Blow molder and injection molder Fischer SA de CV has invested $2.1 million in new machinery for its plant in Cordoba, Mexico.
Techne Graham is supplying the blow molding equipment, while the new injection molding machine, with a clamping force of 700 tons, is from Engel.
Fischer makes containers for the food, agrichemical and cleaning industries and claims a 20 percent-plus share of the market segments in which it participates. Customers include Coca-Cola Co.'s concentrate plants in Mexico, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. The containers range in size from 1.05-52.8 gallons and include barrier technology.
Seventy percent of Fischer's business is containers while the rest comes from the automotive industry, according to Managing Director Roberto Rodríguez Layún. Its annual sales are about $20 million and Rodríguez reported record sales and profits for 2015.
In the past year the company has completed the construction of a $500,000 tool shop at its facility, which is 62 miles from the port of Veracruz. Fischer employs 190. The tool shop employs four.
“Full production capacity for the automotive [molds] side of the business is expected to be reached in a couple of years,” Rodríguez said. “Currently we are developing a couple of tools for containers. It's important to build up our technicians' expertise before entering a highly specialized and demanding [automotive tooling] market.”
Fischer works for Tier 1 suppliers for Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen. Its aim is to do more work for the automotive industry, but Rodríguez said the volume of automotive work has remained unchanged over the past year.
“New lines of business are being studied at the moment. Blow molding has been a good business for us and we will grow this year and consolidate our market share,” he said.
Previously KraussMaffei supplied all of Fischer's eight injection presses, whose clamping forces range from 50-350 tons. KautexMaschinenbau supplied Fischer's 12 blow molding machines.
Fischer was founded in 1998 as a joint venture between Swiss blow/injection molder Fischer Söhne AG and a group of Mexican investors. Today it is a wholly owned Mexican company.
