Mexico City — Canadian mold maker I. Thibault Inc. saw sales at its wholly owned Mexican subsidiary Tibomoldes SAPI de CV increase by 20 percent in 2015.
“This year we will grow more than 40 percent,” Marc Thibault, I. Thibault's CEO, said in an interview at Plastimagen Mexico.
He preferred not to divulge sales figures. However, in August 2014, Plastics News reported that Saint-Damien de Buckland, Quebec-based I. Thibault had annual sales of $12 million.
Six months earlier, Sandra Tremblay, I. Thibault's general manager and business development director, said 70 percent of the company's business was in Mexico.
Tibomoldes, based in San Francisco Ocotlán, will celebrate its second anniversary in June. Its 8,600-square-foot facility employs 25. Thibault plans to expand the business by acquiring an adjacent 7,500 square feet of land and moving into a new building by June 2017.
Tibomoldes' main business activity is in the automotive and recreational vehicles sectors. It makes molds for Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Overall, it has about three dozen customers. Its equipment includes four 3-axis computer numerically controlled machines, one 3+2 axis CNC machine, three EDMs, a wire cutter, two laser welding machines, a lathe and a 20-ton crane. A new spotting press will be acquired at the end of 2016.
“We want to buy more machines and grow and build more molds,” Tremblay said, adding: “It's been hard work but we are very happy. We are growing and building a good team.”
The company has also appointed a new operations director, Rainer Hess, a German who has lived in Mexico for two decades.
The company also provides mold maintenance, modification and repair services.