Yoda said Texas is the center of the Americas, especially when it comes to good access to Mexico, where Nissei has a solid presence, Tanaka added.

 

And Tanaka said the operation will also supply presses for Central and South America, with countries such as Brazil, where Nissei is not that well-known. "This is a potential market focus for us," he said.

 

At NPE, Nissei showed the first Texas-made machine, a 501-ton hybrid press, the FNX460III-160A. Yoda said the company sold the machine, but he could not yet name the buyer.

 

Tanaka said the U.S. market accounts for about 25 percent of total sales.

 

"The United States is a very large and important market for us," he said.

 

The factory began operations in March as a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary called Nissei Plastic Machinery America Inc. Nissei officials held an open house at the San Antonio factory on May 14, the Monday after NPE.

 

Initially, the San Antonio plant has about 25 employees, including people from the Japanese headquarters in Nagano, as well as local Texans. Tanaka said the company will do more hiring locally.

 

"We sent several people from the production and engineers to the factory, and the first machine is already completed," Tanaka said. "We hired local staff and started to build a second machine."

 

Nissei has invested about $21 million in the 114,281-square-foot plant. The facility is located in Brooks, south of downtown San Antonio. The mixed-use community was created in 2001 to redevelop the former Brooks Air Force Base.

 

Tanaka said Nissei's game plan has been to manufacture machinery where it is sold. The machinery maker opened a factory in China in 2009, followed by a plant in Thailand in 2012, then a second one in China in 2015, Tanaka said. Now it adds U.S. production.

 

"So, every three years, we are making some event with a new factory. We supply the local machine to the market," he said. "In the case for China, we are mainly selling the machine made in China to China."

 

At first, Nissei will supply all the main components for the San Antonio factory from its plants in Japan, China and Thailand, but Tanaka said the company plans to source U.S. components, such as screws and barrels, and other parts in the future.

 

"We need to maintain our quality, so we would first test the parts, of course," he said.

 

Tanaka said there are other considerations about the amount of domestic content.

 

"That's up to the customers' needs or costs," he said.

 

Nissei is the second Japanese injection molding machinery producer to set up U.S. manufacturing. Ube Industries Ltd. began building machines in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1996. Through the years, there have been rumors of other Japanese companies considering a U.S. factory, but nothing happened until the news about Nissei's Texas plant came out in late 2016.

 

The U.S. market for injection molding machines has been solid, topping 4,000 units for last three years.

 

"For the American economy, first of all, stability is very important. And also, the exchange rate is very important," Yoda said. "But it's a long-term outlook. We can see a good direction."

 

Nissei's U.S. factory could even supply Europe — a tough market for Japanese plastics machinery — but Tanaka said that is a longer-term idea.