Revista Negocios ProMéxico, March-April 2014 by sebastian_escalante

SPECIAL FEATURE

Industrial Parks in Mexico as Links for Competitiveness

The Lifestyle Feature

The Butterfly Effect of Mexican Fashion

Mexicoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Automotive Industry Speeding in the Fast Lane

Negocios para exportadores

III - IV 2014

he government of Mexico has set out to transform our country based on five major national goals: to have a peaceful, inclusive, well-educated, prosperous and globallyresponsible Mexico. In order to build the prosperous Mexico we long for, we must generate sustained high economic growth that results in more and better jobs that will improve the quality of life of our population. Mexico has a solid foundation on which to attain these goals: healthy public finances; a manageable debt level; a budget with no fiscal deficit; a responsible and autonomous monetary policy, as well as adequate international reserves. Our macroeconomic stability and institutional strength are enriched by a wide sociopolitical consensus that favors important transformations required to boost the development of our country. Through the Pact for Mexico, two constitutional reforms have been approved: one in education that will enhance the quality of teaching, and another in telecommunications, radio broadcasting and economic

competition that will open up the sector and ensure competition throughout our economy. Furthermore, the Congress is analyzing a financial overhaul to increase the level of credit and make it more affordable. Mexico offers certainty and confidence to investments, a business climate favoring productivity and competitiveness, and an ambitious plan to further develop infrastructure. Moreover, the country’s strategic geographic location and optimal legal framework for international trade, through a network of trade agreements with 45 countries, give us access to a potential market of over one billion people. Mexico’s exceptional economic and geographic conditions, as well as the talent and quality of its human capital, make it the ideal destination for new productive capital to flourish. This is the time to invest in Mexico. Investors will find the government of Mexico and ProMéxico to be allies committed to the success of projects that create quality jobs and prosperity for the country.

Enrique Peña Nieto President of Mexico

Table of Contents March – April 2014 30

Guest Opinion

Business Tips

Figures

Important Aspects of Industrial Parks in Mexico

German Know-How Accumulates as Auto Investment Flourishes Mexico’s Automotive Industry

cover feature

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Mexico, speeding in the fast lane

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Automotive Industry

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From ProMéxico

Briefs

Mexico’s Partner Exa Industrial

Industrias Tamer

Grupo Huante

Mofles Miller

Air Design

Vazlo

Arbomex

Servicios Vistamex

Composites Materials

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Special Feature Industrial Parks in Mexico as Links for Competitiveness

The Lifestyle

The Complete Guide to the Mexican Way of Life

courtesy of sacional

The Butterfly Effect of Mexican Fashion

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The Lifestyle Briefs

Juan O’ Gorman

MXT

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aarón rodríguez

The Mexican Sports Car for European Roads

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couresy of alexia ubarri

The Perfect Balance Between Aesthetics and Functionality

OAXACA

Weaving History and Tradition

The Promised Land of the South

Para exportadores

El Talento

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y su importancia en la diversificación comercial de México

De ProMéxico

China y la creciente demanda de tequila: nuevas oportunidades comerciales

breves

Israel:

La nueva ola de negocios inteligentes

¿Cómo tener éxito en el mercado estadounidense?

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más cerca de lo que parece

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archivo

fotos

ProMéxico

From proméxico.

Francisco N. González Díaz CEO Karla Mawcinitt Bueno Image and Communications General Coordinator Sebastián Escalante Bañuelos Director of Publications and Content sebastian.escalante@promexico.gob.mx Felipe Gómez Antúnez Copy Editing felipe.gomez@promexico.gob.mx Advertising negocios@promexico.gob.mx

Editorial Council – consejo editorial Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal Francisco de Rosenzweig Mendialdua Enrique Jacob Rocha Francisco N. González Díaz Embajador Alfonso de Maria y Campos Castelló Luis Miguel Pando Leyva Francisco Javier Méndez Aguiñaga Rodolfo Balmaceda Guillermo Wolf Jaime Zabludovsky Gabriela de la Riva Adolfo Laborde Carranco Silvia Núñez García María Cristina Rosas González Ulises Granados Quiroz Karla I. Mawcinitt Bueno

Negocios ProMéxico es una publicación mensual editada por ProMéxico, Camino a Santa Teresa número 1679, colonia Jardines del Pedregal, Delegación Álvaro Obregón, CP 01900, México, DF Teléfono: (52) 55 5447 7000. Portal en Internet: www.promexico.gob.mx, correo electrónico: negocios@promexico.gob.mx. Editor responsable: Gabriel Sebastián Escalante Bañuelos. Reserva de derechos al uso exclusivo No. 04-2009-012714564800-102. Licitud de título: 14459; licitud de contenido: 12032, ambos otorgados por la Comisión Calificadora de Publicaciones y Revistas Ilustradas de la Secretaría de Gobernación. ISSN: 2007-1795. Negocios ProMéxico año 7, número III - IV 2014, marzo – abril 2014, se imprimió con un tiraje de 14,000 ejemplares. Impresa por Cía. Impresora El Universal, S.A. de C.V. Las opiniones expresadas por los autores no reflejan necesariamente la postura del editor de la publicación. Queda estrictamente prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de los contenidos e imágenes de la publicación, sin previa autorización de ProMéxico. Publicación gratuita. Está prohibida su venta y distribución comercial. ProMéxico is not responsible for inaccurate information or omissions that might exist in the information provided by the participant companies nor of their economic solvency. The institution might or might not agree with an author’s statements; therefore the responsibility of each text falls on the writers, not on the institution, except when it states otherwise. Although this magazine verifies all the information printed on its pages, it will not accept responsibility derived from any omissions, inaccuracies or mistakes. March – April 2014.

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Mexico is a strong economy with a promissory future. Its numerous competitive advantages are well-known everywhere. For instance, our network of free trade agreements with 45 countries has turned us into a platform that reaches far beyond North America and gives products made in Mexico preferential access to over 1.2 billion consumers and more than 60% of the globe’s GDP. Mexico is also renowned around the globe for its world leadership in the automotive sector. In 2013, Mexico was the eighth largest vehicle producer in the world and the second one in Latin America. Moreover, it is the world’s fourth largest exporter of vehicles, ahead of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Likewise, during 2013, Mexico was the fifth largest exporter of auto parts in the world, the leading supplier of these products to the United States, and a leading exporter in the sector in Latin America. The recent growth of the Mexican automotive industry is remarkable. It is sup-

ported by the country’s competitiveness and qualified labor force, among other factors. In addition, more and more companies settled in Mexico are getting involved in design, research and development projects. In fact, companies like Volkswagen have stated that Mexico is the only country outside Europe where design projects are being developed. In addition, there are many more firms that are driving innovation and design in the country. Value-added and the integration of global value chains are cornerstones for the growth and development of Mexican industries. Therefore, there are plenty of business opportunities in the production chains of automotive multinationals. ProMéxico is undoubtedly present as the strategic partner to make the best out of them. Mexico has established itself as an import hub in the automotive and auto parts sector. We are convinced that more multinational companies will set up in our country in the short and medium term; and that more Mexican SMBs will be part of this industry in the near future.

Welcome to Negocios!

Francisco N. González Díaz CEO ProMéxico

BRIEFS

INFRASTRUCTURE

New Home for the Automotive Industry

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Mexican industrial park developer Vesta acquired land in the state of Tlaxcala to build a new manufacturing park for the automotive industry. The 22 million USD complex is intended to serve suppliers to a new OEM plant for German auto maker Audi projected to start production of the Q5 model in 2016 in the nearby state of Puebla. The project, denominated Vesta Park Tlaxcala I, is located within the Industrial City Xicoténcatl II (CIX II) in Huamantla, Tlaxcala, allowing immediate access to Federal Highway 136, approximately 25 kilometers away from the new Audi plant. Construction will begin in May 2014 and the first buildings will be completed by the end of the year. www.vestaindustrialrealestate.com

AEROSPACE

Delta & Aeroméxico inaugurate TechOps Delta Air Lines and Grupo Aeromexico inaugurated their aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul center, TechOps Mexico, in Querétaro. The airlines invested a total of 55 million USD to build these new facilities, located next to the Querétaro Aerospace Park. The facility is the largest aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul center in Latin America, with a total surface of over 100,000 square meters. Its three hangars can accommodate up to nine aircrafts simultaneously. This project represents one of the most important investments in aviation infrastructure

of its kind and adds value to the aeronautic cluster Querétaro has been developing over the last few years. The crew that will service the airplanes is being trained and updated in the classrooms of the Aeronautics University of Querétaro, which collaborated with TechOps Mexico and agreed to prepare its graduates to enter the labor market with training of the highest quality. In addition to featuring the most modern facilities of its kind in Latin America, TechOps Mexico is equipped with advanced systems for renewable and clean energy that reduce the use of traditional energy by one third, as well as a rainwater harvesting system, a recycling program, and other environmentally friendly mechanisms. www.deltatechops.com www.aeromexico.com

courtesy of delta airlines

www.pilgrims.com

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Poultry processor Pilgrim’s Pride, a subsidiary of the Brazilian food giant JBS, will invest 150 million USD in a new poultry

importing hatching eggs first and building a breeder supply facility later. The processing plant will follow thereafter. Pilgrim’s Pride has currently three chicken processing plants in Mexico.

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Growth with Pride

processing complex located in the state of Veracruz, chosen by the company because of its large population, the increase in chicken consumption in the region, and its proximity to a port where feed grains are imported into the country. The first phase of the investment includes a hatchery and a feed mill,

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FOOD

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BRIEFS

RENEWABLE ENERGY

The Giant Goes Green Mexico’s Cemex, one of the world’s biggest cement companies, has completed a 650 million financing deal for two large wind power plants in the northern state of Nuevo León, as it seeks to secure cheaper electricity. The project, dubbed Ventika, will consist of two 126 megawatt (MW) wind farms in

General Bravo. Construction will begin before the end of June 2014 and commercial operation is expected to be under way in two years. The complex is expected to generate energy savings of 15 million USD for the company. Investment is financed by the North American Development Bank, Spain’s biggest bank Santander and three Mexican government development banks –Banobras, Nafin and Bancomext. Cemex is overseeing the construction and will manage

the wind farms once they are operational. The firm will also be a major user of the electricity generated by the farms –but not the only one. The beverage giant FEMSA, the steel company Deacero and the nearby Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) will also be supplied with renewable energy. Cemex has been increasingly using renewable energy in recent years to generate power for its operations, including hydro power and waste-to-energy

projects, as well as wind power. The Eurus wind farm in Oaxaca generates around 25% of its power needs nationally, including all of the power used by its company headquarters in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Acciona Energía has been selected as the Engineering, Procurement, and Constructor (EPC) as well as the operation and maintenance (O&M) contractor. www.cemex.com

MANUFACTURING

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Upacked Investment Swedish-Swiss packaging manufacturer Tetra Pak will expand its production plant in the central state of Querétaro at a cost of approximately 100 million USD. Upgrades will focus on boosting lamination capacity in the face of annual growth of over 4% in the company’s Mexico market which, according to figures from the company, is Tetra Pak’s fourth largest market in terms of volume. www.tetrapak.com

BRIEFS

BRIEFS AUTOMOTIVE FOOD

Colorful Expansion

Gruma Keeps Growing

Coatings giant PPG Industries Inc. will invest over 27 million USD to expand capacity at its San Juan del Río, Querétaro, coatings manufacturing plant.

Gruma, the world’s tortilla and corn flour production giant, will invest 160 million USD during 2014 to build four new plants: one in Russia, one in Malaysia and two in Mexico.

PPG Industries will add four new buildings to the manufacturing complex, featuring roughly 100,000 square feet of additional production and laboratory space. The additional facility will be hiring over 115 people, which will translate into a 30% increase in the company’s workforce in Mexico.

The firm currently supplies automotive paints to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the region, including Nissan and Honda. This additional wing will enable PPG Industries to meet the growing demand for its coatings by automotive OEMs, protective and marine, packaging and industrial customers

in Mexico and local enduse markets.The enhanced capacity will also increase PPG Industries’ capability to serve the country’s rapidly growing automotive manufacturing market with the globally accepted waterborne and compact process technologies. www.ppg.com

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www.gruma.com

METALLURGICAL

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Mexican steel pipe manufacturer Tubacero inaugurated its fourth production plant in the northeastern state of Nuevo León. The 90 million USD site will produce spiral steel pipe from rolled sheet of up to 96 inches in width.

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Tubacero’s Fourth

tubacero.mx

AUTOMOTIVE CHEMICAL

Clear Business

www.henkel.com

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German consumer chemical products manufacturer Henkel will invest 35 million USD to expand production capacity at its plant in Toluca, Estado de México. Currently the facility produces cleansing products including laundry detergent and hand soap.

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Clean Bet

Mexican auto parts maker Katcon Global is building a new manufacturing plant in the northeastern state of Nuevo León. The 20 million USD site is expected to produce catalytic converters to supply domestic automotive OEMs as well as for export to the US and Canada. site.katcon.com

BRIEFS

BRIEFS ENERGY AUTOMOTIVE

Green Mobility

Newcomer to Jalisco

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Japanese auto parts maker Alpha Industry inaugurated a new manufacturing plant in the western state of Jalisco. The 41 million USD site will produce chromed door handles for Nissan and Honda Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the region.

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Spanish energy company Gas Natural Fenosa has invested approximately 1.1 million USD in infrastructure to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) for urban transport units of Ecovía, in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, representing savings of up to 50% compared to other fuels. The system requires over 635,000 cubic feet of natural gas daily to operate. The investment consisted of the extension of the gas network to supply two new filling stations for natural gas vehicles owned by Gazel, whose terminals supplied the gaseous fuel to Ecovía buses. www.gasnaturalfenosa.com

www.kk-alpha.com

courtesy of trw automotive

AEROSPACE

SPEED Up Business

Kelsey Heyes, a subsidiary of Michigan, US-based TRW Automotive Holding Corp and Mexico’s Grupo Industrial Saltillo will jointly fund the construction of a new manufacturing plant in Mexico. The 100 million USD

facility is planned to provide nodular iron casting services for the production of brake parts. www.gis.com.mx www.trw.com

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AUTOMOTIVE

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Smooth Landing French aerospace components manufacturer Latecoere opened a new production plant in the northwestern state of Sonora. The 80,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, located in the city of Hermosillo, already employs over 250 people and currently produces on-board wiring systems for Airbus and fully assembles the Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger doors. www.latecoere.fr

BRIEFS

www.conti-online.com

INFRASTRUCTURE

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Boosting the MayaN World Mexico’s federal government and the state government of the state of Chiapas inaugurated a new airport near the Palenque archeological zone, built at a cost of approximately 96 million USD. The Palenque airport is designed to increase the number of tourists visiting the town’s famed Mayan ruins, which are considered to be among the finest in Mexico but receive relatively few visitors due to their jungle isolation. www.presidencia.gob.mx

ENERGY

Growing With Energy Spanish energy developer Iberdrola has been awarded a contract for the development, construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of the Baja California III combined-cycle power plant in Mexico, with about 300 MW of installed capacity, as well as associated facilities necessary for the connection of the plant to the country’s electricity grid. The commissioning of this new power plant, to be located in the state of Baja California, will require an investment

of about 270 million USD. Commercial operation is scheduled for August 2016. The plant will have one gas and one steam turbine and will incorporate GE technology. The gas required for its operation will be supplied by the Federal Electricity Comission (CFE). With this contract, Iberdrola consolidates its position as Mexico’s largest private electricity producer and the country’s second after CFE. The company already has an operating capacity of over 5,200 MW. The Baja California plant is the first to be awarded to Iberdrola in Mexico since 2004. www.iberdrola.es

courtesy of iberdrola

technologies related to safety and comfort, connectivity, entertainment and motor and brake control within automobiles.

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Continental: Getting a Boost

German automotive components manufacturer Continental Automotive inaugurated a new innovation and design center in the western state of Jalisco. The 22 million USD facility is planned to develop

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AUTOMOTIVE

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BRIEFS

BRIEFS AUTOMOTIVE

Taking the Mexican Road to AMC’s existing site. The plant is planned to go into operation in 2015 following a reported investment of 30 million USD by Daewoo. Occupying 6 hectares, the site will initially employ 180 workers on the production line and about 15 managerial staff. global.daewoobus.com

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Korean bus manufacturer Daewoo will fully enter into the Mexican market with a new production plant in Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo –approximately 92 kilometers northeast of Mexico City. Daewoo has partnered with American Coach de México (AMC). The new facility will be built adjacent

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Improving the Future of Agriculture US seed developer DuPontPioneer inaugurated the facilities of a new seed research center in an area of 14 hectares in the municipality of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas.

The 3 million USD Center will work on developing seeds for tropical hybrid corn, among other projects, to supply seeds to Southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The site

will focus on developing the Genetic Improvement in Tropics Program, which produces tropical hybrid corn for markets with similar climatic conditions to those of Southern Mexico. DuPont-Pioneer started to

install research centers five years ago due to the agriculture potential of the region. The one in Chiapas is the fourth center established in Mexico. www.pioneer.com

INFRASTRUCTURE

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Peñoles Bets on Renewable Energy

Spanish renewable energy developer EDP Renováveis and Industrias Peñoles –the world’s biggest primary silver producer and also a significant gold, zinc and lead miner in Mexico– have established a self-supply regime Electricity Supply Agreement for the energy produced by a 180 MW wind farm in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila.

The contract is set for a 25-year period. The project, which is currently in the design stage and is due to be built in 2016, has an expected load factor above 40%. The deal is EDP Renováveis first in Mexico.

www.edpr.com www.penoles.com.mx

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San Luis Potosí: in the automotive industry Race Japanese auto parts maker JTEKT Corporation –a leading producer of automotive steering systems, all-wheel drive couplings and a broad range of bearings– will invest 91 million USD to build a new manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosí. The new facility, JTEKT’s first in Mexico, will provide the company with the needed capacity to manufacture electric power steering systems for its growing customer base in the region. Construction of the 19,000 square meter plant, which will employ 300 people, is expected to be completed in the spring of 2015 with operations starting by the end of 2015. At full capacity, production volume will reach 900,000 units annually. www.jtekt.co.jp

Negocios ProMéxico | Special Feature

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Special Feature | Negocios ProMéxico

Beyond offering the traditional quality infrastructure and providing legal and operative certainty, industrial parks in Mexico are evolving, incorporating new, modern and innovative practices in order to successfully compete with other countries and attract FDI flows.

