LS Mtron opens 210,000-square-foot facility in Texas

South Korea-based tractor, electronics and molding machine manufacturer LS Mtron continues its aggressive investment in North America with bold moves to serve its customers in the United States.

The company launched a new strategically located Texas facility that will primarily produce the company’s popular line of LS Tractors, and also serve as a demonstration center and stocking point for the company’s fast-growing injection molding machine business. The facility will include a dedicated IMM technical center that will host live demonstrations, in-person training and even mold trials for customers.

The first group of stock LS Mtron IMMs has already arrived at the 210,000-square-foot facility via the Port of Houston. Located on 10.6 acres in Palestine, Texas — within 175 miles of Dallas and Houston — the facility will also be used as the company’s second U.S. production site for producing LS Tractors. The company produces over 12,000 tractors a year at its Battleboro, North Carolina, factory; the new Texas facility will produce another 12,000, doubling the company’s production in the U.S.

Texas is a strategic location for both LS Tractors and LS Injection molding machines.

“There are approximately 50,000 small- to medium-range farm tractors purchased in Texas each year,” said John Grooms, USA Vice President of Sales for LS Tractor. “We believe expanding our manufacturing capacity in the state will boost our own sales in the region, and tractor buyers in Texas will be proud to purchase a USA-made — and in particular, a Texas-made — tractor.”

“Logistics warehousing and machine demonstrations for our IMMs in Texas is an important step for LS Mtron’s growth plans,” added Peter Gardner, president of LS Mtron Injection Molding Machine USA. “In South Korea, LS Tractor production and LS injection molding production are co-located in the same factory campus — so it is a proven model for leveraging LS Mtron’s diverse manufacturing and financial strength to provide cost-effective solutions to our end users.”

The new Texas facility offers multiple key benefits, Gardner explained.

“Shipping into the Port of Houston is cost effective, and Palestine, Texas, is a great location for shipping machines to our customers in Texas and Mexico. In fact, one of our largest customers, US Merchants, is in Houston. We have many others, such as NICOR Inc., MVP Plastics and more, in Texas, as well as a large customer in base in Mexico, with over 1,000 machines installed.”

Extensive renovations were completed at the Palestine site, which offers room for expansion and the potential for manufacturing LS Mtron IMMs in the United States as part of the company’s strategic plan. The tech center planned at the site will join LS Mtron’s other tech centers in Wood Dale, Illinois, and Brownsville, Texas.

“North America is a very important market for LS, not only for our very successful tractor business, but for our growing molding machinery business as well,” said LS Mtron’s global CEO, Chai Ho Shin. Total investment by LS Mtron including the Texas facility is over $20 million USD.

* source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/sponsored-content/ls-mtron-opens-210000-square-foot-facility-texas