Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
March 08, 2016 01:00 AM

PolyOne builds its presence in Mexico

Frank Esposito
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Michael A. Marcotte
    Workers put together PolyOne Corp.'s stand at Plastimagen 2016.

    Strong Mexican market growth has led U.S. materials firm PolyOne Corp. to open a new resin distribution warehouse in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

    Avon Lake, Ohio-based PolyOne also is adding more regional sales support for polymer distribution throughout Mexico, PolyOne Distribution General Manager Robert Zusy said in a recent email to Plastics News.

    “Molders and brand owners in the region trust us to help with complex decisions along the product development life cycle,” he added. “Our model is to grow alongside our customers here by providing a supportive infrastructure for their overarching goals.

    “We're excited to further enhance our value to customers in Mexico through additional initiatives such as technical training sessions and product design support in 2016 and beyond. We're committed to customer success and growth in this region, and we can now offer our customers in Mexico shorter raw material delivery lead times, more local sales help, and industry-leading service and support earlier in the product life cycle.”

    In Mexico, PolyOne is seeing business repatriating from Asia, according to Zusy, who joined the firm in 2002.

    “The cost to manufacture is approaching the same in Mexico as it is in China, primarily due to wage increases in China,” he explained. “We've had customers in Asia tell us that they are seeing year over year labor increases of 15 to 20 percent.”

    “There's also an added benefit to North American program managers. They can more easily monitor their projects in Mexico than in Asia. Another trend is the expansion of automotive operations in Mexico. It's a mixture of North American, German and Japanese OEMs.”

    Among PolyOne's mix of materials, Zusy said that growth in demand “seems to be equally placed across all product families, certainly as you look beyond the maquiladora region.” He added that PolyOne sees this diversified materials trend continuing throughout 2016.

    Although there are similarities, Zusy said that the Mexican plastics processing market does differ from that of the U.S. in some ways. “One major departure is that the tier structure for automotive is not fully developed yet,” he said. “In order to fund expansion, most banks require U.S. businesses to show that they already have a manufacturing presence in Mexico. So the ones we see expanding are those that have had previous operations, and in most cases, those are tier one and two suppliers.”

    On the customer side, PolyOne's current model in Mexico has been to supply U.S.-based businesses. But Zusy said that the firm also has begun serving Mexican businesses. “The majority of our business is with North American customers, as our strategy has been to support them and expand where they expand,” he explained.

    Two recent developments — the new Braskem Idesa polyethylene plant near Coatzacoalcos and the U.S. dollar strengthening vs. the Mexican peso — will impact the regional plastics market, but Zusy said that the extent of that impact “still remains to be seen.”

    “Our strategy is to stay focused on providing exceptional service for our customers,” he said.

    In addition to its resin distribution efforts, PolyOne operates two manufacturing plants in Mexico — one in Ramos Arizpe Coahuila and one in Toluca.

    PolyOne ranks as North America's largest compounder and concentrates maker, and as one of the region's largest resin distributors. The firm employs 7,000 worldwide and posted sales of almost $3.4 billion in 2015. Based on sales, distribution was PolyOne's largest operating unit in 2015, generating just over 29 percent of total company sales.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Prices on the rise for PP, PVC
    2
    Berry CEO Salmon retiring
    3
    This is the year the reality of plastics EPR arrives in the US
    4
    Why EV programs are causing problems for auto suppliers
    5
    Vinyl Institute offering $3M in grants to spur PVC recycling
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified