Brazilian molder and moldmaker Jaguar Indústria e Comércio de Plásticos Ltda. (Jaguariúna) has invested approximately $18 million in 220,000m² of land in its current city where it plans to build a new 35,000m² facility. This summer, it also plans to take delivery of seven new injection molding machines, investing in all-electric and hybrid presses from Demag (four) and Arburg (three).

Speaking with PlasticsToday from his company's booth at the 26^th International Fair of Packaging and Processing for the Food and Beverage Industry (FISPAL; São Paulo, Brazil; June 8-11), Luiz Adolfo Bascheira, Jaguar's director, said the company plans to have completed the building by 2014, with the ability to scale the site up to 50,000m² of production space as demand requires. The new plant, which is also in Jaguariúna, is approximately 10 km from its existing operation, which opened in 1978 and covers 15,000m² with around 800 employees. Jaguariúna itself is 140 km from city of São Paulo, and is within the state of São Paulo.

Bascheira said his company is receiving financing assistance from Brazil's national development bank to make the investment, which in addition to helping it serve the domestic market, is intended to make give it greater scale to more aggressively pursue exports. A member of the Brazilian government's Export Plastics Program for two years, Jaguar currently exports to 11 countries, with customers in Bulgaria, Angola, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and elsewhere. The company produces a stock line of pails, ranging from 3.6 to 30 liters, as well as a range of housewares and caps and closures. Including partner companies, Jaguar runs 52 injection molding machines ranging in size from 100 to 1500 tonnes, buying European models including Arburg, Demag, Engel, KraussMaffei, and Ferromatik Milacron. Starting in 1990, the company began in-house production of tooling, with 80% of the molds they make, including 128-cavity closure molds, fabricated in house.

Bascheira said that over the last five years, the company has grown by about 20% per year, with particularly strong demand for food packaging and inmold-labeling projects. "With this growth, we felt we were big enough to go international," Bascheira said. To that end the company also hired Ariane Xavier da Silva Pillon Spadine to handle international business. —Tony Deligio