Kenworth Mexicana delivers the first hybrid unit "Made in Mexico"
Mexico, Distrito Federal,- Kenworth Mexicana manufactured in their Mexicali Plant the first heavy cargo hybrid unit in Mexico. "All of us who work in Kenworth Mexicana - Means Ill said - are strongly committed to producing highly efficient and quality ecological units".
Kenworth's new hybrid unit, 80% more expensive than diesel units, consumes 30% less fuel.
Manufactured in Kenworth Trucks production plant in Mexicali, this new unit, delivered to Grupo Embotellador CIMSA, a bottler subsidiary of Coca-Cola de Mexico, will be tried in Toluca, State of Mexico, serving specific distribution routes there.Dollar gains on euro, yen
NEW YORK,- The dollar gained against the yen and euro Friday after data showed the United States shed fewer jobs than expected last month, boosting hopes of an economic recovery and raising risk tolerance.
Government data showed the U.S. economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, below the 520,000 expected by economists and the revised 504,000 jobs lost in April. The jobless rate rose to 9.4%.
The euro initially rallied on the news but quickly gave up gains as investors digested the jobs number and stop-loss orders were breached in the euro's sharp rise.
"We hit stops above $1.4260 in euro/dollar and once that was paid we're seeing a pullback. The market is bailing out of euros now," said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist, at Forex.com in Bedminster, N.J. "The view here is that these better-than expected jobs numbers should enable the United States to come out of recession first, leading to a stronger dollar overall."
The dollar rose to ¥97.95, up 1.4% on the day, after earlier touching ¥98.08, its highest in nearly a month. The euro was last trading at $1.4096, down 0.6% on the day after initially jumping to $1.4269 after the data, then plunging to $1.4080.
The dollar index, the dollar against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.7% to 79.990, according to Reuters data, trading at its highest in a week.
"We are seeing a reduction in risk aversion," said George Davis, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. "I think it will set the tone for the day with the dollar under pressure. The data provides another piece of evidence to support the theory" that the U.S. economy is improving.Leschaco Mexicana, logistics agency, expands in Monterrey
Mexico City,- The logistics services provider, Leschaco Mexicana inaugurated a new branch in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, as part of the strategic expansion plan they are implementing to face current crisis and strengthen their market position.
Leschaco Mexicana belongs to the German Group Anker Leschaco, world-wide logistics agent with presence in more than thirty countries. In Mexico the Company has been operating in their own offices for 11 years now.
According to a press release issued by Leschaco Mexicana, the new offices in Monterrey will focus in northern Mexico's market, offering sea, air and ground transportation, as well as customs services and cargo storage, among other services.Wallenius Wilhelmsen diversifies operations in Mexico before automotive fall
Mexico City,- Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL), one of the main suppliers of ocean transportation for automotive industry, started this year a cargo diversification plan to face the fall in this sector, entering agreements to transport larger volumes of roll-on or extra large cargo, as well as for special projects.
Even if WWL has kept for some time now space in their ships for cargo other than automobiles, this field represents almost 50% of their operations, which have been affected by an average 30% to 40% fall in sales all over the world. Therefore, the company has taken some measures, such as keeping up to 20% of their ships fleet moored, as well as redirecting others to routes that are more profitable for their business.
In Mexico - where the automotive sector represented in 2008 38% of volumes transported, providing service to companies such as General Motors, Honda, Volkswagen and Nissan - WWL's team has undertaken the task to increase agreements related to special projects, as well as extra large and roll-on cargo, in order to keep their ships at sea, and opening at the same time the possibility to connect to new destinations, according to Myrna Julieta Martinez, Head of Customers Services Division in Mexico.Ceva Logistics confirms industrial building for Daimler-Freightliner in Saltillo
Mexico City,- After investing US$15 million in the construction of an industrial building in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, which will provide service to General Motors as soon as it is inaugurated; CEVA Logistics, a company leader in the chain of supply for the automotive field, informed that they are already preparing another building in Coahuila that will be used by Daimler Commercial Vehicles, which assembles Freightliner trucks.
Last Thursday, Ceva Logistics started preparing a huge industrial building located inside Amistad Sur Industrial Park in Derramadero, infrastructure located in Saltillo-Zacatecas Federal Highway 54S, which extends throughout 23 hectares.
According to out-of-the-record information, which the State Ministry of Economic Foster did not confirm, around 450 jobs will be generated in this Ceva Logistics' industrial building.Chrysler stopped its plants in Mexico
Mexico City,- Chrysler plants in Mexico stopped their operations due to a shortage of parts supplied by the company's factories established in the United States, Manual Duarte, Corporate Communication Manager, informed.
"We had to stop because some components come from our own plants in the United States and over there, due to legislation reasons and the restructure process our corporation is undergoing, they had to stop", Duarte said.
In a radio interview, Duarte explained that this is why factories in Mexico were left without essential parts for automobiles assembly, such as engines and transmissions.
Duarte pointed-out that the plants have been closed for around 15 days and they expect the situation will be solved in June, even though it all depends on the decision by the judge who is hearing about the bankruptcy in the United States.Nafin will give US$14 million to automotive industry in Mexico
Mexico City,- Nacional Financiera (Nafin) will deliver supports to auto parts industry for US$13.7 million, Hector Rangel Domene, General Director, informed.
While participating in IMEF 2009 Symposium, Rangel Domene explained that these supports are meant to mitigate poor liquidity in auto parts sector, where exports have dropped due to the crisis being faced by the automotive sector in the USA.
