MEXICO CITY — Canadian mold maker StackTeck Systems Ltd. of Brampton, Ontario, is optimistic enough about the Mexican market to be thinking about setting up a service operation in the country.
“A few years from now we may look at opening a service center” in Mexico, Henry Rozema, StackTeck's vice president, sales and marketing, told Plastics News at Plastimagen México 2014 in late November.
The company, one of the top 12 mold and tool makers in North America, according to Plastics News' rankings, has been selling into Mexico since the early 1980s and has 30 to 40 customers in the country, primarily in the packaging and medical fields.
Rozema confessed to being “very optimistic” about Mexico.
“The Mexican economy and the middle class continue to grow. … In the past we have been competing on lower volume. But as the Latin American market place continues to grow there is more demand for our products,” he said.
Packaging companies in Mexico are demanding quality equipment, “high precision tooling” and the Mexican market is “much more sophisticated than 15 years ago.”
Multinational brand owners moving to Mexico “require the same kind of sophistication that exists around the world,” he said. “We are getting more and more exposure to the emerging markets, while Europe has been slow.”
Rozema said StackTeck, which employs 250, sells only 5 percent of its total product in Canada. “The rest goes around the world.”