32 Negocios
Photo Courtesy of mabe
The “made in mexico” warranty The appliances manufactured by the Mexican company Mabe are used in homes across 72 countries.
I
f you wanted to label the success of Mabe, it would have to be “Made in Mexico”. And if you wanted to be a bit more specific, adding “Since 1947” would suffice. This Mexican company has manufacturing facilities in six Latin American countries and its appliances are used in homes across 72 nations. Corporativo Mabe, as it is known today, was founded in Mexico in the mid-20th century, when the market for home appliances was booming worldwide. Dozens of companies sprang up in the frenzy to make “modern” life more convenient but Mabe is one of the few that is still standing. Like all successful enterprises, it was its ability to adapt to changing times that secured its survival. The company started out making lamppost bases and fitted kitchens but soon began manu-
facturing white goods like gas ranges and refrigerators. Just 13 years later, in the early 1960s, Mabe had established itself as Mexico’s leading exporter of home appliances. In 1987, a strategic alliance with the US-based General Electric boosted Mabe‘s annual sales from 111 million to over 3.7 billion usd in 2007. That growth was supported internally by the purchase of a leading washing machine producer in Saltillo in 1989, the building of facilities to produce ranges in San Luis Potosí in 1990 and a plant for the manufacture of refrigerators in Querétaro. Externally, the company has launched an aggressive international expansion strategy, with Mabe acquiring companies in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Canada. Around this time, Mabe bought up 14 home appliance brands from all over the world.
Today Mabe is a multinational corporation and the leading manufacturer of home appliances in the Americas, employing 24,000 people at its 15 manufacturing plants in the region and creating over 70,000 indirect jobs. In the 1990s, more than half of the gas ranges and refrigerators sold in the US were designed and manufactured by Mabe México. Nine out of every 10 of these appliances sold under the General Electric brand were manufactured at the company’s plant in San Luis Potosí, in north Mexico.
Mexico’s Partner mabe
Mabe has an extensive product portfolio, ranging from microwaves, washing machines and dryers to wine storage systems, air conditioning, motor-compressors, plastic injection and die-casting machinery. Dryers and dishwashers are manufactured in Canada; refrigerators and ranges in Colombia; freezers, refrigerators and ranges in Ecuador, and refrigerators, washing machines and ranges in Argentina and Brazil. According to Mabe spokesman Rafael Nava, the company’s manufacturing facilities in Mexico –located in the Mexico City metro-
politan area and the states of Coahuila, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí– continue to account for half its output. In 2008, a strategic alliance with Fagor of Europe marked the beginning of Mabe’s operations in Russia. And for its contribution to economic growth through job creation, in October 2009 Mabe was presented with the National Export Award in the Corporate category at the 16th Mexican Foreign Trade Congress –the most coveted award granted by the Ministry of Economy to
private organizations that have managed to increase and diversify their foreign sales. “Our company harnesses the best of each country it operates in. Mexico has skilled labor, technicians, engineers, masters, doctors, innovators and a positive, winning attitude, not to mention a prime geographic location and great brand positioning hard earned during 60 years of uninterrupted presence and undisputed leadership,” and that, says Rafael Nava, is the key to its success. n www.mabe.cc