Clariant Masterbatches has inaugurated a 43,000-square-foot manufacturing facility close to the Mexican capital.
The plant, in Santa Clara, includes offices, laboratories, a showroom and warehouses and is triple the size of Clariant's former plant in nearby Naucalpan that closed in October.
Clariant is not saying how much it invested at the site, which was built primarily to serve customers in Mexico, although specialty masterbatches for Central American markets will also be produced there, according to Miguel Ramírez, head of Clariant Masterbatches in Mexico.
The company's objective is to bring new technology, including new liquid masterbatches, to processors throughout the region, he said.
The Santa Clara plant also will produce additive masterbatches, taking advantage of product and dispensing technology from the former Rite Systems Inc., which Clariant acquired in 2008.
According to Clariant, production capacity for color and additive masterbatches at Santa Clara is 25 percent greater than at the old site and is expected to double within four years.
The two-story plant has three automated mixers. Expanded capacity also includes an underwater pelletizing line and equipment for producing the liquid masterbatches.
Laboratory equipment includes a multilayer extrusion blow molding machine and an injection blow molding machine for PET bottles.
The plant has six times the dust-extraction capacity of the Naucalpan building and has been designed to allow in as much natural light as possible, Clariant said.
The facility also has a showroom that provides a link for Mexico's design community to Clariant's ColorWorks design and technology centers.
Clariant Masterbatches is a unit of Clariant International Ltd. of Muttenz, Switzerland.
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