V - 2013
MEXICAN Aerospace:
An Industry on the rise
The Lifestyle FeatureFive Essential Exemplars of Mexican Folk Art
Special FeatureInvestment Opportunities in the Mexican Space Industry
Negociospara exportadores
Table of Contents May 2013
Mexico’s Partner
Safran
Volare Engineering
Soisa
Radiall
Tecnum
Frisa
Hyrsa
Especialistas en Turbopartes
Pinnacle
O3b
Hughes Network Systems
COVER FEATURE
Mexican Aerospace:
an industryon the rise
From ProMéxico
Guest OpinionMexico:
A Competitive Platform for Clean Energy Projects
Mexico in the WorldThe French
Aerospace Connection
Business TipsMexico
Gains Altitude
14 16 18
Special FeatureInvestment Opportunities in the
Mexican Space Industry
24
20
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Briefs9
26
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30
32
34
36
38
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42
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46
Figures
48
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The Lifestyle The CompleTe Guide To The mexiCan Way of life
64
Two Silver Droplets Impossible to Tell Apart
60
The LifestyleBriefs
50
Five Essential Exemplars of Mexican Folk Art
52
Mexican Architects without Borders
Underneath the PitayaThorny Exterior, a Nutritious Interior
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DDI, Acting Out Design Fantasies
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Para exportadores ProMéxicoKarla Mawcinitt Buenoimage and Communications General Coordinator
Sebastián Escalantedirector of publications and [email protected]
Natalia HerreroCopy editing
download the pdf version and read the interactive edition of Negocios ProMéxico at: negocios.promexico.gob.mx
This publication is not for sale. Its sale and commercial distribution are forbidden.
Negocios ProMéxico año 6, número V, mayo 2013, se terminó de imprimir el 21 de mayo de 2013, con un tiraje de 14,000 ejemplares. Impresa por Cía. Impresora El Universal, S.A. de C.V. Las opiniones expresadas por los auto-res no reflejan necesariamente la postu-ra del editor de la publicación. Queda estrictamente prohibida la reproduc-ción total o parcial de los contenidos e imágenes de la publicación, sin previa autorización de ProMéxico. Publica-ción Gratuita. Prohibida su venta y dis-tribución comercial.ProMéxico is not responsible for inac-curate 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 state-ments; therefore the responsibility of each text falls on the writers, not on the insti-tution, 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. May 2013.
Asia: Oportunidades de diversificación comercial
México en el mundoEl comercio internacional de México en cifras
Certificación de empresas y comercio exterior en México
PrOMéxICO y la cooperación económica internacional
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Negocios ProMéxico es una publicación mensual editada en inglés por Pro-México, Camino a Santa Teresa número 1679, colo-nia Jardines del Pedregal, Delegación Álvaro Obre-
gón, C.P. 01900, México, D.F. Teléfo-no: (52) 55 54477000. Página Web: www.promexico.gob.mx. Correo elec-trónico: [email protected] Editor responsable: Gabriel Sebastián Escalante Bañuelos. Reserva de dere-chos al uso exclusivo No. 04-2009-012714564800-102. Licitud de título: 14459. Licitud de contenido: 12032, ambos otorgados por la Comisión Ca-lificadora de Publicaciones y Revistas Ilustradas de la Secretaría de Gober-nación. ISSN: 2007-1795.
BRIEFS
Fromproméxico.
The Mexican aerospace indus-try is booming. Mexico offers, unlike other nations in the globe, countless advantages and favorable conditions for
the sector’s development, many of which have attracted the attention –and investment– of global industry giants.
Mexico’s competitive production costs; its network of trade agreements that facili-tates the import of raw materials and the export of advanced manufacturing to the world’s leading markets; a supply chain that is consolidating quickly and strongly; world-class logistics infrastructure; a clear promotion policy that encourages produc-tive investment; and what is acclaimed by most aerospace companies, its specialized and highly qualified personnel. In short, Mexico boasts a business environment that
has enabled the safe landing of leading aerospace companies in the country.
Furthermore, the sector’s rapid develop-ment and short and medium-term growth ex-pectations have led Mexican companies with long track records and experience in special-ized manufacturing and design for sectors such as the automotive, to explore opportuni-ties in the aerospace industry’s supply chain.
Mexico’s aerospace industry is rapidly gaining altitude, driven by three main en-gines: investments from large global compa-nies in the sector, the development of Mexi-can suppliers and the ability and talent of the Mexican workforce. And as if that were not enough, a smooth flight is forecast for the industry thanks to the synergy that has been created between the public, private and academic sector to boost its development and secure its growth.
Welcome to Negocios!
rEInFOrCInG MExICO’S POrTS
Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), part of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, is investing over 15 million usd in three mobile harbor cranes to reinforce ports on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
HPH’s Lázaro Cárdenas Multipurpose Terminal will receive two cranes, each with a capacity of over 100 tons, while the third crane will operate at the Manzanillo Interna-tional Terminal.
In September 2012, HPH Mexico invest-ed 15 million usd to upgrade the infrastruc-ture at Manzanillo with eight rubber-tyred gantry cranes with a capacity of up to 40 tons each.
www.hph.com
LOGISTICS
LATIn AMErICA’S BIGGEST SOLAr PLAnTWill be located in Mexico
Gauss Energía, a Mexican business development firm specialized in the energy sector, will begin opera-tions in its 100 million usd-30 megawatt (mw) Aura Solar I photovoltaic plant in August 2013. The company closed financ-ing on the project after signing deals with Nafin,
RENEWABLE ENERGY
the Mexican development bank, and the Internation-al Finance Corporation (IFC) for about 75% of the cost. Mexican invest-ment fund and project owner Corporación Aura Solar will fund the re-mainder.
Aura Solar I is ex-pected to be the largest
photovoltaic plant in Lat-in America. The plant is located on a 100-hectare site in La Paz, Baja Cali-fornia Sur –a region where average daily global hori-zontal radiation tops 5.7 kilowatt-hour per square meter, one of the most suitable for solar energy generation in Mexico. It
will consist of 131,800 polycrystalline modules with single-axis trackers, to produce an estimated 82 gigawatt-hour per year –enough to supply energy to 164,000 people, rough-ly 64% of the population of La Paz.
gauss.com.mx
BRIEFS
InDIAn InvESTMEnT Gets strong in Mexico
Indian auto part manufacturer Samvard-hana Motherson Group has opened a new plant in Puebla, Mexico joining the burgeon-ing list of Indian investors including Bajaj Auto and JK Tyres. The company will manu-facture automotive products to cater to large auto assemblers operating in Mexico, such as Volkswagen and Audi. Investment for the new facility reached 30 million usd and, ac-cording to the company, is likely to go up to 70 million usd in the near future.
www.motherson.com
AUTOMOTIVE
AIrS OF ExPAnSIOn
French industrial gas pro-ducer Air Liquide plans up to 100 million usd worth of investment to expand Mexico operations in 2013. Air Liquide recently inaugu-rated a new air separation plant in the northern state of Coahuila.
www.airliquide.com
CHEMICAL
ThE DhL MExICAn Family Grows
German courier company DHL Express inaugurated a new operations center in Mexico City built at a cost 7.3 million usd. The center is part of a larger ongoing 160 million usd investment to upgrade and modernize the company’s infrastructure and equipment in Mexico.
www.dhl.com
LOGISTICS
EnGInEErED SUCCESS
French electrical engineer-ing multinational Schneider Electric will invest 80 mil-lion usd in Mexico in 2013. Projects include comple-tion of a research center in Monterrey as well as work on plants and clean energy projects for state-owned oil monopoly Petróleos Mexi-canos (Pemex).
www.schneider-electric.com
ELECTRIC
photos archive
BRIEFS BRIEFS
CInéPOLIS’ All-Time Box Office
Cinépolis, the largest movie broadcaster in Mexico and Latin America has officially launched Cinépolis Klic, its new online streaming service, which arrives to compete against other VOD providers such as Netflix, AxtelTV, Clarovideo, Totalmovie and Vudu.
With 3,100-plus screens, Cinépolis ranks among the world’s leading exhibitors. With Cinépolis Klic, the company will be able to buy broadcasting rights to movies, shortening the time between online and theatre premiere dates. In addi-tion, the company is planning to expand the online services to the 11 countries where it operates.
www.cinepolis.com
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT
BET On BIOTEChnOLOGy
US-based Scantibodies Laboratory initiated con-struction on the company’s second laboratory in Mexi-co. The 16 million usd facil-ity is planned to produce antibody products and will include a cancer treatment center.
scantibodies.com
MEDICAL
SUCCESS IS WhErE CLIEnTS ArE
AUTOMOTIVE
Furukawa Electric plans to break ground on a new auto parts manufacturing plant in Mexico to supply Japanese automakers operating in the country.
Furukawa, which supplies products to the automotive, construction, electronics, energy, materials and telecom industries, expects the 12.2 million usd plant to be finished in January 2014.
The company currently has two auto parts plants in Mexico. The new plant will
initially employ 300 people but, according to the company, the payroll could climb to about 1,000 within a few years.
Wires and cables produced at the new plant will be sold in Mexico and exported to Latin America and Europe. Furukawa also plans to manufacture parts for vehicle air bag systems and battery sensors at the new plant.
www.furukawa.co.jp
DUPOnT hIrES ICA FLUOr
CONSTRUCTION
rEDIT’S nEW DATAPArk In MExICO
redIT, the emerging leader in secure, customizable cloud computing and data center services, has opened a Dat-aPark in Tultitlán, Estado de México.
The first of its kind in the country, the Tultitlán complex will house eight PODs (Performance Optimized Data Centers), totaling 95,000 square feet, to service a wide range of companies and government institutions.
The redIT DataPark employs a cooling system that leverages Tultit-lán’s mild weather conditions to in-crease its energy efficiency by 45%. The complex’s proximity to a substa-tion of the Federal Electricity Com-mission (CFE) also ensures a highly reliable energy supply, which will pro-vide up to 9 MW to the redIT Data-Park when in full operation.
The redIT DataPark PODs are also certified ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISAE3402 and ICREA Tier IV certified.
us.redit.com
IT
SWEET AChIEvEMEnT
Chocolate Ibarra was granted the FSSC 22000 (Food Safety System Certification) from the Food Safety Management System (FSMS), which guarantees that every product manu-factured by the company is free of physical, chemical and biological con-tamination.
chocoibarra.com.mx
FOOD & BEVERAGE
ICA Fluor, the industrial construc-tion joint venture of Empresas ICA and Fluor Corporation, has been awarded a 130 million usd contract for the construction of a new titani-um dioxide train to be built in Du-Pont’s complex located in Altamira, Tamaulipas, on the Gulf of Mexico.
ICA Fluor will be responsible for the construction, construction manage-ment and material management ser-vices for the production facility that is scheduled for completion in 2015.
www.fluor.com
www.ica.com.mx
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| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
Guest Opinion photos archive
Mexico: A Competitive Platform
for Clean Energy Projects
Mexico’s commitments towards reducing emmisions and using cleaner energy sources represent an important business niche.
The rapid growth of emerg-ing countries has caused an increase in the energy demands of their population, a demand that has already surpassed the current supply of energy generation and use. That im-balance has created a window of opportunity around energy-efficient systems worldwide.
Cities are significant ener-gy consumer nodes. They are suitable for potential micro-generation and use of energy efficient devices on the side of demand. In urban areas, the services, building and industrial sectors have crucial opportunities in solar thermal power generation and utiliza-tion, while the public services sector can also leverage water pumping, public lighting, wa-ter and waste treatment and massive public transportation
by enrique rebolledo*
systems. On the supply side, Latin America has important manufacturing clusters that could incorporate technolo-gies which are common in industrialized countries but non-existent in the region, mainly due to a lack of infor-mation about their benefits, technical knowledge and com-mercial efforts.
In the international arena, Mexico has made commit-ments to reduce emissions and use cleaner energy sources, setting goals to those ends. Companies with high energy consumption or large CO2 emissions are search-ing for proven technology options that enable them to reduce both their energy consumption and the risks associated with greenhouse gas emission regulations. The evermore obvious opportuni-ties include the integration of renewable energies, co-gen-eration, energy assessment of waste and a new approach to processes that increase en-ergy efficiency.
According to Ernst & Young’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index for 2012, Mexico has the highest rates for solar power (18th globally) and the second (25th globally) for wind power in Latin America, only after Brazil. In 2012, installed wind capacity came to 1GW, with investment growth estimates in the industry at 20 billion usd for the next decade. Mareña Renovables has launched the most ambitious project in Latin America, with more than
396 MW in wind power, and a value of 961 million usd. For its part, Gamesa has installed more than 74MW with an investment of close to 160 mil-lion usd. Finally, by the end of 2012, the framework for small-scale renewable energy tender offers (<30MW) was created to promote invest-ments by allowing installations to contribute to the power grid through the use of technolo-gies such as solar photovoltaic and thermal, co-generation and small hydro.
Mexico is committed to generating 35% of its electric-ity through renewable sources by 2024 (currently at 12%). In order to do so, several laws and regulations have been passed, above all to facilitate interconnection to the power grid. Wind power potential is estimated to reach a capacity of 12 GW by 2020, while in thermal solar energy, more than 1.66 million square me-ters have been installed with a potential for a further 23.5 million square meters by 2020.
Since 2011, every new house built with Esta es tu casa gov-ernment housing grants must incorporate ecological criteria, such as solar water heaters, efficient lighting, thermal iso-lation and low-consumption appliances, based on the cli-mate and region in which they are built or remodeled.
Furthermore, and result-ing from the approval of the General Climate Change Law (2012) in Mexico, an internal emission trading system is planned, possibly linked to
Resulting from the approval of the General Climate Change Law (2012) in Mexico, an internal emission trading system is planned, possibly linked to other international initiatives, as a tool for the country to achieve its goal of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2eq) emissions by 30% in 2020 and by 50% in 2050.
other international initiatives, as a tool for the country to achieve its goal of reducing car-bon dioxide (CO2eq) emissions by 30% in 2020 and by 50% in 2050. That system would define a method to distribute emission rights at facility level, defining a cap for regulated sectors and promoting trade between installations that show different cost structures to improve their energy and environmental performance. Trade arises from the options offered by regulated entities, either by assessing costs of an onsite reduction, or through the acquisition of reduction certificates in the market as a more convenient option. Enti-ties with lower emissions than those assigned will be able to sell their excess certificates to other entities that find purchas-ing certificates more profitable
than reducing emissions on an internal level. Exchange would be made through a mechanism similar to the stock exchange.
In addition, that market could be linked to the Cali-fornian market through the Climate Action Reserve (an ex-perienced, trusted and efficient offset registry to serve the car-bon market), and to the North America 2050 (NA2050) partnership in the long term (a group of US states and Cana-dian provinces committed to policies that move their juris-dictions toward a low-carbon economy), creating an impor-tant opportunity for technol-ogy transfer and investment in the Mexican industry.
Within that context, the Mexican energy sector accounts for close to 67% of greenhouse gas emissions (CO
2eq) and en-ergy consumption is expected to
increase by 3.3% annually until 2030. In other words, this mar-ket could reach a value of 2.295 billion usd by 2020 (equal to 153 million of tCO2eq) associ-ated to the energy sector alone, based on prices of emission reduction certificates observed in California during the first tender of 2012. Even more interesting is the possibility of approaching international mar-kets in other sectors that require investment –such as agriculture and transport– which could improve its financial and envi-ronmental performance through sustainability practices.
In short, the closeness and availability of supply chains related to trade with North America and the Asian Pa-cific Corridor make Mexico a potential partner to leverage knowledge, manufacturing and export in the energy efficiency
and renewable energies market. Between 2005 and 2011, more than 4.77 trillion usd were invested in clean energies in Mexico (92% in wind power).
Mexico is a competitive destination for strategic alli-ances with American compa-nies. The country’s growth po-tential also demands technical skills and specialized training which, combined with poten-tial energy and tax reforms, natural growth in consump-tion and technological ad-vances, make Mexico a place of operations and growth. But most importantly, this land-scape illustrates an important niche in the area of renewable energies and energy efficiency management that hasn’t been tapped into as yet. n
* CEO of Bajo en Carbono.
www.bajoencarbono.com
Guest Opinion
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May 2013
Mexico in the World Mexico in the World
The FrenchAerospace Connection
The French aviation industry has Mexico as a strategic partner due to the country’s advantages, such as free trade agreements, competitive production costs and highly skilled workforce.
by GUILLERMO GARzA GARCíA*
Mexico’s aerospace industry has a sustained growth strategy based on three pillars: the creation of an integral supply chain, the construction of a stronger industrial fabric and the regional consolidation of capacities.
When talking about the global aviation sector, one cannot help but think about France as one of the industry leaders. Firms such as Airbus, Eurocopter, Dassault, Thales, Safran and Zodiac Aerospace are just a few of the world-class players that have positioned France’s aerospace indus-try among the global elite. The sector’s economic activity accounts for 77% of France’s total exports and created 162,000 jobs in 2011.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s aviation sector, although young, shows great promise. In just one decade, the country has built an industrial platform of 270 companies and supporting entities that employ 31,000
people with an annual growth rate of al-most 20% (since 2004). That has made it the favorite destination of the global avia-tion industry, with more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received than any other nation in the last decade.
Mexico has some major advantages for international markets, such as free trade agreements with 44 countries, com-petitive production costs, a highly skilled workforce and a geostrategic location due to its closeness to the US.
These conditions have been essential for the French aviation industry to see a strategic partner in Mexico. The first ap-proach took place in 1991 with the ar-rival of Safran group’s Labinal in the state of Chihuahua. Two decades later,
said group has become the main aero-space employer in Mexico, with 4,000 positions. Other French companies fol-lowed, such as Eurocopter, Zodiac Aero-space, Daher, Radiall, Latecoere, Manoir Aerospace, Hutchinson and Axon cable, among many others, strengthening the lo-cal aerospace segment.
