The Mexican startup Pyrosmart lights up the United States

Every day the Pyrosmart factory will produce 270,000 units for TNT Fireworks of what are known in Mexico as "luces de bengala", or sparklers, for personal consumption. This is the  most important contract signed by Mexico in the pyrotechnics market.

To ensure this level of production and quality in their products, the company uses industrial manufacturing processes, robotics and high-precision machinery to stand out from its competitors in the market. Customers such as Disneyland in the United States use Pyrosmart in their events every day.

Another coup was the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in London, which also featured Pyrosmart products. Its most recent innovation is The Little Big Light, which in addition to the contract with TNT Fireworks, it will distribute on a massive scale in the United States with the support of TechBA.

"In Mexico sparklers are only used at Christmas, but in the United States they're used in practically every event. Production of these items complements our lineof industrial pyrotechnics and explosives", explained Alejandro Mantecón, general manager of Pyrosmart Mexico.

In 2011, Pyrosmart Mexico began the process of international accelerationwith the Seattle-based company TechBA, with the aim of introducing its products on a massive scale into the United States and Canada.

Through the support of this business accelerator, Pyrosmart Mexico eventually signed its contract with TNT Fireworks, and has also entered a manufacturing agreement with Sirius Pyrotechnics in Canada. It is about to register the patent for its product The Little Big Light, and has set up a more environmentally- friendly and sustainable manufacturing plant to produce pyrotechnic products.

"Without the support of TechBA we would still be where we started. In 2009 we didn't know anything about foreign commerce. TechBA supported us in registering three patents, which has now made us a model company in Zacatecas. At TechBA they helped us protect intangibles, negotiate, defend key issues, improve the sales value, define our value offer and have a more suitable and differentiated position on the global market", said Alejandro Mantecón.

This has helped us attract investment, gain brand recognition, own the copyright of our manuals, and we have managed to get our customers to invest to enable us to acquire machinery and technology, so now our plant is the most modern in the industrial pyrotechnics area in Latin America", said the general manager of Pyrosmart Mexico.

Innovation

In the case of Pyrosmart Mexico, the innovation of their proposal set them apart in the global market, with products for everyday use such as sparklers, whose mass production involves industrial manufacturing processes, machinery, robotics, pyrotechnic devices with high aggregate value and ISO 9000 certifications.

Mantecón explained that in Mexico, pyrotechnics are produced using traditional methods. They have zero consistency and they vary so widely that they are dangerous to use; however, the global market requires a range of pyrotechnic products such as vehicle air bags, mosquito coils, special devices for satellites and combat aircraft, among others.

"There is a boom in pyrotechnics and we’re right next-door to the largest consumer in the world, namely the United States. The company is making the most of this moment to deploy an array of different products", said Mantecón.

Due to the quality of its offer, Pyrosmart Mexico has been recognised by the Mixed Fund (FOMEX) of CONACYT and the Zacatecas State Government; it also won the award for Innovation Leader in Zacatecas.

The company currently develops options involving the use of pyrotechnic devices for pest control and to prevent situations like the one currently taking place with the mosquito aedes aegypti –the cause of zika–, or to control dengue and chikungunya.