Bulletin 454 - Friday, January 22, 2010

Guadalajara, Mexico,- Encouraged by international projects recovered, Sanmina SCI and HP, companies in the electronics industry, are individually planning to make investments in Jalisco, which will add to US$15 million and will generate up to 2 thousand 500 jobs. Marco Gonzalez Hagelsieb, Operations Vice-president for Sanmina SCI in Mexico, said that investment scheduled for this year in Jalisco is US$10 million, which will be channeled to the purchase of machinery and equipment; which will also provide for the generation of one thousand to 2 thousand new jobs. "In late 2008 we cut down our labor force, but the currency exchange rate and lower costs helped us do well in 2009 and I am forecasting an increase between one thousand and two thousand people in our labor force with coming projects", said Mr. González Hagelsieb.

Source: El Mural

Puebla, Mexico,-Grupo Productos Internacionales (PI) Mabe SA de CV a company that manufactures disposable diapers for adults and babies, will invest MXP$220 million in their plants in Mexico and Brazil. This was informed by Gilberto Marin Quintero, Chairman, who pointed-out that MXP$110 million will be invested in the plants the company has in Puebla and Tijuana and around US$8 million, a figure similar to the investments to be made in Mexico, will go to their Brazil Plant. The purpose of these investments is expanding production lines used to manufacture adult and baby diapers, as well as wet wipes which whole production is exported, mainly to the USA, a market which closed 2009 with a 52% year-to-year growth. In spite of the investments, he recognized that they not go hand in hand with jobs generation. As a matter of fact, he said that "very few" jobs will be created, between 50 and 100 in Puebla and Tijuana plants. He further said that this is mainly due to the fact that throughout 2009 they avoided layoffs, even if there were some months when production declined.

Source: Periodico Digital

Mexico,- Due to their price, low maintenance cost and reliability, vehicles produced in Mexico dominated sales "top ten" in Mexico. According to information from the Mexican Dealerships Association, Asociacion Mexicana de Distribuidores de Automotores (AMDA), the first place was for the already famous and mature Nissan Tsuru, with 54,463 units sold (-21%); followed by Volkswagen Jetta with 31,656 units and the third place was for GM Aveo, which sold 24,157 units last year; the fourth place was for Nissan Tiida with 21,399 units; the fifth place was for Volkswagen Bora with 18,538 units sold in 2009; the sixth was for Nissan Long Chassis with 16,073 units (-29.1%) and a 10% share of trucks market. The seventh place was for GM 3-door Chevy with 14,758 units (-30.8%); Nissan Sentra 2.0 was eighth with 14,256 units (-19.6%); GM 4-door Chevy was ninth with 13,521 units (-36.8%) and the tenth place was for Chrysler Journey with 13,491 units (+26%).

Source: El Semanario

O'Donnell announces that Meyn has leased a 2,222 square meters (23,917 61 square feet) storage building. Meyn will use this building as distribution center and corporate offices. The building is located in O´Donnell Logistics Center Toluca, a 39,000 m2 (422,000 sq. ft.) logistics center located in Mexico-Toluca Highway, Km. 53.9, Doña Rosa Industrial Zone, Lerma, State of Mexico. Meyn Food Processing Technology B.V. is the reliable and committed partner of progressive poultry processing companies located in over 90 countries around the world. Meyn is widely recognized for the support given to customers to achieve larger capacity, yield and efficiency. O'Donnell - Mexico is a full time industrial developer. They invest in high concentration markets in major urban centers in Mexico. O'Donnell currently owns and manages 1.02 million square meters (11 millio sq. ft.) and has presence in 15 markets throughout Mexico.

Source: O'DONNELL

Merida, Yucatan,- In 2010 the French Company Accor will invest over US$24 million in Mexico to start operating four executive class hotels in Cancun, Hermosillo, Coahuila and Chihuahua, for being a segment that represents great development opportunities. Jean Philippe Claret, Chief Executive Officer in Mexico for Accor Hospitality, pointed-out that Mexico has great growth potential for investment in tourism and hotels, to provide service to businessmen and businesswomen, families, sports events and conventions. An aggressive investment strategy has been planned for Mexico and Latin America. This strategy considers the construction of 160 hotels within four years. For 2010, he said, plans are to start operating in Colombia, Brazil and Chile with 200-rooms hotels. As far as Mexico is concerned, plans are open Motel Six hotels here, of which there are over one thousand in the USA and Canada.

Source: El Economista

Espoo, Finland.- Elcoteq SE, a leading electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company with a consistent global reach and complete services to support the entire lifecycle of a product, has recently received the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Certification at the Monterrey, Mexico plant. C-TPAT is the leading security certification in North America and was developed to promote the voluntary relationship between government and industry to improve international supply chains and homeland security. "C-TPAT enlists close cooperation with supply chain handlers, such as Elcoteq, to provide the highest level of security to cargo," said Kurt Schmidt, general manager Elcoteq Monterrey. "It offers Elcoteq the opportunity to actively cooperate with the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the war against terrorism and focuses on strengthening supply chain security. This certificate for Elcoteq Monterrey is the result of excellent teamwork and dedication that met all the certification requirements. Elcoteq Monterrey guarantees a supply chain that is efficient and employs solid security systems, and that incorporates our reputation for integrity." Elcoteq's Monterrey plant was established in 1999 and specializes in both high volume low mix and low volume high mix products, especially in the manufacturing and repair of mobile and smart phones and the assembly of other consumer electronics and infrastructure products for telecom and industrial applications. Elcoteq's 18,000 square meter facility employs about 1,600 workers. Equipped with the latest production technologies, the capabilities include the assembly of complex printed circuit boards, sub-assemblies and box build. The service offering also includes test (RF and digital) and AOI, X-ray inspection, and 3D solder paste height measurement. Other services include fulfillment services like sourcing, procurement, warehousing, and logistics.

Source: Elcoteq

Mexico City,- Mitsubishi Electric invested US$10 million in a new plant to manufacture parts for trains in San Juan del Rio, Queretaro. In a press release, the company specified that with the investment 300 direct and around 900 indirect jobs were created. Mtisubishi Electric will manufacture electric engines and speed controls for urban and suburban train cars, which will be exported from Mexico mainly to the United States, United Arab Emirates and Chile. "Mexican labor is well appreciated, and therefore the Company made the decision to make such high quality and precision products in Mexico for the rest of the world", the press release reads. The new plant has 13,000 square meters (139,930.26 square feet). In another 30 years old factory, which Mitsubishi has in San Juan del Rio, they produce elevators, escalators and their components, for the Mexican, Latin American and US markets.

Source: CNN Expansion