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GW Plastics Opens Central Mexico Plant to Serve Leading Automotive and Healthcare Customers

New GW Plastics Querétaro Plant joins four other high precision, plastic injection molding plants in North America (NAFTA region)

Bethel, Vermont - May 20th, 2005 - GW Plastics, one of North America's most advanced injection molding providers of precision tooling, components and assemblies, announced its opening of a new plant in Central Mexico to better serve its customers. The state-of-the-art facility is located in Querétaro, about two hours northwest of Mexico City, and will meet regional demands for increased high precision molding and tooling capacity in this growing industrial region of the country.

"We supply our Northern Mexico customers from our GW plants in San Antonio, Texas or Tucson, Arizona," says GW Plastics' Ben Bouchard, V.P. Marketing. "But this new presence will allow us to better serve existing and new customers in Central Mexico."

High quality manufacturing with high quality living environment
Recognizing the need for additional high quality, high precision plastic injection molding capacity in the growing market, GW Plastics looked for a special site. As with the other GW Plastics locations, the company looked for one that would be desirable enough to attract and retain key managerial and skilled employees. They found it in Querétaro, a city of 1.5 million people with an attractive quality of life. The plant is located in one of the newest industrial parks in Latin America, with the latest infrastructure, transportation logistics and aesthetics. This plant will also share the high standardization in equipment, operating practices and quality systems, including ISO 9001:2000 and TS certifications, with all other GW Plastics plants.

Ready for action with room to grow
GW Plastics designed the initial phase of operation to accommodate up to 25 highly automated conventional and insert molding machines. The plant has room for value-added assembly operations and the capacity to expand to 40 machines. GW Plastics has also provided space for a Class 100,000 clean room to serve its growing medical customer base in the region.

"We believe this plant is in an excellent place to support our customers in Mexico City, Toluca and Guadalajara," says Bouchard. "We look forward to
growing here with them."

GW Plastics is a global, high-precision injection molder, mold builder and contract manufacturer specializing in single-source responsibility for medium-to-high volume, close-tolerance components and assemblies. Ranked among the top 100 molders in North America, GW Plastics’ leading-edge technologies, total quality commitment and pursuit of innovation have driven its steady growth since the company was founded in 1955. The financially strong, closely held organization services a portfolio of Fortune 1000 customers in the Healthcare, Consumer/Industrial and Automotive markets. In addition to the China facility, GW has four U.S. plants (two in Vermont; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona). GW also has a full-service production facility in Queretaro, Mexico.