Many of the machines my customer (companies) sent to Mexico were basically no longer legal to operate within the United States due to changing OSHA regulations. The guarding requirements were so stringent and the controls were basically too obsolete to accept the more flexible point-of-operation guards.
Sometimes those machines were replaced by more modern, and productive machines. But it wasn't a one-for-one trade. Usually 3 or 4 obsolete machines were replaced by a single machine. Meaning 3 press operators (per shift) lost their jobs.
Thanks, that was interesting and puts a different light on things.
Back in the late ‘60s I ran a typesetting shop and when I upgraded my 1905 Linotype to a 1940s model, the seller took my old machine and said he would ship it to Mexico. Even with the advent of cold type (photo) I half expect that solidly-built old No. 5 to be cranking away somewhere in the interior.