MEXICO CITY — Engel Holding GmbH's subsidiary in Mexico says it has sold the first high pressure resin transfer machine system (HP-RTM) in the Americas to a Mexican automotive industry supplier.
The injection molding press, which has a clamping force of 2,300 tons, was purchased this week at Plastimagen México 2014 in Mexico City, and will be used to manufacture lightweight vehicle parts.
“It's the first such system in the Americas,” Héctor Moreno, head of Engel's operations in Mexico, told Plastics News. “Normally this technology is used just in Germany.”
He would not name the buyer or nor say where in Mexico the company is based, and he would not reveal the value of the deal. He said the press will be delivered in June or July.
According to Moreno, 2014 has been the best year ever in Mexico for the privately held Austrian press and auxiliary equipment manufacturer, with sales totaling about 42 million euros ($52.6 million), an increase of about 14 percent over 2013.
About 450 new injection molding machines a year are being sold in Mexico to suppliers of the Mexican automotive industry and Engel accounts for 30-40 percent of the total, he said.
He expects the sales boom in Mexico, which started in 2012, to continue through 2017. “I think next year we [Engel] will grow 12-15 percent.”
But he stressed that in 2012 “80 percent of our total revenue came from the automotive industry. This year it's around 65 percent. We're increasing our participation in packaging and other sectors.”
The company, he said, sold about 200 systems in 2014, including about 158 injection molding machines and 42 robots. “The biggest injection molding machine we sold was to a supplier to the automotive industry.” The press has 3,200 tons of clamping force.
Moreno said Engel's eservice.24 online technical support program, introduced to the Mexican market in 2013, has been successful. “Right now we have 20 companies in Mexico using the system.”