Industrial Parks in Mexico as Links for Competitiveness As part of the country’s logistics system, industrial parks have become a key element in Mexico’s economic development at such an extent that they can be considered as part of the competitive advantages that investors from all over the world can find in the country.

the challenging operating requirements, and to simplify management and customs procedures. There are currently six RFE in the country; they are located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán; San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí; Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas; Colombia, Nuevo León, and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora. Some investors might ask themselves if an RFE and a zona franca are similar. More recently, in 2012, the Mexican tax authorities created the Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC) –New Certified Companies Scheme–, the equivalent of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) established by the World Customs Organization (WCO), as part of a new world security trend. This new scheme is similar to the Cus-

by claudia ávila connelly*

In Mexico, when we talk of an industrial park we are referring to a delimited piece of land, specifically designed to accommodate manufacturing plants and logistics distribution, under suitable conditions of location, infrastructure, equipment and services, and whose operation is managed internally. In many countries, industrial parks also function under tax regimes designed as incentives to strengthen the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI). This is the case, for example, of the Foreign Trade Zones in the US. Asian countries like India, Vietnam and China, among others, have Special Economic Zones (SEZ), and in Latin America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Argentina have zonas francas (free zones). Goods and services companies that operate in these zones are exempted from the payment of tariffs and some taxes for a certain number of years, and also have simplified customs procedures for streamlining the movement of goods. With these mechanisms, which help build a more attractive business environment for investment, governments have sought to strengthen the competitiveness of their regions. In the 1960s, the Mexican government implemented the maquiladora export industry –known today as IMMEX–, as a special tax re-

gime meant to encourage exports, jobs and investment. Under this model, a company enjoys the benefit of temporarily importing merchandise for development, transformation or repair, with certain fiscal and customs benefits, regardless of its location. Today, 70% of manufacturing companies that operate under a maquiladora regime are installed inside an industrial park. A foreign investor might wonder whether an industrial park in Mexico consisting of IMMEX companies is equivalent to a zona franca. Later, in 2003, the Mexican government created a new figure called recinto fiscalizado estratégico (RFE), a strategic bonded warehouse, that consists of a piece of land within which companies can, for a limited time, manage, store, preserve, display, sell, distribute, prepare, alter or repair their goods without paying import taxes. However, despite the incentives and facilities RFE offer for investment, they still need to strengthen their production potential, given

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Special Feature

toms Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program, implemented by the US government as a customs system to increase border security in light of the fight against international terrorism. In addition to customs and logistics processes to lower costs –and raise company competitiveness– security systems along the supply chain become essential elements for international trade. Therefore, what is the role of industrial parks in Mexico? Beyond offering the traditional quality infrastructure and providing legal and operative certainty, industrial parks in Mexico are evolving, incorporating new, modern and innovative practices in order to successfully compete with other countries and attract FDI flows. These industrial parks have customs schemes that facilitate the movement of goods (IMMEX and RFE), in compliance with international environmental standards.

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| Negocios ProMéxico

Aware of the importance that all these factors have acquired in the competitiveness of global supply chains –or value chains, as they are known at the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD)–, the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (AMPIP) has initiated a strategic plan to promote the implementation of the best practices in the more than 250 industrial parks it currently represents. These practices include the certification under the Mexican Standard for Industrial Parks (NMX-R-046-SCFI-2011), which promotes high quality standards for land and infrastructure; the construction of energy-saving buildings under standards such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), issued by the US Green Building Council; the Parque Industrial Verde (PIV) –Green Industrial Park– recognition, awarded by the AMPIP itself to those developments that meet certain water, energy and envi-

The Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (Ampip) has initiated a strategic plan to promote the implementation of best practices in the more than 250 industrial parks it currently represents. ronmental requirements; the Parque Industrial Limpio (PIL) –Clean Industrial Park–, recognition granted by Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente –Federal Environmental Protection Agency– to parks and occupants that meet all environmental regulations; the Empresa Socialmente Responsable (ESR) –Socially Responsible Company– distinction, granted by Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía –Mexican Philanthropy Center– and, shortly, the NEEC certification for industrial park security. For all these reasons, industrial parks in Mexico are more than real estate developments. In addition to triggering an economic impact in the regions where they are installed, they are part of the country’s strategic infrastructure because they are closely integrated into the transport, storage and security logistics and costs systems, besides their participation in security programs. In other words, industrial parks complement Mexico’s competitive advantages: its geographic location and its network of free trade agreements; the existence of specialized clusters (for the automotive and aerospace sectors, among others), and the availability of skilled people and optimal labor costs. N *CEO of the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (Ampip).

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Guest Opinion

Important Aspects of Industrial Parks in Mexico There are several elements that should be taken into consideration to guarantee that an industrial park positively contributes to its clients’ competitiveness and productivity.

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by omar terán*

The trend for industrial parks in Mexico, both manufacturing and logistics, is to develop parks that are better adjusted to the environment: in other words, self-sufficient. In addition, their location must allow companies to increase the efficiency of their supply chain, reducing distances and operation costs. However, there is also the option of establishing in suburban areas to relocate in industrial zones with better designed infrastructure as operating in cities can be more risky and problematic for companies. We should not forget that an adequate industrial park must contain the necessary attributes and characteristics to impact the competitiveness of each of its clients.

Guest Opinion | Negocios ProMéxico

O’Donnell is very clear on this and considers the following key elements before a new industrial park is developed: • Strategic locations that enhance the efficiency of supply chains. • The developer’s experience in property management and construction management. It is important to consider the necessary services to operate the park and the buildings it accommodates. The design process includes the planning and assurance of basic services such as water supply, electricity, gas and sewage, among others. A client-focused developer must seek added value by offering additional property management services such as permit procedures, maintenance, security and inventory of land for expansion. • Quality industrial developments. This refers to the class of buildings. It is based on different variables such as design, development, source of investment, parking lots, offices, lighting, service feasibility, among other specifications. Additionally, other elements such as location and the possibility of direct access to transport networks (highways, railroads, sea ports and airports) are very important to identify a quality industrial development. O’Donnell is recognized for building world-class quality industrial parks that are strategically located. The development of innovative industrial parks must take into account: • Efficient use of land, electricity and recycling of treated water for irrigation, among other factors. • Design of green and eco-friendly parks. The location of an industrial park must be strategic, not only for connectivity and infrastructure but also for its impact on the supply chain of the country’s productive sectors. O’Donnell has therefore taken advantage of certain locations that are attractive for industrial infrastructure investment, such as: 1. North Mexico City industrial corridor and Metropolitan area. This is one of the main logistics and light manufacturing-oriented industrial regions in the country due to its proximity to the highest concentration of population and advantages as a regional market. O’Donnell has the strongest presence in this region. 2. El Bajío. El Bajío represents an economic and demographic growth opportunity. Significant clusters have been developed there, including aerospace and automotive, in addition to having a desirable quality of life. Recently, O’Donnell has pushed its developments in Querétaro. It is interested in further evaluating its options in this region. 3. The north of Mexico. This region has recorded gradual recovery. The northern border is still an important driver for the growth of assembly and maquiladora companies. Furthermore, considerable support mechanisms have been pushed to establish more companies in these zones. So what is the future of industrial parks in Mexico? Some will emphasize environmental issues of sustainability and ecological conservation, incorporating much more efficient and modern recycling and resource preservation systems. In some cases, energy cogeneration schemes and/or cleaner technologies may be promoted. Certainly, the growth of industrial parks is expected to be constant. That will drive increased modernization of infrastructure, which will represent a great opportunity for all developers, together with the federal government, to leverage in order to increase the growth of the country’s competitiveness. N

The location of an industrial park must be strategic, not only for connectivity and infrastructure but also for its impact on the supply chain of the country’s productive sectors.

*Chief Commercial Officer, O’Donnell (odonnell.com.mx).

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Cover Feature

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Cover Feature | Negocios ProMéxico

Mexico, speeding in the fast lane of the automotive industry Mexico’s automotive industry has grown precipitously in recent years. The big firms have turned their attention to the country and chances are that Mexico will keep –and will improve– its position as one of the world’s leading producers and exporters both of vehicles and auto parts.

Based on the growth of the recorded on the recent years, new investments are expected in the next few years and, according to several forecasts, production will reach 3.7 million units by 2016.

by mariana morales

Mexico remains among the world’s top spots within the automotive industry race, and the country does so at an accelerated pace, both in terms production and exports. According to data from the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), in 2013 Mexico was the world’s eighth largest producer of light vehicles and the second largest in Latin America. Mexico has already surpassed France and Spain, two countries that have a long tradition in the automotive sector. According to figures from the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA), mexican light vehicle production reached 2.93 million units in 2013, 1.7% more than in 2012. Based on the growth recorded in recent years, new investments are expected in the next few years and, according to several forecasts, production will reach 3.7 million units by 2016. Companies in the light vehicle terminal industry have 18 production complexes located in 11 Mexican states, where they perform activities that range from assembly and armoring, to casting and

stamping of vehicles and engines. Currently, more than 48 car and light truck models are produced in Mexico; two of the main light vehicle production plants in North America are Mexican: Volkswagen in Puebla and Nissan in Aguascalientes, and many of the car models sold around the world are produced exclusively in Mexican plants, such as the Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ and Volkswagen Beetle. The Mexican automotive industry has increased its relevance as a light vehicle exporter. In 2010, Mexico ranked fifth globally, behind Japan, Germany, South Korea and Spain. In 2011, Spain began to suffer the crisis that permeated its production sector, while Mexico hit new production and export records and a new wave of investments by Japanese companies in the automotive industry arrived. As a result the gap between both countries dimished so that by late 2012, Mexico ranked fourth as light vehicle exporter internationally, while Spain dropped to the seventh place. In 2012, the automotive industry contributed more than 27% of Mexico’s exports. Mexican automotive

industry has diversified its export destinations, making Mexico an important operations and logistics center on an international level. While Mexico’s automotive industry major export market continues to be the US, several markets, such as Latin America, have increased their share of Mexican exports. In 2009, eight out of every 100 light vehicles exported from Mexico were sold in Latin America, while in 2011, the number was 15 out of every 100. The main destinations for Mexican exports in Latin America are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

In 2013, Mexican light vehicles exports reached 2.42 million units. AUTO PARTS: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN The other cornerstone of the industry is the auto parts sector, which follows the same trend as the automotive industry as a whole. Therefore, the accelerated growth of the automotive industry –as well as the optimistic forecasts regarding its future development– benefits the auto parts industry because the market will demand a wide range of products for assembly companies’ production lines, while the

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number of vehicles sold will increase the demand from the aftermarket or spare parts market segments. With production valued at approximately 74,795 million usd and almost 600,000 jobs created, Mexico is the fifth largest auto parts producer globally, behind China, Japan, the US and Germany. In 2012, Mexican production of auto parts recorded a 10% increase compared to 2011; meanwhile consumption reached 59,156 million usd. That same year, Mexican auto parts exports amounted to 51,872 million usd, recording an average annual growth of 11% in the last decade.

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The main destination for Mexican exports from the auto parts industry was the US, with 90% share. One third of the value of imported auto parts in the US comes from Mexico, making it the main supplier to that market. Mexico has a vast knowledge of the supply chain for companies in the automotive and auto parts industries, which is why there is development in metalworking industry processes, an industry that is directly linked to car and auto parts manufacturing. It is worth noting that 89 of the world’s top 100 auto parts companies are established in Mexico. That is an

indicator that the country’s auto parts production chain is competitive and reacts efficiently to market demand. Local companies are able to provide processes required by multinationals, because they are diversified processes that comply with international quality standards. Between 2006 and 2012, accumulated investments in the auto parts industry reached 9,687 million usd. The auto parts industry accounts for 6% of the total amount of investments recorded during the referenced period on a national level. a reliable partner The renowned quality of Mexican automotive manufacturing has brought many assemblers to Mexico. Thus, the recognized quality of Mexico’s automotive manufacturing has enabled several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to choose Mexico as a unique manufacturing platform for all their destinations. This has created an appropriate industrial environment, boosting Mexico as one of the world’s perefered platforms for OEMs.

Between 1999 and 2013, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Mexico’s automotive and auto parts industries has totalled 32.21 billion usd. Between 2007 and 2012, assemblers –mainly large firms such as Nissan, General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda, Fiat, Mazda and Daimler Trucks– injected 10.78 billion usd into production capital to establish new plants or expand facilities that were already operating. The automotive and auto parts sectors in Mexico accounted for 20.8% of total FDI in 2012. The main investor countries in Mexico in 2012 were Japan, with 60.1%, followed by the US with 19.8%, Germany with 19.7% and France with 0.4%. In 2013 investment in Mexican automotive and autoparts industries reached 3.53 billion usd, 24% more than in 2012 (2.84 billion usd). This shows that Mexico remains as an attractive destination for investments in these sectors. Several vehicle manufacturing companies have decided to bet on Mexico and participate in the growth of its automotive industry, which promises to strengthen even further in the future. N

Negocios ProMéxico | Business Tips

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Business Tips | Negocios ProMéxico

German Know-How Accumulates as Auto Investment Flourishes Mexico’s Automotive Industry Confidence in Mexico as an investment destination is growing. The country’s advantages have become increasingly attractive for companies looking to expand operations, particularly in sectors such as the automotive industry. Historically, a significant amount of investment in Mexico’s automotive industry has come from Germany, and chances are that German firms will continue to play an important role in the future development of this sector. by johanna cronin* and laurens schöningh**

Mexico was the most celebrated emerging market at the 2014 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, with some 7 billion USD in investments being announced by global conglomerates including PepsiCo, Cisco, and Nestle. That came in stark contrast to the country’s fellow emerging star, Brazil, which saw scarce little excitement at this year’s meeting of world leaders. Of course, Mexico’s touted successes cannot be measured without reference to the considerable attraction being received by the nation’s manufacturing sector, in particular the automotive industry. Along with Japan, the bulk of automotive investment into Mexico is coming from Germany, whose Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to support European austerity measures that have seen the country’s exporters turn to emerging economies for growth. Speaking at Davos regarding the austerity drive, Merkel insisted that driving down labor costs is essential to keeping Europe competitive in the global market. Mexico’s own low labor costs have played an essential role in attracting investment from astute German manufacturers. A significant chunk of the 10 billion USD in automotive industry investments projected to enter Mexico in the coming years is expected to come from German firms, such as BMW and Daimler. The Mexican-German Chamber of Commerce (CAMEXA) President Johannes Hauser explained: “There has been a long history of German companies investing in Mexico and today the auto-

motive sector is the most important as far as Germany is concerned.” The 2013 CAMEXA Survey released in the year’s last quarter supports his statement, revealing that the intentions of German industry players to invest in Mexico remain strong. The survey results show that 61% of interviewed German corporations currently in Mexico have further investment plans for 2014. In addition, 43% of these companies plan to increase their workforce in the coming year. Hauser stipulated that “the survey highlights a consistently positive trend in the development of German industry in Mexico.” However, he cautioned that “businesses with a focus on the domestic market have had a much more complicated time than those with an export-oriented activity. There is light and shade in the missing numbers and the national dynamism prevented better results.” Hauser’s reference to Germany’s history of investment in Mexico is evidenced by the celebration of Volkswagen’s 50th year of operations in the country in January 2014. The production levels of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in Mexico have increased in the last five years to over 600,000 cars and 500,000 engines. Marking the commencement of its sixth decade in Mexico, the OEM giant simultaneously announced the onset of production of the seventh generation Golf in Mexico, demonstrating its confidence in the country as a long-term automotive production hub. Throughout 50 years, the company has invested a total of 8 billion

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Negocios ProMéxico | Business Tips

USD in Mexico to date. Its plant in Puebla, one of the largest in the world, employs a workforce of 17,000 employees, and has so far produced 10 million cars for the global market. “The cost of producing cars in Mexico has really become more competitive, making the country an ideal export location,” says Volkswagen Mexico’s CEO Andreas Hinrichs. In addition, 2013 saw Volkswagen’s Audi begin construction of a new 1.3 billion USD plant in Puebla, which Audi executives referred to as a “dream moment” at the ground breaking ceremony. The complex is part of Audi’s drive to sell two million vehicles by 2020 and overtake luxury vehicle competitors BMW and Daimler, who both sell almost twice as many cars in North America. Mercedes-Benz also has its production sights set on Mexico with the Mexican firm President Pedro Tabera claiming that “the existing automotive industry and the number of cars being produced are a few of the great advantages in Mexico. The supply chain is also robust and there is a qualified and cost competitive labor force.” The premium OEM has identified opportunities in the country and is planning to branch out into the market for a new generation of compact cars through its A, B, CLA, and GLA classes. As a company that invests heavily in research and development (R&D), Mercedes-Benz is striving to please customers that demand innovations. According to Tabera, the Mexican customer is no exception to this rule and he sees good potential for the firm’s sales in the local market, for both the compact and premium segments. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) region has become an important market for the automaker, representing 25% of its current global sales. Whilst Mercedes-Benz has not yet produced vehicles in Mexico, talk of an imminent investment is rife, with Tabera explaining that “it is clear that we need another plant to service the NAFTA region. It may not grow like Asia but it will definitely do so more than Europe. The main question is where to place this new factory and we have to choose between the US, Brazil, and Mexico.” In the meantime, recent reports indicate that Daimler will produce small Infiniti and MercedesBenz luxury vehicles in collaboration with Japanese OEM Nissan at the latter’s new 2 billion USD complex in Aguascalientes.

