United Plastics Group Inc. Announces Plans for Contract Manufacturing Facility in Baja Region of Mexico

Plant to house Class 100,000 molding and assembly clean-room

TIJUANA, Baja California Norte, Mexico and OAKBROOK, Ill., May 31 -- United Plastics Group, Inc. (UPG), a full service contract manufacturer in the medical, consumer, automotive and electronics market segments today announced that it will open its third Mexican manufacturing location in the northern Baja California region by the fourth quarter of this year. The new 62,000 sq ft facility continues to move UPG toward its strategic objective to expand capacity in low cost countries to service its growing customer base. The state-of-the-art facility, which will be a white-room environment throughout, will include a Class 100,000 clean room to accommodate UPG's growing portfolio of customers in the medical segment.

"As part of our global strategy, the new facility positions UPG's full- service manufacturing capacity in an area where our customers want to be," said Richard R. Harris, CEO. "We believe by bringing advanced capabilities into this region, we can provide high value solutions to our existing and new customers."

Certified for ISO 13485, FDA registered

United Plastic Group's newest Mexico plant will be ISO 13485 certified and FDA registered. The plant will service a diversified group of products, as do UPG's plants in the US, Europe, China and Monterrey, Mexico. Customers in the medical, consumer, automotive and electronics industries will be able to take advantage of the advanced processing, engineering and lean manufacturing capabilities provided by the new facility.

"We sought a showcase site not only to attract customers, but also to help us attract and retain the brightest and the best talent," said Thomas Cho, Senior Vice President Operations. "The plant is ten miles from the US distribution infrastructure and within easy reach of Baja California's best technical schools, a major source of the skilled personnel we plan to employ in the area."

The contract manufacturing plant will contain up to 40 injection molding presses with full automation from 35-700 tons of clamping pressure, optimized material flow, flexible cell-based assembly, tooling repair and maintenance. All will be integrated into UPG's leading lean manufacturing and program management processes.

About UPG

Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill, United Plastics Group, Inc. ( http://www.unitedplasticsgroup.com/ ) is one of the largest non-captive custom injection molding and contract manufacturing providers in North America. With over 800,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity and 460 molding machines in 11 facilities in the United States, Mexico, Europe and China, United Plastics Group is dedicated to being the leading provider of high quality, low cost, engineered injection molded products and services worldwide.