Bulletin 389 - Friday, October 3, 2008

Mexico City,- In spite of the uncertainty outlook, three companies from Dubai, in the United. Arab Emirates are interested in investing in the Mexican tourism market, mainly in the development of deluxe properties. Sheik Abdelkader Abdou, Marketing and Sales Director for ENSHAA Properties, pointed-out that some developers should come soon, namely Hydra Properties, Cirrus Developments and another one which name he did not provide. "Many real estate projects are underway in Dubai, but in order to diversify investment portfolios, developers have to look for other places and Mexico is an attractive country with a great potential", he said during the Mexican Real Estate and Tourism Investment Expo. According to information from Hydra Properties, their investment in Mexico would be around US$500 million for "Hydra Waves" project, located in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Miguel Gomez Mont, Fonatur Director, said in an interview that in these times of crisis, Mexico represents an opportunity to attract investment, because properties prices are lower here than in other markets, such as the Spaniard market.

Source: El Finanaciero

Tucson, AZ,- CRS Aerospace's Empalme, Sonora, Mexico facility has achieved NADCAP. certification in its areas of core competency: anodizing (chrome, sulfuric and hard), and Chemfilm. NADCAP, short for National Aerospace & Defense Contractors Accreditation Program, is a program that was initially conceived by the Department of Defense to ensure consistent aerospace process and quality. Today most aerospace OEMs and their major suppliers require NADCAP accreditation as a prerequisite for doing business with them. In addition to anodizing and chemfilm, CRS' capabilities include precision aerospace machining, masking, NDT and chemical washing. According to Hector Acosta President of CRS Aerospace, "NADCAP accreditation will benefit all of our customers that are machining in Mexico by providing them with a source that can service them with secondary processes in a one stop shop. The company's plan going forward is to become the premier offshore low cost full service supplier in the industry". CRS Aerospace in Empalme was established in 2007, when the firm acquired the Mexican operations of ChemResearch. The new management of CRS has significant experience in all phases of aerospace manufacturing, including fabrication, assembly, machining and complex special processes. The Offshore Group is the largest provider of outsourced manufacturing support, or, "shelter" services in Mexico. Currently 63 manufacturers are in production are at The Offshore Groups three industrial parks in Sonora and the city of Saltillo, Coahuila.

Source: Offshore Group

Chihuahua, Chih,- Officers from Textron, Inc Corporation announced today a US$85 million investment to install a manufacturing plant where they will manufacture various minor assemblies, structural elements and wire bundles for commercial helicopters such as Bell 429. In a press conference Rudy Lopez, Vice-president of Bell Helicopter Division, and Alfonso Mejia, Industrial Director, together with Governor Jose Reyes and the Minister of Industrial Development, Alejandro Cano, informed that the plant will be located in Chihuahua Industrial Complex and will employ around 375 engineers and technicians. In his message, Rudy Lopez pointed-out that making the decision to come to Chihuahua was an easy one, because it has many things to offer, such as trained people, an education system aligned with aerospace industry and with industry in general, in addition to excellent infrastructure in the state and in Chihuahua City, with industrial parks equipped for this type of companies.

Source: El Diario

Ciudad Juarez, Chih,- Boardman Molded International from Youngstown, Ohio, recently. announced the opening of a new plant in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The factory will be located in an 18 thousand square feet building in North Gate Industrial Park, near the airport. The plant currently employs around 55 people, it has four 500-tons molding machines and will install three more machines before September is over, a press-release informed. Boardman brought its operations to Ciudad Juarez partly because they already had a long-time relation with a very big customer, Werner Ladder, which has been in Ciudad Juarez for a long time now. "We see a great opportunity to operate in Mexico and we are very glad to see that a business-propitious environment is in the air here", he said. "In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico we have a high level administration staff, qualified labor and in general a world-class team".

Source: juarezpress

Mexico City,-- Procter & Gamble (P&G) will move most of its global production of Gillette razors. to an industrial complex they will establish in the State of Guanajuato, with an investment of almost US$300 million, Robert McDonald, Operations President announced. In an interview, he added that the Company will unify in Mexico the production of Mach3 and Venus lines of disposable razors for the whole market in America. The Plan is expected to create one thousand 700 direct jobs next year and is expected to start operating in 2010. 70% of the Plant's production will be exported. In the last 18 months, P&G has invested US$500 million in Mexico. With sales for around US$2 billion, Mexico is the sixth market for P&G, which has global sales for US$85 billion. However, McDonald pointed-out that the Company's performance in Mexico should be better, to reach sales of markets such as China or Brazil. "Due to the fact that Mexico is a developing market and with good potential in its economy, we need more growth", he said. Consumption per capita in Mexico is barely one fifth of consumption in the USA, and therefore he deems there is a wide margin for growth.

Source: El Norte

Hanesbrands is planning to close next year its plant in San Pedro, Coahuila. Production and investments will be moved to plants the company currently has in Asia and Central America. Hanesbrands, manufacturer of garments under the brands Hanes, Playtex and Bali, among others, said they are planning to close next year their plant in San Pedro, Coahuila as part of their efforts to cut down costs and consolidate productive operations in Central America and Asia. The announcement will leave close to one thousand 650 people jobless. This will be the third time since 2006 that Hanesbrands -based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina- announces massive layoffs in Mexico. The first one took place in September 2006, when they announced they would close two factories in Coahuila, one in Monclova and the other one in Rosita. The Company employed one thousand 780 workers in these two sites. The second time was last June, when they announced the closing of four work centers in Mexico. This step represented laying off 2 thousand 230 employees. Together with the announcement of factories closing, Hanesbrands said that a good portion of the production made in these plants will be absorbed either by their factories located in Thailand and Vietnam, where they recently purchased four sewing plants, or in other plants in Central America, like in El Salvador or Dominican Republic.

Source: Vanguardia