith said.