Currently, Mexico’s aerospace indus-try has a sustained growth strategy based on three pillars. The first is the creation of an integral supply chain that will lead to shorter integration times and significantly lower logistics costs. The second pillar is the construction of a stronger industrial fabric that will result in the foundation of globally competitive local companies. In order to achieve that, attracting foreign companies is crucial, alongside the manu-facture of local products. The third pillar is the regional consolidation of capacities. For that, France developed a remarkable
concept called “competitiveness poles” which is based on the triple helix model (government, academia and companies). The cities of Paris, Toulouse and Mar-seille are currently the prototypes of the French aerospace industry.
At the same time, it is necessary to work with an industrial strategy based on high added value that strengthens aerospace production and research while encouraging a shift from “Made in Mex-ico,” to “Designed in Mexico.” Honey-well’s successful engineering and research centers in Baja California, General Elec-tric’s (GE) in Querétaro, Labinal’s in Chi-huahua and Bombardier’s in Querétaro, are great examples of that strategy, where Mexican talent designs, develops and re-invents today’s aviation sector.
It is clear that France and Mexico have a mythical past, a dynamic present and a promising future in the aerospace
industry. However, it is Mexico who has more recently shown the elements and tools required to go even further on the global aviation scene. The country has already taken off and is quickly gaining altitude. As economist Philip Kotler duly says: “the future is already here.” n
*Trade Commissioner at ProMexico’s Trade &
Investment Office in Paris, France.
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Business Tips Business Tips
Mexico Gains Altitude Mexico has become a strategic option for the global aerospace industry. With a solid and fast paced development in the industry, the country offers high added value and is regarded as a very cost-efficient and innovative solution to the sector’s strict manufacturing demands.
by LUIS EDUARDO ARCHUNDIA*
Mexico is becoming a major supplier of the global aerospace industry. In 2012, it was the sixth provider of aerospace com-ponents and services to the US, considered the world’s largest market. The country is also becoming increasingly relevant due to its combined offer of specialized engineer-ing services, talent and legal certainty.
Currently, there are 270 aerospace companies and supporting entities in Mex-ico, most of which manufacture high-tech-nology components, avionics and electron-ics, as well as harnesses and cables, heat exchangers, engines, flight control systems and wings, among many other products. The aerospace sector has become one of the main economic activities in the country due to its interrelation with other indus-tries. In 2012 alone, Mexican exports in said industry reached 5.04 billion usd.
Mexico has become a strategic option for the global aerospace industry operat-ing in a fragile economic environment (caused by the financial crises in Europe and the US), coupled with the rise of un-predictable commercial and defense sce-narios. This global economic turbulence has exerted unprecedented pressure on the sector’s closed circle of strategic produc-tion partners worldwide to deliver with an equation of cost efficiency and innova-tion, which only a few countries are able to provide.
Mexico is up to the challenge. Accord-ing to a study by KPMG, Mexico is the most competitive country in the Americas in terms of aerospace manufacturing costs. Also, the nation’s macro-economic stabili-ty, its solid reputation as a competitive des-tination, as well as several local and fed-eral government incentives, academia and business strategies have all come together
and development hub of great strategic value for the aerospace industry.
Any efforts related to the Mexican aerospace industry cannot be understood without referring to the strategy that was outlined in Mexico’s aerospace flight plan (back in 2009) when ProMéxico made a sector-wide consultation and undertook a project to analyze said industry. The first edition of Mexico’s aerospace industry road map was then launched and it has been updated annually ever since, marking the latest trends and impacts on the na-tional aerospace industry and providing a matrix of capabilities useful to understand the evolution of the sector.
Mexico’s challenge now is to ramp up the supply chain and, when possible, de-velop national suppliers to consolidate its position as a destination that serves the complete aircraft cycle (from design to the
to foster the creation of highly competitive hubs across Mexican territory –mainly in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Querétaro and Sonora– which operate within a world class, certi-fied ecosystem.
Mexico emerges as a safer and more attractive aerospace investment market. With a solid and fast paced development in this industry, the country offers high added value to the global aerospace industry and, now more than ever, is being regarded as a very cost efficient and innovative solution to the sector’s strict manufacturing demands.
Industry leaders such as Honeywell, B.A.E. Systems, Bombardier, Eaton, GKN, UTC Aerospace Systems, Hawker Beech-craft, Labinal, Meggit, Volare and Zodiac, among many others, operate in Mexico.
The country’s credentials speak vol-umes. It is a nation that has progressed leaps and bounds in terms of skilled la-bor and international treaties to guaran-tee quality production standards. It has a world renowned reliability as a member of the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) signed with the US and also as part of the Wassenaar Arrangement –presently composed of 41 countries– which was signed last year in record time.
The Wassenaar Arrangement has been established in order to contribute to re-gional and international security and stability by promoting transparency and
greater responsibility in transfers or ex-ports of sensitive technologies. Participat-ing states seek to ensure that transfers of these items do not contribute to the devel-opment or enhancement of military capa-bilities. Export controls are implemented by each participating state, although the scope of export controls in every member country varies from nation to nation in ac-cordance with domestic procedures.
Mexico’s participation in both legal mechanisms is proof of the trust that the international community has put on the country, viewing it as an optimal desti-nation for the manufacture of sensitive technologies for the aerospace industry. Several US and European companies, espe-cially those with government contracts, are looking for competitive locations to settle their operations and to generate more cost efficient products also to boost innovation in the industry. Only a handful of countries are in a position to do that.
Mexico has an extensive pool of tal-ented engineers, over 31,000 skilled pro-fessionals registered with the Performance Review Institute from the National Aero-space and Defense Contractors Accredita-tion Program (NADCAP) and also with the Aerospace Standard 91000 (AS9100) certification. Both standards, coupled with an effective legal framework for the pro-tection of industrial property, have placed Mexico as a manufacturing, engineering
manufacturing of parts and structures and their assembly, aircraft maintenance, recy-cling and/or conversion).
These are some of the reasons why Mex-ico has captured the spotlight at important events such as the 2012 Farnborough Inter-national Air Show, where exhibitors attract-ed further interest in aerospace and defense manufacturing in the country. The same pos-itive impact is expected to be achieved this summer at Le Bourget Air Show in France, which will undoubtedly present a convinc-ing showcase of expanding capabilities in the industry for the next 10 to 20 years.
By 2020, it is expected that 12 bil-lion usd of aerospace exports will come from Mexican aerospace design, engi-neering, Maintenance, Repair and Over-haul (MRO) and manufacturing facilities. Mexico has sophisticated technology and well known foreign providers which are
doing an excellent job of complementing the supply chain. The country’s natural ad-vantages are also attracting other players from the US, France and Canada with high technology platforms.
In short, Mexico’s aerospace indus-try is here for the long run. The nation’s entrepreneurs have come to understand that fact by looking at the country’s trade potential and its capability to in-tegrate cost efficiency and innovation re-sults in the aerospace area. The national industry is well on its way to bringing a complete plant to Mexico and creat-ing the whole aerospace solution in the country. Mexico has taken off and is fly-ing higher than ever, making a difference in the aerospace world. n
*Industry analyst, Business Intelligence Unit
(UIN), ProMéxico.
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Cover Feature
mexican aerospace: an industry on the riseMexico is beginning to reap the benefits of the joint commitment of government,
businesses and universities to bring the aerospace industry to the highest levels of competitiveness with a single strategic program.
by jESúS ESTRADA CORTéS
The Mexican aerospace industry is on cloud nine, soaring with sustained dynamism in terms of production, exports, investment attraction and job creation, its course firmly set to follow the 2010-2020 Strategic Pro-gram that was designed by the industry and government and which also receives sup-port from the academic sector.
With an average 20% annual growth rate since 2004, Mexico has become a global leader in the aerospace sector, boasting 270 companies and supporting entities, most of which are internationally certified with NADCAP and AS9100. In 2012, exports from Mexico’s aerospace
industry reached 5.040 billion usd, a 16.3% increase compared to 2011. Mean-while, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) exceeded 1.3 billion usd, according to data from the Ministry of Economy (SE).
During 2012, the aerospace sector created 32,000 jobs and Mexico was ranked 14th largest industry supplier worldwide, according to information from the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA).
The industry is flying high thanks to a combination of competitive advantages, such as Mexico’s vocation as a manufac-turing, engineering and development cen-
ter with high strategic value. That is due to the degree of technological sophistica-tion of the country’s exports, its engineer-ing talent –Mexico has the largest number of graduates in the Americas, with more than 100,000 new professionals every year– and the quality and competitiveness of its workforce.
Moreover, Mexico holds strong as the most competitive country in the hemi-sphere in terms of aerospace manufactur-ing costs and it guarantees the optimal use of produced and exported goods thanks to a legal framework that efficiently protects industrial property.
Vladimiro de la Mora, president of FEMIA, underlines other advantages that Mexico offers the aerospace industry, such as its geostrategic location. “We are next door to the world’s largest economy, the US. And our costs are extremely competi-tive,” he points out. Aerospace companies can produce in Mexico at costs that are 30% lower than in the US, 40% than in Europe and 50% than in Japan.
InvesTMenT LAndInGThe confidence shown by hundreds of companies in these competitive advantages has translated into more than 19.3 billion usd in accumulated foreign investment, which according to data by FEMIA, has been received by the aerospace industry in Mexico up to 2011.
The increasing investment attraction has led to important projects. For instance, General Electric (GE), the global leader in airplane engine production, has its largest Research and Development Center (GEIQ) outside the US in the State of Querétaro. Also, its Advanced Engineering Center in the same state –GE Aviation’s largest glob-al engineering complex– employs several engineers in charge of testing the GEnX turbine, which saves close to 15% in fuel and reduces its carbon footprint by 30%. The center achieved a significant expan-sion in 2011, hiring more than 240 engi-neers and designers and enabling the cen-ter to ramp up sales to 80 million usd for the year. Some of the areas of specializa-tion include mechanical, electric, controls and software engineering.
Other business operations in Mexico include Honeywell in the northern state of Chihuahua, which focuses on new large engines and their repairs; Churchill in the northwestern state of Sonora, which manu-factures turbine blades for Rolls Royce and their application to new products; Snecma/Safran with projects involving new medium-sized engines and their repairs and ITP which manufactures and repairs low-pressure tur-bines, both in the state of Querétaro.
With regard to turbines, Honeywell has the Mexicali Aerospace and Technol-ogy Center, an engineering and technology complex that includes a design center, a system integration lab, test facilities and a business support team. At the center, the company does a full-scale simulation of an aircraft’s many systems, which allows for the testing of its inter-operability, control and technical maturity.
As for the European Eurocopter within its Aerospace Aerocluster, it has a maintenance center to perform small and medium inspections equivalent to 150 to 600 flight hours, plus one or two years of use, for aircraft of the Ecureuil fam-ily –AS350, AS355 and EC130– and with the capacity to inspect six helicopters si-multaneously. It also has an AS365N3 helicopter (Dauphin model).
In terms of design, engineering and manufacturing, many companies have earned success in Mexico. Such is the case of the giant Bombardier, whose plant in Querétaro manufactures the fu-selage, assembles the wings and horizon-tal and vertical stabilizers and manufac-tures and installs the electrical harnesses of the Learjet 85.
terials Research (IIM) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), among others. That opens up opportuni-ties to develop new latest generation ma-terials by integrating into international innovation networks. For example, He-licópteros y Vehículos Aéreos Nacionales (HELIVAN) is developing graphene, a car-bon fiber that is 200 times more resistant than steel and that is used in the defense aerospace industry, according to informa-tion by ProMéxico.
JoInT WorkAn essential element of the buoyancy shown by the Mexican aerospace sec-tor is the design and implementation of the 2010-2020 Strategic Program for the Aerospace Industry, also known as Pro-
Cover Feature
An essential element of the buoyancy shown by the Mexican aerospace sector is the design and implementation of the 2010-2020 Strategic Program for the Aerospace Industry, also known as Pro-Aéreo, whose core was created by the authorities and industry working together to define what we expect from the industry in the near future.
In addition to manufacturing, engi-neering and design activities, aerospace companies in Mexico are strengthened by the work of many research centers and labs that specialize in new materials and nanocomposites, such as the Mexican Cor-poration of Materials Research (COMIM-SA), the Advanced Materials Research Center (CIMAV) and the Institute of Ma-
Aéreo, whose core “was created by the au-thorities and industry working together to define what we expect from the industry in the near future. The plan establishes the cre-ation of over 110,000 jobs, exports in ex-cess of 12 billion usd and Mexico’s ranking among the top 10 suppliers for the global industry, in addition to placing national content close to 50%,” explains de la Mora.
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Negocios ProMéxico |
22 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
national and regional Flight
The national strategy has set its sights on turning Mexico into a destination that serves an aircraft’s complete cycle: design and engineering, parts manu-facturing, maintenance, airplane assembly and re-cycling and reconversion. Added to national plans are the regional strategies of the country’s main clus-ters, which are based on their production vocations.According to ProMéxico, the country’s main clusters are Baja California, Chihua-hua, Sonora, Querétaro and Nuevo León.
Close to 60 companies operate in Baja California and have recorded close to 1.4 billion usd in annual exports, close to 28% of na-tional exports. Their main destinations are the US, Canada, the United King-dom, France and Germany, among other countries.
Through the strategy developed between indus-try, academia and govern-ment, Baja California will focus its innovation capaci-ties on knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) for the aerospace and defense
(A+D) industry and stimulate its potential to develop fu-selage systems and power plants. In addition, more than 24,000 young people are en-rolled in engineering and tech-nology programs in the state.
There are 28 aerospace companies operating in the state of Chihuahua, includ-ing four original equipment manufacturers (OEM): Cessna, Textron International Mexico, Beechcraft and Honeywell. In 2012, the state’s exports reached 568 million usd. Cur-rently, Chihuahua has over 8,300 employees related to the aerospace industry.
Honeywell’s Aerospace Chihuahua Manufacturing Operation (HCMO) consists of a highly complex machining manufacturing facility. The facility hosts a warehouse, labs and Quality Control Op-erations as well as Engineer-ing. The HCMO is one of the most advanced machining operations in the aerospace industry. It features a state-of-the-art blade manufacturing cell as well as numerous highly advanced aerospace machin-ing cells. The site manufac-tures engine assembly ducts, gears and shafts, blade manu-
facturing, impellers, nozzles, disks, stators, seals and nozzle segments, among others.
Sonora has one of the most important and integrat-ed machined aviation parts clusters in the country. With casting, machining and spe-cial processes, Sonora has be-come a center for excellence in the manufacture of blades and components for airplane turbines and engines.
More than 48 companies operate in the state, export-ing close to 174 million usd, and supported by more than 29,000 students enrolled in engineering and technology programs. The Sonora Insti-tute for Advanced and Aero-space Manufacturing was recently created in the state capital, Hermosillo.
In Querétaro, the joint work of government and industry has triggered im-portant projects such as the Universidad Aeronáutica en Querétaro (UNAQ), which offers four education levels –basic technician, advanced technician, engineering and graduate programs– with more than 2,800 graduates since 2006. The Aviation Tech-nologies and Test Laboratory
(LABTA) is a unique project in Latin America, compris-ing three research centers that join their specialties to present a comprehen-sive range of laboratory tests and services that will strengthen the develop-ment of the supply chain.
In addition, the Queré-taro Aerocluster is consti-tuted by 30 manufacturing companies and suppliers of structures, parts and com-ponents; three MROs, five design and engineering centers; three innovation and development facilities; five service companies; three education institu-tions and one innovation and research network. The state’s aerospace exports total 673 million usd a year.
Meanwhile, the state of Nuevo León is one of the leading industrial bastions of Mexico. Twenty-eight aviation companies operate in the state and export their products mainly to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) market. The sector exports 555 mil-lion usd a year. The Nuevo León aerospace cluster was established in 2008.
In terms of supply, the goal is to in-crease the development of local suppli-ers to take them to Tier 2 and Tier 3. To achieve that, the program includes support from the SE to help companies obtain the necessary certification.
“Another strategy is how we help these companies obtain the funds they need to become suppliers,” explains de la Mora, adding that several automotive and elec-tronics firms –two sectors in which Mex-ico is highly competitive– have already experienced success by migrating to the aerospace sector.
Within the framework of Pro-Aéreo, businesses and government together define support for the aerospace industry. “An ex-
ample is the lab that the President [Enrique Peña Nieto] announced recently to Euro-copter. A new test center will be opened in Querétaro to support the aerospace sector with government investment –50 million pesos initially. Once again, we were invited as an industry to define what the complex should have: we are involved in the pro-cess,” adds the president of FEMIA.
As part of the actions within Pro-Aéreo, “We have identified critical areas on which we need to work, such as staff development. We have to collaborate with universities to develop the future talent required by the industry, not only in en-gineering and masters’ programs but with technicians,” he explains.
HIGH specIALIzATIonMexico has been training aviation techni-cians and engineers since 1937. Accord-ing to information from ProMéxico, there are currently 21 education institutions that offer 52 aerospace programs, which range from basic courses, high school and technical programs to advanced technical degree programs, professional licenses, un-dergraduate programs in engineering and some Masters’ programs.
Baja California is perhaps the state with the most notable range of aerospace-related courses, not only because of the large number of companies established there but also due to the joint work of the private, public and academic sectors to
contribute to train professionals and tech-nicians that will populate the industry and are the main driver behind the sector.
“This is all handled with the triple he-lix model: government, academia and in-dustry. As a university, we must contribute with continuous training for the people who comprise the sector and to do so we are constantly looking at what’s new, what does the industry need, what new proj-ects will they bring, to learn what type of professionals they will require when the time comes. In that way, classrooms feed manufacturing facilities with the staff they need,” explains Omar Mata, professor and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC).
