Bulletin 377 - Friday, July 11, 2008

Puebla, Pue,- Volkswagen de Mexico was designated one of the 50 most innovating companies in 2008 in Mexico. This award is granted by IT Information Week Mexico, a magazine specialized in Information Technologies and was granted to the assembler due to its new management system implemented in car bodies' warehouse. Volkswagen de Mexico's car bodies' warehouse management system, called STORM, was one of the 167 projects postulated by companies and institutions with presence in Mexico. Ernest & Young chose the 50 best, based on total customer satisfaction, and granted to the German assembler a position among this select group of innovating companies. STORM System is one of the modules that make-up the Information System for manufacture and production control in Volkswagen de Mexico's Plant. This System controls and manages car bodies received and sent to the Assembly Area, per orders catalogue, generating a combined sequence among three models, Jetta and New Beetle in its 2 versions. These three models are all manufactured in the same assembly line, which represents a considerable logistics challenge. STORM System was completely conceived, developed and implemented by Volkswagen de Mexico's personnel with the Company's resources, together with its technological partner T-Systems.

Source: Volkswagen

Mulally, Ford Motor Company's President and CEO recently announced a US$3 billion investment in. Mexico, where they are moving their manufacturing machinery gears by refurbishing local plants and moving forward with renewed strength to recover profitability. Cuautitlan is back. Ford Motor Company will invest US$1 billion there to completely transform it and install a flexible production platform to manufacture small cars. They will stop producing trucks there, but as of 2010 this plant will lodge the production line for Ford Fiesta, a compact model to be exported to the whole American Continent, mainly the United States and Canada. "Mexico is a central piece in our global strategy" Mulally affirms with enthusiasm. "We started in Hermosillo with Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ (in 2004 with a US$1.2 billion investment), which are the most popular medium size cars, we will now supplement this at Cuautitlan with Fiesta, which is smaller". Mulally announced two additional projects; they will spend US$800 million in expanding Chihuahua Plant to produce diesel engines and US$500 million to build a new transmissions plant in Irapuato, Guanajuato, in a joint venture with the German company Getrag. The engines will be exported to the US market and transmissions will support several vehicles' production. Ford Mexico had to compete against other subsidiaries in the world to lead the production of the new vehicles' portfolio for North America, which will generate 4,500 direct jobs.

Source: Cnn expansion

La-Z-Boy has announced it will open a cutting and sewing facility in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila. La-Z-Boy will relocate its US domestic operations to a 690,000 square foot facility currently under construction by Amistad Industrial Developers. When fully transitioned by 2010, the company expects to employ approximately 1,000 people in this leased facility. Quoting La-Z-Boy April 2008 press Release, Kurt L. Darrow, president and chief executive officer, said "Speed to market for custom orders is a tenet of our brand promise to the consumer and the strength of our U.S facilities enables us to deliver on that promise. Our new Mexican facility be able to rapidly supply our domestic plants with cut-and- sewn fabrics and leather for custom order, and will compliment the existing cut-and-sew program from asia which supplies our US manufacturing operations with kits for our high-volume SKUs" Darrow continued, "We are delighted to begin operations in Ramos Arizpe and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship, we believe in the potential of Mexico, and we are excited to be part of the international community doing business in this country. We are confident it will be a great working environment for our employees".

Source: www.amistadmexico.com

Mexico City- In 2012, the Japanese assembler Toyota will install. a new plant in San Luis Potosi to manufacture Yaris sub-compact cars, informed Michael Pardal, Manager for Latin America of JD Powers Consultants. Guido Vildozo, Automotive Analyst in Global Insight, considers that the growth Toyota has experienced in North America, together with quality problems, especially at their plant in San Antonio, Texas, will force the assembler to install a new factory. "The plant is necessary to keep the growth pace Toyota wants to achieve and to have a larger representation in the Mexican market. Since the plant was already considered in Toyota's long term strategy, probabilities to install it are high, but there could still be a change and a delay, especially due to the quality problems at San Antonio", he pointed-out. Both analysts said the announcement is not official yet, because there are some other states, such as Aguascalientes, that are also fighting to attract this investment by the assembler. Toyota has an assembly plant in Tecate, Baja California, where they assemble Tacoma trucks and 2 years ago it inaugurated the Automotive Technical Institute in San Luis Potosi, to train its dealers' network.

Source: El Diario de Cd. Juarez

Sapporo - At G8 Summit, Presidents Felipe Calderon from Mexico and Lee Myung-Bak from Korea held a private meeting, where they agreed in strengthening economic relations and working on entering a Free Trade Agreement between both countries. In its first day of activities in Japan, Calderon mentioned the importance of strengthening Strategic Relations for Mutual Prosperity, established in 2003, as well as making a priority the revision of negotiations to enter Mexico-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Korea is Mexico's sixth trade partner in the world and third investor from Asia-Pacific Region.

Source: El Diario de Cd. Juarez

Guadalajara,- With an initial US$31 million investment, the transnational company Cooper Tires. purchased 38% of shares of the tires manufacturing cooperative Corporación Occidente, located at El Salto, Jalisco. In addition to the co-investment project with members of the Cooperative Corporacion de Occidente, Cooper Tires could invest US$180 million in a new factory, which could generate one thousand direct jobs. This new investment plan also considers the participation of members of the Cooperative, who would provide the land, labor and maybe capital as well. It is a Center for the Innovation and Development of Pneumatics Technology, where 50 jobs for engineers will be generated. Cooper Tires announced a co-investment project at Jalisco with former workers of Continental Tire – who entered a joint-venture with investors from Queretaro from the company Llanti System – which will require a US$31 million investment in the first stage, US$10 million more to increase production to 13 thousand tires per day and the generation of 150 jobs more. The third stage considers a US$90 million investment in an expansion project that will start in 2009, to end in 2010, which is expected to generate 300 jobs; by then the Company will be producing 20 thousand tires per day.

Source: El Norte

Lechera Guadalajara has finished its new pasteurizing plant at Mazatlan, Sinaloa, which. infrastructure, together with 18 new distribution centers, will be the main platform to enter into the Mexican Pacific Market this year, informed the Company's General Manager, Jorge Barron Zepeda. Mr. Barron pointed-out that operations start at this processing plant in Mazatlan, together with the opening of the distribution centers and followed by a pasteurizing plant in Linares, Nuevo Leon, are the priorities in the Company's plans, one of the most important in the State of Jalisco. Both plants, Mazatlan's and Linares' have been among the Company's priorities in the last three years. Mr. Barron also said that Mazatlan Plant will start with a processing capacity of 150 thousand liters per day, with a modular design to expand it as demand grows at its area of influence, where, by the way, advances have already been made in the development of cattle suppliers.

Source: Milenio

• » Chrysler stops production of five plants in Mexico
• » New software company comes to Nuevo Leon
• » Nuevo Laredo has an investment increase
• » New assembly plant arrives to Guanajuato