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This union also points to another particularly strong opportunity for automakers in Mexico’s melting pot of industry players: increased multinational partnerships. Whispers surrounding the announcement of a production plant investment by another German premium OEM, BMW, have grown to a roar, with speculators placing their bets on the Bajío region as the location of choice, with San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo as favorites. While the industry waits with bated breath for the final announcement, the OEM is keeping quiet. What BMW’s Marketing Manager, Hernando Carvajal, did confirm is that Mexico represents some of the firm’s fastest growth worldwide, at over 19%. Carvajal explained: “Mexico is a Sedan and SUV market and models such as the 3 series and 5 series perform very well. We have a very strong product portfolio in said country. We are about to launch

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our 4 series, which we know will resonate very well within the Mexican market.” BMW, along with a number of its national competitors, is looking beyond traditional technology for the local market and predicting future consumer development patterns. Referring to the potential uptake of electric vehicles, Carvajal said: “We are talking to local government officials and with our competitors about the proliferation of electric mobility. We are all sure that this will be a reality in the Mexican market, albeit that it will start small. We are already making plans to bring the brand to Mexico as we believe that if any city is suited to this, it is Mexico City.” Technology development within Mexico by notoriously meticulous German OEMs is also not a pipe dream, with Carvajal revealing that “we are only industrializing products in Mexico that have been developed by our headquarters. However,

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Business Tips | Negocios ProMéxico

this is an area that will certainly present more long-term opportunities in terms of generating more local R&D, not only for BMW but also for the whole industry. There are many isolated initiatives, mostly from international suppliers that are already working on R&D in Mexico for specific commodities, but the opportunities for wider R&D lie in the long term.” Suppliers themselves have seen no shortage of opportunity brought about by the influx of German OEMs, with many Tier 1 companies following their clients to establish plants in Mexico. As CAMEXA’s President explains, “Although BMW does not have a production plant in Mexico, it provides an example of how you can integrate local businesses into the supply chain. The company has developed a program for Mexican suppliers because it is purchasing almost 2 billion USD a year for production sites all

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over the globe. Volkswagen is also catalyzing the quality of suppliers here in Mexico for its traditional, international and local supplier enterprises. Audi will be the first company to produce premium cars in Mexico and with their high standards there are sure to be benefits for the suppliers as far as increasing the quality and technology of local suppliers.” Suppliers like Bosch and Hella are playing a big role in developing the industry in Mexico by creating a trickledown effect for providers lower down the chain and by bringing technology to the market. Rene Schlegel, Bosch’s President in Mexico, explained, “We want to have more general manufacturing in Mexico, we want to make a wider range of our products and go deeper in terms of sophistication. We want to increase the value that we can add in Mexico on our own and through Mexican suppli-

ers.” That is supported by the multisector provider’s establishment of a service and engineering hub in Guadalajara based on its existing model in Bangalore, India. Although smaller suppliers have been more cautious about capital-intensive investment in Mexico, CAMEXA’s President states that confidence is growing. “We have noticed that Audi’s decision to invest in Mexico has created momentum in the market, especially on the supplier side. Every year, Mexico’s investment potential increases. In many cases, today OEMs and Tier-1s directly support providers coming to Mexico and they do not even need to reach out to CAMEXA for assistance. There has definitely been a shift toward a more positive perspective of Mexico.” N *Editor of Mexico Automotive Review. **Publication Coordinator of Mexico Automotive Review.

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

A Heavyweight Called Exa Industrial Every year, this manufacturer of bodies and trailers for heavy vehicles exports as much as 60% of its output all over the world, from the US to Nigeria.

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Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

by antonio vázquez

Six out of every ten products Exa Industrial produces end up in other countries. The US, Central America and Nigeria are just some of the markets this Mexican manufacturer of bodies and trailers for heavy vehicles has tapped into. Founded in 1975 in the city of Torreón, Coahuila, Exa Industrial –a company with more than 35 years’ experience in the automotive sector– started out in the metalmechanic industry. From the outset, its focus has been on heavy vehicles and today it is a leader in its home market and internationally. “Demand prompted the company to explore other industrial branches, aside from bodies and trailers –a market

in which we hold a 30% share in Mexico,” says Exa Industrial CEO Enrique Martínez Soltero. Dump trailers, pneumatic tanks, oil tanks, vaccum tanks, belly dumps, lowboys, cargo vans and flatbeds are just some of the products Exa Industrial manufactures. More recently, the company has ventured into the service sector, offering its customers maintenance, paintwork, welding, electrical and pneumatic systems checks. According to Martínez Soltero, 60% of Exa Industrial’s annual output is earmarked for export to countries like Canada, US, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Nigeria. “We are working with ProMéxico with a view to exporting to Africa. It’s a project in the pipeline but we’re already exporting to that continent, specifically to Nigeria, where we sell products for the mining and oil industries,” says Martínez Soltero. Exa Industrial employs some 370 people but its future is in the hands of just six highly trained, exceptionally talented industrial designers and engineers with experience in the market. Key to innovation and development, this select team is responsible for coming up with new products for the mining, industrial, construction and food sectors, among others. Over the last four years, this ISO 9001:2008-certified company has invested some 10 million usd in the acquisition of new technologies to create more complete products that meet its customers’ needs. “We’ve introduced innovative new materials into the manufacture of our products

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Dump trailers, pneumatic tanks, oil tanks, vaccum tanks, belly dumps, lowboys, cargo vans and flatbeds are just some of the products Exa Industrial manufactures. The company has ventured into the service sector, offering its customers maintenance, paintwork, welding, electrical and pneumatic systems checks. and that has given us a competitive edge, especially in the US, where other companies only work with aluminum. We, however, have developed new designs using new materials that have been tested and come with a guarantee,” says Martínez Soltero. It’s no coincidence, then, that the state owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the mining giant Industrias Peñoles have added Exa Industrial to its list of suppliers. In the short term, the company plans to expand its facilities and, in the medium term, Enrique Martínez Soltero is

optimistic, predicting Exa Industrial will post annual growth of as much as 25% over the next five years. To reach that goal, efforts to boost export figures will be stepped up. “We plan to consolidate the company’s presence on continents like Africa and Asia over the next five years. We know Asia isn’t an easy market but when we refer to that continent, we’re not just talking about making an incursion into China. Our plan targets other countries like Iran, which has a strong oil industry,” concludes Martínez Soltero. N www.gexa.com.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

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Grupo Huante: A Smooth Ride in Latin America In the last ten years, this auto parts company specializing in brakes and suspensions has penetrated markets in 17 Latin American countries. by antonio vázquez

Grupo Huante is one of a select group of Mexican companies operating in the automotive sector that can claim to have a presence in 17 markets in Central and South America.

Based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Grupo Huante began life as a small auto parts distributor in 1983. Some years later, in 1999, it was selling its products in other Latin American countries. The leap

from distributor to manufacturer came about when Eduardo Huante Ortiz took over the reins of the company and began producing brake and suspension parts. “Some 15 years passed. I was an industrial engineer by then and became curious about the manufacturing side of things. I bought some machinery and with the help of just three people began producing what is today an extensive catalogue of products,” says Huante. Ten years ago, Huante held a position in a Jalisco-based association of automotive industrialists, which afforded him the opportunity to travel to other Latin American countries, familiarize himself with

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their markets and forge ties with prospective customers. “There were people interested in Mexico even when there was no export culture to speak of here. We swam against the tide and with the support of the National Foreign Trade Bank (Bancomext) and other agencies we formed a bloc to attract customers. Before that, most made their purchases in the US and Latin America was a neglected market. We used the situation to our advantage.” According to Huante, the Latin American market prefers Mexican products over Asian-made ones or those from other countries. The last decade has brought the greatest growth for Grupo Huante, which now has

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Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

a presence in 17 markets, facilities in Costa Rica and plans to open offices in another South American country and in the US in the near future. “We want to make an incursion into the US, reach both the West and East coasts through two large auto companies in California and Florida,” says Huante. With annual sales in excess of 10 million usd, Grupo Huante is raking in export profits close to 1 million usd and holds a 90% and 25% share of the Latin market for brakes and suspensions, respectively. Drum kits for front and rear wheels and pistons with spares are some of the flagship products in Grupo Huante’s brake line.

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Huante believes Mexico’s auto parts sector has a promising future. Quality, competitive costs and the country’s strategic location on the world map are all advantages for a company like Grupo Huante that operates from here. “There’s a lot of talk about oil and tourism but right now the sector that is attracting the most investment is the automotive industry. There’s been a lot of investment in the Bajío region (Central-Western Mexico), especially in Aguascalientes, where Nissan plans to double its installed capacity,” says Huante. Grupo Huante is proof of this bright future. The company has 120 employees, is ISO 9001:2008-certified and

has embarked on an expansion plan that will give it a presence at 300 points of sale in Mexico over the next five years. To promote its products beyond Mexico’s borders, Grupo Huante has made the most of government programs. With the support of ProMéxico, for instance, it has been participating in trade conventions in Las Vegas (US), Colombia and Peru for five years now. “We’re aiming for more certifications in the second half of 2014, such as the ISO/TS 16949 standard, and plan to up our share of the Latin market for suspension applications from 25% to 50%,” says Huante. N

With annual sales in excess of 10 million usd, Grupo Huante is raking in export profits close to 1 million usd and holds a 90% and 25% share of the Latin market for brakes and suspensions, respectively.

www.rahsa.com.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

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Air Design: Made-to-Measure Innovation This Mexican company forms part of a select group specializing in the design of parts for special-edition automobiles. Innovation, efficient production processes, and good business ties are the driving forces behind its success. by omar magaña

The automobile has come to be an extension of our personality and many people take great pride in personalizing theirs. That is when Air Design comes in, creating and producing design features that add that special touch to assembly line autos.

“Air Design transforms plastics into engineered products with high added value,” says Miguel Ávalos, who, along with his brother Carlos and their father, Miguel Ávalos Zebada, has pointed the company in the right direction since it was founded in the early 1990s.

Essentially a niche company that designs, develops and produces original accessories for automobiles at its plant in the state of Morelos in Central Mexico, it is a Tier 1 for OEMs and also a supplier of the post-sales service market. As a Tier 1, Air Design supplies spoilers, diffusers, wings, skirts and other parts used to personalize special lines of Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, Seat, Fiat, Irizar, Lincoln, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Renault, Suzuki, Hella, Mazda and Honda car models. These parts are delivered to ports and OEM plants. “As a small or medium enterprise, Air Design just wasn’t in the running with the big boys, which is why we opted to cover market niches within the automotive and other industries from the outset.

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Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

Today, those niches have become enormous,” says Miguel Ávalos Junior, who is currently CEO of the company. Ideas and Approach : Boutique Production As suppliers of the automotive industry, the Ávalos had two choices: they could bulk produce low-added-value parts from low-cost materials or focus on manufacturing highadded-value ones using plastics compounding technologies. The former wasn’t viable because they simply couldn’t compete in terms of volume. The latter, however, appealed to a family that has always believed in innovation, engineering and technology. Imagination and a spirit of adventure is at the heart of the company, which was founded on the Liberty I, a

“Air Design has one of the most advanced product development centers on the continent, if not the world. We also have a plant where an engineer or industrial designer can see in just a few weeks how we simulate the entire life cycle of a product,” says Ávalos. twin-engine, six-wheel drive vehicle created by the Ávalos in the 1980s to travel from Mexico to the Arctic Circle. Another plus was Miguel Ávalos Senior’s experience as director of Chrysler and John Deer in Mexico and as president of Massey-Ferguson. Since the 1990s, Air Design has followed a clearly marked out route. During this period, it designed parts for the personalization of Suburban and Opel car models and was involved in the development of sports cars. Before the decade was out, Air Design’s plant in Morelos occupied 12,000 square meters. The years to come brought greater specialization in plastics compounding technologies and expansion in the areas of advanced design and product development. Then came business ties with international car accessory companies, such as Sparco and 3D Carbon, and consolidation as an export company with presence in 30 countries. “The automotive industry has become very dynamic. It

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used to have life cycles of six or seven years but now they’re down to three years or less. That has created an opportunity to systematically offer assembly plants new accessories that will give their vehicles greater added value,” says Ávalos. Air Design’s strengths lie in its skilled personnel, design and manufacturing technologies, which it has combined in a single operating center and a business model based on specialization –but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of diversification to other industries. At the company’s design center interns from Mexico, the US, Singapore, Germany and South America learn from industrial and graphic designers, marketing experts and engineers with experience in product and packaging design, thermoforming, injection molding and mold construction. “Air Design has one of the most advanced product development centers on the continent, if not the world. We also have a plant where an engineer or industrial designer can see

in just a few weeks how we simulate the entire life cycle of a product,” says Ávalos. The company’s manufacturing area is equipped with highpressure presses, CNC machines and high-and low-density polyurethane injection equipment, enabling the personnel at Air Design to design parts, manage engineering processes, create prototypes and their own tools, manufacture products and ship them to their final destination. No wonder it doesn’t hesitate to proclaim itself the first option, not only for automotive assembly plants in Mexico and the rest of the continent seeking products with which to personalize their vehicles but also companies operating in other industries that require ABS thermoformed and polyurethane PUR RIM injection molding plastic products, as well as new project development services. Belonging to an elite international club of designers of sporting accessories for specialedition automobiles has its

advantages, but Ávalos admits that a niche company like Air Design faces its own particular challenges: the cost of human capital tends to be high, since it is comprised largely of highly skilled personnel, and fluctuations in the economy where it operates or in the economy of its major buyer, in this case Brazil, which accounts for 50% of the company’s exports, can require major restructurings of its business plan. “This is a year that will define a lot of things for Air Design. We’ve posted two-digit growth or more in the last four years and project that 2014 will be complicated due to the situation in Mexico and internationally, particularly in Brazil,” says Ávalos. But once past this bump in the road, Air Design will launch new technologies, as well as a whole new line of innovative products overseas. He is confident the company will continue to grow, consolidating its market position and diversifying its operations. N www.airdesign.com.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

Arbomex: a Giant in the Automotive Sector Almost four decades ago, Arbomex, a Mexican company specializing in key engine component manufacturing, was created. Today, the company is a world class benchmark corporation, with annual sales reaching 80 million USD. The company’s plans for 2015 include growing its market share to 16% in North America and to 2% worldwide.

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by antonio vázquez

Possibly none of the families who joined forces back in 1977 could have foreseen that their small Tlalnepantla (Estado de México) business would grow into an international corporation. From the onset, Arbomex focused on manufacturing camshafts. By 1979, the company was well on its way as a camshaft supplier for Ford and three years later it launched the iron foundry facility in Celaya,

Guanajuato. In 1986, it was making machined-parts lines in place, an element that afforded it with contracts from Volkswagen, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Nissan in the 1990s. The new century provided them with exponential growth opportunities, such as opening a second facility in Apaseo el Grande, Guanajuato, which produces more than four million camshafts per year. In

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Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

2012 the company received the Mazda contract to supply all of their camshafts to their new facility at Salamanca, Guanajuato, by the end of this year. José Laborde, the company’s Commercial Director says: “After 36 years of hard work, businesses in Mexico received a significant boost. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened up borders and Arbomex banked fully on this opportunity, taking the company to have sales worth between 200 million and 300 million pesos (between 15 and 23 million USD). We have grown over 300% in the last four years and are now invoicing one billion pesos in yearly revenues (approximately 76 million USD).” The US is Arbomex’s main export destination, although the company also exports to the Czech Republic, Germany and China. Laborde goes on to say, “Although our direct exports represent 40% of our production we also work with indirect exports, totaling export production per-

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centages at 90%. Camshafts, foundry and machined precision parts fill our catalogue pages.” José Laborde is convinced that by 2015, Arbomex will be one of the world’s five largest camshaft manufacturing companies. As per his estimates for this year, Arbomex will be supplying 16% of the camshafts purchased in the North American market and 2% of what is used worldwide. The advantages the company has found in Mexico, and that have boosted manufacturing and exporting, are the country’s geographic location, local talent, free trade schemes, infrastructure and tax incentives. “No wonder Mexico has grown to form part of the new group of developing and growing countries. Projections place Mexico with a fairly large significant growth rate, a position that will attract even more business to the Guanajuato corridor. We need to take advantage of the surge using the company’s technology and foundry parts manufacturing processes,” comments Laborde.

The advantages the company has found in Mexico, and that have boosted manufacturing and exporting, are the country’s geographic location, local talent, free trade schemes, infrastructure and tax incentives. Arbomex has over 800 direct jobs between its two plants in Mexico and is exploring other market niches in refrigeration, trailer trucks and the industrial sector. According to Laborde, the company is not discarding an incursion into the aerospace industry. Throughout the years, Arbomex has worked on getting its manufacturing and environmental processes certified. Sustainability meant a significant investment for the company and today it boasts a photovoltaic plant that reduces 7,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year. That is equal to planting 320,000 trees per year. “Not only do we take the customer into account, we also look after the community and

the environment. As we see it, we need to think about four clients: the customer with the quality, delivery, cost, technology and value of our products; our labor force which needs security, remuneration, training, and development; the cooperation with our community in environment-related matters and the application of the company’s values; and our shareholders with profitability, growth and value added to their investment,” says José Laborde. Arbomex will look forward to improve its productivity, providing better parts and solutions to reach new markets, with the aim of doubling its revenues in five years. N www.arbomex.com

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

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Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

manufacture fiberglass parts directly came about when the owner of the company in Mexico went to offer our services to what is today our main customer,” says Aguilar. For almost two years, Composites Materials made molds for Kenworth, a firm that has been present in Mexico for 50 years. Some five years down the line, Aguilar attributes Composites Materials’ success largely to Mexico’s geographical location and, to a lesser degree, ready access to skilled labor and competitive production costs. “Our success can be marked up to several factors: having a plant in Mexico, making cheaper parts, which is one of the advantages that has benefited the company most, and having access to cheaper labor, which allows us to avoid many import expenses.”

Another advantage Composites Materials offers its customers is the quality of its products. Two years ago, it was ISO 9001:2008 certified. This standard sets out the requirements of a quality management system that has been applied to all the company’s products, although greater emphasis has indubitably been placed on the automotive sector. “We make several parts for trailers like the T800 model manufactured by Kenworth Mexicana. For this particular model, we make fenders, reinforcements for the interior of the hood, and the engine cabins that go next to the engine. We also make the floors where the seats go and which are reinforced,” says Aguilar. Currently, Composites Materials has a catalogue of 23 models of automotive parts and is always open to

new petitions in its drive to meet the needs of every customer with improved services and the know-how of highly qualified personnel. “Our products are exported via our customer. We send our parts to the US through Kenworth Mexicana,” says Aguilar when asked about the presence of Composites Materials’ products outside Mexico. Composites Materials plans to expand its Tijuana plant by year-end 2014 with a view to exploring new production sectors. According to Aguilar, the company “is developing its production potential and plans to make greater use of its capacity to manufacture more parts and establish itself as a supplier of the automotive industry.” N compositesmaterials.com.mx

Composites Materials was founded in the US as a manufacturer of molds for fiberglass products and it was on the basis of its success in that country that its directors decided to open a plant in Mexico.

Composites Materials, Producing Fiberglass and Carbon Parts for Heavy Vehicles This Tijuana-based company has a 3% share of the domestic market and is a main supplier of the heavy truck manufacturer Kenworth.

by antonio vázquez z

From surfboards to electric guitar bodies and auto parts, Composites Materials’ plant in Mexico produces a wide range of fiberglass and carbon products that have positioned it as a main supplier of companies like Kenworth, a heavy truck manufacturer with some 300 distribution points throughout North America. The company has a 654-square-meter production plant in Tijuana in the state of Baja California and currently holds a 3% share of the domestic market for fiberglass and carbon parts for the automobile sector.