The UABC’s faculty of engineering of-fers education to close to 50,000 students and aerospace engineering is one of the newest programs, with 150 registered stu-dents, 15 of whom make up the first gen-eration, who graduated in May 2013. “In the coming years we will be graduating between 15 and 20 young people each se-mester. It is an upward trend and the idea is to supply the complete Mexicali-Tijua-na-Ensenada corridor to satisfy its require-
ment for professionals,” says Juan de Dios Ocampo, coordinator of the Aerospace Engineering program at UABC.
After pointing out that from 2014 onwards the UABC will begin to offer a Master’s Degree in aerospace engineering, de Dios Ocampo explains that creating a program such as this one required the in-dustry’s participation. “These are flexible models that enable us to modify courses and content depending on the rhythm of the industry,” he says.
Baja California’s successful model is a reflection of the joint effort of companies, governments and universities in Mexico and that partnership is what drives the aerospace industry to cruising speed.
“We know for certain that the new government will follow up on this pro-gram; Pro-Aéreo is not stopping,” con-cludes de la Mora. n
Part of the statements and data published in
this text were taken from the National Flight
Plan (version 4, 2013), which includes several
industry, academia and government contribu-
tions. This strategic line of the aerospace sec-
tor will be launched shortly.
Cover Feature Cover Feature
25
Negocios ProMéxico |
24 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
Special Report Special Report
Investment opportunities in the Mexican Space Industry
The study and development of the Mexican space industry is a key factor in boosting telecommunications, expanding the connectivity and inclusion of marginalized communities in remote areas of the country, in addition to the proven use of low orbit satellite observation to alert the population and miti-gate the impact of nature-related disasters or monitor atmospheric phenom-ena, among other benefits.
by jORGE SáNCHEz GóMEz*
The accelerated entry into the space econo-my has created a new challenge for Mexico. It implies the exploration, use and exploita-tion of outer space for scientific research; technology development and application; design, manufacture and operation of tele-communication systems; as well as satellite-based navigation, GPS, and earth and cos-mic observation via vehicles launched and placed in space.
The Law that created the Mexican Space Agency (Agencia Espacial Mexicana or AEM) –on July 30, 2010– and the initia-tives gathered in several public forums pro-duced the General Guidelines of Mexico’s Space Policy –published on July 13, 2011– and AEM’s National Space Activity Pro-gram (Programa Nacional de Actividades Espaciales or PNAE), stating the national strategy for the promotion of space ex-ploration, use and exploitation. The 2012-2015 PNAE is based on five strategic axes:
1. Human capital training and develop-ment in the area of space.
2. Space scientific research and technology development.
3. Industrial, commercial and competitive-ness development in the space sector.
4. International affairs, regulations and safety in space matters.
5. Funding, organization and information technologies in space matters.
Each axis has well defined goals, strat-egies and lines of action. The first year of operations involved the organizational structure of the AEM and its five general coordinating offices –one for each strategic axis. That year also marked the beginning of works related to creating synergies be-tween the various players.
The industrial-commercial and compet-itiveness development coordinating office adopted the roadmap methodology, which establishes a mechanism to integrate and document the current situation of the space industry while defining the path to follow and criteria needed to achieve this goal.
sTrATeGIc MILesTones oF MexIco’s spAce secTorThe Orbit Plan: Roadmap for the Mexi-can Space Industry 2012, in which a mul-tidisciplinary group of academics, public
servants and business owners expressed their prospective vision of the sector, es-tablished five strategic goals:
1. For Mexico to have a world-class, high-technology validation and stan-dardization center for the space in-dustry with the capacity to provide services on an international level [five years].
2. To establish a company that oper-ates in Mexico with the technologi-cal capacity to design and manage space projects with the Public-Private Partership (PPP) model, which will be the nucleus and interface with those involved in space projects [two years].
3. To integrate a low orbit multifunc-tional satellite platform with 50% of critical technologies developed in Mexico [five years].
4. To create a PPP institution to coordi-nate the triple helix (government, in-dustry and academia) for innovation in advanced materials for aerospace applications [five years].
5. For Mexico to have a 1% (1 billion usd) share in the space industry [five years].
To achieve this, there must be pub-lic policies and production coordina-tion models that acknowledge the scope of the sector, align its players, stimulate innovation and integrate new forms of commercial partnership. Technical-com-mercial alliances are essential for seek-ing partners capable of contributing with human capital, technologies and propos-als to develop solutions and leverage the opportunities offered by the global space market (in 2011 sales were estimated at 289.77 billion usd).
To create a comprehensive vision and comply with the recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Co-opera-tion and Development (OECD), Mexico must create a space infrastructure, that is, the set of tangible and intangible goods that are required for the study, ac-cess, exploration, use and exploitation of space:
• Tangible assets include rocket en-gines, launching platforms and sys-tems, sub-orbital vehicles, satellites and other spacecraft, their instru-
ments, payloads, master stations, teleports, receiving antennas, user terminals, observatories and other li-aison and control devices.
• Intangible assets include orbital po-sitions and their related frequencies, laws, regulations, technologies, pat-ents, licenses, concessions, brands and know-how.
THe IMporTAnce oF spAce InFrAsTrucTureSpace infrastructure is the backbone that holds and links satellite space systems and national security applications; as well as connectivity, social coverage, en-vironmental sustainability and scientific and technological research.
It is constituted by projects that fo-cus on national needs, such as the Early Alert System and the replacement of the MEXSAT System satellites at the end of their useful lifecycle (estimated at 15-18 years) within an innovation ecosystem that favors and encourages joint work.
The development of space infrastruc-ture requires funding and PPP similar to those established in road and port devel-opment.
Specialization is indispensable for the space and aviation industries; it ensures quality and competitiveness of the tech-nological areas in which Mexico can be attractive. Five technology areas have been initially selected, encompassing 113
technologies to be developed and ap-plied, based on their technology-readi-ness level, their individual roadmaps and feasibility analyses to incorporate them into the Mexican space infrastructure and business plans that promote invest-ment opportunities in this sector.
Mexico is committed to the develop-ment of the space sector; there is a clear view of the space innovation ecosystem with collaboration spaces, merging syn-ergies of the various stakeholders, and attracting investment and talent to posi-tion the country in the global space econ-omy. The flow of foreign and domestic investment will enable the development of high added-value jobs and technolo-gy-based companies, well-paid special-ized employees, and accelerate value chain integrations, with impacts in other economic sectors.
According to the AEM’s estimates, the Mexican space industry could reach 1 billion usd in the next five years. Mexico is slated to become an attractive pole of space development, internationally re-nowned for its capacity to coordinate and carry out high-impact work with state-of-the-art quality and innovation. n
www.aem.gob.mx
* Deputy Director, Industrial and
Commercial Development, Mexican Space
Agency (AEM)
Mexico is committed to the development of the space sector; there is a clear view of the space innovation ecosystem with collaboration spaces, merging synergies of the various stakeholders, and attracting investment and talent to position the country in the global space economy.
photo aem
27
Negocios ProMéxico |
26 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
photos courtesy of safran
BY GRAEME STEWART
Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
AErOSPACE GIAnT Hails mexico “engine”Just over 20 years after opening for business in Mexico, French aerospace giant Safran is now the country’s largest aeronautics company with 5,000 employees expected by the end of 2013. Not content to rest on its laurels, Safran has plans for even further expansion.
Mexico is for Safran the main engine for its aerospace ac-tivities in Latin America and second of the Americas, only behind the US, according to the senior Vice President of one of the world’s leading aeronautics companies who adds that he expects Mexico to continue to be a leader in global aeronautics.
Olivier Piepsz, senior VP for Latin America of the French aerospace firm Safran Group, told Negocios that the performance of the aerospace sector in Mexico has been so impressive that Safran is now considering developing more activities in the country.
Speaking at Safran’s headquarters in Paris, France, the VP confirms: “So far, we are studying this possibility and the idea, of course, is to create synergies between the companies of the Group and to also consolidate our foot-print in Mexico”.
Piepsz enthuses about Safran’s Mexico operations and continues: “We have two principal markets in Latin America, Mexico and Brazil; 80% of the Group’s number of employees in the region are in Mexico. Of what we pro-duce in said area, 60% is in Mexico. For Safran, Mexico is the continent’s engine and we are very proud to be the most important aerospace company in the country. This year we have 4,400 people in employment with us in Mex-
Safran is today the top French investor in Mexico. “The key figure for us is 25%. In the past year we grew 25% in production and in the number of our Mexican employees,” Piepsz says.
ico and we plan to increase that to 5,000 by the end of the year.”
Safran is today the top French investor in Mexico. “The key figure for us is 25%. In the past year we grew 25% in production and in the num-ber of our Mexican employ-ees” Piepsz continues.
When asked about Saf-ran’s goals in Mexico, he answers: “We have three main objectives in Mexico: educa-tion and training, innovation and supply chain. That mir-rors the very objectives of the Mexican government.” Adding, “we invest heavily in Mexico but we gain a lot of confidence from the country’s authorities. We meet on a regular basis with representa-tives of the federal and state governments, as well as with heads from small and medium enterprises to find solutions to any problems and to plan common strategies.”
In addition to the close relation between private and public sectors towards the in-dustry’s development, Mexico has some other advantages. “Mexico has a fantastic pool of talent. It has more than 100,000 engineers graduating every year, which is fantastic for the country and for Latin America. They are highly qualified, well motivated and incredibly enthusiastic to get into the aeronautics indus-try, which is a great bonus for us because in the US, for
Safran Group’s Presence in Mexico
The Safran Group has operated in Mexico for more than 20 years. Today, it is the first aerospace employer in Mexico with over 4,400 workers in 10 companies and is also active in the defense and security sectors.
Several of the Group’s companies have subsidiaries or affiliates in Mexico:
J Labinal in Chihuahua.J Snecma, Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, Messier-Bugatti-
Dowty Services and Snecma America Engine Services in Querétaro.
J Globe Motors in Tamaulipas.J Morpho in Estado de México.J Safran Mexico, Turbomeca and Morpho in Mexico City.
example, graduates are more interested in getting into the computer industry or into finance. In Mexico, there is no shortage of engineers want-ing to get into the factory to begin work. That is a great advantage for us,” explains the VP.
As for Safran’s plans in Mexico, Piepsz says: “We want to expand our indus-trial footprint in Mexico and to that end we opened an extension of our plant in Chi-huahua, last month, reaching a total of 3,000 employees in this state. It is the largest wire-making factory in the world and shows our com-mitment to Mexico. Safran is
also deepening its industrial presence in Mexico through its activities in security. Mor-pho, one of the world leaders in security solutions through smart cards, biometry, and detection, is highly active in the country.”
Indeed the Group has great expectations in this field in Mexico thanks to its indus-trial presence and considers the country as a key base to address the regional market in Central America.
Additionally, the Safran Group is heavily involved in sustainable development proj-ects and training programs. For instance, it is leading the creation of a French-Mexican “Aeronautical Campus” in Querétaro, to develop a high-ly-skilled and trained work-force in aviation and MRO jobs. Furthermore, the Group welcomes a number of interns and participates in profes-sional training programs. It has also been a leader in the foundation of an aeronautical cluster in Querétaro.
The Group also works with Mexican industry on various sustainable develop-ment initiatives to provide “greener” solutions; more
specifically it has been work-ing with the airline Interjet on a green flight project of an A320 powered by a CFM56 engine using biofuel. A sector in which, once again, Mexico shows great potential.
“We want to expand our industrial footprint in the country in many areas. We want it all in Mexico,” Piepsz concludes. n
www.safran-group.com
SAFrAn MExICO FACTS:
J Number one player in Mexico’s aeronautical industry.J 4,400 employees.J A growth rate of 25% per year in Mexico (production &
employees) over the last two years.J Largest French investor over the last years in Mexico.J Nine plants and three main hubs (Chihuahua, Queré-
taro and Mexico City).J 10 inaugurations/extensions since 2007.
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Negocios ProMéxico |
28 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
BY OMAR MAGAñA
Company specialization is of the utmost value in the aerospace industry. The key to success is focusing on one goal. Volare Engineering’s comes down to reducing weight in transportation.
The firm that Sergio Segu-ra founded in Mexicali, in the state of Baja California, and that he now manages with Roberto Corral, sales and marketing director, and Edgar Paz, head of special projects, moves in one direction and without any distractions, strengthening its core busi-ness: the design and manufac-ture of furniture for passenger aircraft and train galleys and cabins. Partnerships and trade relations are welcomed.
Only recently, the part-ners visited the Aircraft
Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, from April 9 to 11, 2013, and returned with the confidence that they would soon close deals with compa-nies to produce furniture for low-cost European airlines, who must lighten the weight of increasingly smaller air-craft. Screens, dividing walls, storage furniture and luggage compartments made with lightweight composites are just a few of the products that carry the Volare brand.
“This is the chance to complement the new gen-eration of products in the aerospace industry, not only in terms of design but also in terms of weight,” says Ro-berto Corral.
On the other hand, the secuester approved by the US
Congress on March 1, 2013, has resulted in hundreds of cancelled flights, thousands of delays and the future re-duction of air traffic volume due to the closing of control towers. But these are good signs for Volare because they represent opportunities for its sector: passenger railways will experience a spike in demand for tickets that will result in an increased need to buy light compartments for train cars.
According to Corral, Volare had already become involved in the redesign of the Amtrak wagons that travel from Boston to Philadelphia and New York. “The train’s interiors will be very similar to first class [in an aircraft],” he explains.
Currently the profit margin from the company’s activities in the aerospace and train sectors is 75% and 25%, re-spectively.
After a year of uncertainty and frozen projects, Corral says that the firm will see many doors open and important plans resume their course in 2013.
“In the last two years we have practically doubled our income and it’s very likely that we’ll match it again this year, as we did in 2011,” says this en-trepreneur who also chairs the small and medium-sized busi-nesses (SMB) commission of the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA).
“Suddenly everything fell into place and this has been an extraordinary year; our projec-
tions for April are very similar to those of 2011, when we doubled our income com-pared to 2010,” he adds.
An unsToppAbLe FLIGHTAmong countless others, Volare Engineering partners with Driessen Aircraft, an affiliate of the multinational Zodiac Aerospace, that spe-cializes in aircraft interior and galley equipment.
In addition, Corral ex-plains that the Mexican corporation is undergoing consolidation with another partner in San Diego, Cali-fornia, that will result in a more extensive catalog and broader participation in the industry with the integration of engineering and electron-ics solutions.
“When we receive a project, we take the model, improve it and make material recommendations,” he says of the activities of a com-pany that offers engineering, design, testing, manufactur-ing and assembly solutions, backed up by the work of 20 permanent collaborators and a temporary pool of 20.
Volare Engineering has ISO:9000 2008 and AS9100 certifications and is preparing to obtain the Six Sigma cer-tification for cost reduction and innovation in its projects and processes. An article by the National University of La Jolla, California, recently highlighted the experience of Volare Engineering’s manag-ers in global aerospace com-panies such as Airbus, Mc-Donnell Douglas, Fokker and Boeing, particularly Corral, who is an expert in continu-ous improvement processes.
With the eventual accel-eration that the firm would experience from its new com-mitments, “we will incorpo-rate more efficiency mecha-nisms to increase our produc-tivity,” explains Corral.
Volare foresees a future filled with opportunities. According to Corral’s projec-tions, China will experience new increases in labor costs
due to pressure from unions, which will lead to a situation that will continue to divert investments to Mexico.
Another piece of good news for companies like Volare, which currently import a large portion of their raw materials, is that the businesses located on the border aerospace cluster and universities in the area, particularly the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
(UABC), are now creating proj-ects to boost the production of materials with special rigidity, resistance, performance, dura-bility and weight.
Everything indicates that new materials will appear shortly. Meanwhile, Volare’s three partners remain active both in Mexico and abroad, establishing agreements and looking for new customers. So fasten your seatbelts, and put your seats and tray tables in their upright positions, be-cause Volare is taking off! n
www.volare-eng.com
Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
vOLArE: more projection, less WeigHtThree Mexicans, the founders of the aircraft and train interior company, Volare Engineering, have managed to foresee market movements and visualize the opportunities that could arise from adjustments. They have also succeeded in satisfying two different sectors with one product and one goal.
An article by the National University of La Jolla, California, recently highlighted the experience of Volare Engineering’s managers in global aerospace companies such as Airbus, McDonnell Douglas, Fokker and Boeing, particularly Corral, who is an expert in continuous improvement processes.
31
Negocios ProMéxico |
30 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
photos courtesy of soisa
BY ANTONIO VázqUEz
Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
SOISA, like sitting on a cloud20% of all new airplane seats in the world are manufactured by the Mexican Soisa.
Two out of every 10 new seats in airplanes that fly around the world bear the stamp of Soisa, a Mexican company that is currently the trusted supplier of quality products to 70 international airlines.
In 2006, the firm began manufacturing airplane seat covers. Seven years later, with more than 190 employees, Soisa engineers, designs,
AS9100 certified (the standard for the aerospace industry), Soisa intends to conquer 35% of the global market in the coming years. According to Jesús Mesta, the company wants to be recognized not only for its production volume, but for its innovation, design and patents.
modifies and manufactures over 450 different products for the aerospace industry.
Jesús and Javier Mesta of Soisa, remember: “We began in the aerospace sector because that was the area of opportunity in Mexico. After several analyses and studies we decided to go from manu-facturing to crafting.”
Located in the northern state of Chihuahua, Soisa’s tradition spans decades. It was born in 1949 as a manu-facturing business and, over the years, has consolidated relations with companies in the US and Europe.
