Global Packaging Solutions Inc. of Chula Vista, Calif., has formed a plastics division in Mexico, and set up maquiladora operations in a Tijuana facility formerly occupied by Xpectra Corp. and, before that, by Mulay Plastics Inc.
``We will have 28 machines with four paint lines,'' said GPS President Jawed Ghias.
GPS acquired Xpectra's assets in July, including operations formerly in two Tijuana plants and one facility in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Terms were not disclosed.
GPS restarted operations in September and now has 180 employees working with as many as 30 molds. The plant manufactures television cabinets for the Mitsubishi and Diamond brands.
GPS sold excess plastics processing equipment in the three plants in a Nov. 16 auction and is consolidating the remaining presses, with clamping forces from 50-2,650 tons, in a 110,000-square-foot facility in Tijuana's Pacifico industrial park.
GPS has a Class 10,000 clean room with equipment to paint plastic parts up to an 80-gloss level and an ultraviolet-coating application system for traffic lights, medical and automotive lenses and aircraft parts.
The firm handles TV sets with screen sizes up to 21 diagonal inches and, by changing the conveyor belt and adding more ultraviolet lamps, can customize production to accommodate TV cabinets of 42 inches or more.
GPS operates three Fadel computer numerically controlled mills with Mastercam software, two Charmilles electrical discharge machines and equipment to do three-dimensional machining for aircraft parts and assembly fixtures, said Partha Kollu, tooling manager.
``We have developed partnerships with toolmakers from China, [South] Korea and Japan to build all kinds of injection molds, and we provide services and engineering changes in-house.''
In August, GPS established a packaging division in a Tijuana industrial park that is nine miles from the plastics division site. The packaging division employs about 70 and deals primarily with corrugated boxes.
Mulay Plastics, then based in Addison, Ill., opened its Tijuana plant in 1988 and the Ciudad Juarez facility in 1998. Xpectra, then of Niwot, Colo., acquired Mulay's assets, including the stock of the Mexico businesses, in 2002.