He further said that supports granted under this program will be defined and announced next week, together with the auto parts industry. He also said that these resources will be mainly oriented to Chrysler, General Motors and Ford.MEXICO'S WEEKLY HEADLINES
- -- Delphi refines coming out of of bankruptcy
- -- Analysts see Mexican economic solidity
- -- GKN Aerospace has more work and plans for next year
- -- Fitch Ratings says Saltillo is of quality
- -- Hutchinson opens installation in Mexico
EDITORIAL
A MEXICAN'S VIEWPOINT: Nuevo Leon's Industrialization
When the Mexican Revolution started early last century, structure of Monterrey's industrial production already included a wide assortment of industrial branches, with the presence of important companies. However, during the Revolution companies' growth in Monterrey was hindered; but when the Revolution was over industrialization process returned with the expansion of existing companies, making up a new and complex industrial structure which gave birth to the first big Monterrey corporations, such as Industrias Monterrey (IMSA), Valores Industriales (VISA) and Fomento de la Industria y Comercio.Later, the Great Depression started in 1929 oriented the Mexican economy to the domestic market. Years later, during World War II an "implicit" protection of Mexican companies was originated, because it was very difficult to purchase goods abroad and this caused an expansion in domestic production, which came hand in hand with the industrialization strategy started by President Miguel Aleman, when World War II had just finished, through industrialization policies and strategies, such as imports substitution, customs and other barriers to import consumer goods. This caused what is called in Monterrey the Second Industrialization Stage.
Monterrey played a significant role in a stage of accelerated growth and stabilizing period in Mexico started in the fifties. It was precisely then when it was consolidated as the most important industrial center in Mexico. This privileged situation allowed consolidating and continuing its economic expansion, supported by the domestic market and, to a lesser extent, by foreign markets, reinforcing its productive structure which experienced a significant growth. Nuevo Leon's share in Gross Domestic Product has been an average of 6% since 1970. Nowadays it represents almost 8% of Mexican Gross Domestic Product, second only after the Federal District. Monterrey hosts more than 11% of manufacturing sector in Mexico; i.e. one out of every ten products produced or manufactured in Mexico are made in Nuevo Leon.Monterrey's industrial basis lies mainly in the integration of Monterrey industrial consortiums which, fostered by quick economic growth, have supplemented growth not only in Nuevo Leon but in the whole region and throughout Mexico. Consortiums, such as ALFA, FEMSA, CEMEX, CYDSA, AXA, GAMESA, PROTEXA, PROEZA, VILLACERO, VITRO among others have stood out for their productive structure towards the end of the industrialization stage. These are the groups which have made the best use of and/or capitalized the economic opening process that started in the late eighties when Mexico became a GATT member and has continued to this date with a large network of free trade agreements entered with more than 44 countries. Business groups in Nuevo Leon have not been foreign to new globalization and have simultaneously undergone transformations that have involved innovation, in Information Technologies and Communications field, as well as several production ways linked to knowledge economy. This has acquired special relevance now, with the growth and globalization being experienced by Nuevo Leon.
New investments by companies from global industry has significantly fostered local industry in Monterrey, due to the value added it provides and its suppliers network. Also, most of global export industry has concentrated in metal products, machinery and equipment. As a matter of fact, in the firsts years of economic opening these activities have concentrated in Nuevo Leon a high percentage of production by this sector and it has been gradually increasing.On the other hand, as strange as it sounds, Nuevo Leon's industrial basis, including suppliers, geographical location, its people's economic dynamics, together with its trained and qualified labor force may put Monterrey in disadvantage when compared to other countries such as China or South America and even other states in Mexico, when competing in manufacture or use of intensive or non qualified labor. We may now observe that unfortunately Mexican exports have reduced their share in the US market and for five years now China has been the US second trade partner, only after Canada and ahead of us. However, Monterrey already has economic, labor, industrial, academic and cultural assets, among others, to successfully enter in the global arena, which demands mainly competitiveness and development of knowledge economies. This has a lot to do with new production processes required by the industry, the application of knowledge related to the above-mentioned production processes and therefore the generation of new goods and services. It is interesting to observe that the most important assets for companies are employees and their human and intellectual capital; available technological knowledge (production processes) and physical assets lose relative importance in knowledge economy.
In this new context, unlike what has happened in Mexico in general, Monterrey keeps a very advantageous position. Monterrey was recently ranked as the third city to make business in Latin America; Nuevo Leon is the state where it is easiest to make business and open new companies; a study made by Tecnologico de Monterrey found Nuevo Leon is the most competitive state in Mexico; Universidad Iberoamericana chose it as the state with the best working conditions in Mexico in aspects related to gender equality, workers access to social welfare institutions and wage compensation for education.To sum-up, industrialization in Nuevo Leon has undergone several stages, it started with the first big manufacturing companies late in the XIX century and early in the XX century, originated by groups of visionary businessmen, which would consider a fourth stage in Nuevo Leon's economic development based on current new industrial production processes. The long industrialization experience, after economic opening started in Mexico, provided for a successful insertion by the whole industrial sector in Nuevo Leon into the new circumstances and in the global arena. Thanks to this industrialization, Nuevo Leon is considered a competitive state, ready to compete in any global arena.
By: samuel.pena@nuevoleon.gob.mx
*) THE AUTHOR IS ATTORNEY AT LAW GRADUATED FROM TEC DE MONTERREY –ITESM-, WITH A MASTER'S DEGREE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW (LL.M) FROM AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW AND A MASTER'S DEGREE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (MPA) FROM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. HE HAS BEEN INTERNATIONAL LAW PROFESSOR IN NUEVO LEON'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE NUEVO LEON –UANL. HE IS CURRENTLY HEAD OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT OFFICE FOR THE STATE OF NUEVO LEON GOVERNMENT. OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THE AUTHOR'S EXCLUSIVELY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THOSE OF THE INSTITUTIONS TO WHICH THE AUTHOR IS LINKED.