Currently, after taking the leap to becoming an aerospace product manufacturer, Soisa now exports to various Asian and European countries, as well as the US. As Jesús Mesta indicates, “We engineer, design and manufacture airplane seats for more than 70 interna-tional airlines.”
He adds that Soisa has two chief markets; one of them is
supplying seat covers for air-lines and OEM’s such as Boe-ing and Airbus.
“We produce seat covers for newly manufactured air-planes. I can safely state that we have 20% of the global seat market,” affirms Mesta.
Soisa’s other strong market is redesign. The company helps airlines reinvent the image of their airplane seats, from design to cushion and cover manufacturing.
“The company performs a series of tests with software, we send off our designs, the customer approves them and then we deliver a sample; 90% of what we do is aimed at these two markets, seats for new airplanes and seat replacement for existing air-craft,” says Mesta.
A key element in Soisa’s success is that it uses the concept “low volume high mix” unlike countries with high maquila volumes, such as China, which reduces costs for airlines.
“The average purchase order is for approximately 15 pieces; imagine changing your production lines for 15 pieces for one airplane and then for another aircraft. This gives us a huge competitive advantage over other countries such as China or the US, which do not offer low volumes due to the high cost of these chang-es,” explains Mesta.
Soisa’s geographic loca-tion is another added value
for the company. Some 250 miles from El Paso, Texas, the state of Chihuahua is a de-velopment center where deals can be closed with American and European companies.
“Mexico’s great advantage is that it is one of the coun-tries with the largest invest-ment in the aerospace sector. The global aerospace market grows at an annual rate of 5.5%, boosted by two areas: the increase in the number of
passengers who need to travel around the world and the need to replace old airplanes with new ones,” he says.
Soisa’s CEO adds that manufacturing costs are lower in Chihuahua than in the US and Europe, and that there is highly-skilled human talent in the state.
“Workers in Chihuahua believe that the product has to come out with perfect quality and on time. That is
a great advantage because we don’t have to teach that to people, it is already ingrained in their culture. There are also various technical schools and universities with huge capacity,” he explains.
Soisa also works with the Tecnológico de Monterrey’s aerospace research center, where together with the firm’s designers, engineers and creators, university stu-dents innovate, design and
manufacture new seat proto-types and other products.
AS9100 certified (the stan-dard for the aerospace indus-try), Soisa intends to conquer 35% of the global market in the coming years. According to Jesús Mesta, the company wants to be recognized not only for its production vol-ume, but for its innovation, design and patents.
He adds that a few months ago an airline launched a call
for tenders to replace seats in 100 commercial passenger air-planes. While it took Soisa just ten days to send in its bid, the competition took three months.
“We will experience more growth in design, patent reg-istration and new product innovation. We are constantly working to improve airplanes and make them lighter,” he concludes. n
www.soisaaerospace.com
photos courtesy of radiall
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32 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
rADIALL, connecting airplanes in tHe air
This company located in the state of Sonora exports close to 70% of its production to the US; aviation giants such as Boeing and Airbus are among its main customers.
BY ANTONIO VázqUEz
When you are onboard a commercial Boeing or Airbus flight, chances are that the pilot’s orders are travelling through wires and connectors manufactured by the Mexican-branch of Radiall.
Radiall is a French compa-ny that manufactures and as-sembles electrical connectors, coaxial cables, optical fiber and communication antennas for the aerospace industry. It has several expertise centers and manufacturing locations on three continents and 13 countries.
In Mexico, it is currently located in Ciudad Obregón, in the state of Sonora. The company is part of Collectron International Management Inc.,
a pioneer of Sonora’s Shelter Plan with over 45 years of experience. It offers adminis-trative and legal support for Radiall’s operations in Mexico.
The company exports close to 70% of its annual production to the US, and an-other portion to its affiliates in France, which, in turn, distrib-ute to other parts of Europe.
“Radiall in Ciudad Ob-regón serves mainly the US aerospace industry, both civil and military. A percentage goes to the European mar-ket; through our affiliates in France, these become end products for customers in the region,” says Ildefonso Ley-va, Radiall’s plant manager in Sonora.
Radiall is the main suppli-er of several families of con-nectors for large companies and has a number of patents in this area. Its main custom-ers include top aerospace firms like Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Safran Group’s Labinal.
Leyva explains that Radi-all’s connectors can be placed in any part of an aircraft; invisible to the human eye, they are installed in the body, windows and throughout the airplane’s structure, helping it to function.
Radiall began operating in 1999 in Nogales, another city in the state of Sonora. The company’s goal was to in-crease its production capacity and quality in Mexico to offer its main aerospace customers greater logistics and cost ad-vantages.
At that time, Radiall had a workforce of 90 employees. Since then it has grown ex-ponentially; so much so that in 2007 it moved to Ciudad Obregón, where it currently has 560 employees and hopes
Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
to grow to 600 by the end of 2013.
Ildefonso Leyva is an optimist and a visionary. He believes that the aerospace industry is primed for huge growth in the near future and that this is a unique opportu-nity for Mexican businesses.
“Boeing and Airbus have sales scheduled for five to ten years. This industry has a stable future and this reas-sures us to continue working. The Boeing 787 alone, our main project, has sold 1,040 airplanes, of which 50 are already flying. We are not the only suppliers, but this is a demanding sector that requires cutting-edge technol-ogy, and that is a huge com-mitment for us which helps us stay at the forefront,” he says.
One of the advantages of closing a deal with Radiall is that it commits to reducing costs for its customers and proposes new ideas.
“Going back to the case of the Boeing 787, it has forced us to innovate to make a lighter and more fuel-efficient
airplane. A significant num-ber of the technology com-ponents that we manufacture are lighter; we use plastic instead of aluminum, and that represents cost savings for the customer,” explains Leyva.
Radiall’s geographical location gives it an advan-tage over companies in other countries. The Mexican firm can serve its customers in the US in less time -mainly Boeing in Seattle-, reducing transportation costs and de-livery times.
But “the main advantage of operating in Mexico is its people, their ability to learn the processes, how quickly they become efficient and effective and, most of all, their great loyalty towards the company and willingness
to face new challenges,” says Leyva.
Leyva states that profes-sionally, Ciudad Obregón has a large number of universities and technical schools that enable Radiall to develop employees with a high degree of technical knowledge on a par with any other part of the world.
One of Radiall’s goals is to design the first aerospace product made completely in Mexico in its Ciudad Obregón plant over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the company focuses on satisfying the de-mand that the industry will have in the coming years, gradually reducing costs for its customers and innovating in the use of materials. n
www.radiall.com
Radiall is the main supplier of several families of connectors for large companies and has a number of patents in this area. Its main customers include top aerospace firms like Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Safran Group’s Labinal.
photos courtesy of tecnum Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
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34 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
TECnUM: tHe importance of VisibilityTecnum, like other companies who have started to explore the aerospace sector propelled by government bodies or academic institutions, understands that the road is long and risky. However, the firm wants to power through by facing the challenges ahead and increasing its presence on a global scale.
by OMAR MAGAñA
The time has come for Mexi-can small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) from the aerospace sector to gain visi-bility with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1’s to ensure their involve-ment in the future activities of an ever-changing industry.
“There is a great appetite in the aerospace sector and a remarkable trend for re-ductions in the supply base; OEMs want to deal with less suppliers and possibly one stop shops” says Guillermo Bonilla, CEO of Tecnum Ser-vice, a subcontract machin-ing shop specialized in the manufacturing of prismatic components in hard materi-als located in Querétaro, Mexico.
The visibility of Mexican SMEs seeking to lock into the sector, says Bonilla, will come from their ability to position themselves as high-technology manufacturers based in inno-vation, not only relying on the low labor costs which won’t last long. Partnerships with bigger international players could lead to a faster and more intensive growth result-ing in more solid, productive and qualified companies.
The task is to persuade large international players to invest in Mexico to gain mar-ket and increase their global competitiveness taking ad-
vantage of a solid, young and certified workforce including well educated engineers.
Tecnum Service has just about the right attributes to earn a spot in this race. It is a business that has made a name for itself in the auto-motive sector by supplying OEMs –such as TRW, Case New Holland, Cummins and GM– with products ranging from prototypes up to medi-um volume production parts.
Through the experience gathered during many years machining cast iron and steel parts for a demanding sec-tor such as the automotive, Tecnum has acquired an ex-pertise that allows it to face the challenge of entering the aerospace market, leveraging its know-how to comply with the high demanding require-ments of that industry.
Bonilla believes that consolidating Tecnum as a high-ranked supplier –which satisfies the strict productivity and quality standards of the automotive industry, adding a premium to the mainly quali-ty-focused but less productive aerospace sector– is no utopia but a real possibility.
“According to our road-map we will move from the automotive and commercial sectors in which we have worked so far, gradually in-tegrating aerospace products,
supported by Querétaro’s Secretariat of Sustainable Development (SEDESU); the participation in trade shows and benchmark studies car-ried out by the company itself have been key elements to identify niche markets and opportunities in the aero-space industry. However, Bonilla states: “the transition from our traditional market to one on the rise has had its key challenges.”
What does this change im-ply? Tecnum service’s conver-sion to an aerospace supplier has involved changes within the company, where the most significant are those related to retraining its human capital. Like other up-and-coming SMEs in the sector, Tecnum intends to put its 36 collabo-rators in sync with the new organizational culture inspired by continuous improvements through constant training.
On the other hand “We have been forced to adapt and complement much of our equipment. We have made some very heavy investments,” explains Bonilla.
“[Integrating into the sector] is very expensive, as we have to undergo certifi-cation processes and adapt our equipment to meet the standards” he adds, but it’s the only way to meet the objectives established by the company in light of the changes: being competitive, staying within the niche that other companies with Mexi-can equity have not explored: going from Tier 3 to Tier 2 and increasing profits from aerospace products, exceeding what has been Tecnum’s pro-duction axis so far.
Bonilla believes he belongs to the group of Mexican entrepreneurs who want to transform the profile of Mexi-can manufacturing; who want to escalate to more value added processes that integrate better trained human capital. “We have to focus more on innovation and technology. Our medium-term goal is to create better-paid and higher-quality job positions,” he says.
According to his plans, Tec-num Service will be a more in-tegrated company in the same niche by mid or end 2014, after an internal restructuring and collaborations with Tier 1 and Tier 2 businesses seeking part-nerships in Mexico.
In addition, Bonilla be-lieves, a closer and more collaborative participation between the private sector and research institutions such as the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). The actions of these bodies must contribute to the certifica-tion processes and match the efforts in favor of innovation stimulated by entrepreneurs. n
www.tecnum.com.mx
so to have a good balance of both” explains Bonilla.
Tecnum has the right equipment: robust and flex-ible manufacturing cells to machine complex parts and a team of engineers with the competences required to pro-duce prototypes and small batches typical of the aero-space industry.
This has given the company the confidence to become a supplier of relatively large com-ponents out of hard materials such as titanium for OEMs that specialize in products such as landing gears, flats and slats assemblies, among other.
The introduction to the aerospace industry programs
Tecnum service’s conversion to an aerospace supplier has involved changes within the company, where the most significant are those related to retraining its human capital.
photos courtesy of frisa
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36 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
FrISA: a perfect fitFrisa is an integral piece of the soul that puts aircraft in the air. Its hi-temp seamless rolled rings and high-tech products meet the needs of some of the world’s top aircraft engine manufacturers.
by OMAR MAGAñA
Frisa is the perfect match for aircraft engine manufacturers. The Mexican company has the experience needed to forge metals with special properties, supported by a highly-skilled workforce which has made a career out of it, an unbeatable
geographic location (some 200 kilometers from the Mexico-US border) and the best pro-duction technology in its field.
Since 2003, Frisa has sup-plied seamless roll formed rings made from nickel and titanium alloys to Original
press, roll, heat treat, machine (pre-machining and semifinal machining), analyze and test. The company has developed its own logistics –by ground, sea or air– for a worldwide deliv-ery of large and small parts.
neW opporTunITIesWith the launching of Boeing and Airbus’s new large proj-ects, Frisa sees another prom-ising window of opportunity and with it a new challenge: to increase the size of their work-shops and machinery.
The firm is in the middle of a growth project that involves boosting alliances with ma-chining companies in Nuevo León to develop in the termi-nal or more complex phases of machining, an area they haven’t fully explored.
Ramírez explains that, with regard to the aerospace sector, Frisa delivers semi-fin-
ished components, rings that the customer will finalize and assemble in the engines. He adds that “until now, we have found a dimensional difficulty to subcontract machining for parts the size of ours.”
Frisa’s strength comes from the expertise it has gained through four decades of treat-ing raw materials like carbon, low-alloy, stainless steels and, recently, titanium and hi-temp alloys also known as superal-loys. Its manufacturing process-es, quality standards (ISO 9000, ISO 14001 and AS9100) and engineering development are de-signed to match customer needs to the specifications established by the industry it serves.
The company works with pressure, heat and wear-resistant metals for the engine market. “If you open an engine and analyze what the metallic components
are made of, you’d realize that approximately 70% are nickel-based alloys, 20% titanium-based and 10% aluminum-based and special steels,” explains Ramírez.
If Frisa’s aerospace com-petitors, which are all located in the US and Great Britain, are noted for a long history in the sector, the Mexican corporation’s advantage, says Ramírez, is the region’s experience in metallurgy. The company’s process controls are supported by the latest information technology and the customer service expertise has been developed thanks to a wide portfolio of consumers from diverse sectors for which they have worked.
Furthermore, while large sums of capital are required to participate in the aerospace sector, the investment needed to build production plants in Mexico is relatively lower than in countries where most of Frisa’s competitors are located. “We have a great deal of space available in Mexico and construction costs are lower compared to other countries,” says Ramírez.
Moreover, companies such as Frisa have benefited from the education and training efforts that Mexican universities have
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Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Rolls-Royce, General Electric (GE) and Pratt & Whitney, for the outer shells of turbines and inner areas such as combustion, transmission and exhaust chambers.
Frisa is growing in a market it entered somewhat recently, after a decision taken to diversify its export loca-tions. Its products, rolled rings, contour rings and open die forgings are now supplied to the aerospace, oil, wind, en-ergy, construction, mining and general machinery markets. Oswaldo Ramírez, manager
of Frisa’s aerospace unit men-tioned that the aerospace sector accounts around 15% of the firm’s annual turnover.
“I remember that when we began operations in this new plant, our knowledge of the [aerospace] industry in Mexico was very limited,” he points out. “When we decided to venture into this industry, we knew of the tremendous chal-lenges ahead of us” he adds.
Founded in 1971, the com-pany has three plants in the state of Nuevo León: Santa Catarina, García and Superal-loys. It has the technology to cut the raw material and heat,
made specifically for the rapidly growing aerospace industry.
Frisa’s aerospace unit has some 200 employees, includ-ing engineers who work alongside customers to ana-lyze the geometries and speci-fications of the components to be developed, and structure the best processes in terms of costs and quality.
Ramírez recognizes that the aerospace industry is “de-signed to remain unchanged,” where the margins to innovate and propose new designs are somewhat reduced given the years of research that go into every prototype. It is a strict industry that demands prod-ucts that comply with previ-ously validated and approved standards.
Innovating in this industry means constantly seeking for new ways to benefit customer production processes; some-thing Frisa does only too well. This enables it to visualize an optimistic future within the aerospace sector. “The next decade will bring about a period of higher growth. What is certain is that Frisa’s potential is engineered to last at least for the next two de-cades,” concludes Ramírez. n
www.frisa.com
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38 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
hyrSA: a mexican aerospace innoVatorAs foreign investment increases in Mexico’s aerospace industry, companies with Mexican equity seek their niche to integrate and participate in the sector’s huge supply chain. This is Hyrsa’s case.
BY OMAR MAGAñA
The executives of Hyrsa American Steel Crowners & Aerospace will be part of a delegation from the Mexican aerospace industry that will visit the International Paris Air Show - Le Bourget in June 2013. Roberto Sánchez, CEO of the firm, acknowledges that the partnerships he seeks in fo-rums such as this one, will pave the way for Mexican small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to integrate and climb in a sector characterized by the strict quality and reliability of even the smallest parts.
“Several people have shown an interest in producing in Mexico and have provided us with information to begin quoting and establishing con-tacts,” he explains.
Hyrsa is located in Queré-taro, one of the Mexican states with the highest recorded development in the aerospace industry in recent years. It pro-duces 11 different parts for the rigid metallic pipes that Indu-stria de Tuberías Aeronáuticas (ITA), an affiliate of the multi-national group ITP, produces in the same state.
This Mexican capital com-pany has focused on manu-facturing assembly parts with the quality and precision finish required by ITA for titanium, steel, nickel and aluminum al-loy pipes that are subsequently integrated to fuel-feeding, refrigeration and lubrication systems in aircraft. Meanwhile, ITA supplies the raw materials to Hyrsa’s aerospace division.
Hyrsa leverages the exten-sive know-how it has devel-oped through five decades of supplying high-precision parts machined in Computer Nu-merical Control (CNC) equip-ment from polymers and met-als –stainless steel, aluminum, bronze and high-temperature alloys– to the food, automo-tive, medical and household appliance sectors.
photos courtesy of hyrsa Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
Clearly, the aviation sector has its own attributes and stan-dards, and Hyrsa has undergone a process of immersion, knowl-edge and analysis that enabled Roberto Sánchez to identify the niche where his business could fit into the industry’s wide and diverse value chain.
“I found it interesting be-cause [parts for the aerospace sector] have attributes that are very similar to what I am cur-rently producing for the food industry,” says Sánchez.
For instance, some of them use non-magnetic 300 and 400 series stainless steel that Hyrsa uses for mandates from the food industry. In addition, Sánchez discovered that in the aerospace industry, parts are delivered in limited size lots, never very large, as they are in the food sector. So, by the end of the last decade, everything pointed towards the possible penetration of the metal work-ing SMB into the aircraft revo-lution in Querétaro.
