Mexico City — As Eva Alzás showed the fourth generation of a Nissei ASB one-step injection stretch molding machine to attendees of Plastimagen 2017, she fielded a lot of questions and interest about its versatile range.
The Japanese machine maker's ASB-70DPH model can produce small-neck to wide-mouth containers in many shapes from many materials for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses as well 5-gallon PET containers, which is becoming one of its most popular applications.
"That's the big boon in Mexico. They're used for water. We only sold six or seven machines last year, but this fiscal year, which started for us on Oct. 1, we have already sold three units. Demand is increasing a lot," said Alzás, the director general and managing director of Nissei ASB Centro America SA de CV in Mexico City.
The first female director for Nissei ASB Machine Co. Ltd., which was founded in 1978 and has about 1,700 employees, Alzás has been in the position for five years. On Oct. 1, the company also put Latin America, except Brazil, under her umbrella. Alzás said she earned the confidence of her boss and then the promotion.
She attributes the sales spike in the show floor model to two reasons: PET is displacing polycarbonate for water jugs because of bisphenol A concerns and cost. The PET products are 40 percent cheaper to produce.
The machine's versatility adds to its appeal, particularly for wide-mouth containers as consumers switch more to bulk goods, Alzás said.