A História da Fisher Controls | Page 42

40 | The Fisher Story Type 546 electropneumatic transducer, Design BF valve body, Design IC cryogenic valve body, Design ZLA lined angle body, and Design V25 rotary ball valves are introduced. 1965 New 30,000-square-foot plant opens in Toluca, Mexico. Design BF valve advertisement Materials management department organizes in Marshalltown. IBM 1460 computer, 1965 Toluca, Mexico, Exports Parts T he factory in Toluca, Mexico, was the first non-licensee production facility Fisher established in Latin America (1965). Initially, the site produced control valve assemblies and exported trim parts (since 1985) to North America. In 1993, however, Toluca shifted its focus to exporting parts. Today, Toluca is an important, high-volume supplier of Fisher valve components worldwide. Ramon Sanchez, hired as a materials manager (1984), has witnessed two major facility expansions (1994 and 2004). Each expansion included the transfer of CNC machines from Marshalltown and Sherman as well as the addition of more than 100 new employees. “Thanks in part to lean manufacturing and product rationalization initiatives (2000), we were able to increase capacity without new buildings,” he said. “The expansions doubled production and enabled us to keep pace with double-digit growth in sales.” Ramon was promoted to Toluca plant manager (1996). “We have made safety and on-time delivery improvements, as well as earned ISO 9002 certification (1997),” he said. “The site’s 254 employees will continue to support the Fisher worldwide manufacturing strategy.”