During the post-war years, Gillette began to quickly ramp up production by modernizing its major manufacturing plants in the United States and England, expanding the capacity of several foreign plants, and re-opening plants closed during the war. The company opened a new plant in Switzerland and began manufacturing blades in Mexico City. Sales rose to $50 million in 1946 and in 1947 Gillette sold a billion blades. By 1950, Gillette's share of the U.S. blade market had climbed to 50 percent. During the 1950s, the company updated and in some cases moved some of its older European factories: the Paris factory, for example, was moved to Annecy.