promexico: negocios magazine: rising to maximum height

8/4/2019 ProMexico: Negocios Magazine: Rising to Maximum Height

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28 Negocios Photo courtesy of safran

risingTo mAximumHeigHTThe aerospace industry in Mexico seems to have reached supersonic speed. In less than a decade it evolved from manufacturing simple parts and assemblies to bigger items such as aircraft tails and fuselages. Today, Mexican aerospace industry is moving towards more advanced engineering and design activities.

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cOver feaTure mexican aerospace indUstry

Mexico has become a majorinnovation and manufac-turing center in the aero-space industry. In the last decade, the world’s leading

aerospace companies have found in Mexico theideal destination for the development of theirmanufacturing strategies, given available capa-bilities and talent.

Many facts have favored the development of the aerospace industry in Mexico. Aerospacecompanies emphasize the availability of hu-man capital and competitive costs as the mainstrengths of Mexico’s aerospace industry.

The global industry’s opinions match vari-ous studies that have underlined Mexico’s

comparative advantage in terms of costs. Ac-cording to KPMG, our country is ranked first in terms of operation costs compared to theindustry’s leading countries. This advantageresults largely from the country being part of the dollar zone, its free trade agreements andmacroeconomic stability, among other factors.

In addition, there are 745,000 engineer-ing and technology students in Mexico, that is, 30% of the country’s total university popu-lation. Moreover, according to the NationalAssociation of Universities and Higher Edu-cation Institutes (ANUIES, for its acronym inSpanish), close to 114,000 engineering andtechnology students graduate each year andthere are more than 900 postgraduate engineering and technology programs in high-level Mexican universities.

Also, the experience and success of the au-tomotive and electric-electronic sectors in Mex-ico, have served as a platform for the aerospaceindustry’s development, and have begun thecreation of a solid provision/supplying chain.

Today, Mexico is the country with the larg-est investment in aerospace manufacturing and

holds the sixth place in aerospace research anddevelopment investment.

During the last five years, Mexico’s aero-space-related exports have more than tripledand the number of companies established inthe country keeps growing. Mexico is the coun-try with the highest investment attraction of aerospace manufacturing for the 1990-2009period.

According to the Mexican Aerospace In-dustry Association, the country is ranked 12in the global tables of aerospace equipment

exporters. In 2010, the aerospace sector’s ex-ports reached 3.27 billionusd . In 2011, Mexicanaerospace exports are expected to surpass 3.5billionusd .

Most of the Mexican aerospace sector ex-ports are directed to the US market (81%); fol-lowed by France and Germany, each with 2.8%.Canada and the UK come in third place witha participation rate of 2.6% each. Currently,Mexico is the ninth largest provider to the USaerospace market and the sixth supplier to itsEuropean counterpart. Exports are accelerat-ing quickly as manufacturers move into big-ticket items like tails and fuselages.

grOwTH & evOluTiOn

Mexico’s aerospace sector is sustained by fivemain axes: Manufacturing; Engineering; De-sign; Education (training, coaching and educa-tion) and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

(MRO). Currently, over 70% of aerospacecompanies in Mexico focus, partially or totally,on component manufacturing. For their part MRO companies account for close to 23% of to-tal companies and their main capacities focuson providing maintenance for turbines and en- gines, auxiliary power units, fuselages, electric-electronic systems and landing systems, amongothers. Finally, services and engineering com-panies account for close to 13% of the industry.

In terms of components developed in Mexi-co, around 23% of companies have engine man-

today, mexico is the coUntry

with the largest investment

in aerospace manUfactUring

and holds the sixth place

in aerospace research and

development investment.



30 Negocios Photo courtesy of safran / inFogRaPhic oldemar

ufacturing and maintenance capabilities. The

industry also has capacities in the manufactureof fuselages and, in particular, their parts (15%).In addition, 7% of companies manufacture elec-trical systems and another 4% manufactureand maintain undercarriages.

