By Stephen Downer
CORRESPONDENT
Published: November 27, 2013 2:28 pm ET
Updated: November 27, 2013 2:30 pm ET
Contract manufacturer Tekmart Integrated Manufacturing Services will add four new injection molding presses to the 32 it acquired in March when its parent firm bought a plant that used to make TV sets.
Toronto-based Tekmart International Inc. bought the plant, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, from Chinese giant TCL Corp.
Junaid Omer, general manager of acquisition development for Tekmart International, said the four hydraulic presses — two Milacrons and two Toshibas — will each have a clamping force of 750 tons. Two will be installed in the first quarter of 2014 and two in the second quarter.
Of its machines already in place, 22 have clamping forces ranging from 1,000-3,000 tons while 10 others are between 170-500 tons. The presses are mostly Milacrons but include a number of Toshibas, according to Omer.
He said the company supplies the consumer electronics, appliance, medical and automotive industries mainly, with the focus in Juárez on the automotive and aerospace industries.
Light-vehicle production in Mexico through October was 2.5 million units, up 3 percent from the same period in 2012, according to auto industry association Amia (Asociación Mexicana de la Industria Automotriz AC).
“The growth is phenomenal,” Omer said in an interview. “Mexico is the eighth-largest light-vehicle manufacturer in the world today and it will creep up to fifth place very soon.”
The 650,000-square-foot facility in Juárez, which employs 700 in a variety of manufacturing activities, has six resin silos and a tool shop for mold maintenance and repair.
Tekmart operates on three continents: North America, Asia and Europe. | 