“In 2013, we produced some 1,900 parts at our plant in Tijuana, Baja California,” says Nain Aguilar, director of Composites Materials’ processes department in Mexico. Composites Materials was founded in the US as a manufacturer of molds for fiberglass products and it was on the basis of its success in that country that its directors decided to open a plant in Mexico. “Composites Materials began operating in Mexico in 2009, due to customer demand for fiberglass parts. Initially, we manufactured molds but the opportunity to

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

Industrias Tamer: the Preferred Choice of Mexico’s Automotive Assembly Sector Commanding more than 90% of Mexico’s market share and enjoying over 5% of its yearly production in exports, Industrias Tamer offers a wide range of products in its catalogue, rendering them the company of choice for Kenworth, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler and Ford, among others.

photos

by antonio vázquez

Nine out of ten private-use vehicle assembly companies in Mexico, if not more, opt for Industrias Tamer’ products. Companies can pick from a wide selection of products, which Tamer has arranged into a catalogue available also for Central and South America. The family business was formed in 1960. Eduardo Tamer, the company’s CEO, says that they, as many other businesses that were created back then, grew under the protective legislation of the times, one that did not allow imports for domestic use. “We thrived under the auspices of manufacturing, yet always understood that high-quality products had to be assembled for markets like the automotive industry. Our company has updated by expanding its product line using raw materials to manufacture other components in Mexico,” says Tamer. Products are made under the Mikel’s brand name. The market knows the brand

courtesy of industrias tamer

well and the array of Mikel’s products tends to be the one consumers buy above others as they are at the forefront in any field within the automotive industry. “We enjoy a significant market share: 90% of the cargo trucks and passenger buses use our products, while 75% of the for-private-use vehicle assemblers include our emergency kits and tire-changing tooling in vehicle trunks,” Tamer explains. To date, the Mikel’s product catalogue by Industrias Tamer includes hundreds of automotive products, the best known being in hydraulics, such as the hydraulic bottle jacks, pneumatic products and automotive accessories, among others. Toyota, Chrysler, Ford, Freightliner, GMC International, Isuzu, Kenworth, Man, Mazda, Mercedez Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Sprinter, Suzuki, BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo and Honda are some of the companies that buy Tamer’s products. Export-wise, 5% of the company’s yearly production is sold abroad. Countries where one can find Tamer products are Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador and Chile. The next list of countries the firm is looking at includes Peru, Uruguay and Argentina. The company’s strategy to explore new markets revolves around placing its brands and products as a feasible option in distribution channels supplying hardware, industry, retail and, of course, the automotive sector itself. “We are developing a brand-placing and market penetration strategy using our stores, as they have been very successful in the domestic market. The strategy includes finding knowledgeable investors in the automotive market

March – April 2014

Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

wanting to open stores to sell our brands exclusively. Those stores would have a showroom and their own sales teams,” says Eduardo Tamer. The scheme is similar to a franchise scheme without being one. It does not include annual royalty fees and the scheme has the company’s full support to develop the stores locally, standardizing the corporate image and finding the most suitable location. “A main advantage is that almost 70% of the upfront investment is in product inventory,” adds Tamer, who acknowledges the fact that because the company was born in Mexico, it has enjoyed certain advantages over other countries. The factors that helped consolidate companies such as Industrias Tamer are the work-force talent itself, the free trade agreements Mexico has signed with 45 countries and above all, Mexico’s geographic location.

March – April 2014

“Mexico’s geographic position is a privileged one, allowing us to export to almost any part worldwide using a variety of transportation modes like ocean freight, land, air or a combination thereof. We have both the know-how and the necessary infrastructure to do it, in addition to natural resources that help run any industry in our country,” highlights Tamer Industry’s CEO. Quality certifications such as QS-9000 / ISO-9001 (received in May 1998), ISO/TS-2 (labor related) and ISO-14001 (an environmental norm certification) have helped strengthen Industrias Tamer’s presence in Mexico’s automotive sector. The company’s development has taken place alongside investment and innovation. In 2012, the company invested 9 million USD to purchase a 42,000 square meter distribution center in Estado de México, in order to

service the needs of domestic and foreign customers. “The challenge is to make this industry grow in Mexico. Manufacturing as such has turned the country into a paradise, which in turn increases our own manufacturing levels,” adds Eduardo Tamer. The outlook is positive for companies like Industrias Tamer. Estimates for 2017 say that over 9 million automobiles will be manufactured in Mexico. “We see ourselves as an active player sharing in the market’s development together with other world class companies. We also enjoy a significant share of the market because of the product quality we offer customers in the automotive industry,” concludes Eduardo Tamer, the man behind a corporation that provides over 240 jobs and enjoys a portfolio of 840 customers in the aftermarket field. N

To date, the Mikel’s product catalogue by Industrias Tamer includes hundreds of automotive products, the best known being in hydraulics, such as the hydraulic bottle jacks, pneumatic products and automotive accessories among others.

www.mikels.com.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

photos

MOFLES Miller: ExplorING New Paths Changes in the automotive industry mean companies have to adapt their plans, even ones that have established themselves in certain market niches. Mofles Miller speaks of its experience.

by omar magaña

Forty years’ experience in the design, manufacture and sale of original, spare and personalized exhaust systems for automobiles is an excellent reason to keep the wheels of a Mexican company like Mofles Miller oiled but not the only one determining its expansion strategy. Mofles Miller’s CEO Eduardo Miller acknowledges that neither the factory nor the brand could remain passive in the face of Mexico’s evolution into a major car

manufacturer and exporter and the subsequent arrival of Tier 1 suppliers –including companies that make exhaust systems– as part of the strategic plans of OEMs. “We’ve had to deal with a tidal wave of manufacturers from all over the world.” In light of this new, more competitive environment, brothers Emilio and Eduardo Miller have opted, first and foremost, to defend their brand identity with the aid of marketing strategies and distributor loyalty. They have also forged good business relations with

motorcycle manufacturers and coordinated efforts with ProMéxico to seek out opportunities in international markets. “Although we were already exporting in the sense that customers would order a product and we would ship it to another country, we had no idea what we wanted to accomplish. Two years ago, we initiated an export project with two targets: on the one hand, we wanted to sell a brand product and on the other, to sell it to multinationals,” says Miller. Branding and marketing strategies Branding and marketing strategies can mark the difference between either continuing or ceasing to exist, between becoming either a market leader or drowning in a sea of brands. The distinguishing mark of Mofles Miller’s products –exhausts and readers– is a mosquito in a helmet.

archive

“We have a strong market position because we use branding to get people to recognize us, even though there are a lot of Mexican and foreign players on the market. We want people to buy our product for what it represents,” says Eduardo. For many, he says, the mosquito represents a brand with a long history in the auto parts sector. The price-quality ratio of the company’s products and its customer services are other pluses the market has rewarded it for. In a bid to hold on to this market position, publicity has been put up at more than 1,000 workshops across the country, advertisements have been published in specialized tuning magazines and the brand has been promoted in social media. “My father’s vision was to have a line of spare parts, to offer people the choice of a quality spare part for their car at an accessible price,” recalls Miller, adding that “He always knew tuning and a fun exhaust were things people wanted and that could better position the brand.”

Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

From there on, it was a matter of adapting to the arrival of new makes and models, market trends –tuning or sports– and advances in engine technologies and exhaust systems. A question of confidence The company’s management has proven savvy at interpreting trends, at deciding whether to continue down the same path or whether it’s time to seek out greener pastures. In recent years, Mofles Miller has positioned itself as a direct supplier of motorcycle assembly companies, namely Dínamo of Mexico, ousting Asian suppliers of the same product. “It’s something we’re extremely proud of,” says Miller.

When it comes to supplying original parts, Mofles Miller is the best option for motorcycle manufacturers, offering as it does quality products and better delivery times compared to its competitors, mainly Chinese companies. The company expects OEMs of automobiles in Mexico to acknowledge these attributes and seek out business ties in the near future. Mofles Miller has been in the export race for one year now and it’s all been plain sailing so far. During that time, its products have reached the US and Canada, South America, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean. “We’ve even sold to Brazil, a country with manu-

facturing capacity and competitive prices,” says Miller. And now that it has found favorable winds, it plans to continue on course. Mofles Miller aims to export primarily original parts for motorcycles, with a view to obtaining half its revenues from foreign sales in a notso-distant future, as opposed to the 25% to 30% these currently represent. Meanwhile, the company won’t be letting up on efforts to consolidate its operations on the domestic spare parts market, with the backing of a network of 5,000 customers, ranging from small shops to large spare-part distributors. N

Branding and marketing strategies can mean the difference between either continuing or ceasing to exist, between becoming either a market leader or drowning in a sea of brands. The distinguishing mark of Mofles Miller’s products –exhausts and readers– is a mosquito in a helmet.

www.millermofles.com.mx

First came the Vocho A history of the company wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Vocho, the moniker given to the Volkswagen sedan in Mexico. By 1968, the year in which Mofles Miller began operating, it was already popular in Mexico. Mofles Miller began manufacturing headers for the Volkswagen sedan and shortly afterwards diversified to Renault and other brands with a presence on the Mexican market. Soon, demand for replacement exhausts increased and the company began to expand on the basis of a shop-by-shop sales system.

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

Vazlo: or How a Simple Idea can Become a Booming Corporation For eight years, Vazlo’s CEO had an idea and held onto it. Today, this auto parts marketing and manufacturing company exports almost 30% of its annual production to other regions in the Americas.

photos

courtesy of vazlo

Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

The guidelines that have consolidated Vazlo within the auto parts sector over the years are: customized service, periodic development of new products, a fair price and as fast a delivery as possible.

by antonio vázquez

Eight years ago, the Mexican businessman Eduardo Vázquez Loya began wondering why there wasn’t any Mexican company specializing in manufacturing the natural rubber pieces that hold an automobile’s engine and transmission in place. His question and reasoning were no serendipity, but rather the product of two decades of experience working within the automobile industry. “I started working in the auto parts industry 20 years ago and now I manufacture wholesale. I began in spare parts stores open to the public and always saw the need, at the sales counter, for a certain specialty product that was not

available. We understood the problem and figured Mexico had a good market niche for the product. The available companies working the automotive sector did not manufacture such a part and it was hard to service the customer properly,” says Vazlo’s CEO. Vazlo is a Mexican company located in Fresnillo, in the state of Zacatecas, a state lying center-westerly within Mexico. Where, in the engine, is the Vazlo seal? “We manufacture products or parts that hold the engine and the transmission in place. They are 50% natural rubber. The rubber helps absorb the engine’s and the transmission’s vibrations so they don’t trans-

fer onto the steering wheel and avoid collateral damage,” comments Vázquez. Vazlo’s products can be used both in the simplest vehicles or in the most complex and sophisticated ones. The company manufactures over 2,000 parts out of rubber and metal allowing them to supply a variety of needs. The guidelines that have consolidated Vazlo within the auto parts sector over the years are: customized service, periodic development of new products, a fair price and as fast a delivery as possible. Eduardo Vázquez Loya explains that Vazlo’s products are sold in the US and the Caribbean through their Miami office. The company’s office in Colombia provides services only to Colombian customers. Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala and El Salvador are served directly from the headquarters in Mexico.

March – April 2014

In his own words, “Vazlo makes the best out of Mexico’s great geographic location and joins logistics with production. Furthermore, exports are strong and have been growing. About 30% of what we manufacture is for international markets.” Vázquez Loya underscores the fact that government institutions like ProMéxico help companies, such as his, to participate in automotive industry tradeshows such as the ones in Las Vegas and Sao Paulo, enabling Vazlo to open its doors to new customers. “The only thing we adopt is the trend. Mexico has the right manufacturing conditions and properly trained skilled labor. It is also strategically located to export to the large US market and to Central and South America,” he says.

For Eduardo Vázquez, geographic location has exponentially increased Vazlo’s growth. They currently have a network of 36 sales agents in Mexico, facilitating product shipment to any location. “We have strong advantages over other countries when it comes to taking care of the market in the Americas. We have competitive operating costs and fast service for our US customers and we can access Brazil equally fast –Brazil being the giant Southern market. These are reasons why different vehicle assembly brands are settling in Mexico and using their offices here as their centre of operations,” he adds. Vázquez feels that an even bigger automotive industry growth will take place in the long run. Newly settled assembly firms will help boost local vendor growth. To date, Vazlo has 328 workers.

The company’s goal is to close 2014 with 1,000 and have 1,500 by 2016. These numbers are only in respect to the line of production. For now, the company is in the middle of a five-year marketing project. “Our export indicators should have grown by the end of the five-year period,” he adds. The strategy is paired with a strong investment in infrastructure. In 2014, the company will finish building new production areas and by 2015 it will start manufacturing new products, all in facilities that will have grown up to 10,000 square surface meters by 2016. “We will continue moving forward and crossing borders, will continue taking care of our customers and will continue to consolidate into a sound Mexican corporation,” concludes Eduardo Vázquez Loya. N www.vazlo.com.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | Mexico’s Partner

photos

SERVICIOS Vistamex: as Versatile as Polymers In just over five years, a group of Mexican shareholders has multiplied their company’s possibilities and dividends by using capacity considered to have been exceeded.

by omar magaña

Servicios Vistamex –a company housed in the same facilities where Moulinex created kitchen appliances in the 1990s, right on the Irapuato-Querétaro highway– has grown exponentially using a business model as flexible and versatile as their raw material is. Vistamex are experts in plastic injection and, although it was created in

2008 as a company that recovered appliances and continued manufacturing them before Moulinex and SEB Group did, today it understands the advantages of linking with other sectors, like the automobile sector, in addition to exploring all possibilities arising from raw material use, with the same infrastructure and from the same human capital.

The company directed by César Gutiérrez Elizarraras still assembles small appliances for SEB Group, a company Moulinex purchased. SEB Group sold the machinery to Vistamex when it moved to China in 2006. Vistamex also repairs tooling, injects plastic parts and assembles for Mabe, another kitchen and home appliances company. However, one of its most important clients happens to be a key supplier in the automotive industry worldwide, the French group Valeo. “We had a great opportunity to continue injecting plastic parts for markets other than kitchen and home appliances,” said Gutiérrez, who was part of the shareholder group that purchased the 35 machines sold by SEB Group and believed in the opportunities that lay ahead if such infrastructure was used correctly.

courtesy of vistamex

Vistamex purchased an inventory of machines weighing between 25 and 500 tons; machinery used to inject all sorts of thermoplastics. Other equipment such as CNC and electro discharge machines for manufacturing, repairs, and changes in engineering tooling was added to the original inventory. Beginning 2008, and on to date, the company’s payroll grew from 72 people to 200, and its sales jumped from 5.4 to 17.3 million USD (2013 year end.) “We have balanced our products in such a way that if any sector has a problem, we can bear it,” explains the CEO. The Automotive Industry Apaseo El Grande, Guanajuato, is in a region known as El Bajío. This is the most prolific region in North America in respect to the automotive sec-

March – April 2014

Mexico’s Partner | Negocios ProMéxico

tor. It became so when OEMs convinced their Tier 1 and 2 suppliers in the facilities already in place to create supply chains and just-in-time delivery concepts, and to export. The entire region has placed Mexico as the fourth automobile exporter after Germany, South Korea and Japan, and this is where Vistamex operates from. The company has ISO 9001 and ISO 16949 certifications, placing it as a Tier 2 trust level company for the industries key players. Vistamex is also working on being certified by ISO 14000 this year. “In six years, we developed a scheme with Valeo that has continued to evolve: not only do we inject plastic parts but we also manufacture tooling for Valeo in South Korea and China,” explains Gutiérrez. This is the system that Vistamex Services uses to transform plastic resins from abroad to supply customers just-in-time. On the other hand, the company in Guanajuato manufactures point molds to inject components needed in South Korea and China for their own assembling processes. That in itself represents 38% of the company’s sales numbers. Yet, in the spurt Gutiérrez foresees for the automotive industry in Mexico, Vistamex Services maintains a rather balanced interest in the sector and will continue to bet on its diversified delivery systems. “When the 2009 automotive industry crisis hit, our interest in the home and kitchen appliance sector helped greatly,” he explains. That year, Gutiérrez reminisces, Vistamex Services was working at 40% or 50% of its capacity. Once the rhythm was back in sync, the company began thinking about sustained growth with their customers: 18 multinational

March – April 2014

Beginning 2008, and on to date, the company’s payroll grew from 72 people to 200, and its sales jumped from 5.4 to 17.3 million usd (2013 year end.) “We have balanced our products in such a way that if any sector has a problem, we can bear it,” explains the CEO. companies to date. The company’s core business and alliances are with Yamada Electric –mold manufacturing, injection and manufacturing– and with Trimechanics –equipment automation and tooling manufacturing. The alliance with Trimechanics, the interest being on enjoying a strong thrust, has

to comply with the goal of empowering Vistamex’s tooling shop. The company has proposed developing tools, a fundamental must in plastic injection processes and parts formation with European quality. “We have concentrated on growing with our own customers. What we see today is that customers are our best calling card,” acknowledges Vistamex’s CEO, who also tells us that a growth plan will be developed in keeping with the Tier 1 companies in the Bajío region. These companies will cover OEM, Toyota and Honda needs. Flexible Staff If one takes into account the profile of a versatile company that covers many industries, Vistamex Services has been capable of consolidating the kind of human capital that knows how to multitask:

workers know very well how to work with plastic piece injection processes, whether for the automotive industry or for household appliances. They also know how to assemble since the company is in charge of these appliances, specifically the freezer that comes in some of the Mabe refrigerator models. “Since injection is our core business, when we have a dip in the assembly area, the staff in that section works in injection parts, since it has been trained and is familiar with the standards needed for the job,” explains Gutiérrez. Given all of the above, today one can find Vistamex Services in the US, France, Brazil and Canada. The company has plans to continue growing and consolidating its presence in the plastic injection market. N www.serviciosvistamex.com

Negocios ProMéxico | Figures

Figures | Negocios ProMéxico

infographic oldemar

Mexico’s Automotive Industry

In 2013 Mexico was the 8th world’s largest producer of vehicles and the 2nd largest in Latin America.

Speeding in the fast lane

International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers

Growing Exports

In 2013, Mexico’s production of light vehicles reached 2.93 million units, 1.7% more than in 2012.

