New Molding & Moldmaking Event in Mexico Finds Success in Launch

Meximold, a new event targeting Mexico’s burgeoning moldmaking and injection molding sector, attracted nearly 4000 attendees to the Querétaro Convention Center on Nov. 20-21 to see 135 exhibitors filling the sold-out show floor and participate in two days of presentations at a collocated conference, which also sold out. The event was organized by Gardner Business Media, publisher of Plastics Technology; and the Mexican Association of Manufacture of Molds and Dies (AMMMT). The second edition of Meximold will be held once again at the Querétaro Convention Center from Oct. 7-8, 2020.

At the opening ceremony, representatives of Gardner Business Media, the local government and Mexican and international tool associations commented on the unique position the country’s nascent injection molding sector finds itself as it expands rapidly and seeks to build and maintain more molds locally, versus importing in new tools and shipping existing ones outside of Mexico for repairs.

Eduardo Medrano, AMMMT president, welcomed international leaders of moldmaking to Mexico in a spirit of collaboration. “In the AMMMT, we believe that there is no better way to grow than together,” Medrano said. “We hope that in these two days of exhibition and conferences we will make a turning point in our manufacture.”

Bob Williamson, president of the International Special Tooling and Machining Association (ISTMA), also spoke, noting it was his first time to visit Mexico and seeing shades of his native South Africa in the up-and-coming manufacturing country, where a domestic tooling sector will be vital. “Simply put there is not such thing as manufacturing without tooling,” Williamson said. “If a country doesn’t have a strong tooling base, it cannot have a strong manufacturing base.”

Attendees were drawn in from around Querétaro and outside Mexico. From within the country, which relies heavily on bus transportation, 37 buses brought in attendees from nearby cities including Aguascalientes, Celaya, Irapuato, Silao, Guadalajara, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tlanepantla and Toluca.