In an initial stage, Mexico manufacturedsimple parts, autoparts and assemblies. In just a few years, the country entered into asecond stage, which includes manufacturingof turbines, fuselage, harnesses and landing gears, among other products. Today, Mexicoenvisions entering a third stage in whichcomplete airplanes will be designed and as-sembled, consolidating the country as a first class innovation center.

That evolution process is supported by sev-eral favorable conditions. For example, Mexi-co is one of the few countries in the world that relies on a bilateral agreement of mutual rec-ognition of certifying systems: Aeronautical-BASA (Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement)together with the FAA (Federal Aviation Ad-ministration) of the US. Therefore, it is rel-evant that Mexico has the procedures neededto implement the BASA in design and manu-

facturing processes (IPA).

regiOnal develOPmenT

Although aerospace companies are estab-lished in almost all of Mexican states, someregions register faster growth rates and havebecome attractive poles for aerospace develop-ment. That is the case of Baja California, Jaliscoand Querétaro.

Baja California’s aerospace industry is inte- grated mainly by foreign companies. Neverthe-less, a growing number of national companies

take part not only in manufacturing but also in

complex tasks such as design, R&D and innova-tion projects.

Rockwell Collins was the first aerospacecompany to establish in the state in 1966. Sincethen, other large multinationals began openingfacilities in the state, such as Zodiac, GKN, Chro-malloy, Honeywell and Gulfstream, among oth-ers.

Currently 52 out of the 232 aerospace com-panies established in Mexico, are located inBaja California employing more than 13,000people –that is more than 40% of the industry’sworkforce in the country. Furthermore, 65% of the aerospace companies established in BajaCalifornia are certified in AS9100 and NAD-CAP, a key element that guarantees the qualityof the state production.

Some 40 years ago, Jalisco had alreadydeveloped high-tech manufacturing capabili-ties in the electronics and automotive sectors,so the upgrade to aerospace production wasa natural progression. As a result, the state isplanning to increase the number of companiesthat provide parts and engineering servicesover the next 10 years.

Companies in the region are driving thistransition by obtaining certification in aero-space quality standards, such as AS9100 formanufacturing, supply chain management andlogistics. In addition to this, embedded-designcompanies that service global original equip-ment manufacturers (OEM) are performingresearch and development (R&D) activities.

Because of its broad base of young engineers,Jalisco is the ideal place to develop aerospacedesign and engineering activities. In fact, inGuadalajara, the state-capital, existing projects

are in place for producing engine components

wire harnesses, cables, landing-system components and heat exchangers, and for providingplastic injection, precision machining, fuselaginsulation, and maintenance, repair and over-haul, among others.

Some of the sophisticated engineering projects that are currently handled in Guadalaja-ra’s metropolitan area include engineering instrumentation for flow diagnostics, computervision, mathematical pattern recognition withmetrology facilities, rapid prototyping and virtual instrumentation.

In Querétaro, Montreal-based Bombardier,the first major company to arrive in that statein 2006, opened shop hoping that a big-namecompany’s presence in Mexico would attracothers in the supply chain. Things went according to plan, and now Bombardier –andother major aerospace companies establishedin Querétaro– contracts with a network of regional suppliers.

What started as a challenging idea, is nowadays recognized as the strongest Mexican aerospace cluster. Following successful international models such as Toulouse, France, Wichit

and Seattle in the US and Montreal, CanadaQuerétaro has consolidated itself as a strongaerospace cluster.

Querétaro Aerospace Valley is formed bymore than 50 local and foreign companies employing 4,800 workers.

The Querétaro Aerospace Park is the pre-mier location in Mexico exclusively for aerospace suppliers. Located in Querétaro’s international airport, it offers a combination of infrastructure, competitive lease rates, and the firsAeronautic University in the area.n

some 40 years ago, Jalisco

had already developed

high-tech manUfactUring

capaBilities in the electronics

and aUtomotive sectors, so

the Upgrade to aerospace

prodUction was a natUral

progression.

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i d o

i / c e t i v e

c e t e /

s a f r a n

promexico: negocios magazine: rising to maximum height

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