(million USD)

’10

’11

’12

’10

’11

’12

’13

’14*

’09

’10

’11

’12

’13

89 out of the world’s top 100 auto part manufacturers are present in Mexico.

2,843.55

17,560.51

14,799.96

12,466.32

10,465.16

6,515.50

4,374.79

32,389.40

29,169.29

’09

26,844.14

’14*

23,091.14

77.98 ’13

15,103.25

’09

73.87

67.80 ’14*

34.54

’13

24.28

’12

885.71 ’11

5.38

’10

5,565.74

’09

3,613.31

’14*

6,035.88

’13

5,779.31

’12

77,192.99

70,272.85

62,900.75 ’11

2,421.56

’10

11,530.38

’09

51,739.27

33,755.79

AMIA

’14*

ProMéxico with data from Automotive News

Based on the value of its exports, Mexican automotive and auto parts industries are ranked 4th in the list of the world’s top exporters, above countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China. ProMéxico with data from Global Trade Atlas

Total

Tractors

Motor vehicles for the transport of ten or more persons, including the driver

Mexico exports almost four times more than Brazil and India together.

Motor vehicles for the transport of goods

Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, including station wagons and racing cars

ProMéxico with data from Global Trade Atlas

Mexico is the 5th world’s largest auto parts supplier and the industry’s largest exporter in Latin America.

’12

’13

’14*

Special purpose motor vehicles, other than those principally designed for the transport of persons or goods

’09

’10

’11

’12

Chassis fitted with engines

’13

’14*

’09

’12

’13

’14*

Bodies (including cabs)

’09

’10

0.81

0.09

2.07

2.17

1.69

2.55

3,270.75

20,521.88

19,045.97

16,801.35

13,835.30

9,229.37

80.13

’11

83.01

’10

15.79

27.31

6.15

20.08

41.26

42.84

31.33

12.71

41.80

53.36

49.26

36.56 ’11

51.49

’10

54.20

’09

48.83

25.02

Global Trade Atlas

’11

’12

’13

Parts and accessories of the motor vehicles

’14*

’09

’10

’11

’12

’13

’14*

Motorcycles (including mopeds) and cycles fitted with an auxiliary motor, with or without side-cars

Mexico was the largest supplier of auto parts and trucks to the US market in 2013. US Automotive Trade Data

In 2013 investment in Mexican automotive and auto parts industries reached 3.53 billion , 24% more than in 2012 (2.84 billion ). Registro Nacional de Inversión Extranjera (RNIE), Ministry of Economy

Between 1999 and 2013, Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico’s automotive and auto parts industries has totalled 32.21 billion . RNIE

Source: Banco de México. 52

March – April 2014

*January and February. 53

’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’09 ’10

’10 ’11

’11 ’12

’12

March – April 2014

’11

March – April 2014

’09 ’10

’12 ’13 ’09 ’10

’11

’12

’09 ’10 ’11

’12 ’13 ’09

’11 ’12

’10 ’11

’12

417,430

423,937

’10

520,438

‘12

516,146

’09

518,132

’13

604,508

’12

510,041

Exports

429,261

2,355,564

2,143,879

Exports

510,041

‘11

350,721

271,391

‘10

434,685

63,724

1,859,517

1,223,333

1,661,406

1,613,313

1,536,768

1,186,346

1,094,831

infographic oldemar

361,031

272,051

’11

319,743

’10

63,724

’11

63,724

’10

55,661

49,596

’09

55,661

54,278

‘09

55,661

49,596

’13

’09

49,596

’12

54,278

’13

54,278

’13

42,696

’12

42,696

’11

449,570

‘08

42,696

’10

446,918

’09

680,213

’13

467,338

607,087

‘07

467,517

’12

344,246

225,726

‘06

683,520

506,492

37,798

‘05

408,488

’13

344,673

’10

227,473

’09

’12

355,414

’11

38,090

’11

63,229

’10

39,737

45,390

’09

38,627

36,320

’10

45,390

41,121

‘04

63,256

55,001

’13

’09

40,975

’13

36,829

’13

37,564

525,733

‘13

47,728

’12

523,378

465,277

2,884,869

2,933,465

607,087

’09

’11

467,085

‘12

645,823

Production for export ’10

544,202

‘11

570,942

’13

’09

460,112

2,557,550

2,260,775

units produced and exported

442,824

’13

559,350

1,507,527

Mexican Light Vehicles Industry

544,202

’12

280,673

‘10

461,277

’11

280,906

’12

520,217

384,665

462,462

384,959

2,102,801

2,022,241

Total production

350,534

’11

506,021

435,080

’10

449,232

393,649

‘09

525,220

’09

451,648

’13 ’10

462,462

’12 ’09

383,281

’13

231,003

‘08

231,370

’12

402,105

424,754

338,772

224,078 ‘07

234,330

412,784

’11

420,780

Total production

439,110

’10 ’11

455,334

’09 ’10

314,422

’09

338,772

units produced and exported by company 135,011

Who is Who in Mexico’s Automotive Industry ‘06

257,319

134,453

‘05

230,267

157,082

‘04

1,978,771

1,607,376

1,507,175

Negocios ProMéxico | Figures Figures | Negocios ProMéxico

2,423,084

‘13

’13

Source: AMIA 55

Negocios ProMéxico | Figures

infographic oldemar

You might be driving a car made in Mexico…

The Complete Guide to the Mexican Way of Life

’09

’12

’09

’11

’12

’13

South America

’09

’10

’11

’12

’13

America (total)

’09

144,120 ’13

’12

67,891

46,690

25,538 ’11

’12

Africa

’13

’09

’10

’11

’13

’12

33,987

30,778

35,589

’11

16,300

8,016

’10

27,703

9,494

34,722

2,149,382

2,030,583

1,853,952

1,626,452

1,081,764

287,488

’10

0 ’09

’12

Asia

344,269

313,713

196,859

99,502

Central America

29,050

13,109

20,093 ’13

2,721

’11

21,864

15,280

4,571

9,609 ’10

’11

The Lifestyle

Europe

North America

’09

’10

212,792

’13

220,784

’12

178,221

125,739 ’11

1,841,801

’10

1,664,450

1,524,959

’09

1,419,984

977,691

Mexican exports of light vehicles by region, in units

The Butterfly Effect of Mexican Fashion

’13

Other

A Giant in Latin America

Brazil

‘10 ’11 ‘12 ’13

78,614 147,535 178,154 137,443

Argentina

Colombia

64,338 74,287 63,021 61,624

21,767 46,472 48,653 47,527

Chile

Peru

20,656 33,182 25,009 17,697

6,687 9,348 14,164 7,347

Uruguay

5,613 7,682 7,065 6,771

Ecuador Puerto Rico

8,409 8,254 5,657 6,373

2,755 3,432 5,978 5,753

Panama

Costa Rica

2,533 4,122 5,606 5,421

1,967 3,466 3,423 2,459

Source: AMIA 56

March – April 2014

photo courtesy of sandra weil

Top ten destinations of Mexican exports of light vehicles in Latin America (units)

When it comes to fashion, “It’s all about looking ahead” and Mexican designers are determined to turn Mexico into a brand on the strength of these words. 62

The Lifestyle Briefs

MXT The Mexican Sports Car for European Roads

Juan O’ Gorman The Perfect Balance Between Aesthetics and Functionality

Oaxaca Weaving History and Tradition

The Promised Land of the South

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

Markets have always been the ideal places to buy all that one’s mind can fashion. In the digital age, some of these traditional bazaars have turned into online shops where customers can enjoy the browsing experience from the comfort of their home or at work, to name but a few purchasing options. A Mexican company has taken inspiration from both the old and the new to create Sacional, Mexico’s online design bazaar where people can find “all of their favorite things,” according to the firm’s website. Sacio-

www.scuderiequirinale.it

fundacionjumex.org

March – April 2014

signers to promote their work throughout Mexico.

www.sacional.com

Valeria Luiselli: A Biting Mexican Narrative

fabricio atilano ochoa

The sweetheart of Mexico’s current literary scene, Valeria Luiselli (Mexico, 1983) recently launched her second novel, La historia de mis dientes (My Teeth’s Story), which was written as a serial under a male pseudonym to factory workers of Mexican fruit juice company Jumex. At first, the work was commissioned by curators Juan Gaitan and Magali Arriola, who invited Valeria to write some content for the pieces of the El cazador y la fábrica (The Hunter and the Factory) exhibition. The exhibit, which showcased works from Colección Jumex, mainly discussed the relationship between industry and nature, recreation and work, at a time when Jumex’s exhibition halls were still inside the fruit juice factory. La historia de mis dientes tells the story of Gustavo “Carretera” Sánchez Sánchez, an auctioneer with a curious obsession: collecting famous people’s dentures. Valeria claims that this character’s voice

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courtesy of museo jumex

The Jumex Museum, inaugurated on November 19, 2013, has become a new cultural reference in Mexico and Latin America. A world-class venue given the quality of its minimalistic architecture and contemporary art collections, the museum has been visited by over 60,000 people in a little over three months. One of its most current exhibitions is Habitar el Tiempo (Inhabiting Time), which presents a selection of close to thirty works from Colección Jumex. It will run from March 7 to May 18, 2014. We all inhabit time. That is the idea behind this three-dimensional collage of works that reify fragments or periods of artists’ lives, which are then accumulated by the collector and

placed in the gallery for everyone to enjoy. Inspired by Alois Riegl’s theory, which suggests that civilizations and cultures oscillate between two spatial conceptions: the “haptic,” in which objects are isolated, and the “optic,” where they are combined in a continuous space, Inhabiting Time juxtaposes fragments (art works) by Francis Alÿs, Carlos Amorales, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois, Moyra Davey, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Joachim Koester, Gonzalo Lebrija, Richard Long, Gordon Matta-Clark, Jean-Luc Moulène, Rivane Neuenschwander, Steven Parrino, Robert Rauschenberg, Dieter & Björn Roth, Robert Ryman, Robert Smithson, Rosemarie Trockel, Franz West and Hannah Wilke, among others.

Sacional is an ideal platform for Mexican designers to showcase their creations on the domestic market while offering the opportunity to foreign de-

LITERATURE

ART

Jumex Museum Inhabits Time

nal’s mission is to find and offer the best design, provided that it is new, fresh, and contemporary, and has the best quality. “We guarantee you’ll get an extra ounce of happiness with each product!” Sacional’s product portfolio comprises jewelry, clothing (for humans as well as pets), technological accessories (for iPhone and iPad, other gadgets, and travel), fashion accessories (footwear, hats, ties, cufflinks, sunglasses, wallets, etc.), decoration, and furniture from over 100 brands.

courtesy of sacional

Sacional: Mexico’s Online Design Bazaar

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The Scuderie del Quirinale is host to the exhibition on the life and work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) a symbol of the artistic avant-garde of Mexican culture in the 20th century. Without a doubt, Kahlo’s life is inextricably interweaved with her work. It is important to take into account that Frida did have a dazzling life full of anecdotes of love and pain, and had also been acknowledgeable observer of the rich cultural life of Mexico and the development of art on a global scale.Consequently, there are many parallels between Kahlo’s art and the art of her contemporaries, but these have not yet been considered in the analysis of her work up to now. The retrospective exhibition in Rome presents a careful selection of Kahlo’s work and puts an emphasis on the international focus of her art. Above all, Kahlo was certainly involved with Mexican contemporary

DESIGN

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Frida Kahlo Visits Roma

society and art. But she also had been close to different artists of the surrealist movement of Paris. Even if we consider that in different letters she has expressed differences in thought concerning their dandyish attitude, there are many parallels between her work and the international avant-garde explored in the exhibition. Her years in the US presented countless opportunities for her to visit museums and exhibitions and gather new inspiration. The exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in collaboration with the Mexican National Council for Culture and Arts aims to portraying some of the art that influenced Kahlo. The exhibition is open since March 20 and ends June 13, 2014. Some of the works that can be seen are Self-portrait, 1941; Self-portrait With a Thorn Necklace and a Hummingbird; Self-portrait as a Tehuana or With Diego on my Mind, 1943. The exhibition is enriched with some of the artist’s photographies and personal objects.

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ART

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

March – April 2014

came from listening to MP3 recordings of Jumex factory workers, who met every week to read and review her work. “[The factory workers] contributed a lot: they told stories, were critical, lent their voices, and helped me find a tone. Most of all, they helped me establish a bridge between two irreconcilable worlds […] the gallery and the factory; artists and workers; the art collection and the juices […] Through my collaboration with them, the book’s main driver became the question on how objects of art gain and lose value, not only in the specialized art world, but also outside its well-defined boundaries.” Valeria Luiselli has also written the essay collection Papeles falsos (2010), and the novel Los ingrávidos (2011), which have been translated to multiple languages and earned international acclaim. sextopiso.mx

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

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omar bárcena

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

La Olla dam, a watery rural landscape impregnated with legend. Contact with these bucolic scenes and the influence of his artist father were to shape the young O’Gorman. For three years, he soaked up the textures and colors of the Mexican countryside, the same textures and colors that were to become the leitmotifs of this work, for more than anything O’Gorman considered himself a landscape artist. The family later returned to Mexico City but by then O’Gorman had witnessed social inequality at first hand and that was to be another key element of his work. The 1920s were decisive in the formation of the man who was to become the main exponent of functionalism in the Mexican architecture of the period. It was during this decade that O’Gorman mapped out his destiny, juggling architecture studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and art studies at the San Carlos Academy. For O’Gorman, painting always went handin-hand with architecture. Some of his more famous works as an artist include the murals at UNAM’s central library and the mural Retablo de la Independencia at Chapultepec Castle, both in Mexico City. In the field of architecture, his signature creation was the house he built for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and that also served the couple as an art studio. N

Juan O’ Gorman The Perfect Balance between Aesthetics and Functionality by antonio vázquez

A child of the early post-Mexican Revolution, the works of O’Gorman are among the best known of 20th century Mexican architecture. One of his more famous projects was the house he built for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 brought with it hopes of a more developed nation and the emergence of a school of highly critical architects, muralists, artists and intellectuals. Juan O’Gorman, one of the fathers of the Mexican architecture of the 20th century, formed part of that movement and exemplified Mexico’s extraordinary cultural wealth. By the time he turned 25, O’Gorman was already an established architect and a budding artist. In keeping with the tenets of functionalism –the new architectural current to which he adhered– every space in his buildings was designed to fulfill a specific purpose or function, while interacting with color, textures and forms to evoke a sense of overall harmony. In projects like Mexico’s central bank building, Mexico City’s Pedregal de San Ángel residential complex and the home he built for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, every wall, every window, every detail of O’Gorman’s creations scream rebellion against the canons of traditional early 20th century architecture. But more than an obsession with aesthetics, the architect sought to meet the needs of a postrevolutionary Mexico. O’Gorman was born in 1905 in the bohemian district of Coyoacán in Mexico City. His father was the British chemical engineer and artist Cecil Crawford O’Gorman. When Juan was four, his father’s line of work forced the family to uproot. They took up residence at a ranch between Guanajuato and

O’Gorman, Rivera and Kahlo

In his autobiography, O’Gorman tells how he once invited the muralist Diego Rivera –whom he met when he was just 17– to see the house he had built for his father, Cecil O’Gorman. The visit sparked off a discussion on functionalism and Rivera ended up asking O’Gorman to build him a functional home that incorporated a studio. The project was completed in 1932 when O’Gorman was 27. Hues of blue, straight lines, geometrical shapes and expansive spaces were the distinguishing characteristics of the project, which consisted of two twin houses whose top floors were connected by a bridge. This is the house Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived and worked in from 1934 to 1941. In 1986, it was turned into a museum by the National Institute of Fine Arts and in 1997 it was declared Artistic Heritage of Mexico.

March – April 2014

The Butterfly Effect of Mexican Fashion

Alexia Ulibarri Her name conjures up visions of an elegant Grace Kelly in an Alfred Hitchcock movie –but with a modern twist. With figure flattering outfits emblazoned with digital prints of images as classic as a rose, the collections of this Mexican designer make you feel like you’re on the set of the television series Mad Men. Ubarri designs minimalist tops in transparent fabrics, which she pairs with pencil skirts in textures reminiscent of antique embroidery; lacy crop tops and chiffon skirts that dance to the song of the wind.

When it comes to fashion, “It’s all about looking ahead” and Mexican designers are determined to turn Mexico into a brand on the strength of these words. by karla bañuelos sáenz

2014 at Campo Marte in Mexico City. Its goal: to promote a market born of the creativity and talent of Mexican and Latin American designers. This year, 20 acclaimed fashion designers from Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, and emerging talents from universities like Centro and Jannette Klein participated in the event. What spectators witnessed was a kaleidoscope of garments inspired by oriental aesthetics, sensual lace and transparent fabrics, prints decorated with reinterpreted geometries and dresses playful enough to be in an animated movie. This was the best of Mexican fashion connecting with the networks that knit international trends, just as the persistent Monarch butterfly weaves its invisible web of routes.

www.alexiaulibarri.com

Second skins in bright Mexican pink that simulate butterflies in full flight. Cristina Pineda and Ricardo Covalín are the founders of this brand that has taken icons of Mexican culture and turned them into exquisite fabrics. Initially, they focused on luxury accessories like scarves, ties and purses but have since expanded

their repertoire to include the entire male and female wardrobes. The key to Pineda Covalín’s success has been precisely this: their striking prints in vibrant colors that reinterpret the aesthetic of traditional Mexican peoples like the Huichol, without falling prey to excesses or clichés. During the 15 years they have been in the business, the quality of their products has translated into over 100 points of sale, not

only in Mexico but also in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Spain, the US, France, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, England, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and Peru. An ambassador of Mexican design abroad, this visionary brand has worked with creative directors of the likes of Daniel Andrade, Kris Goyri and Jorge Duque.