An opporTunITy noT To be MIssed“When we established in Querétaro, 35 years ago, we had no idea there would be a boom in the aerospace mar-ket,” says Sánchez.
The company began in Mexico City and kept its metal working profile after moving to Querétaro. Its involvement in the aerospace industry is much more recent; it began with the sector’s exponential growth in the state, the ar-rival of transnationals such as Safran, AE-Petsche, Eurocop-ter and Bombardier and the enthusiasm shown by local universities.
In 2007, the Tecnológico de Monterrey campus Queré-taro launched the program “Aviation for Beginners,” with the goal of giving students the foundation to learn the basics of aeronautics and the industry.
Roberto Sánchez partici-pated in the program and then began to identify windows of opportunity for his firm; fur-thermore, he met a professional who has been key in Hyrsa’s re-cent history, José Eduardo Gali-cia Trejo, an aerospace engineer who teaches at the Tecnológico de Monterrey and is currently the company’s project and engi-neering manager.
In mid-2010, Sánchez ap-proached the purchasing depart-ment of then ITR and learned more about the processes and needs of his potential custom-ers. Aircraft engine spare parts manufacturing was the first opportunity in the sector.
That was when Sánchez realized that “it’s a very long road.” However, he has now consolidated a commercial company that focuses solely on the sector’s requirements and, in a very short time, has found the need to restructure Hyrsa to climb from Tier 3, where it is a manufacturer, to become a firm with high added-value products.
“There are people who, like me, are interested in develop-ing specialized manufacturing looking for a wide added-value margin for products,” he says. He accepts that Hyrsa will have to approach state funding and look for partnerships to acceler-ate the process and reach its goal by the end of 2013.
Now, Hyrsa satisfies cus-tomers’ needs down to the last detail and manufactures assemblies with the materials, dimensions and shapes that they request. The new direction that Sánchez proposes for this small company, which has 15 em-ployees, seven of whom work in the aviation division, involves increasing the quality of its processes through AS certifica-tions, the “keys” for companies to open their doors to new sup-pliers; increasing productivity; introducing innovation with the help of engineers; and clos-
ing deals with new customers. Meanwhile, Hyrsa has been negotiating with the German group Diehl Aerosystems.
“We will start to rely on young people from the Univer-sidad Nacional Aeronáutica en Querétaro (UNAQ), because ultimately you need employees with a specific mindset of pro-ductivity and care in manufac-turing,” he explains.
On the other hand, Hyrsa still caters to the markets that have been its customer base both before and during its ven-tures into the aviation sector.
Sánchez’s strategy, then, involves reinforcing the com-pany’s expertise, updating its machinery to improve the qual-ity of its processes and getting certified; seeking out customers and partners; and committing to quality human capital. This is the roadmap for Hyrsa Aero-space today. n
www.hyrsa.mx
Hyrsa leverages the extensive know-how it has developed through five decades of supplying high-precision parts machined in Computer Numerical Control (CNC) equipment from polymers and metals –stainless steel, aluminum, bronze and high-temperature alloys– to the food, automotive, medical and household appliance sectors.
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40 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
ESPECIALISTAS En TUrBOPArTES flies onboard boeing and airbus aircraftAlmost two decades ago, this Mexican company penetrated the energy market. In 2011 it began exploring other sectors and today manufactures technology parts for international commercial aircraft.
BY ANTONIO VázqUEz
photos courtesy of especialistas en turbopartes Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
Mexico’s geographic location, infrastructure, human talent and even time zones, are help-ing it soar towards becoming a strategic leader in the aero-space industry, says Jatziri Barrios Porras, aviation Pro-gram Manager for Especialis-tas en Turbopartes, a Mexican company whose products are part of the landing gear of the Boeing 777 and 767, as well as the Boeing 737.
“There’s a great demand and exponential growth in Mexico’s aviation market due
to new commercial routes to other countries, to other emerging markets. Mexico’s location –close to the US and flexible time zone with regard to Europe– have made it a geographic reference for in-vestors,” she explains.
She adds that in addition to Mexico’s position on the global map, it is a breeding ground for talent, young engi-neering graduates from local universities, who increasingly contribute their knowledge to a relatively new market in the
country, barely more than a decade old.
“Furthermore, we have infrastructure. And the envi-ronment is also favorable; the environmental processes and issues for aerospace produc-tion in Mexico are not as difficult as in other latitudes, because the climate is not ex-treme. All this, added to our geographic location, convinces many businesspeople to invest in Mexico,” explains Barrios.
And the executive knows what she’s talking about. Espe-cialistas en Turbopartes began operations in 1991 as a turbo machinery firm in the state of Querétaro. That business divi-sion still remains and produces equipment for power genera-tion and the supply of rotors and turbines of the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) throughout the country.
Over the years, the firm has decided to invest in re-search and explore other production sectors. Company officials intended to penetrate the aerospace market and by
parts for the landing gear of the Boeing 767, a com-mercial aircraft that was exported to Canada when it was launched. According to Barrios, being part of that project meant an opportunity for the company to specialize in a particular family of land-ing gear parts.
“In 2013, we are manufac-turing the FAI and first batches for the Boeing 737, one of the highest volume projects in the aviation division, with annual volumes of 1,200 manufac-tured parts, one of the largest in the industry; and we are looking forward to be involved with the Boeing 747,” contin-ues Barrios.
The parts that Especialis-tas en Turbopartes manufac-tures –and exports mainly to Canada– are called bearing carriers. The production, in-novation and design of each part is owned by the firm, which means it is the only one in Mexico that manufactures this type of technology, mak-ing it nothing short of a craft.
The parts that Especialistas en Turbopartes manufactures –and exports mainly to Canada– are called bearing carriers. The production, innovation and design of each part is owned by the firm, which means it is the only one in Mexico that manufactures this type of technology, making it nothing short of a craft.
2008, thanks to an invitation from TechBA Montreal (a program that helps to inter-nationalize Mexican small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that bring innova-tion and quality to markets), Especialistas en Turbopartes knew it had what it needed to achieve its goal. All that re-mained was the final leap.
The company acquired every kind of tool, from finan-cial to certification (it is now AS9100 certified, the quality standard for the aerospace industry) and finally, in 2010, it opened the division.
One year later, Especial-istas en Turbopartes was al-ready manufacturing compo-nents for Goodrich Landing Gear through Noranco, two international aerospace tech-nology manufacturers.
Jatziri Barrios explains that since February 2011, the Mexican firm has continued to increase its presence in the aviation market.
Currently, Especialistas en Turbopartes manufactures
“We are delivering a vol-ume of approximately 100 pieces per part number. We are currently developing five part numbers, some 350 piec-es. Aviation handles small vol-umes when compared to the automotive sector; however, for instance, the 767 landing gear requires four pieces with delivery times of up to two months,” says Barrios.
Added to that process is the customer’s validation of the product, which can take from three to six months.
Especialistas en Turbopartes has a plant that manufactures exclusively for the aviation divi-sion with a dozen employees, and its goals are to grow in the future: it plans to have an an-nual increase of 30% by 2014.
“We have already estab-lished contact with potential customers; we want to strength-en our landing gear manufac-turing division and penetrate the area of propulsion engines,” concludes Barrios. n
especialistasenturbopartes.com.mx
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42 May 2013
| Negocios ProMéxico
May 2013
photos archive Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
EDUCATIOn: tHe key to acHieVing your pinnacle
When aerospace software engineering company Pinnacle was looking for a suitable site in Mexico, it was the high student population in Ciudad Obregón and elsewhere in the state of Sonora that convinced the firm to establish its facility there.
BY GRAEME STEWART
“Relocating the work from Asia to closer to home speaks volumes for the success of the Ciudad Obregón Center. As for the future, I can’t see us going anywhere else other than Mexico in the years to come.” —Mike Morgan, President and CEO of Pinnacle Aerospace.
For Pinnacle has an ar-rangement with the college authorities that sees the firm recruit the cream of the crop of graduating students inter-ested in an aerospace career. Indeed, Morgan states that Pinnacle chose Ciudad Ob-regón as the location for its facility: “Because of its high student population. There are 10 colleges in Sonora and we recruit from all of them. We have close links with all of the colleges and that has been a great advantage to us. The state graduates approximately 600 software engineers and Computer Science profes-sionals annually. Pinnacle has relationships with all of the state’s major universities providing us preferred access to the most talented English speaking engineers. We are well integrated within the local education community and teach courses on embed-ded systems design.” And by providing meaningful employ-ment opportunities to pre-graduate students, Pinnacle can influence the curriculum of the software degree pro-grams and further improve the depth and applicability of the talent pipeline.
“This has worked very well for us. I don’t think we have had a single regret about any recruitment. We have made very few hiring mistakes. To be hon-est, the Mexican workforce is fabulous. They are keen, highly skilled, responsible and deter-mined to show that they are as good as any counterpart in the world. I have no complaints whatsoever about our Mexican employees,” Morgan says.
What kind of work do the student recruits have to look forward to?
As the company says on its website, Pinnacle Aero-space is dedicated to being the aerospace community partner of choice for high quality, cost effective embed-ded software and product so-lutions delivered as promised. It offers top quality, and low cost, near-shore engineering solutions using experienced employees from its primary design center in Ciudad Ob-regón. Its motto is simple: “Deliver high value solutions using low cost, near-shore resources.”
According to Morgan, recruits will help to deliver high value solutions using low cost, near-shore resourc-es and, more specifically, will help develop project plans that fit a company’s needs and budget.
They will be working on development plans required by the client including software as-pects of certification, software development, software verifica-tion and a Software Quality Assurance Plan (SQAP).
Morgan adds: “We pride ourselves on systems design and requirements develop-ment as we have extensive knowledge in navigation and flight management systems, flight controls, displays, air-craft maintenance systems and data link systems and a background in avionics integration and aircraft simu-lation. We also have great experience in most major system development and requirements and manage-ment tools including DOORs (Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements Management) and Matlab (Matrix Labora-tory). Pinnacle can also help organize existing require-
ments into a database, write new ones and analyze system requirements for complete-ness and testability.”
Morgan says Pinnacle is well aware of the documenta-tion requirements of safety critical applications, which is why it helps its clients devel-op the required design docu-ments including Software Requirements Document (SRD) and Software Design Description (SDD). “Pinnacle understands the requirements for certification of projects and can assist with compli-ance to the required national and international standards,” he assures.
Pinnacle’s care in these matters has paid off as the success of its Primary Design Center at Ciudad Obregón has managed to recall work originally sent to India and China and relocate it to North America.
Morgan enthuses: “Re-locating the work from Asia to closer to home speaks volumes for the success of the Ciudad Obregón Center. As for the future, I can’t see us going anywhere else other than Mexico in the years to come. We have integrated into the Ciudad Obregón community, our workforce is outstanding and we are only a two hour flight away from Phoenix, we have fantastic cooperation with the national and state governments and we couldn’t be more pleased with how everything has gone in this city.”
That’s certainly good news both for Pinnacle and for Mexican students from the state of Sonora. n
www.pinnacleaerospace.com
Education, education, educa-tion is the popular mantra. And it is precisely this form of learning that has led to the success in Mexico of a US company specializing in embedded software product solutions for the aerospace industry.
Pinnacle Aerospace, head-quartered in Phoenix, Arizo-na, set up its primary design center in Ciudad Obregón in
the northern state of Sonora in 2009. Today it employs 38 people and, in the words of company President and CEO, Mike Morgan, it is in Mexico for the long run, thanks to national and local govern-ment assistance, a “fabulous” workforce, the country’s close proximity to the US and its special relationship with universities and colleges in Sonora.
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| Negocios ProMéxico
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photos courtesy of 03b Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
03B: connecting Half tHe World to cyberspace
O3b, a satellite broadband system, will launch operations from Mexico to the rest of Latin America in 2014. O3b will also have offices in Brazil and Colombia and will bring high speed Internet connectivity to parts of Latin America that have never been connected before. The company estimates up to 4 million usd in sales in Mexico and Central America during its first year of activities.
BY ANTONIO VázqUEz
O3b is the story of how a simple idea turned into a suc-cessful company that not only generates profit, but is set to bring Internet access to 3 bil-lion people -almost half the world’s population.
In 2007, during one of his many trips around the world, Greg Wyler wondered why he could not access the Internet from wherever he was, even with all the mobile technology at his disposal.
From that thought, the visionary set out to create a system to enable anyone in the world to chat, visit a blog or write on Facebook, re-gardless of the geographical conditions.
Thus O3b (Other 3 Bil-lion) was born, a satellite services provider that is cur-rently weaving a network of next generation satellites for telecommunications opera-tors, Internet providers, busi-
ness customers and govern-ments in emerging markets.
O3b’s system will allow billions of users from more than 180 countries to benefit from the high speed and low costs of Internet on mobile devices.
“We really aren’t invent-ing the wheel; we are simply taking a satellite orbit and being creative with its use. We
it can operate in the rest of Latin America, due to the country’s significant influ-ence on other countries in the Americas.
O3b underwent a full con-ception and creation process for the service it will offer globally, with close to 1.3 bil-lion usd in funding obtained from a successful campaign between 2009 and 2010.
and interactive games almost five times faster.
With a fleet of eight new-generation middle orbit satel-lites that will circle the Earth four times a day starting in June 2013 and will be located some 8,000 kilometers above the planet, O3b will offer a faster connection than traditional sat-ellites, which are at an altitude of over 35,000 kilometers.
satellite communications with high capacity and com-petitive costs,” says Morales.
However, he explains that O3b’s goal is not to displace companies that offer optic fiber Internet. “We do not intend to have terminals in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey; our target mar-kets are those with com-munication needs, where companies cannot install 50 kilometers of optic fiber be-cause they are in the middle of the jungle or due to other geographical conditions,” he says.
So, starting in November 2013, O3b will offer com-mercial services with a global coverage 45 degrees north and south of the Equator. For Latin America, that means satellite Internet services prac-tically from the central US to Patagonia, in Argentina.
To date, O3b has custom-ers in Brazil, Colombia, Guy-ana and the Caribbean, and has approached the govern-ments of Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia and others, to bring its technology across these countries’ territories.
Morales reveals that O3b’s first operational cus-tomer is from the Cook Islands, a small archipelago located in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and New Zealand.
He adds that O3b’s first generation of eight satellites will be joined by a second generation of four additional satellites in 2014. The idea, he says, is for the company to have up to 120 satellites operating in the future.
“This is new technol-ogy, so we are going through something that resembles evangelism, but once custom-ers get to know our product, they will never stop asking for it,” concludes Morales. n
www.o3bnetworks.com
will give coverage to areas of the planet that are not con-nected, from satellites that are traveling around the Earth,” explains Mauricio Iván Mo-rales, sales director of O3b for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
He adds: “There are hundreds of cities in Latin America that lack Internet access and what we are doing is contributing to closing the digital gap.”
Morales explains that the firm has decided to open of-fices in Mexico, from where
SES, Google, Liberty Global, HSBC Principal In-vestments, Northbridge Ven-ture Partners, Allen & Com-pany, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina, Satya Capital and Luxempart, are the investors that contributed with their equity to material-ize Wyler’s idea.
What differentiates O3b from other satellite Internet suppliers? Mauricio Morales explains that the company he represents has decided to place its satellites at a lower orbit, making web page loads
The firm –the first in Lat-in America to provide true satellite broadband connec-tion– will enable connection speeds that range from 10 megabytes per second (Mbps) to 1 gigabyte per second (Gbps).
“Due to the way we han-dle our technology, our total operating costs are lower than the rest of regular satel-lite technologies. We offer prices that are much lower than what operators pay with traditional satellite technol-ogy. We provide high-quality
photos courtesy of hughes network systems
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MExICO WOrkInG hAnD in Hand WitH HugHesA world-leading US broadband satellite network and service provider has developed a special relationship with various Mexican government agencies over the years to mutual benefit.
BY GRAEME STEWART
Ask any company and they will tell you that government contracts are much sought after and cherished because of their “locked in” guarantee of financial security. Of course, it is a two-way street and coun-tries benefit from the expertise of the favored corporation.
One US firm with a pres-ence in Mexico City that has had many years of experience with government contracts in Mexico is Hughes Network Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Cor-
poration, and a world-leading broadband satellite network and service provider. Hughes is working hand-in-hand with the Mexican government to deliver a 24 million-usd new networks program to connect schools, hospitals, govern-ment locations, community centers and public calling offices in the country’s 32 federal entities.
Headquartered in Mary-land, Hughes was chosen last year through a bidding selec-tion process that included ma- gram, in 2012, Mónica Aspe
Bernal, coordinator of the Knowledge and Information Agency of the Mexican Min-istry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) said: “Hughes has been providing products and services to SCT for 25 years and has proven it is a reliable supplier to the Mexican government. On a project of this scope and importance, an open public competitive bidding process is mandatory. Other major broadband satellite equip-ment providers participated in the bid and Hughes’ pro-posal came out on top.”
Hughes supplies every component of the network, from its advanced HN Sys-tem Network Operations Center and 11,000 broad-band terminals to the fiber optic/Internet interconnection equipment, data compres-sion/optimization technology, IP phones and wireless ac-cess systems to serve remote locations. Almost 1,100 solar power systems have been
jor international and Mexican broadband satellite equip-ment providers. The Mexican network is operated by Tele-comunicaciones de México (Telecomm Telégrafos), a de-centralized government office in charge of telecommunica-tions in the country.
Hughes was also selected by Boeing, the world’s larg-est defense, space and secu-rity business, to provide the Ground Communications Net-work for the MEXSAT Satellite Based Network to offer secure communications for Mexico’s national security needs, as well as enhanced coverage for the country’s civil telecommunica-tions. Both projects are well under way, providing Internet access to previously unattended regions throughout Mexico and contributing to the nation’s security.
