Mexico City — Privately owned Canadian auto supplier Mitchell Plastics is investing US$22 million in expanding its six-year-old manufacturing plant in Querétaro, Mexico.
The Kitchener, Ontario-headquartered company is adding "over 30" injection molding machines as part of the expansion, Peter Gibb, vice president of sales, told Plastics News in a Feb. 25 phone interview.
The Querétaro facility already has 25-30 injection molding machines in operation, he said, adding that he was not up to date on the exact number.
Mitchell, a division of Ontario's Ultra Manufacturing Ltd., operates 300 injection molding machines at eight manufacturing sites, according to Gibb, who is based in Sterling Heights, Mich.
The 129,000-square-foot Querétaro plant, "will be our largest manufacturing facility in total footage" as a result of the investment, Gibb said.
Gibb noted that "typically we do not identify which customers we are growing with. However, there has been a steady increase in our business in Mexico with our existing customers, necessitating additional capacity."
The Querétaro plant, which employs about 600 and expects to add about 250 jobs, supplies "a number of OEMs. Our future business growth required additional injection molding machines, floor space, paint line capacity and general support for our current customer base," Gibb wrote.
Mitchell Plastics supplies vehicle interior assemblies, according to Gibb.
"Our key products include everything that attaches to the instrument panel, the doors and complete floor console assemblies. An example would be the center floor console assembly for the Ram truck built in both Sterling Heights and Saltillo."