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Pineda Covalín

courtesy of alexia ulibarri

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courtesy of mercedes-benz fashion week méxico

“The flapping of a butterfly’s wings can be felt on the other side of the world” goes a Chinese proverb about how a subtle action can have an exponential effect. And like the proverbial flapping of the butterfly’s wings, the vision of one fashion designer can influence thousands, setting trends that make their way into closets all over the world with garments that began life as simple sketches on a blank sheet of paper. “Fashion isn’t about looking backwards. It’s all about looking ahead,” says Vogue editor Anna Wintour in a documentary on the editing process of the prestigious magazine she runs. In this forward march, avant garde Mexican fashion finds its main ally in the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week México, whose last edition –the 15th to date– took place on April 1-4,

A graduate of the Marangoni Institute and the London College of Fashion, after collaborating with the English designer Maria Grach Vogel, she presented her own concept at Miami Fashion Week and carved herself out a market niche in London. Her creations are also sold in places like Dubai, Israel, Hong Kong, the US and outlets in Mexico City like Common People, Cañamiel and Punto i Coma. Known for their scrupulous artistic direction, her campaigns have been the perfect vehicle for her sophisticated designs, which appeal to a wide variety of female consumers.

courtesy of alexia ulibarri

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

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Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

www.pinedacovalin.com

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

Sandra Weil

As playful as pink tutti-frutti gum and as bold as a French New Wave film, Paola Wong is the creative force behind Pink Magnolia, a Mexican firm whose zany collections star flirtatious dresses made of candy colored fabrics, silhouettes inspired by pin-up girls, flounced Fifties-style skirts, crop tops decorated with colored pompoms, iridescent transparent fabrics, pearls and platform shoes. This erstwhile Hello Kitty fan is all grown up now and is an acclaimed fashion designer. A graduate of Centro, Paola also studied at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and the University of Palermo in Argentina. She has been working in the fashion industry for five years now and has made something of a name for herself, teaming up with Disney to create a collection inspired by Minnie Mouse. Her clothes are sold in Mexico City and New York and she already has plans to expand to Europe and Asia.

Sandra founded her own brand in 2008 and manages three main lines: couture, ready-to-wear and brides. Beauty is the core concept of her creations, which are hand-sewn in rich fabrics, with special attention being paid to the details. Also key to her creative process are strength and an independent spirit, values that she greatly admires in women. Her childhood was spent amid dresses and fabrics at her grandmother’s workshop in Lima, Peru, so design is something that comes naturally to her. After studying plastic arts in Lima, she

courtesy of mercedes-benz fashion week méxico

Synonymous with the avant garde and fine tailoring, this duo lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico. The brand, which was founded in 1994, has had a constant presence at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Mexico. Study of the human body and experimentation form the basis of the sisters’ philosophy, so it should come as no surprise that they cite Japanese designers like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo among their muses. Their collections have walked runways in Spain, the US, Greece, Croatia, Colombia and Uruguay, while articles on their work are regularly published by the specialized press in Mexico, “situating them on the design map as the country’s best known vanguard brand,” ac-

cording to the organizers of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Mexico. At this year’s show, the sisters enthralled spectators with oversized silhouettes in delicate, almost ethereal fabrics whose cut nods to a distinct oriental influence. For this collection, they chose to keep the color palette simple, limiting themselves to mainly white, pale green, ochre and black. In addition to Fashion Week, their résumé boasts collaborations with conceptual artists of international stature and special projects with brands like Adidas and Absolut Vodka. The Mexican magazine Quién ranked them among the 50 most influential people in Mexico, while Britain’s Monocle crowned them Mexico’s leading designers. www.juliayrenata.com.mx

March – April 2014

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courtesy of sandra weil

Julia y Renata

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www.sandraweil.com

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www.pinkmagnolia.com.mx

went on to specialize in graphic design at Felicidad Ducé in Barcelona. Currently based in Mexico City, in 2013 Sandra was a finalist in the first Vogue Who’s on Next competition. Her excellent graphic taste finds an outlet in minimalist garments, whose magic resides in blocs of darker colors contrasted with neon tones, combined with skirts and pants in interesting prints: deconstructed hound’s-tooth check, forest landscapes and tangled threads –stylish optical illusions that can be purchased at her showroom in the Polanco district of Mexico City and in Paris via Bureau Seutail. A must!

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courtesy of grupo trapitex

courtesy of sandra weil

Pink Magnolia

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

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courtesy of mastretta cars

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

MXT the Mexican Sports Car for European Roads The Mastretta MXT is a Mexican-made sports car that is picking up speed. In 2013, Mastretta Cars initiated a certification process for the distribution of its flagship auto in the European Union.

by antonio vázquez

The Mastretta MXT has surpassed its own speed limit. The Mexican-made coupé made its debut in 2013 at Birmingham’s Autosport International Show in England, garnering recognition for Mastretta Cars, a division of Tecnoideas. The brains behind this particular success story are the brothers Carlos and Daniel Mastretta. Mastretta Cars has used its exposure on the UK market to gain access to the rest of Europe, with Daniel Mastretta stating to the international press on several occasions that European drivers are passionate about lightweight sports cars. Consequently, the company has concentrated its energies on a commercial strategy to conquer the European market. In 2013, it initiated a process to obtain ECSSTA (European Community Small Series Type) certification that allows manufacturers limited, exclusive production of up to 1,000 vehicles for distribution throughout Europe.

March – April 2014

Two doors, two seats, a carbon fiber and aluminum chassis and a 250 horsepower engine that can reach 100 kilometers an hour in just five seconds are some of the features of the Mastretta MXT, which weighs in at just 930 kilograms, making it perfect for a leisurely weekend trip through the hills of the Mediterranean or an adrenalin-packed lap around any racing track. Classed as Mastretta’s first high-performance sports car, the MXT combines form with functionality and precision under the hood to create a lightweight vehicle powerful enough to reach speeds of up to 240 kilometers an hour. Tecnoideas has been around for 20 years, but it wasn’t until 1987 that it created its sports car division, Mastretta Cars, based on the same creativity, innovation, technology and aesthetics that have always been the hallmarks of the company. Daniel’s talent as an industrial designer and Carlos’ management skills

came together to produce this sports coupé, which has only been on the market for six years, but already boasts three different models: the MXT, the MXT-S and the MXR racecar. This year, the company’s plant in Toluca, Estado de México, grew almost 20%, enabling it to manufacture 40 of the 50 vehicles it expects to sell in 2014. In February 2014, Carlos Masttreta was quoted as saying that 40% of the 50 MXTs scheduled for manufacture in 2014 have already been sold and will be delivered within a period not greater than eight months. “We want people to love and drive our car,” Daniel Mastretta has stated. And he doesn’t just want people to say the MXT is a great sports car, but to acknowledge it is Mexican-made. N

www.mastrettacars.com

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

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aaron rodríguez

the warp (vertical threads) and the weft (horizontal threads), while a bobbin, containing the thread of the weft, passes from side to side between the warp to create the desired design. Explosions of bright colors take the form of human and animal figures and traditional Zapotec designs or sometimes even works by famous artists like Picasso and Tamayo. These are unique collector’s pieces that reflect the individuality and creativity of the women of Oaxaca and owning one is like owning an original work of art –you can rest assured there is no other like it in the world! As traditional as the designs that decorate these masterpieces of textile art are the techniques used to dye the threads that go into them. Natural, organic materials like cotton and wool are stained with vegetable colors like pericon, which produces a yellow color, indigo, which produces blue, and the most famous of them all, the cochineal beetle, which produces deep red tones. With the arrival of the Spanish came the advent of the pedal loom, used mainly by men to make larger items like tablecloths or clothing, but for all its efficiency it never quite replaced the backstrap loom, which remains synonymous with the culture of Oaxaca in particular and Mexico in general. For all its simplicity, the backstrap loom is a sophisticated vehicle of expression, an age-old art form that requires expert hands and the inventiveness of a creator. N

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clara maría inés

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

OAXACA Weaving History and Tradition

aarón rodríguez

A simple backstrap loom, colored thread and a pair of skilled hands are all that is needed to create timeless, one-of-kind textiles.

by katia diéguez

This uniquely Mexican technique dates back to Pre-Colombian times and has been handed down from generation to generation. The loom is called a backstrap loom because one end is tied to a tree or post and the other has a belt that fits around the waist of the weaver, who is generally a woman. Cotton or wool threads form

March – April 2014

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You could write a book on the designs that bring the traditional textiles of Oaxaca to life. Not only do these ancient patterns have deeper, symbolic meaning, but weaving, particularly backstrap weaving, is an activity that helps keep the traditions of this southeastern Mexican state alive and holds communities together.

March – April 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

The Lifestyle | Negocios ProMéxico

The Promised Land

Campeche

Maya culture and colonial architecture

of the South Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz are three Mexican states that offer visitors a unique mix of past and present, luxury and adventure. by patricia peña

ter is found in Tabasco. The aorta of the state’s liquid heart is the Usumacinta River, one of the largest in America and the source of the region’s biodiversity. Campeche is famous for its archaeological sites. Edzná, Chicanná and Calakmul were once inhabited by the ancient Maya, while the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve was named a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site in 2002. And for those who like to sleep at one with nature and wake in a paradise on earth, many of the state’s old haciendas have been turned into boutique hotels.

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The southern Mexican states of Tabasco, Veracruz and Campeche smell of rainforest, tobacco and chocolate. Mahogany floors warmed by an afternoon sun and the song of exotic birds carried on the wind create an aura of mystery and mysticism in a land that has preserved the cul-

tural wealth of the Pre-Colombian and Colonial eras. Veracruz is the closest to Mexico City. Its ancient port is as good a starting point as any on a tour of its archaeological sites, jungles, rivers and oceans burgeoning with coral reefs. This state combines a past rich in tradition with a cosmopolitan present. Host to international cultural, political and sporting events, its versatility bodes well for a future in which history and modernity are reconciled. Known as the “Eden of Southeast Mexico,” a third of Mexico’s freshwa-

Campeche has it all, from colonial forts and haciendas to PreColombian archaeological sites and exclusive boutique hotels. The jungle adventure begins at the archaeological sites of Edzná, Chicanná and Calakmul, an ancient Maya city deep in the heart of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. To date, 6,252 structures have been excavated here, making this one of the largest sites of its kind in Mexico and earning it the title of UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site in 2002. The influence of New Spain can be seen in the Fort of San Miguel, built between the 17th and 18th centuries to protect the city from pirate attacks. Today it houses the Archeology Museum, where you can see collections of Maya artifacts, including the beautiful jade masks discovered in the tombs of the Calakmul archaeological site.

Every afternoon, a light show is projected on San Miguel’s 200-meter walls along with a narration explaining the origin of the Maya civilization and the Conquest, accounts of epic battles against pirates and the emergence of the haciendas of New Spain. Today these same haciendas have been turned into exclusive hotels like Hacienda Uayamón, a colonial-style building with high ceilings and lush gardens hemmed in by jungle, or Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a group of 17th century houses in Campeche’s Historic Center that have been renovated to include luxury, modern day amenities like a spa. Hacienda Puerta Campeche gives you a real feel for life in colonial times as you look out over the city and watch the sun set from its rooftops or take a nap in a traditional cotton hammock in your finely appointed guestroom decorated with Maya-style ochre tiles.

Tabasco

March – April 2014

courtesy of gobierno del estado de tabasco

Traversed by the Usumacinta, the country’s largest river, and the Grijalva, the second-largest in terms of flow, the “Eden of Southeast Mexico” supplies a third of the country’s freshwater and is home to very rich biodiversity. Villahermosa has numerous hotel chains with programs to suit every visitor, from adrenalin junkies to those in search of peace and quiet, so quiet the only sound to be heard is the breeze rustling in the trees. Adventure lovers can choose between rafting in the white waters of San José, abseiling down the cliff walls of the Usumacinta Canyon or a river trip through the jungle and mountains of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor in a Maya-style boat. This section of the corridor borders with Guatemala and enjoys the status of a Federal Natural Protected Area.

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lucy nieto

wet and wild

Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle

Negocios ProMéxico

Para Exportadores

El Talento

y su Importancia en la Diversificación Comercial de México Las recientes reformas estructurales, el activismo plasmado en la política exterior y el despliegue exitoso de una campaña de posicionamiento internacional han impactado positivamente la percepción del país a nivel global. Se habla de “el momento mexicano” como una oportunidad para avanzar en la diversificación de las relaciones económicas internacionales de México. En este proceso el talento humano juega un papel fundamental. 94

Veracruz

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of its turquoise-green waters and worldclass facilities for water sports like fishing, sailing and kayaking. Costa Esmeralda, in particular, boasts several new boutique hotels. One of them, Hotel Azúcar, is a minimalist building whose white walls provide an unexpected canvas for the intense colors of Veracruz. The kitchen serves up traditional dishes like filet of fish stuffed with seafood and torito, a fruit-based alcoholic beverage served to the rhythm of live jarocho folk music. El Azúcar and the other exclusive hotels along this stretch of coast offer palm shelters, yoga, meditation, reading, ballroom dancing and sun rooms, all with incredible ocean front views. Close by is the Ciénega state park and Tecolutla, a town dating from Pre-Colombian times whose name means “Place that worships the owl.” Waterskiing, scuba diving, boat trips and mud sucker fishing are just some of the activities available, in addition to excursions to local archaeological sites like El Tajín.

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An old Mexican song goes on about how the waves, in their eternal toing and froing, come back to nest on the shores of Veracruz. A visit to the port confirms that saying. Most of the world’s major seafaring routes pass through the Gulf of Mexico but this busy port doesn’t let its economic activities disturb the calm waters. Veracruz is a natural paradise of protected coral reefs and idyllic landscapes that begin with Isla del Sacrificio and extend right up to Boca del Río and the Estero residential zone, known as Veracruz’s “Little Venice” because all of its rustic homes sit on the river or mangrove swamp. Here you can find all the world’s large hotel chains lining the tranquil beaches that stretch to Antón Lizardo and Costa Esmeralda, so called because

damián rondana

where the waves come to nest

China y la creciente demanda de tequila:

La nueva ola

Israel:

¿Cómo tener éxito en el mercado estadounidense?

nuevas oportunidades comerciales

más cerca de lo que parecE

DE Negocios Inteligentes

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

de proméxico. México forma parte del bloque comercial más grande, competitivo y relevante del mundo. Su relación histórica e interdependencia con Estados Unidos de América y Canadá han sido elementos centrales para explicar el papel de México en América del Norte. En paralelo, México ha impulsado sus vínculos de cooperación y comercio con otros países de forma permanente. La diversificación comercial y la búsqueda de nuevos mercados han sido directrices clave en su política exterior. En esta edición compartimos una reflexión sobre las oportunidades comerciales de México e Israel. A pesar de que el vínculo de ese país con México y otras naciones en América Latina no es nuevo, cada vez hay más productos provenientes de esta región que son demandados en ese mercado. En este sentido, deben impulsarse mecanismos concretos que incrementen el flujo comercial de México, por lo que las estrategias de comercialización de alimentos y bebidas serán decisivas para incidir en ese mercado (así como en el de otros países aledaños). La nota infiere que los productos mexica-

nos podrían desplazar o complementar la oferta existente de productos. Aunado a ello, se incluye un breve análisis sobre el talento en los negocios internacionales. Las empresas multinacionales optan por invertir en el desarrollo de habilidades específicas y contratan capital humano que domine varios idiomas pero que además haya estado inmerso en el ámbito social y cultural del país en el que se busca apuntalar algún negocio. Este esquema ha sido sumamente fructífero en ciertos países asiáticos y menciona que en nuestro país debería promoverse más, no solo por empresas de clase mundial, sino también por oficinas gubernamentales. Además de estos ensayos, se publican contenidos adicionales de interés para el exportador mexicano. Por ejemplo, se aborda la utilidad de las tecnologías de la información en el desarrollo de negocios, sobre todo considerando las necesidades de las pymes al momento de cruzar fronteras. Asimismo, se incluyen mensajes sobre los incentivos existentes en Estados Unidos de América (SelectUSA) para facilitar inversiones en ese país, entre otros temas. Esperamos que los contenidos incluidos en esta edición sean de su interés.

¡Bienvenidos a Negocios ProMéxico!

Marzo – Abril 2014

BREVES

BREVES narias oportunidades de inversión. En la medida en que México firme más ARM, tendrá mayores beneficios para acceder a los mercados internacionales, además de desarrollar una cadena logística cada vez más segura y eficiente. La economía coreana se concentra en el sector industrial y de tecnología, por lo que depende del abastecimiento externo de productos primarios. Con este tipo de acuerdos, se multiplicarán las oportunidades para la industria minera, la industria automotriz (autopartes), de alimentos (cárnicos), así como la manufactura de electrónicos del país. www.sat.gob.mx

MINERÍA

negocio Brillante como la plata

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Grupo Bal invertirá mil millones de dólares en 2014. La inversión estará destinada principalmente al crecimiento de sus subsidiarias mineras Peñoles y Fresnillo.

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México firma acuerdo aduanal con Corea del Sur

La Administración General de Aduanas, a través del Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC), promueve la firma de Acuerdos de Reconocimiento Mutuo (ARM) con otros países para promover la cooperación bilateral en materia aduanal. Estos acuerdos facilitan y reducen riesgos en el intercambio comercial entre países con programas de Operador Económico Autorizado (OEA). El 11 de marzo de 2013, México y Corea del Sur firmaron un ARM por lo que podrán desarrollar cadenas comerciales seguras entre ambos países. Este instrumento permitirá incrementar el comercio exterior y generará extraordi-

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COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL

Además, el grupo comenzó operaciones de una planta de cianuración dinámica para la extracción de oro en Caborca, Sonora, valuada en 120 millones de dólares.

Asimismo, está en proceso la expansión minera de Saucito, en Zacatecas, donde se invertirán 250 millones de dólares para la compra de equipo nuevo e iniciar operaciones a finales del 2014. Con estos nuevo planes, Grupo Bal prevé incrementar su producción de plata en 5 por ciento en comparación con

2013, año en el que la minera concluyó con una producción de 42.7 millones de onzas de plata en Fresnillo. Actualmente, Fresnillo es el mayor productor de plata primaria del mundo y segundo productor de oro más grande de México. www.bal.com.mx

BREVES

BREVES COMERCIO DETALLISTA

ENERGÍA

Soriana se consolida

www1.soriana.com

Dulce crecimiento Mars Chocolate México invertirá 160 millones de dólares en los próximos dos años en el municipio de San José Iturbide, Guanajuato, para construir su quinta planta en México –la segunda dedicada a la elaboración de productos de chocolate–, con capacidad para manufacturar más de 40 mil toneladas en una primera etapa. Con esta inversión, Mars México generará 250 empleos directos, que se suman a los 2 mil asociados que forman parte de la compañía, aunado a las 15 mil fuentes de trabajo que impulsa indirectamente.