Speaking at the launch of the nationwide network pro- supplied to support equip-
ment off the power grid. “We are proud that
Hughes was the winner of this important tender for this significant opportunity,” says Nick Marzella, Hughes Vice President for Latin America. “As we’ve done in the past, we will strive to retain SCT’s trust and confidence in our ability to create one of the world’s largest broadband networks in such a short time window –with enormous potential in social and eco-nomic value.”
Hughes is well under way providing services to the MEXSAT project and is sup-plying system design and de-velopment engineering, fab-rication, and development of gateways, factory integration, and test of all subsystems, as well as site installation and final delivery into service.
On the MEXSAT project, Marzella says: “Hughes is also enormously proud to have been selected by Boeing to develop this essential sys-
tem and core technologies for the MEXSAT program. Our experience developing mobile satellite systems and termi-nals for operators around the world has uniquely qualified us for this project and we’re employing our well-proven GMR1-3G satellite air in-terface in the design. That technology will be embedded in a range of reference user terminals we will deliver for maritime, aeronautical and
Mexico’s Partner Mexico’s Partner
Hughes Network Systems is working hand in hand with the Mexican government to deliver a 24 million-usd new networks program to connect schools, hospitals, government locations, community centers and public calling offices in the country’s 32 federal entities.
high-speed vehicular applica-tions, including tracking.”
The government of Mex-ico awarded the contract to Boeing to deliver the end-to-end satellite communications system, which will consist of three satellites, two gateway sites, associated network operations systems, and ref-erence user terminals.
Marzella, who is happy to call Mexico his second home, speaks with great satisfaction about Hughes’ Sales and Operations office in Mexico City.
“It started out primarily as a sales office 20 years ago and in the last 10 years we have done a lot of business in Mexico with Telmex and the Mexican government, particularly the SCT. Mexico has been good for us. It is the second largest market in Latin America and is a key market for the company. We thought it was important for us to have a local office in Mexico City because clients like to be addressed in their native language,” he says.
“As for the future, we are looking forward to further expansion in Mexico and continuing to work with the Mexican government,” Mar-zella concludes. n
www.hughes.com
infographic oldemarNegocios ProMéxico |
4 May 2013
Figures
MORE PLAYERSON THE FIELDAerospace companiesoperating in Mexico*
*Source: FEMIA **Updated to May
MEXICO IS GAINING
ALTITUDEMexico’s aerospace industry has recorded almost 20% annual growth in the last seven years.
Currently, there are 270 companies and support entities in the country, most of which are NADCAP and AS9100 certified.
They are located mainly in six states and employ more than 31,000 high level professionals.
By 2012, exports fromthe Mexican aerospaceindustry reached a valueof 5.040 billion .
(Ministry of Economy -SE-, General Directorate of Heavy and High-Technology Industries -DGIPAT-, 2011)
Foreign and national investment in the sector exceeded 1 billion in 2010 and 3 billion in the last three years.
(Strategic Program for the Aerospace Industry 2010-2020, SE; Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry -FEMIA-)
According to estimates from the Strategic Program for the Aerospace Industry 2010-2020, coordinated by the Ministry of Economy (SE), the industry is expected to export 12.26 billion dollars in 2020, with a 14% average annual growth rate.
Mexico is the 6th largest supplier of aeronautical products to the US.
(US Department of Commerce; US Census Bureau, 2012)
Mexico hasthe 4th largest private jet fleet in the world.
(AviationWeek, 2013)
Every two minutes, a plane with Mexican technology takes off. (ProMéxico, 2012)
61
2006
120
2008 2010
232
2012
249270
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
5,040
1,2671,343
1,306
1,6842,042
2,728
3,082
2,522
3,266
4,377
MEXICO’SAEROSPACEINDUSTRYEXPORTS*Million USD
2013**
General Electric the world’s leading producer of aircraft engines, has itslargest Center for Research and Design outside the US in Querétaro, Mexico.
The Lifestyle
The CompleTe Guide To The mexiCan Way of life
The Lifestyle Briefs
Underneath the PitayaThorny Exterior, a Nutritious Interior
Mexican Architects without Borders
Two Silver Droplets Impossible to Tell Apart
DDIActing Out Design Fantasies
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Five essential exeMplars oF
Mexican Folk art
no collection of mexican folk art can claim to be complete without having at least a few samples of black clay figurines, Talavera pottery, silk rebozos, huichol tapestries and silver jewelry.
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The Lifestyle Briefs
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DESIGN
LIfE-chaNGING DESIGN
This year, the watchword of Mexico’s prestigious Quórum Año Uno design awards was “Connect-ing”. For the second year running, dozens of de-signers specializing in graphic, industrial, fashion and digital design, as well as animation and illus-tration, competed with professionals from other fields –education, culture, economy, quality of life, government and social responsibility– that have used design to improve the living conditions of Mexicans.
Founded in 1992, the purpose of Quórum is to single out talent, acknowledge best practices and promote the six main branches of design on a pro-fessional level.
Winning projects will be announced on Sep-tember 30, 2013, at an award ceremony at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts. Complementary activi-ties will include the publication of a commemora-tive book, an exhibition at the Franz Mayer Muse-um and round tables to promote the strategic goals of Quórum, in accordance with the opportunities available in Mexico and the country’s needs.
www.quorum.org.mx
cINEMa
Three Mexican Films at Cannes
aRchITEcTURE
BASF, Voted One of the Best Buildings on the Planet
Who said going to work was a drag? Not if you work at BASF. Fresh, authentic and environ-mentally friendly is how the jury of Italy’s A’ Design Award described this corporate build-ing, designed by the Mexican architecture studio Space.
The firm’s founding part-ner, Juan Carlos Baumgartner, traveled to Lake Como in the Lombardy region of Italy to receive the award on April 15, 2013.
A’ Design Award is an in-ternational competition that recognizes the best of interna-tional architecture and design in 80 categories ranging from furniture and sports equipment to lighting and the design of government buildings. Projects are evaluated by a panel of aca-
demics, professionals and focus group members.
The BASF edifice competed in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category, where it received a Golden A –an honor bestowed on only 3% of participating projects.
Standing on Insurgentes Av-enue, one of Mexico City’s main thoroughfares, the BASF build-ing boasts 5,000 square meters of private and open-plan office spaces spread over a ground floor and six levels. The struc-ture’s lighting is designed to save energy, while the principles of sustainability are evident throughout, right down to the basement, which features a bi-cycle rack and showers.
The good news is that Space has other sustainable projects
in the pipeline and that BASF will soon be leasing out some of its private cubicles.
www.adesignaward.com
www.spacemex.com
A total of three Mexican films will be participat-ing this year at Cannes, one of the world’s most respected film festivals.
Amat Escalante’s Heli will be competing with 18 other films by directors of the stature of Roman Polanski, the Cohen brothers and Steven Soder-bergh for the coveted Palme d’Or, the top prize awarded to the director of the best feature film.
In 2005, Escalante won the Critic’s Award in the Un Certain Regard category of Cannes for his film Sangre. This year, La jaula de oro by Mexico’s Diego Quemada-Díez will be screened in the same section.
Contrafábula de una niña disecada by Ale-jandro Iglesias Mendizábal will also be travel-ing to France this year under the auspices of the CinéFondation program. The director’s thesis project is one of 14 fictional and four animated films selected from 1,550 entries submitted by 277 film schools worldwide.
www.festival-cannes.fr
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mexican director amat escalante will be competing for the palm d’or.
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Underneath the PitayaThorny Exterior, a Nutritious Interior
Bittersweet to the palate, there’s nothing equivocal about the health benefits of this exotic fruit. And spring is the season when it comes into its own.
The pitaya grows in Vietnam, Colombia and the Caribbean. The Japanese eat it too. But it is in Mexico where this color-ful exotic fruit takes on the subtle flavors of the land and has a loyal following.
Rich in fiber, antioxidants and vitamin C, pitaya can be eaten fresh or can sometimes be found in punch, pastries and infusions. It is also used to make jellies and juices.
Unlike its cactus-fruit cousin, the prickly pear, which has 50% fiber content, pitaya are 90% pulp. It has small seeds and a thin skin and takes from 55 to 60 days to mature. Once picked, it lasts five days at most, or up to 12 if refrigerated.
In April, May and June, trucks laden down with pita-ya fill the district of Nueve Esquinas in Guadalajara, turning its colonial streets into an explosion of color. On the sidewalks, large baskets called chiquihuites brim with between 200 and 300 pitaya of all shapes and sizes.
Originally from Techaluta, Amacueca, Zacoalco and Sa-yula in Southern Jalisco, and arid parts of Oaxaca and Pueb-la in Central Mexico, the word pitaya is of Caribbean origin and means “thorny fruit”. The Spaniards documented it and brought it to Mexico during the Conquest, although there is evidence to suggest it has al-ways grown here. Legend has it the Aztec emperors ate fresh
The pitaya in eighT biTes:
J Average weight: 100 - 120 grams.J Fruit maturity period: 55 - 60 days.J Picking season: April, May and June.J Pitahaya is a Caribbean word meaning “thorny fruit”.J Grown commercially on a small scale.J Easily identifiable by its distinctive red, purple or
white skin.J Produced in the Central Mexican states of Hidalgo,
Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, Oaxaca and Jalisco.J Major producer states: Oaxaca, Puebla and Jalisco.
A super FruiT
Pitaya and xoconostle can help people with Diabe-tes mellitus control their blood sugar levels.
Since 1998, Miguel Án-gel Armella, an academic at the Department of Biol-ogy at the Iztapalapa cam-pus of the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), has been research-ing dragon fruit, sweet xoconostle and jiotilla.
by ignacio pérez vega
“All three are cactus fruit varieties and share similar properties. In the case of dragon fruit, we have found that it absorbs glucose de-rivatives. It doesn’t reduce glucose levels per se but it does prevent it entering the blood stream. That is because it adheres to the films of glu-cose in the digestive tract, making it harder for the hu-man body to absorb them. So even though dragon fruit doesn’t contain any molecule
or element that directly reacts with glucose, it does have a positive effect,” says Armella.
The red color of dragon fruit and jiotilla is due to the presence of betalains, a powerful class of antioxi-dants that are beneficial to the human organism.
All three fruits have as much vitamin C as citrus fruit, which also makes them useful allies in ward-ing off respiratory diseases.
pitaya, ferried to Teotihuacán from Puebla and Western Mexico by messengers who made the 500-kilometer jour-ney on foot.
There are many types of cactus plants that produce pitayas, some 19 edible spe-cies in all, according to the Internet site dragonfruitpi-taya.org.
“I never dreamed that the world of fruits could produce something as wonderful as the dragon fruit. Its pulp has the color and appearance of rolled up rose petals and its juicy flesh tastes of a passionate lover’s kiss. Never before had I held in my hands a piece of red earth,” said French poet André Breton on tasting a Mexican pitaya for the first time.
Unfortunately, this tasty exotic fruit isn’t keen on trav-eling. To taste it, you’ll have to visit Mexico, where it can be found chiefly in major cit-ies like Mexico City, Guadala-jara and Puebla.
However, cactus experts like Eulogio Pimienta Bar-rios and Pedro Puente Ovalle, who work as researchers at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), believe the pitaya can broaden its horizons, provid-ed it is kept refrigerated. N
photos archive
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MExIcaN aRchITEcTS wIThoUT BoRDERS
Stadiums, gardens, office blocks, presidential residences; many of the buildings designed by Mexicans have broken ground in the history of architecture, setting the bar for those
to come in their wake.Barragán, Ramírez, González de León, Legorreta, Norten and Kalach are just a few of the
great architects Mexico has produced and whose creations have been shaping the face of our world since the 20th century, with creativity and a keen eye for space, materials and forms that
harmonize with the natural environment.
by antonio vázquez
PEdro ramírEz VázquEz, chronicler
The architecture of Pedro Ramírez Vázquez (Mexico City, 1919-2013) is nothing short of a chronicle of late 20th century Mexico.
Chairman of the organizing committee for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, and Secretary of State during the administration of President José López Portillo, Ramírez Vázquez’ works recount each phase in the country’s transition to modernity.
The Modern Art Museum (MAM), the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA), the Azteca Stadium, the Basilica of Guada-
lupe, the San Lázaro legislative building, the Templo Mayor Mu-seum and the markets of Tepito, Coyoacán and La Lagunilla are just some of the landmarks this architect bequeathed Mexico City and that form part of the daily lives of the thousands who work and play in them.
Overseas, Pedro Ramírez left his mark on buildings like the headquarters of the International Olympics Committee in Switzer-land, the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the Presidential Palace of Costa Rica and the Museum of Black Civilizations in Senegal.
LuIs BarragáN, Geometrician
Thick walls, bright colors, contrasting textures, peepholes, gardens and water are all recurring elements in the works of Luis Barragán (Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1902-1988), the only Mexican to have won the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most sought-after accolade.
Barragán’s vision meshed in the 1920s during a trip to France, Spain and Italy. The Mediterranean land-scapes he encountered on his travels were to have a lasting influence on his architectural style.
In 1947, he designed and built his own residence in the Tacubaya dis-trict of Mexico City and in 2004, the house –Casa Barragán– was declared a World Heritage Site, the only private residence in Latin America to make it on to the prestigious list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Anyone who claims to be interested in architecture simply must visit Casa Barragán. The building –a mixture of color balanced out with sobriety and geometrical volumes– houses what was once the architect’s studio, library, liv-ing quarters, terraces and gardens.
Among Barragán’s countless con-tributions to Mexico’s cityscape are the residential district of Jardines del Pedregal de San Ángel, the restora-tion of the Capuchin Convent and the monumental Torres Satélite sculpture in Mexico City.
The Architecture of Luis Barragán, an exhibition shown at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1976, consolidated the architect as an international name. That same year, he was awarded the National Prize for Sciences and the Arts in his native Mexico.
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TEodoro goNzáLEz dE LEóN, modernist Modern, abstract and majestic are the adjectives that best describe the architecture of Teodoro González de León (Mexico City, 1926).
Some of his better known works include the National Auditorium, the Colegio de México (COLMEX), the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City and the buildings that house the Mexican embassies in Germany and Guatemala.
A graduate of the National School of Ar-chitecture at the National Autonomous Univer-sity of Mexico (UNAM), González de León was awarded a scholarship by the French government to work for over a year as a resident at the Unité d’Habitation in Marseille.
Back in Mexico, he worked closely with famed architect Abraham Zabludowsky, who had a hand in most of his projects for decades.
Aside from his modernist, abstract aesthetic, the distinguishing features of González de León’s works are their colossal size and the repeated use of concrete carved into minimalist blocks that al-lude, perhaps unwittingly, to the huge pre-Colum-bian sculptures uncovered at archaeological sites throughout Mexico like Teotihuacán.
rICardo LEgorrETa, BiG thinker
Ricardo Legorreta (Mexico City, 1931-2011) garnered in-ternational fame for his strik-ing use of color, texture and light, combined with a gift for balancing spaces in terms of proportion and designing on a monumental scale.
A student at the Architec-ture Faculty of the UNAM, for almost half a century Legor-reta dominated the architec-ture scene in Mexico, where he built several hotels for the Camino Real chain in Mexico City, Cancun and Ixtapa, the Televisa offices and the Pa-palote Children’s Museum, both in Mexico City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO) in Monterrey. He also renovated Chapultepec Zoo and restored what was once the Palace of Iturbide in Mexico City’s historic center.
Legorreta’s legacy lives on today beyond Mexico’s bor-ders in buildings like the San Antonio Public Library in Tex-as, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua, the Discovery Museum in Califor-nia and the Sheraton Hotel in Bilbao, Spain.
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ENrIquE NorTEN, perFectionist
“After Luis Barragán, Enrique Norten,” New York gallery owner and architecture expert Max Protech has been quoted as saying on more than one occasion.
In the mid 1980s, Norten (Mexico City, 1954), who had just turned 30, founded TEN, a firm that is now synonymous with excellence in architecture’s upper echelons.
The National Theater School, the National Arts Center (CNA) and the refurbishing of the Condesa district in Mexico City all form part of his impressive portfolio.
Norten is an architect who knows no bound-aries, as evidenced by buildings like the Brooklyn Public Library for the Visual and Performing Arts in New York.
These and other similar works have earned him recognition from prestigious organizations such as the Society of American Registered Ar-chitects (SARA) and the Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York.
Enrique Norten holds the Miller Chair at the University of Pennsylvania, the O’Neil Ford Chair in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and the Lorch Professor of Architecture Chair at the University of Michigan.
aLBErTo KaLaCh, proBlem solver
Alberto Kalach (Mexico City, 1960) defines ar-chitecture as a discipline that helps solve spatial and construction problems.
True to his own definition, he has focused his talent on lighting and ventilation projects, with floor plans that make the best possible use of available space, while achieving a sense of har-mony with the natural environment.
Town planning is Kalach’s specialty and one of the pet projects of his Mexico: Ciudad Futura collective is Ciudad Lacustre, which aims to re-plenish the lakes and canals that once surrounded Tenochtitlán, seat of the Aztec Empire, where Mexico City was founded five centuries ago.
Kalach designed the José Vasconcelos Public Library, the New Natural History Museum and the kurimanzutto Gallery in Mexico City and the Juan José Arreola Library at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG).
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Two SILvER DRopLETS IMpoSSIBLE To TELL apaRT Like mirror images of each other when they dive from the 10 meter platform, these Olympic medalists have their sights set on Rio 2016.
What were you doing when you were 18? Iván Alejandro García Navarro and Germán Saúl Sánchez Sánchez will tell you that their passage from pu-berty to adulthood was spent 10 meters above the ground, doing what they do best. These Mexican divers will also tell you that their dedication and passion for the sport won them the Olympic medals they’d dreamed of as boys.
