São Paulo-based Injequaly Indústria e Comércio Ltda., a joint venture between the Brazilian plastic injection molding company and the U.S. firm Viking Plastics, is moving to a larger facility in Brazil to expand production after its sales went up 51.7 percent in 2016.
Injequaly's sales increased despite the economic crisis affecting the Brazilian industry, according to Commercial Manager Fernando Esteves, who said Injequaly has been actively looking for new clients since 2014, a strategy that paid off in 2016.
“We went from a portfolio of 30 customers to almost 60 in 2016. That resulted in the increased demand,” he said.
The company has diversified its client portfolio to couple with the slowdown in the automotive industry by adding more customers in the appliance, biological and pharmaceutical sectors.
Corry, Pa.-based based Viking Plastics bought a 50 percent stake in Injequaly in 2014, which was crucial to help the company expand and reach new clients, according to Esteves.
Injequaly's new facility in Aruja, São Paulo state, has twice the manufacturing floor space as its previous plant in Itaquera, with about 20,000 square feet.
The company, which currently has 10 injection molding machines ranging from 60 to 320 metric tons, plans to add four new machines ranging up to 450 metric tons by this July. An expanded storage area and proximity to two major highways will contribute to continued growth, according to Viking Plastics.
Injequaly, which has 35 employees, expects to increase sales by up to 40 percent in 2017, Esteves said. The company currently serves clients in Brazil and other countries in South America.
Injequaly's growth contrasts with the Brazilian plastics industry, which saw a 11.1 percent decrease in total sales in 2016, to 55.3 billion real ($17.3 billion), according to an estimate by Brazil's plastics industry association Abiplast released this month. Since 2014, plastics production in the country has decreased 17 percent to 6.24 million metric tons in 2016.
Abiplast expects production to grow 2.15 percent in 2017 as a result of an expected slow recovery in the Brazilian economy. Total sales should increase 1.9 percent to 56.3 billion real ($17.6 billion) in 2017.
Viking Plastics, which also has a factory in Suzhou, China, was bought by Spell Capital Partners LLC in December to give the company additional funding for growth.