METALÚRGICA

Sólido como el acero

www.tyson.com.mx

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Con una inversión de 50 millones de pesos, Tyson de México inauguró su séptimo centro de distribución en México. Ubicado en el municipio de García, en Nuevo León, el nuevo centro permitirá a la empresa atender a unas 43 ciudades del noreste del país, en los estados de Coahuila, Nuevo León y Tamaulipas. Sus productos se distribuirán en alrededor de 240 sucursales de las principales tiendas de autoservicio. Con esta inversión, Tyson incrementará su capacidad instalada para la distribución en 471 por ciento

www.mars.com

Expo Publica 2014: referente editorial de la ciudad de México

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Tyson se expande en México

y generará 90 empleos directos. La capacidad instalada total de dicho centro de distribución es de 300 toneladas de pollo y sus productos al día –equivalentes a 20 tráileres y suficientes para alimentar a 700 mil personas. Tyson tiene una participación de mercado avícola en México de 13 por ciento; actualmente su producción anual asciende a 30 millones de aves en más de mil granjas, ubicadas principalmente en la región de La Laguna. En 2014, Tyson México invertirá 30 millones de dólares en la expansión de un 10 por ciento de sus diferentes unidades de negocio en el país.

www.gruges.com.mx

INDUSTRIAS CREATIVAS

www.industriasch.com.mx

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ALIMENTOS

Adicionalmente, Industrias CH aprobó la instalación de una nueva planta para la fabricación de tubería helicoidal (en espiral) que permitirá a la empresa fabricar tubos de hasta 100 pulgadas de diámetro y espesor de pared de una pulgada.

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La empresa siderúrgica Industrias CH invertirá 700 millones de dólares en la instalación de una nueva planta de aceros especiales en el norte del país, la cual se dedicará a atender la demanda de la industria automotriz y petroquímica. La nueva planta tendrá capacidad para producir 600 mil toneladas de acero al año.

Sobre una extensión de 280 mil metros cuadrados, la nueva planta contará con tecnología de punta, los mayores estándares de calidad, uso eficiente de recursos y energía, así como del cuidado del medio ambiente, para de esta forma atender estratégicamente las necesidades del mercado nacional y latinoamericano. Actualmente Mars México tiene ventas anuales que oscilan los 800 millones de dólares y cuenta con cuatro plantas ubicadas en Montemorelos, Nuevo León (chocolate); Santa Catarina, Nuevo León (dulces); Poncitlán, Jalisco (alimento seco y húmedo para mascotas) y El Marqués, Querétaro (alimento seco para mascotas).

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ALIMENTOS PROCESADOS

Grupo Energético del Sureste (GES), uno de los principales consorcios gasolineros de México, incursionará en el sector de atención médica, al poner en operación ocho hospitales en las principales ciudades del sureste mexicano, bajo la marca Tu Hospital, con inversión superior a 2 mil millones de pesos. Cada uno de los hospitales, catalogados como de segundo nivel, requerirá una inversión aproximada de 280 millones de pesos para su construcción. La firma buscará la certificación internacional para competir dentro del segmento de turismo médico.

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producto fresco y congelado en el norte del país. Además, parte de los recursos serán destinados a incrementar la reserva de terrenos para consolidar el plan de crecimiento futuro de la compañía. La cadena estima que en 2014 registrará un crecimiento aproximado de 3 por ciento en su capacidad instalada de piso de ventas, con presencia en 261 municipios a nivel nacional.

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La cadena de tiendas de autoservicio Soriana presentó su Plan de Inversión 2014 por un monto de 4 mil 100 millones de pesos, que se destinarán principalmente a la apertura de 25 nuevas tiendas de autoservicio, la remodelación mayor de entre 30 y 35 tiendas y la actualización de más de 300 unidades distribuidas en todo el país. Soriana también invertirá en el mejoramiento de su red de distribución, al construir y poner en marcha un nuevo centro de distribución de

Diversificación: de los combustibles a los servicios de salud

La Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana (Caniem) organiza la primera edición de Expo Publica, una feria enfocada al sector de libros y revistas que se realizará del 25 de abril al 4 de mayo de 2014 en los salones Maya del World Trade Center (WTC) de la Ciudad de México. Expo Publica 2014 es el evento editorial más importante de la capital mexicana, al recibir más de 100 mil visitantes, profesionales de la edición y autores de talla internacional, así como a

más de 300 casas editoriales, las cuales exhibirán un total aproximado de 90 mil títulos. También se llevarán a cabo actividades culturales como ciclos de cine, conferencias magistrales, seminarios, talleres y presentaciones de libros y revistas, entre otras. Expo Publica 2014 forma parte de los esfuerzos de la industria editorial mexicana por conservar y fortalecer la lengua española a través del fomento a la lectura. www.expopublica.mx

BREVES

BREVES ALIMENTOS

COMERCIO DETALLISTA

Tras la huella de UN MERCADO EN crecimiento

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Industrias Bachoco, el principal productor y comercializador de pollo y huevo en México, invertirá 100 millones de dólares en 2014 –un aumento de 67 por ciento sobre lo ejercido en 2013. La inversión se destinará principalmente a proyectos de productividad y mantenimiento. LOGÍSTICA www.bachoco.com.mx

tecnológico y 78 millones a renovación y ampliación de la flota vehicular de la firma. En 2014, la compañía inaugurará un centro logístico del Bajío e iniciará la construcción de un centro operativo en Monterrey.

www.petco.com www.gigante.com.mx

AUTOMOTRIZ

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La empresa de mensajería y paquetería Estafeta invertirá 437 millones de pesos en 2014, que orientará a infraestructura, transporte y tecnología, con lo que espera tener un crecimiento general de 11.5 por ciento. Del monto total de inversión, 277 millones de pesos se destinarán a infraestructura, 82 millones a desarrollo y equipo

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Estafeta se fortalece

www.estafeta.com

Nuevo hogar para proveedores de Nissan Nissan y Vesta, empresa dedicada al desarrollo inmobiliario industrial, inauguraron el nuevo parque de proveedores Douki Seisan Park, en el complejo de manufactura de Nissan en México, Aguascalientes Planta A2. El proyecto, desarrollado por Vesta, cuenta con 57 hectáreas de terreno, cinco edificios y una inversión de 57 millones de dólares. Al día de hoy se han construido tres de los cinco edificios de la primera

fase, en los que actualmente operan los proveedores Posco Mapc –proveedora de hojas de acero, de origen coreano–, Tachi-S –fabricante de asientos, de origen japonés– y Sanoh –también de origen japonés, dedicada al ensamblaje de tubería automotriz. Actualmente se construyen dos edificios más, con una superficie total de 43 mil 603 metros cuadrados, lo que sumará un total de 153 mil 870 metros cuadrados construidos para la primera mitad de 2014. www.nissan-global.com www.vesta.com.mx

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millones de dólares serán destinados a Coca-Cola Femsa para capacidad productiva, enfriadores, botellas retornables y cajas, infraestructura y tecnologías de la información.

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cortesía de femsa

FEMSA incrementa su inversión en México

cortesía de nissan

BEBIDAS

Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) aumentó sus expectativas de inversión para 2014 a mil 453 millones de dólares –en vez de los mil 350 millones dados a conocer durante el cuarto trimestre del 2013. De ese monto, 850

cortesía de petco

Grupo Gigante estableció una asociación estratégica con Petco Animal Supplies Inc. (Petco), mediante la cual se desarrollarán y operarán tiendas de mascotas, accesorios y comida para animales en México y América Latina, un mercado con perspectivas de crecimiento. Las empresas invertirán 50 millones de dólares en la apertura de 50 tiendas en los próximos cinco años. En 2014 se abrirán cinco unidades en las ciudades de México, Guadalajara y Monterrey.

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cortesía de estafeta

Bachoco busca incrementar su productividad

www.femsa.com

ELECTRÓNICA

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Durante 2014, Grupo Sanborns invertirá 2 mil 500 millones de pesos en expansión, lo que representará un incremento de 47% en comparación con los mil 700 millones que el grupo invirtió en 2013. La inversión incluye la apertura de cinco o seis tiendas Sears, cinco o seis unidades Sanborns y seis tiendas iShop, así como remodelaciones de ocho Sears y siete Sanborns.

Samsung Electronics México inició la operación de su laboratorio Business to Business (B2B), dedicado a mostrar los beneficios que ofrece la firma en materia de tecnología empresarial, así como a realizar pruebas de integración y funcionalidad. El espacio está integrado por un showroom de 450 metros cuadrados, donde se integran diferentes componentes, tanto propios como de terceros, para exponer funcionalidades que atienden segmentos en educación, gobierno, corporativos, finanzas, hotelería y salud. Las nuevas instalaciones permitirán hacer pruebas de concepto y solucionar dudas de forma personalizada.

www.gsanborns.com.mx

www.samsung.com

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cortesía de grupo sanborns

Grupo Sanborns invierte en crecimiento

Soluciones de vanguardia

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COMERCIO DETALLISTA

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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oldemar

Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

OREX

Norteamérica

Europa y África

REDISTRIBUCIÓN DE LAS CONCURRENCIAS DE LAS OFICINAS DE REPRESENTACIÓN EN EL EXTERIOR Estocolmo

Esta redistribución se generó para equilibrar de manera regional los países y/o ciudades que representación en el exterior de ProMéxico tiene bajo su responsabilidad, considerando la apertura de

Moscú

La Haya

Londres

Vancouver

Bruselas

Seattle Beijing

San Francisco Los Ángeles

Seúl Tokio

Shanghái

Toronto Chicago Dallas

Frankfurt París

Montreal Detroit

Madrid

Boston Nueva York

Washington, DC Houston

Berlín Ginebra

Milán Estambul

Casablanca

Miami

Taipéi

Doha

La Habana

Hong Kong

Mumbai

Guatemala Kuala Lumpur

Bogotá

Singapur

El resultado se obtuvo al combinar varios criterios como países, personal disponible por

Lima

Santiago

Sao Paulo Buenos Aires

Melbourne

del mercado, ciudades con potencial de crecimiento, logística y conectividad, y la coincidencia de las embajadas de México.

Asia, Medio Oriente y Oceanía

Latinoamérica Dirección Regional

Marzo – Abril 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

China y la creciente demanda de tequila:

nuevas oportunidades comerciales El tequila es uno de los productos que está generando mayores oportunidades de negocio en la relación comercial entre México y China. La aceptación que ha ganado –y su consecuente demanda– entre los consumidores chinos, permite pensar que China podría convertirse en el segundo mercado más importante para la bebida mexicana en el mundo. por edgar martínez

Múltiples factores determinan la demanda de bebidas alcohólicas en distintas regiones del orbe. Algunas bebidas han estado disponibles en cada rincón del mundo desde hace ya mucho tiempo y, por lo tanto, se han vuelto clásicas. Otras han empezado a posicionarse en el mercado internacional gracias al reconocimiento de su sabor y calidad, entre otros atributos. El tequila pertenece a la misma categoría de licores que el coñac, el güisqui, la ginebra y el vodka. El tequila también ha trascendido fronteras; se ha convertido en uno de los productos emblemáticos de México más importantes en el exterior. En los últimos años, el número de consumidores de esta bebida se ha incrementado sustancialmente. Existe un gran interés por conocer la historia, rasgos culturales y tradiciones vinculadas con esta bebida espirituosa. Cada vez encontramos consumidores más sensibilizados que saben identificar las variedades de tequila. La degustación de tequila se ha extendido en todo el mundo; se toma solo, mezclado con jugos, sodas y otras bebidas o bien con el tradicional limón. Actualmente se ha vuelto común para maridar banquetes y platillos internacionales. El tequila está cada vez mejor posicionado en el mercado de bebidas alcohólicas premium en las principales urbes del mundo. Una buena estrategia de mercadotecnia por medio de la cual se consiga introducir un producto a nuevos mercados debe estar paralelamente respaldada por instituciones y agencias de promoción. China es un país vanguardista y contrastante que alberga ciudades sumamente cosmopolitas donde se ofrece una extensa variedad de servicios de primer nivel.

La creciente demanda de bebidas como el tequila –entre otros productos de origen nacional– representa una oportunidad única. Dada la internacionalización de productos mexicanos y su demanda en mercados con enorme potencial –como el chino–, desde hace varios meses la Cámara Nacional de la Industria Tequilera (CNIT), en coordinación con la Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (Sagarpa) –a través de la Agencia de Servicios a la Comercialización y Desarrollo de Mercados Agropecuarios (Aserca)– lanzaron una campaña muy agresiva para posicionar al tequila en dicho país asiático. ProMéxico, a su vez, impulsó en septiembre de 2013 la llegada del primer embarque de la bebida insignia a China, un cargamento de más de setenta mil botellas de tequila 100 por ciento agave de diez marcas de altísima calidad. Todos estos esfuerzos relacionados con la promoción del tequila se suman a una estrategia de comercialización integral avalada por diversas instancias. De hecho, en breve se anunciarán una serie de actividades de promoción en las principales ciudades de China con la finalidad de reforzar el posicionamiento de la bebida en este mercado asiático. Según un estudio realizado por la empresa británica International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR), la clase media asiática es una importante promotora de la demanda en el mercado de bebidas alcohólicas a nivel mundial. Asimismo, China es un país que registra el crecimiento más alto en el consumo de alcohol. Según datos de Euromonitor, el consumo de alcohol en China ha crecido,

en promedio, 5.8 por ciento anualmente durante los últimos cinco años; se espera un crecimiento sostenido de 5.6 por ciento en los siguientes cinco años. Sin duda alguna, China representa un destino sumamente importante para las exportaciones del tequila mexicano. Todo indica que, con el paso de los años, la penetración de esta bebida en ese mercado será mucho más agresiva y consistente. El tequila está destinado a convertirse en un regalo de México para China. Según datos de la CNIT, al cierre de 2013 esta industria produjo 226.5 millones de litros de la bebida (43.7 por ciento de la producción total fue tequila 100 por ciento agave y el 56.3 por ciento restante fue tequila). Según datos de

Marzo – Abril 2014

El tequila en el mundo El tequila fue la primera bebida mexicana en el mundo a la que se le concedió una denominación de origen; este año se cumplen 40 años de este hecho histórico. Es una bebida espirituosa elaborada a partir de la destilación del agave tequiliana weber variedad azul. Hay dos categorías: el tequila 100 por ciento de agave se elabora a partir de los azúcares extraídos del mismo, mientras que el tequila utiliza al menos 51 por ciento de los azúcares provenientes del agave y el resto de otra materia prima distinta al agave. Cada una de estas categorías

Marzo – Abril 2014

tiene cinco clases: blanco, joven u oro, reposado, añejo y extra añejo. Solamente puede llamarse tequila si se produce en alguno de los 181 municipios distribuidos en cinco estados de la República Mexicana –Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit y Tamaulipas–, los cuales integran la denominación de origen reconocida internacionalmente. Actualmente su denominación de origen está protegida por varios instrumentos legales internacionales relacionados con la propiedad intelectual.

Según un estudio realizado por la empresa británica International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR), la clase media asiática es una importante promotora de la demanda en el mercado de bebidas alcohólicas a nivel mundial.

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

PRODUCCIÓN DE AGAVE •

•

De acuerdo con cifras de Sagarpa, en 2012 la producción de agave en México fue de un millón 686 mil toneladas y tuvo un valor de 161.3 millones de dólares. Durante 2013, el consumo total de agave para producir tequila ascendió a 769 mil toneladas, de las cuales 61.5 por ciento se utilizó para producir tequila 100 por ciento agave.

PRODUCCIÓN DE TEQUILA

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MARCAS Y EMPRESAS CERTIFICADAS • •

MÉXICO EXPORTA HACIA DISTINTOS MERCADOS •

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De acuerdo con cifras del Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), la producción total de la bebida ascendió a 229.7 millones de litros durante 2013. De la producción total de tequila, 43.8 por ciento fue 100 por ciento agave.

Existen 160 empresas productoras debidamente certificadas por el CRT. Número de marcas de tequila: • Envasadas en México: mil 390 • Envasadas en el exterior: 271 en 25 países (principalmente Estados Unidos, España y Francia).

•

128 compañías exportan tequila; 57 por ciento de ellas se localiza en Jalisco. Las exportaciones de tequila mexicano ascendieron a 997 millones de dólares en 2013, lo que representó 171 millones de litros.

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Estados Unidos fue el principal destino de las exportaciones de tequila durante 2013; representó 69 por ciento del total exportado (en términos de valor). En 2013, el valor de las exportaciones a Rusia se incrementó 152 por ciento, mientras que en 2012 el valor de las exportaciones de esta bebida a Japón creció 67 por ciento. Se prevé que en los próximos cinco años (hasta 2018), China se convertirá en el segundo destino más importante para la venta de tequila mexicano. México exportó casi 300 litros de tequila por minuto en 2013. El tequila está protegido en 45 países y tiene presencia en más de 120 países en el orbe.

Marzo – Abril 2014

Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

ProMéxico, con base en el Global Trade Atlas (GTA), las exportaciones de tequila mexicano durante 2013 ascendieron a 997 millones de dólares, lo que representó 171 millones de litros (un incremento en términos de valor del 3.1 por ciento comparado con 2012). El 69 por ciento de las exportaciones de tequila se dirigió a Estados Unidos, aunque Rusia, Lituania, Reino Unido, Panamá, Japón, Alemania y Francia también destacaron. Cabe mencionar que tan solo en 2013 las exportaciones a Rusia se incrementaron en 152 por ciento (en valor), lo que implica un nivel de aceptación bastante alto si se compara con otros países. Cifras de la CNIT muestran que durante 2013 se exportaron a China 410 mil 250 litros de tequila, con un valor de 1.6 millones de dólares. Sin embargo, aunque es una cifra menor comparada con lo que se vende a otros países, la CNIT proyecta que para 2018 México exportará a China un total de diez millo-

Marzo – Abril 2014

nes de litros, los cuales tendrían un valor aproximado de cien millones de dólares. Estas metas implican que en un periodo de cinco años China se convertirá en el segundo mercado más importante para el tequila a nivel mundial. Sin duda, esta meta es ambiciosa, pero las condiciones del mercado son suficientemente claras como para concretarla. Como complemento a la estrategia de comunicación que actualmente se instrumenta en el país asiático, la CNIT realizará varios encuentros de negocios y misiones comerciales tanto en Pekín como en Shanghái durante mayo y junio de 2014. La idea es que más empresas tequileras puedan mostrar su producto y que además estén en posibilidades de comercializarlo en este país. México debe aprovechar el potencial comercial que representa China, a fin de introducir productos agroalimentarios mexicanos de la mejor calidad, a precios competitivos. N

China representa un destino sumamente importante para las exportaciones del tequila mexicano. Todo indica que, con el paso de los años, la penetración de esta bebida en ese mercado será mucho más agresiva y consistente. El tequila está destinado a convertirse en un regalo de México para China.