“Nothing is impossible. It doesn’t cost anything to dream”. These phrases may sound like clichés but they are the mantra that has got Iván and Germán this far.
After winning a silver Med-al at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the synchronized
by patricia peña
which is giving him trouble, while Germán underwent sur-gery in late 2012 to correct a right shoulder injury.
But any doubts as to their comeback were dissipated at the Diving World Series, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, on April 19–20, a mere step-ping stone on a journey with stopovers at the Guadalajara leg of the World Series this May, the 2014 Central Ameri-can Games in Veracruz, the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto and the World Swimming Championships, hopefully ending at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
“The medals don’t imply a sacrifice because we love what we do and train with dedica-tion,” says Iván, who admits that “all athletes dream of
Olympic gold”. In his case, it’s a dream that could soon become reality.
Germán is in synch with his partner’s winning mentali-ty. He’s learned to listen to his body so he doesn’t get injured again. Although sometimes his mind is so focused on competing that he blocks out the pain. He is determined to stand on that Olympic podi-um with a gold medal around his neck. “We can win. It’s just a matter of putting in the work and the time. I’m going to look after myself so I make it to the next Olympic cycle,” he says categorically, confirm-ing that Mexico is well on its way to becoming a sporting power, thanks to the determi-nation of young athletes like Iván and Germán. N
Winning an Olympic
medal brought Iván
and Germán money,
fame, less time
and a mandatory
break of almost two
months to wrap
their heads around
their achievement.
photos courtesy of consejo nacional del deporte
diving 10 meter platform event, they could easily have retired from the sport, gracefully and with no regrets. But they have that headstrongness that comes with youth, while their aspira-tions keep them on their toes, dreaming of Olympic gold, a World Series medal and seeing their names inscribed in the an-nals of Mexican history as the best divers of all times.
diFFerent, But the same Germán Sánchez is 20. Born in the city of Guadalajara in West Mexico, he loves wrestling and sees himself traveling the world, executing extreme dives for a series organized by an en-ergy drink brand. He wants to live in the country in a regular house; his only requirement is that it has a pool.
Mexico at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Their goal is to emulate two drops of water falling from the platform as if they were mir-ror images of one another. A 10 meter mirror that reflects a sequence of triple twists and somersaults that have earned them record scores and medals at the Pan-American Games, the Diving World Cup and the Olympic Games.
precision coachinG Coach Iván Bautista has played a key role in the fine tuning of the piece of precision appara-tus Iván and Germán have be-come. He has also helped his Siamese diving twins overcome professional envy.
Although he joined the team several years later, Germán Sán-chez worked hard to catch up with the rest of its members to the point where he surpassed them and went on to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing when he was just 15.
In China, he made it past the first round and into the semifinals, coming in 17th place in the Water Cube. One year later, in 2009, he would be executing his first synchronized dives with Iván García.
On the springboard to suc-cess, Iván García had to con-front his own fears. One of these consisted of ironing out a bad habit he had acquired –a painful one that frequently caused him to land on his back in the water. “El Pollo” might have retired had his coach not come to the rescue. “We stuck sheets of fluorescent cardboard on each platform. The idea was that, with each twist, the col-ored card would help Iván get his bearings. And that’s how we eliminated the problem,” recalls Bautista.
The trick worked and “El Pollo” not only perfected his take offs and entries but also
Iván García, aka “El Pollo” is also a native of Guadalaja-ra and has just turned 19. He wants to get married, have a family, drive a flashy sports car and work in public relations.
Out of their swimming trunks –Germán in sweatpants and Iván in designer brands, as per usual– they seem at odds, worlds apart even. Yet the min-ute they open their mouths the gap narrows, only to disappear completely when they start tell-ing anecdotes. Maybe it’s be-cause they’ve spent half of their short lives together, training for up to 10 hours a day, juggling their free time between the gym and the sports doctor.
Excellent divers as indi-viduals, as partners they are so incredibly in synch that they were chosen to represent
his precision improved so much that a year later he represented Mexico at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, where he won a bronze medal. It was that accolade that motivated him to start out on a path that culminated in victory at Lon-don in 2012.
like ducks to Water Winning an Olympic medal brought Iván and Germán money, fame, less time and a mandatory break of almost two months to wrap their heads around their achieve-ment. It was only when they came back down to earth that they began suffering the consequences of injuries that called their return into ques-tion. Doctors are keeping a close eye on Iván’s left ankle,
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DDI, acTING oUT DESIGN faNTaSIES
Despacho de Diseño Integral (DDI) has left its signature on everything from museums and offices to living rooms
with concepts that fuse form and function.
by sandra roblágui
Offices you actually want to work in. Multi-functional furniture that doesn’t skimp on com-fort or style. Spaces that adapt to the needs of its users. Interior landscapes. Form and function. This is how the Mexico City-based design stu-dio Despacho de Diseño Integral (DDI) defines its concepts and products.
Marcela Compeán, who specializes in the design of spaces and products, heads a three-man team of Mexicans who spend their days wrapping their heads around design conun-drums. A graduate of the Créapole design school in Paris, France, Compeán founded DDI in 2010 at the tender age of 30. Initially, the idea was to develop contem-porary design projects, but in 2013 she decided it was time to rethink the nature, identity and image of her studio. To-day, DDI is a company that takes a more comprehensive approach to design, integrating related disciplines like ar-chitecture and graphic design with a view to offering the customer a wider range of indus-trial, furniture and interior design services.
Designing objects and interiors isn’t a ques-tion of good taste, says Compeán. “DDI works closely with its customers to come up with cus-tomized concepts that reflect their personality
DDI has only been
around for three
years, but in this short
time it has developed
commercial projects for
customers as diverse
as the José Cuervo,
Masisa, Glocal Design
Magazine, Grupo
Bimbo, Iusa, Grupo
Editorial Expansión,
Compusoluciones,
Bulgari, the Cineteca
Nacional and the
Estrella Roja bus
company.
and calls on several disciplines as part of an in-tegral design process based on observation, re-search and experimentation.”
Together with industrial designers Raúl López de la Cerda and Oscar Miranda, Com-
peán attacks each design challenge with a bat-tery of methodologies and creative processes, although the overriding goal is always to meet the customer’s expectations.
To achieve this, the firm teams up with graph-ic designers and architects to seek out innovative solutions for its custom-ers. Or sometimes DDI is invited on board the proj-ects of firms working in these fields.
DDI has only been around for three years, but in this short time it has developed commer-cial projects for custom-ers as diverse as the José Cuervo tequila brand, Masisa, which manu-
factures and sells particleboard, Glocal Design Magazine, Grupo Bimbo, Iusa, which manufac-tures electrical and plumbing products, Grupo Editorial Expansión, Compusoluciones, the Bulgari luxury goods company, the Cineteca Nacional, home to the country’s film archives, and the Estrella Roja bus company, as well as coming up with interior design solutions for residential projects.
“Each design project represents a new chal-lenge, because each seeks to meet different needs. This enriches the projects we undertake, confer-ring each a sense of individuality,” says Compeán.
In the case of the Cineteca Nacional Siglo XXI –guardian of the country’s celluloid his-tory–, DDI joined forces with Taller de Arqui-tectura Rocha + Carrillo, the firm commis-sioned to renovate the original space. Based on the architects’ core concept, DDI designed fur-niture for the video library, the store, the toy library and the museum reception area. Each space demanded specific ideas. “For example, the digital video library has booths measur-ing 2 x 2.5 meters that can accommodate two or three users. We made them out of tough, visually appealing birch triply, while the chal-lenge at the toy library was to design durable, ergonomic furniture for the hundreds of kids who play there.”
The renovation of a young director’s of-fice in the Lomas Altas district of Mexico City called for a different set of tools. Here, the
central feature is a ribbed, laser-cut steel book-case that transforms into a desk and a meet-ing table, teamed with shelves and white oak modules. The decoration was complemented with pieces by Herman Miller, Pirwi, the DDI collection and one-of-a-kind vintage objects.
For Cuervo, the mission was to design stands to display the company’s tequilas at high-end department stores. DDI opted for simple, but highly original displays made out of laser-cut birch triply.
“One of the hardest challenges we face is transforming ideas into quality concepts. Ex-ecution is always a complicated process that requires the same attention to detail as the design itself, considering that an economical product must meet very high aesthetic stan-dards,” says Compeán.
DDI has ambitious plans for 2013, includ-ing the launch of its own line of furniture and interior design products, chiefly ceramic pottery.
Given the studio’s flight path so far, it’ll be a launch not to be missed! N
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fIvE ESSENTIaL ExEMpLaRS of MExIcaN foLk aRT
1. BLack cLay, Modern Art Molded by the Hands of Tradition
visit:
Alfarería Doña Rosa
Calle Benito Juárez 24
San Bartolo Coyotepec,
Oaxaca
No collection of Mexican folk art can claim to be complete without having at least a few samples of black clay figurines, Talavera pottery, silk rebozos, Huichol tapestries and silver jewelry.
Crafted from materials found often only in Mexico, these works of art epitomize the union of fire and earth, needle and thread, simplicity and the baroque in the skilled hands of artisans who carry on ancestral traditions.
by antonio vázquez
In Náhuatl, the language of the Aztecs, Coyotepec means “coy-ote mountain”. But this town, 10 kilometers south of the capital of Oaxaca, is famous for more than its coyotes –it produces a type of black clay that has been used since Pre-Columbian times to make pitchers, pots, whistles, flutes and figurines.
What makes this black clay so special is that it can only be found in Coyotepec and its en-virons, making this a mandatory point of call for visitors to Oax-aca, especially those in search of collector’s pieces.
Creating a piece of black clay pottery is a painstaking
process that takes more than 10 days. The sculpted artifact is left to dry in the sun for four days, then sanded and left in the sun for another two days. Next it is polished and set in the sun for four more days before being fired. The next day, the piece is washed and dried and ready to be dis-played.
In the mid-20th century, a woman by the name of Rosa developed the processes that lend black clay pottery its different tones. Today, Rosa’s pottery in Coyotepec is syn-onymous with this particular genre of Mexican folk art.
2. Talavera poTTERy, An AppellAtion of origin
Talavera pottery can take the form of anything from a simple pitcher to a tile on a church wall.
The designs have been up-dated and more modern pro-cesses have allowed for the in-corporation of a wider variety of colors –typically blue, white, yellow, orange, green, black and purple– but essentially the technique used to make Tala-vera has remained unchanged for five centuries.
Since the late 1990s, when the Mexican government granted Talavera an Appel-lation of Origin to protect it from foreign imitations, only pieces made in the city of Pueb-la, specifically Atlixco, Cholula and Tecali de Herrera, are con-sidered authentic.
One of the most famous potteries is Talavera de la Rey-na, where the pieces are hand-crafted and painted by artisans.
visit:
Talavera Museum
Talavera de la Reyna Exhibition Hall
Lateral Sur Recta a Cholula 3510
Cholula, Puebla
www.talaveradelareyna.com.mx
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3. ThE rebozo, Color Woven into fAbriC
Worn as a shawl, dress or top, the rebozo is a long strip of silk fabric that adds a touch of so-phistication to every outfit and that can be used on virtually any occasion.
In the late 16th century, during the Colonial period, the rebozo was popular among women of all social classes. Aristocratic women would wear it at home or to cover their heads before entering church, while the lower classes would use it as a shawl, a baby sling or shroud.
visit:
The Rebozo School
Jardín Hidalgo 5
Santa María del Río, San Luis Potosí
www.elrebozo.gob.mx
Woven out of silk produced by Franciscan monks, Santa María del Río, a town in the northwest state of San Luis Po-tosí, became famous for its re-bozos in 1764.
There are many myths sur-rounding the rebozo. For exam-ple, the women of Santa María del Río are said to have dipped the tip of theirs in a fountain when remembering their suitors.
Santa María del Río has an atelier school where one can see how a rebozo is made, a pro-cess that can take up to 60 days from beginning to end. Such is the work that goes into this garment that people might feel inclined to hang it on the wall instead of wearing it.
The Huichol are one of the few indigenous groups that successfully outlived the Conquest and whose age-old traditions have remained in-tact. That is reflected in their unique artwork, which depicts the numerous / countless deities they worship.
In the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango and Zacatecas, Huichol communities continue to make bead figurines, wooden instruments and colorful paintings with psychedelic designs that illustrate how they perceive the world and their relationship with Mother Earth.
The magical, surreal universe of the Huichol people, populated by fire, deer and serpents, is perhaps best exemplified by their tapestry-like paintings known as nierikas. Color, creativity, originality and patience are the raw materials of these intricate works of art, some of which are worth thousands of dollars.
Using wax, the artists trace divine figures and symbols on a wooden board and fill them in from the edge inwards using thread. On the back, one will generally find the artisan’s signature and a brief explanation of the imagery employed.
purchase online at:
Galería Nierika
www.nierika.com.mx
4. Nierika, tApestries with a World View
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Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle
6 May 2013
5. Silver, Jewelry that reflects the Sun and moon
The artisans of West and South Mexico were skilled at transforming silver into deco-rative artifacts long before the Spaniards arrived. In fact, some historians claim the first gift the Aztec Emperor Moct-ezuma gave the conquistador Hernán Cortés was two piec-es of silver engraved with im-ages of the sun and moon.
Earrings, necklaces, brace-lets, pendants and rings were commonly worn by the upper class in colonial times to de-note their power and status.
visit:
Gabriela Sánchez
lópez mateos 897
Guadalajara, Jalisco
www.gabrielasanchez.com
There are numerous sil-ver-producing towns in Mex-ico but Taxco, in the state of Guerrero, is perhaps the most famous for its jewelry.
Mexican designers are known the world over for their way with silver. Design-ers like Jalisco-born Gabri-ela Sánchez, who hails from a jewelry-making family and who takes dreams, laughter, spontaneity, childhood and tradition and cuts and buffs them into striking, modern pieces with a sense of humor.
Mexico’s former Miss Uni-verse Ximena Navarrete and previous First Lady Margarita Zavala have been seen wear-ing Gabriela Sánchez’ designs on more than one occasion.
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Negocios ProMéxico
Para ExPortadorEs
asia: OPOrTunidades
de diversificación cOMercial
ProMéxico y la cOOPeración
ecOnóMica inTernaciOnal
México EN El MuNdo:el cOMerciO
inTernaciOnalde MéxicO en cifras
ProMéxico ha impulsado la participación del país en distintos foros y mecanismos de cooperación internacional, con el fin de contar con más y mejores herramientas para apoyar la internacionalización de las empresas mexicanas.78
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cErtificacióN dE EMPrEsas
y cOMerciO exTeriOr en MéxicO
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Para Exportadores Para Exportadores
deproméxico.
Congruente con la política de apertura comercial que Mé-xico ha mantenido durante las últimas décadas, y como parte de su labor para atraer
inversión extranjera al país e impulsar la internacionalización de las empresas, Pro-México ha realizado importantes esfuerzos en materia de cooperación internacional que hoy se traducen en apoyos e incentivos concretos para que empresas mexicanas, es-pecialmente pequeñas y medianas, incursio-nen con éxito en el comercio global.
En esta edición de Negocios Para Expor-tadores presentamos una mirada rápida a algunos de las acciones de cooperación in-ternacional que la Unidad de Promoción de Exportaciones ha emprendido para di-
versificar y consolidar la oferta de apoyos e incentivos a los que las empresas mexica-nas tienen acceso a través de ProMéxico. En todas las oficinas de ProMéxico en el país, asesores especializados pueden pro-porcionar más información sobre cómo aprovechar estos programas y tener acceso a sus beneficios.
ProMéxico tiene el compromiso de ser el mejor aliado de las empresas mexicanas para que su participación en la economía interna-cional traiga consigo nuevas oportunidades de crecimiento y contribuya al desarrollo de las regiones del país en las que operan. So-mos los mejores asesores para la internacio-nalización de las empresas mexicanas.
¡Bienvenidos a Negocios ProMéxico!
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Para Exportadores Para Exportadores
AsiA: Oportunidades de diversificación comercial
México tiene que impulsar su vínculo comercial Asia para diversificar sus relaciones comerciales y reposicionarse en el escenario internacional.
por adolfo laborde*
La Administración del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto ha sido muy enfática en la importancia de diversificar las relaciones comerciales de México, al reforzar la pre-sencia y el activismo del país en el extran-jero. Este replanteamiento de la política comercial del país en favor de una mayor diversificación es una línea fundamental para el reposicionamiento de México en el escenario internacional. En esa estrategia, Asia representa una oportunidad iniguala-ble. Aunque países como China, Japón y Corea del Sur son socios comerciales im-portantes de México, las oportunidades de intercambio y cooperación de nuestro país con aquella región son enormes y deben maximizarse.
En 2012, China fue el segundo socio comercial de México a escala mundial (se-gundo como abastecedor y cuarto como comprador). Sin embargo, aún no tenemos un tratado de libre comercio (TLC) que re-fuerce el intercambio con ese país. Según datos del Banco de México, la relación co-mercial entre México y China creció 804% entre 2002 y 2012, al pasar de 6 mil 928 millones de dólares en 2002 a 62 mil 657 millones en 2012, lo que representó una tasa media anual de crecimiento de 25%.
Según análisis de ProMéxico, México podría afianzar el flujo de inversiones de ese país en el sector automotriz, por lo que podrían impulsarse alianzas estratégicas con las armadoras, tal y como ha ocurrido
con empresas chinas en otras latitudes. La exportación de cárnicos (en especial carne de cerdo) y productos agropecuarios tam-poco es menor, por lo que deben facilitarse las certificaciones y permisos correspon-dientes. Asimismo, a pesar de que tanto México como China son productores y ex-portadores clave en productos electrónicos y de electrodomésticos, podrían generarse sinergias entre ambos países.
