Maquiladora management services provider Tecma Group has expanded its presence in Mexico and in plastics with the recent acquisition of a similar firm with operations in Tijuana, Mexico.
Tecma, based in El Paso, Texas, said it bought MMS provider Made in Mexico Inc. of San Diego, Calif., on Oct. 1, and as part of the acquisition, has taken over maquiladora services for hose maker Plastiflex Group NV.
Plastiflex, based in Beringen, Belgium, claims to be the world's largest maker of flexible vacuum hoses.
Tecma and Made in Mexico both provide support, or so-called shelter services, to manufacturers that establish operations in Mexico.
Tecma said it was seeing increased demand for its services in Tijuana and Baja California, Mexico's westernmost state.
In a news release, Tecma said the acquisition had enabled it to position itself as “the foremost provider of outsourced manufacturing support services for companies that wish to set up and maintain production operations in nearshore proximity to the United States.”
K. Alan Russell, Tecma's co-founder, president and CEO, said Plastiflex's arrival at Tecma through the acquisition meant that Tecma now handles services such as human resource, payroll, accounting and logistics for five plastics processors in Mexico out of a total of 58 clients, 12 of them from Made in Mexico's portfolio.
Tecma declined to identify the other plastics processors but said they included rotomolders, extruders, a blow molder and a thermoformer.
According to the Plastiflex website, Lewis Hermann and Jack Baker founded Plastiflex in Fountain Valley, Calif., in 1953. It operates in four main markets: floor care, white goods, industrial and pool.
It has two factories in North America — in Statesville, N.C., and Tijuana, Mexico; two in Europe — in Slovakia and Spain, and two in China — in Changping and Suzhou.
Following the acquisition of Made in Mexico, Tecma now oversees 5,500 people, according to Russell. Exports to the United States by Tecma-administered companies in Mexico add up to roughly $1 billion a year, Russell said.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.