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

y chiles chipotles. La popularidad de la cerveza Corona, así como la diversidad de otras marcas –además del consumo de tequila– son indicadores que constatan su demanda en Israel. La importación de bebidas menos conocidas como el mezcal, la raicilla y el sotol podrían recibirse muy bien en el ámbito restaurantero, siempre y cuando tengan una campaña de promoción adecuada. Asimismo, no cabe duda que la demanda de productos orgánicos y naturales mantendrá su crecimiento. El jarabe de agave, la chía y los nopales en conserva son muy solicitados, aunque debe enfatizarse que también hay otras oportunidades para productos similares provenientes de México. En lo que respecta a la carne, en los últimos dos años los gobiernos de Israel y México han realizado esfuerzos para que los productores mexicanos cumplan con las certificaciones y exigencias del mercado israelí. Se espera que el mercado de carne se abra totalmente a los exportado-

Israel:

más cerca de lo que parecE

por roberto spindel*

no son grandes y su penetración es relativamente sencilla. Israel es un país multicultural y multilingüe, consciente de las últimas tendencias y abierto a la innovación. Sus servicios bancarios son de primer nivel, al igual que sus redes de comunicación a nivel nacional e internacional. Por su localización geográfica y posicionamiento global, Israel se presenta como una puerta idónea de entrada a Europa y Medio Oriente. El mercado israelí resulta especialmente atractivo para las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) exportadoras, cuya participación actual en el comercio bilateral es superior a 60 por ciento. A raíz de los esfuerzos de promoción de instancias como ProMéxico, la Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (Sagarpa) y las cámaras bilaterales de comercio, ha crecido el interés por los productos mexicanos en Israel.

En la actualidad, Israel importa de México autopartes, equipos eléctricos, productos agrícolas y otras materias primas. A continuación se describen algunos de los rubros donde se contempla un gran potencial para los productos mexicanos. Al igual que en el resto del mundo, la popularidad de la comida mexicana en Israel ha aumentado exponencialmente. La creciente apertura de restaurantes mexicanos y la inclusión de platillos de la gastronomía mexicana en hoteles y salones de eventos han generado una mayor demanda de productos auténticos en menos de un año. Un ejemplo reciente es el de los jugos Jumex. Estas bebidas han tenido una enorme aceptación por el mercado e incluso pueden adquirirse en casi todas las cadenas de supermercados israelíes. También destacan los incrementos de más de 300 por ciento en la importación de harinas

Marzo – Abril 2014

asesoría legal y aduanera, el servicio de traducciones, la publicación de manuales y material promocional, el diseño de sitios y páginas de Internet, hasta el establecimiento y operación de centros de servicio y de atención telefónica. En suma, un elemento clave en toda relación comercial internacional es el conocimiento de la cultura empresarial, así como de las reglas del juego del país con el que se busque concretar un negocio. En el caso de Israel, los exportadores mexicanos se encontrarán con negociadores experimentados. Son clientes exigentes, estrictos con el tiempo de respuesta y las condiciones de entrega. Sin embargo, también son leales, muy confiables y colaboradores. Israel es un mercado lleno de oportunidades para México, por lo que debe promoverse un intercambio comercial más intensivo que impulse el ambiente de negocios entre ambas naciones. N *Presidente del Capítulo México, Cámara de Comercio Israel – América Latina.

A raíz de los esfuerzos de promoción de instancias como ProMéxico, la Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (Sagarpa), y las cámaras bilaterales de comercio, ha crecido considerablemente el interés por los productos mexicanos en Israel.

La firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio entre México e Israel implicó el inicio de una nueva era en las relaciones bilaterales, en la que el intercambio comercial entre ambos países se ha duplicado a lo largo de una década.

La firma del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre México e Israel en 2000 convirtió a estos dos países en los únicos con acuerdos de este tipo con Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea (UE). Desde entonces, esto les permitió tener una importante ventaja competitiva. Las exportaciones de México a Israel han crecido a un ritmo constante de 8 por ciento anual. Sin embargo, este intercambio puede impulsarse todavía más. Israel es visto como un lugar lejano, exótico y riesgoso, aunque la realidad del país es completamente distinta. A primera vista, el mercado israelí pareciera ser pequeño ya que tiene una población de apenas ocho millones de personas. Debe considerarse que sus habitantes tienen un alto poder adquisitivo, comparable con el de cualquier nación europea. Por otro lado, debido a que es un mercado compacto, los volúmenes de mercancía requeridos

res mexicanos para fines de 2014. En este contexto, una gran variedad de productos mexicanos pueden empezar a sustituir o complementar el mercado que abastece a la industria alimenticia. Esta situación es similar con otros sectores. La constante búsqueda de proveedores alternativos para la industria de alta tecnología, representa una oportunidad de negocio interesante para las empresas mexicanas que manufacturan componentes eléctricos y electrónicos. Su precio y calidad son sumamente atractivos al compararlos con la que ofertan competidores similares provenientes de otros países. También hay un creciente interés por adquirir materiales para acabados, recubrimientos, equipo sanitario y sus derivados. La provisión y tercerización de servicios aún no están muy explotadas en este mercado. La creciente penetración de empresas israelíes en países de América Latina ha generado una fuerte demanda de servicios que van desde la

Marzo – Abril 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

Es un hecho: las empresas mexicanas están utilizando la popularización de las TI a su favor, tanto para desarrollar proyectos como para aprovechar el creciente mercado de consumidores. Cerca de 90 por ciento de las empresas mexicanas utilizan alguna tecnología en menor o mayor grado. Y la tendencia es muy positiva.

La nueva ola DE Negocios Inteligentes

México progresa en materia de negocios inteligentes. Cada vez más empresas se benefician de la aparición de herramientas tecnológicas que les permiten abrir sus puertas o consolidar su competitividad en nuevos mercados.

por ramón hernández*

En el mercado de las tecnologías de la información (TI), una de las opciones mejor valoradas es Genexus, una serie de herramientas con la cual las compañías pueden crear, mantener y administrar sus portales, así como crear aplicaciones web a la medida. Asimismo, es fundamental el papel que tienen algunas estrategias de negocio como la Search Engine Optimization (SEO), que no es otra cosa sino la ingeniería de palabras para colocar una marca o producto en buscadores como Google. También deben contemplarse las campañas digitales a través de Facebook, Twitter y Google AdWords, las cuales se han utilizado para posicionar a una empresa, así como para sumar clientes. Es un hecho: las empresas mexicanas están utilizando la popularización de las TI a su favor, tanto para desarrollar proyectos como para aprovechar el creciente mercado de consumidores. Cerca de 90 por ciento de las empresas mexicanas utilizan alguna tecnología en menor o mayor grado. Y la tendencia es muy positiva. En este contexto, es necesario aprender a sacarle el máximo provecho. Debe verse a la tecnología no solo como un medio, sino como una herramienta para convertir una idea en soluciones reales y generar negocios valiosos y rentables. N

Actualmente, cerca de 95 por ciento de las empresas en México son pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes). Muchas han surgido gracias a las tecnologías que facilitan su posicionamiento y que les permiten optimizar su inversión. Comparemos dos casos hipotéticos: el de una florería que abre un local sobre una avenida y otra que se promueve únicamente en línea. La inversión requerida en el primer caso es mayor que la del segundo, ya que debe invertir en renta de local, infraestructura, mobiliario, servicios y sueldos, mientras que la otra puede iniciar con un sitio web y una computadora con acceso a Internet. Las posibilidades de venta pueden ser las mismas o incluso superiores para la florería virtual. La razón es simple: la cantidad de gente que camina por las calles siempre será menor que la que navega por Internet. Más aún: mientras que la gente que camina frente al local no siempre está interesada en comprar flores, aquella que llega a un negocio virtual mediante una búsqueda en Internet, llega siempre con la intención de comprar el producto que motivó su búsqueda. Al igual que la florería en línea, cualquier negocio que quiera encontrar oportunidad de mercado en entornos digitales necesita, como primer paso, contar con las herramientas correctas. Incluso si se trata de una empresa que desea colocar sus productos en el exterior.

www.soluciones-si.com *Director de Soluciones Software Inteligente (SSI) en México.

Marzo – Abril 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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¿Cómo tener éxito en el mercado estadounidense? Estados Unidos se mantiene como uno de los mercados más atractivos del mundo y como una plataforma importante para la internacionalización de los negocios. SelectUSA es un programa muy útil para empresarios e inversionistas interesados en el mercado estadounidense.

por embajador vinai thummalapally*

Estados Unidos es un destino fértil para los negocios. El gobierno de ese país facilita que empresas de todos los tamaños ingresen al mercado, se consoliden e incidan en la generación de empleo. Hace unos meses se anunció la expansión de SelectUSA, el programa pionero del gobierno Estados Unidos destinado a promover los flujos de Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED) hacia el país. El mercado estadounidense tiene un Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) mayor a 15 trillones de dólares y cuenta con una población de más de 317 millones de personas, lo que lo hace un mercado atractivo y con múltiples oportunidades para las empresas mexicanas que deseen afianzar

su proceso de internacionalización. El éxito en el mercado de Estados Unidos puede ser el inicio de una expansión hacia otros países. Esto gracias a su red de tratados de libre comercio con otros países, el acceso que ofrece a clientes potenciales, así como la disponibilidad de fuerza laboral altamente capacitada y productiva. Asimismo, Estados Unidos goza de niveles de investigación y desarrollo de vanguardia, una fuerte protección a los derechos de propiedad intelectual y mantiene costos competitivos en electricidad y otros servicios. Adicionalmente, el país vive un ambiente de negocios transparente, justo

y estable. Según el Índice de Confianza de Inversión Extranjera Directa de A.T. Kearney (2013), es el mejor destino para las inversiones. El programa SelectUSA brinda toda la información necesaria para que los inversionistas puedan ingresar a Estados Unidos, al identificar oportunidades clave de negocio. A través de esta iniciativa se puede obtener información sobre los beneficios que supone la operación de empresas en ese país; estándares, reglas y regulaciones federales; análisis e investigaciones, así como orientación sobre la cadena de suministro más adecuada, capacitación laboral, fuentes de financiamiento y otros programas que apoyan el

Marzo – Abril 2014

Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

A través de esta iniciativa se puede obtener información sobre los beneficios que supone la operación de empresas en ese país; estándares, reglas y regulaciones federales; análisis e investigaciones, así como orientación sobre la cadena de suministro más adecuada, capacitación laboral, fuentes de financiamiento y otros programas que apoyan el desarrollo de firmas extranjeras en territorio estadounidense.

desarrollo de firmas extranjeras en territorio estadounidense. De igual forma, SelectUSA intercede para solucionar las preocupaciones de los inversionistas potenciales en relación con las regulaciones federales. Es decir, funge como vínculo entre las empresas y las agencias federales correspondientes. Durante la pasada Cumbre de Inversión SelectUSA 2013, se anunció la expansión de servicios para facilitar los flujos de IED. Esta reunión se realizó en Washington D.C. y asistieron más de mil 300 participantes de todo el mundo (incluido México) con el fin de conocer las oportunidades de inversión. Durante el foro, Penny Pritzker –Secretaria de Comercio de Estados Unidos– destacó: “Sabemos que tenemos que avanzar al ritmo de los negocios. Necesitamos impulsarnos por resultados, y ayudar a que más empresas encuentren las herramientas y la información que necesitan para invertir. Ese es mi compromiso con ustedes.” Un evento similar al realizado en Washington D.C. se desarrollará en Querétaro, Querétaro y en Mérida, Yucatán los días 20 y 21 de mayo de 2014. En ambas sedes se llevarán a cabo seminarios en donde se presentarán expertos de diferentes áreas relacionadas con la inversión en Estados Unidos. Habrá mesas específicas sobre el visado, el sistema legal y de impuestos en dicho país, las incubadoras de negocios y los programas de internacionalización, entre otros temas. También participarán estados y organizaciones promotoras del desarrollo económico de Estados Unidos, las cuales compartirán información clave sobre las oportunidades de inversión. N selectusa.commerce.gov *Director Ejecutivo de SelectUSA.

Marzo – Abril 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

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Para Exportadores | Negocios ProMéxico

El crecimiento del poder competitivo y el carácter diversificado de su economía, hacen de México una nación preparada para la globalización.

El Talento y su Importancia en la Diversificación Comercial de México

A lo largo de la historia de América Latina como entidad independiente, los países que integran la región han tenido una infinidad de encuentros y desencuentros, desde los esfuerzos de integración política después de las independencias con la idea de formar una sola nación –lo que en palabras de Bolívar y Martí sería “Nuestra América”, alejada de las influencias europea y de Estados Unidos– hasta los esfuerzos de unificación económica de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Libre Comercio (ALALC) –después ALADI–, o los mecanismos subregionales como el Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR), la Alianza del Pacífico y los nexos bilaterales de libre comercio, como los suscritos entre México y varios países de la región. El sueño integracionista, sin embargo, está aún por consolidarse. A través de los acuerdos que se concreten por medio de la Alianza del Pacífico es que podremos verificar su óptimo desarrollo. El crecimiento del poder competitivo y el carácter diversificado de su economía, hacen de México una nación preparada para la globalización. Los países de América Central y el Caribe están principalmente orientados a la provisión de servicios, mientras que los países de América del Sur se han beneficiado de la bonanza, producto de los precios de las materias primas, aunque algunos también han consolidado una importante transformación productiva.

Las recientes reformas estructurales, el activismo plasmado en la política exterior y el despliegue exitoso de una campaña de posicionamiento internacional han impactado positivamente la percepción del país a nivel global. Se habla de “el momento mexicano” como una oportunidad para avanzar en la diversificación de las relaciones económicas internacionales de México. En este proceso el talento humano juega un papel fundamental. por adolfo laborde

Al revisar la relación comercial de México con las economías más grandes de la América Latina, es decir, los miembros de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI), el panorama es alentador. De acuerdo con información de la Secretaría de Economía (SE), en 2013 México exportó más de 20 mil millones de dólares e importó casi 9 mil 200 de países de la ALADI. Así, la balanza comercial entre México y la ALADI durante 2013 favoreció a México con un superávit de casi 11 mil millones de dólares. En lo que respecta a Centroamérica, en el mismo periodo se realizaron exportaciones por poco más de 4 mil 800 millones de dólares e importaciones por casi 4 mil 900 millones de dólares; la balanza comercial se inclinó ligeramente a la región centroamericana con un superávit de 60.4 millones de dólares. En 2013 Brasil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile y Argentina fueron los principales destinos de las exportaciones mexicanas en la región. En cuanto al flujo de importaciones, estas provinieron principalmente de Brasil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia y Perú.

LA REGIÓN ASIA-PACÍFICO De acuerdo con información de la SE, en 2013 se registró una balanza comercial favorable. Sin embargo, con Asia se sigue manteniendo un déficit que debería llevarnos a replantear nuestra política comercial con la región de acuerdo con la idea plantada en la presente administración del Presidente Enrique Peña Nieto de diversificar las relaciones comerciales con el exterior y voltear hacia otros mercados. En lo que respecta a China –el principal socio económico de México en Asia–, de acuerdo con cifras de la SE México presentó un déficit en la balanza comercial de más de 54 mil millones de dólares en 2013.

Marzo – Abril 2014

Negocios ProMéxico | Para Exportadores

El panorama con Japón no es muy distinto. A pesar de que México firmó un Acuerdo de Asociación Económica (AAE) con Japón en 2004 –mismo que entró en vigor el 1 de abril del 2005–, este mecanismo no ha sido aprovechado a cabalidad. Tan solo en 2013 la balanza comercial con Japón arrojó un déficit de alrededor de 15 mil millones de dólares. Las cuotas que amparan el Acuerdo no se cubren y, por la complejidad del mercado japonés, la mayoría del empresariado prefiere enfocarse en los mercados tradicionales. Con Corea el escenario tampoco es diferente. En 2013, México registró un déficit comercial con ese país por casi 12 mil millones de dólares. No obstante, las oportunidades para optimizar esfuerzos con China, Japón y Corea son inmensas. DIVERSIFICACIÓN Y TALENTO Además de aprovechar los múltiples acuerdos comerciales con que México cuenta –según datos de SE hay una red de Tratados de Libre Comercio (TLC) con 45 países, 30 Acuerdos para la Promoción y Protección Recíproca de las Inversiones (APPRI) y nueve acuerdos de complementación económica y/o alcance parcial– deben impulsarse recursos humanos capaces de enfrentar los retos de las relaciones comerciales del país. Debemos pasar del diagnóstico a la ejecución. ¿Qué tendría que hacerse para que el comercio con los mercados chino, japonés y coreano fuese superavitario? Cada caso presenta un escenario diferente. Cada uno de estos países tiene sus propias características y cultura de negocios. No se puede generar una estrategia comercial genérica para una región en particular; al contrario, debe crearse una política específica para cada caso. No es lo mismo concretar negocios en China que en Japón o Corea. Es necesario que los actores de la iniciativa privada y el gobierno interesados en ampliar o expandir las relaciones eco-

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nómicas con países asiáticos establezcan políticas a largo plazo relacionadas con el talento y los recursos humanos. A pesar de que el inglés es el idioma de los negocios, no todos los chinos, japoneses o coreanos lo hablan. Pero, más allá del tema lingüístico, es importante destacar que los países asiáticos han impulsado la formación de recursos humanos en el gobierno y en las empresas desde hace varias décadas. Los japoneses –y ahora los chinos y coreanos– envían a su personal a estancias de por lo menos dos años de entrenamiento en el país al que serán comisionados. Esta preparación consiste en una inmersión completa en el país al que serán asignados en el futuro. Aprenden el idioma, sobre la cultura, el comportamiento social y la forma de hacer negocios. De esta manera ganan terreno no solo respecto al idioma, sino también respecto a la capacidad de reacción de la contraparte. Si queremos ser exitosos, debemos empezar por delinear una política económica exterior que considere el desarrollo del capital humano. Esto con afán de aprovechar las oportunidades que esos países ofrecen al sector exportador mexicano. La percepción positiva del país a la que alude “el momento mexicano” ha tenido un importante impacto mediático en los medios de comunicación internacionales. Es producto de la estrecha relación que se generó entre las reformas estructurales del periodo 2013-2014 y los acuerdos políticos consolidados. Una visión de largo plazo en la que se incluyan los recursos humanos y económicos contribuirá, sin duda, a que el Mexican Moment se transforme en un Mexican Success. N

*Director de la Licenciatura en Relaciones Internacionales del Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores del Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Conacyt).

Marzo – Abril 2014