Japón, por su parte, fue el cuarto so-cio comercial de México a escala mundial (tercero como abastecedor y noveno como comprador) en 2012, y el segundo en Asia, después de China. Aunque México y Japón suscribieron un Acuerdo de Asociación Económica (AAE) en 2004 (mismo que en-tró en vigor el 1 de abril de 2005), todavía hay muchas áreas de oportunidad en la re-lación comercial entre ambos países.
De acuerdo con datos de ProMéxico, a partir de la entrada en vigor del AAE entre México y Japón, el intercambio co-mercial entre ambas naciones creció 39%, al pasar de 14 mil 548 millones de dólares en 2005 a 20 mil 268 millones en 2012. Durante 2012, 63% de las exportaciones mexicanas hacia Japón fueron manufactu-ras como teléfonos celulares, automóviles y autopartes. Los productos alimenticios guardan un lugar preponderante en el intercambio bilateral entre ambos países (29% de las exportaciones totales). Los principales productos alimentarios que se exportan a Japón son sal, carne de cer-do, aguacate, pescado congelado, bebidas alcohólicas, jugos de frutas y café. Las oportunidades con este país en este rubro específico son impresionantes. Según in-formación de ProMéxico, durante 2011, Japón fue el tercer país que importó más alimentos en el mundo, con un valor de casi 82 mil millones de dólares. Sin em-bargo, a pesar de que Japón es el segundo destino para las exportaciones mexicanas de alimentos, México ocupa el vigésimo primer lugar como proveedor de alimentos a dicho país..
En tanto, Corea fue el sexto socio co-mercial de México a escala mundial en 2012 (16 como comprador y quinto como abastecedor), y el tercero en Asia. Según
cifras del Banco de México, el intercam-bio comercial entre México y Corea creció 265% entre 2002 y 2012, al pasar de 4 mil 129 millones de dólares en 2002 a 15 mil 078 millones en 2012.
Cabe destacar que Corea es un país im-portador de materias primas y productos de consumo. Su economía está concentrada en el sector industrial y de tecnología, y se abastece del exterior de productos prima-rios. De acuerdo con ProMéxico, Corea es el quinto productor mundial de automóvi-les (con 4.7 millones de unidades produci-das en 2011) e importa alrededor de 4 mil millones de dólares anuales en autopartes. En este sentido, hay enormes oportunida-des tanto comerciales (exportación de auto-partes y componentes), como de inversión (promover el establecimiento de plantas armadoras coreanas en México).
Corea es un país líder en el sector de electrónica. Ese país es el tercer productor de aparatos electrónicos (detrás de China y los Estados Unidos), por lo que también puede explorarse la posibilidad de estable-cer más empresas coreanas en México.
TalenTo e inmersión culTural:componenTes clave para los negociosLa diversificación comercial no es una tarea sencilla. Va más allá de una simple declara-ción o de concretar mecanismos para agili-zar el comercio (a la fecha, México tiene 12 tratados de libre comercio con 44 países).
¿Qué tendríamos qué hacer para que nuestro comercio con los mercados chino, japonés y coreano fuese superavitario? Buena pregunta. Cada caso representa un escenario diferente; cada uno de esos paí-
ses tiene su propia cultura de los negocios y la estrategia comercial que se despliegue en la región debe ser específica para cada caso. No es lo mismo hacer negocios en China que en Japón o Corea. Aunado a ello, los actores interesados en expandir las relaciones económicas en esos países (iniciativa privada y gobierno) deben priorizar políticas de largo plazo para for-mar recursos humanos, o bien, especialis-tas económicos en cada país.
Es cierto que el inglés es el idioma de los negocios, pero no todos los chinos, ja-poneses y coreanos lo hablan. Los japone-ses (y cada vez más los chinos y coreanos) envían a su personal a los países donde fungirán como comisionados. a recibir un entrenamiento de por lo menos dos años. Esta preparación consiste en una total in-mersión en la cultura; los ejecutivos de las empresas aprenden el idioma del país ex-tranjero, sus tradiciones, así como su cul-tura y el comportamiento de su sociedad. Gracias a ello, a la hora de los negocios es más fácil ganar terreno no solo en el idioma, sino en la capacidad de reacción de la contraparte.
En este sentido, es importante inci-dir en el desarrollo de recursos humanos para enfrentar los retos de las relaciones económicas internacionales de México en Asia. Si queremos ser exitosos, es im-prescindible empezar a crear y ejecutar una política económica exterior en la que el capital humano tenga un papel preponderante.
Es muy importante dotar a los em-presarios mexicanos de mecanismos que impulsen el comercio, y motivarlos para que el capital humano del país tenga las herramientas adecuadas para incursionar en otras regiones. De esta manera, el esce-nario comercial de México podrá ser aún más prometedor. n
*Director de la Licenciatura en Relaciones In-
ternacionales y del Bachelor in International
Affairs del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Campus San-
ta Fe. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Inves-
tigadores (SNI), Nivel 1 del Consejo Nacional de
Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).
fotos archivo
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Para Exportadores Para Exportadoresfotos archivo
certificAción de eMPresAs y comercio exterior en México
Con la puesta en marcha del programa de Operador Económico Autorizado, avalado por el Servicio de Administración Tributaria de México y la Agencia de Protección de Aduanas de Estados Unidos, se generan
nuevas ventajas para las empresas con actividades de exportación e importación en México.
por josé f. narro garcía*
A principios de 2013, México y Estados Unidos firmaron un plan de acción para facilitar la adhesión de las compañías de ambos países al Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC), así como a programas de seguridad de las aduanas (como el Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism o C-TPAT). Estos mecanismos de participación voluntaria buscan garantizar la cadena de suministros de comercio exterior a par-tir de la certificación de empresas manufactureras, producto-ras, maquiladoras y comercializadoras, tanto de importación como de exportación.
El NEEC alude a estándares mínimos de seguridad que han sido reconocidos por distintos países. En el caso de México, el programa Operador Económico Autorizado (OEAU) está por ini-ciar su oficialización con el apoyo del Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) y la Agencia de Protección de Aduanas de Esta-dos Unidos (US Customs and Border Protection).
Este último ha firmado programas de reconocimiento mutuo con Nueva Zelandia, Canadá, Jordania y Corea del Sur, mismos que también se han gestionado por los países miembros de la Unión Europea, Suiza, Noruega y Japón, por mencionar algunos.
La Organización Mundial de Aduanas (OMA) se encarga de di-fundir las bases para la creación de la figura de OEAU, y dicta linea-mientos clave para las aduanas en el mundo, con lo cual impulsa el comercio ágil y seguro a través de cadenas de suministro adecuadas.
Un OEAU está certificado para participar en la cadena de comercio internacional, mientras su actividad profesional se sujete a la normativa aduanera (importadores, exportadores, fabricantes, representantes ante la aduana, transportistas y operadores de terminal, entre otros). Estos operadores deben cumplir con el perfil de riesgo, rigurosas políticas de control,
Es importante mencionar que aunque el registro en estos es-quemas es voluntario, el impulso que las certificaciones generan en la operación representa múltiples ventajas para las empresas. Es recomendable para cualquier operador en comercio exterior, sin importar su tamaño o alcances, obtener su registro y conocer los beneficios inherentes a esta operación. En particular, cuando los socios extranjeros, e incluso nacionales, empiecen a exigir el registro a estos programas para mantener su negocio en el país.
En conclusión, estos programas son un factor clave para el crecimiento comercial. Es necesario que México esté a la van-
es recomendable para cualquier operador en comercio exterior, sin importar su tamaño o alcances, obtener su registro y conocer los beneficios inherentes a esta operación. en particular, cuando los
socios extranjeros, e incluso nacionales, empiecen a exigir el registro a estos programas para mantener su negocio en el país.
instalaciones y auditorías internas en la cadena de suministros, entre otros requisitos. También deben someter una solicitud de registro para su dictamen ante la Administración Central de Asuntos Internacionales de la Administración General de Aduanas (AGA) y, si es favorable la opinión, continuar con el trámite ante la Administración Central de Regulación Adua-nera de la AGA. Toda esta gestión debe realizarse durante un máximo de 140 días hábiles.
guardia del intercambio comercial y adecúe ciertos mecanis-mos globales en su operación. La confiabilidad de estos proce-sos es, sin duda alguna, fundamental para acelerar los procesos de negociación, así como para incidir en nuevos mercados y atraer más inversiones productivas, las más importantes para el país. n
*Director General de Narro y Asociados, S.C.
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| Negocios ProMéxico
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Para Exportadores Para Exportadores
MÉXICOEN ELMUNDOEl comercio internacionalde México en cifras
Fuente: Banco de México
Por sector
ExportacionesMillones de dólares
VariaciónMismo periodo en 2012
Automotriz
4.5%
12,242
ESTADOS UNIDOS
68,906millones de dólares
(78.1% del total)en ventas a EstadosUnidos en el primer
trimestre de 2013.
#3
#4
#5
#9
#8
#1
#2
#6
#7
#10
COLOMBIA$1,097 | 1.2%
CANADÁ$2,550 | 2.9% ESPAÑA
$1,929 | 2.2%ALEMANIA
$1,128 | 1.3%INDIA
$758 | 0.9%CHINA
$1,482 | 1.7%JAPÓN
$515 | 0.6%
BRASIL$1,086 | 1.2%
CHILE$493 | 0.6%
Electrónico
-10.6%
7,496
Enero-febrero 2013Millones de dólares
Eléctrico
2.5%
3,905
Farmacéutico
5.5%
380
Químico
5%
1,971
Equipo médico
2.4%
961
Manufacturera26,065
2.0%
71,184
0.6%
Extractivas447
4.1%
1,054
-15.7%
RubroMarzo ‘13
Variación ’12
Ene-Mar ‘13
Variación ’12
Petroleras4,200
-19.8%
12,908
-10.6%
Agropecuarias1,121
-3.0%
75,325
0.1%
Principalessocioscomercialesde México
$Exportacionesacumuladas deenero a marzo de 2013Millones de dólares
%Participación delas exportacionesmexicanas totalesEnero a marzo de 2013
88,233millones de dólaresentre enero y marzode 2013 (una disminuciónde 1.6% con respecto almismo periodo en 2012).
infografía oldemar
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Para Exportadores Para Exportadores
proméxico y la Cooperación Económica Internacional
En su búsqueda por apoyar la internacionalización de las empresas mexicanas y mejorar la posición de México en la economía global, ProMéxico ha impulsado la participación del país en distintos foros y mecanismos de cooperación internacional. Gracias a ello, hoy se cuenta con diversos programas de apoyo para que negocios mexicanos, especialmente pequeñas y medianas empresas, incursionen en los mercados internacionales.
Atraer inversión extranjera al país y fortalecer la participación de México en la economía global son objetivos cruciales para ProMéxico, por lo que la institución ha participado en diversos programas y proyectos bilaterales y multilaterales, y ha dedi-cado esfuerzos a establecer, fortalecer y preservar relaciones con organismos internacionales como el Banco Mundial (BM), la Corporación Financiera Internacional (CFI), el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), y la Organización para la Coo-peración y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), así como con cámaras binacionales y agencias de pro-moción económica en otros países.
En la estructura de ProMéxico, dentro de la Unidad de Promoción de Exportaciones (UPE), existe un área dedicada a proyectos de cooperación internacional, con el fin de apoyar a las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) mexicanas para mejo-rar su competitividad, de forma que desarrollen la capacidad, tecnología e innovación necesarias para expandirse a mercados internacionales.
La participación de ProMéxico en el esce-nario internacional, ha permitido la puesta en operación de diversos programas en los que las empresas mexicanas, especialmente PYMES,
pueden solicitar apoyos para desarrollar y for-talecer su proceso de internacionalización.
Los programas de cooperación internacional de ProMéxico buscan incrementar la competitivi-dad de las pymes mexicanas a través de la incor-poración de tecnologías, de la asistencia técnica y de la proveduría de conocimientos necesarios para facilitar su acceso a los mercados internacionales.
Dichos programas están diseñados para que las pymes obtengan resultados concretos como:
• Integración de acciones de innovación ytransferencia de tecnología con el negocio.
• Establecimiento de relaciones sosteniblesentre empresas mexicanas y extranjeras me-diante coinversiones, transferencia de tecno-logía u otros medios.
• Desarrollodesistemasdegestióndelacali-dad mediante la obtención de certificaciones aptas para los mercados internacionales.
programa de compeTiTividad e innovación méxico – unión europea (procei)El Programa de Competitividad e Innovación México-Unión Europea (PROCEI) es un fondo
textil y del calzado, agropecuario, aeroespacial, automotriz, de tecnologías de la información y de dispositivos médicos, entre otros.
El valor de los primeros siete proyectos fi-nanciados por el PROCEI, firmados en 2012, es de 200 millones de pesos y su ejecución be-neficiará a 850 pymes distribuidas en 16 enti-dades federativas del país, con impacto en 13 sectores industriales. En 2013 se apoyará por lo menos a cuatro nuevos proyectos por un va-lor de cerca de 30 millones de pesos.
nodo de méxico en la red europea de empresas (een)Esta red, creada en 2008 por la Comisión Eu-ropea, agrupa a casi 600 organismos miembros en 51 países alrededor del mundo. Para postu-lar su candidatura como miembro, ProMéxico sumó esfuerzos con el Tecnológico de Monte-rrey (ITESM) y el Consejo Nacional de Cien-cia y Tecnología (CONACYT). Después de dos años de negociaciones, en noviembre de 2011 se presentó de manera oficial el nodo México de la EEN, mismo que se constituyó como el segundo en Latinoamérica, después de Chile.
Gracias a la participación de México en la EEN, empresas mexicanas tienen acceso a oportunidades de negocios y pueden recibir servicios de información y contactos en cual-quiera de los países miembros.
A través de la EEN, ProMéxico ha apoyado a 54 empresas en ocho ferias europeas, logran-do su participación en encuentros empresariales profesionales; además, se han impartido cuatro talleres beneficiando a 76 pymes en temas como envase y embalaje, diseño estratégico de marca, industrias creativas y trazabilidad industrial. Asimismo, se han firmado 11 acuerdos de cola-boración entre empresas y hay cuatro acuerdos más de este tipo en proceso.
Fondo conjunTo de cooperación méxico - chileEn agosto de 2011, ProMéxico postuló un proyecto para el Fondo Conjunto de Coope-ración México-Chile, con el fin de ampliar la oferta exportable y el intercambio comercial entre ambos países.
Actualmente se trabaja con más de 20 franquicias mexicanas que serán introducidas en el mercado chileno.
méxico y japón, sobre ruedasComo fruto de la colaboración entre México y Japón, se creó el proyecto de cooperación para el desarrollo de la industria de proveeduría au-
conjunto de 18 millones de euros, financiado a partes iguales por México y la Unión Europea, gestionado por ProMéxico a través de un fidei-comiso. Con una duración de 54 meses, el fondo financia proyectos en tres líneas específicas: 1) fortalecimiento de los procesos de innovación y transferencia de tecnología, 2) apoyo a los pro-cesos de certificación para exportar al mercado europeo y 3) fortalecimiento de los mercados mediante la creación de un sistema de inteligen-cia comercial y de negocios, aprovechando los sistemas de información comercial existentes.
El objetivo específico del PROCEI es pro-porcionar a las pymes mexicanas asesoría y asistencia especializada en nuevas tecnologías e innovación de procesos productivos. El pro-grama brinda apoyos para proyectos de inno-vación, transferencia de tecnología, certifica-ciones y estrategia de comerico, con el fin de apoyar a las empresas mexicanas para ingresar en el mercado europeo.
A través de este programa, México tiene ac-ceso al mercado de 27 estados miembros de la Unión Europea, mediante proyectos ubicados en diferentes partes del país alusivos a sectores de alto valor agregado como son los sectores
photos archive
por claudia esteves cano*
tomotriz en México, el cual contribuirá a hacer más eficientes a las pymes mexicanas proveedo-ras de las armadoras japonesas en el país, me-jorará el control y la calidad de los productos nacionales, creará una base de datos para los involucrados y promoverá el conocimiento y entendimiento entre ambas naciones para dis-minuir las diferencias culturales.
Junto con la Agencia de Cooperación In-ternacional de Japón (JICA), ProMéxico funge como coordinador del proyecto que tiene un valor aproximado de 7.8 millones de dólares. En una primera etapa se beneficiará a 30 em-presas Tier 2 en los estados de Guanajuato, Nuevo León y Querétaro.
Además, la iniciativa busca construir una base de datos de capacidades de proveedores de la industria en los tres estados mencionados es-tados para facilitar dicha herramienta a las em-presas japonesas interesadas en México.
MéxIcO y lA AlIAnzA dEl PAcíFIcO La Alianza del Pacífico se creó el 28 de abril de 2011, cuando los presidentes de Colombia, Chile, México y Perú firmaron una declara-ción para conformar dicho bloque, que repre-
senta un mercado de 201 millones de habitan-tes (36% de la población de Latinoamérica), 50% del comercio en la región y una tercera parte del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) regio-nal. Se espera que Costa Rica y Panamá, que participan en la actualidad como países obser-vadores, sean próximamente miembros plenos de la Alianza del Pacífico.
ProMéxico participó en la Primera Reu-nión de Agencias de Promoción de la Alianza del Pacífico, el 7 de febrero de 2012. Como resultado de la reunión se establecieron sie-te acuerdos: intercambio comercial entre los países miembros, mayor presencia en los mer-cados internacionales, encuentro empresarial entre los países miembros, apertura de oficinas conjuntas en el exterior, participación conjun-ta en ferias internacionales, intercambio de información y realización de un seminario de oportunidades de inversión en China. N
* Directora de Proyectos Multilaterales y Regionales,
Unidad de Promoción de Exportaciones.
4 Mayo 2013
Para ExportadoresNegocios ProMéxico |
