Custom medical and electronics packaging thermoformer Prent Corp. is building a 45,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility in northwest Mexico, it said May 3.
The facility in Tijuana will be operational in the fourth quarter of 2018, Prent said in a news release. Tijuana is just across the border from San Diego.
The 51-year-old Janesville, Wis., company described the Mexican manufacturing plant, which is its eleventh, as world class. ISO 9001-certified, it will feature a Class 7 clean room, the company said.
The Tijuana facility will "access Prent's global package design teams, worldwide machine build and custom tool build facilities" to ensure technological consistency, it added.
Prent designs and manufactures its own thermoforming machinery and tools. Its facilities are identical, enabling it to move production and equipment from plant to plant.
Prent is the No. 15 North American thermoformers, with estimated sales of $165 million, according to the most recent Plastics News ranking.
The company did not immediately respond to questions about the investment. In a news release, President and CEO Joe Pregont called Mexico "a major North American medical manufacturing hub."
Establishing a presence in Mexico "continues to advance our corporate strategy to locate our manufacturing facilities in close proximity to our customers, reducing both lead time and transportation costs.
"At the same time, it demonstrates our commitment to the preferred source of custom thermoform plastic medical packaging solutions in the world," Pregont said.
Prent, he said, designs and manufactures custom trays, totes, clamshells and automation totes for nearly every major medical OEM in North America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. The company was founded in 1967.
"The addition of our 11th manufacturing facility is a key strategic initiative for the company. As we look to the next 50 years, our goal is to continue to innovate, to grow and to evolve to meet the new and emerging needs of the customers we have the privilege of serving today and into the future," Pregont said.
Prent said the new facility will meet the growing demand for medical packaging regionally.
In addition to Janesville, Prent has manufacturing facilities in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Heredia, Costa Rica; Yauco, Puerto Rico; Shanghai; Senai, Malaysia; Holbaek, Denmark; and Singapore.