Giant Mexican processor Grupo Ortiz is investing $50 million in new stretch film technology.
The company plans to almost triple annual production to 108,000 metric tons in the next few years, making it one of the largest stretch film producers in Latin America, according to CEO Emanuel Ortiz.
"Today we have three lines in operation, with a total annual output of 40,000 metric tons," he told Plastics News in an email, adding that all three lines are in Michoacan state capital Morelia, where his father, the late Nicandro Ortiz Gaspar, founded the company in 1954.
Two of the lines use Gloucester Engineering Co. technology. The third, a 4.5-meter Mastercast, was supplied by SML Maschinengesellschaft mbH, of Redlham, Austria, and delivered in 2020. SML is part of Vienna-based Starlinger Group.
Between now and February 2024, the group will take delivery of four additional Mastercast XL 4.5-meter lines, he added, giving it a stretch film production capacity of 108,000 metric tons a year, including 43,000 metric tons at a completely new facility in Apodaca, near Monterrey, and 65,000 metric tons in Michoacan.
"We want to expand our shares in the stretch film markets by supplying high-quality film at a very favorable price," Ortiz said in an SML news release. "Grupo Ortiz and SML have been partners for over 10 years and we trust in their state-of-the-art extrusion technology a hundred percent. It allows us to produce high-quality stretch film in a wide thickness range at very good costs."
GO employs about 4,200 people at a dozen manufacturing plants in Mexico and claims to be Latin America's biggest processor of plastic resins. It transformed 90,000 metric tons a year for 2,000 customers, as of mid-2018, and enjoyed a sales growth of 60 percent between 2017 and 2018, Ortiz said.
"Since 2018 we have increased our sales by 360 percent," he added.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a positive effect on our business. People need packaging more and more."
GO also claims to be the world's largest producer of polypropylene raffia woven sacks and similar products. Other products include ropes and cords. According to Ortiz, 90 percent of the company's sales are in Mexico. Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia are other markets where it operates.