AUTOMOTIVE IndUsTrY In MExIcO Ready to Overtake - ProMéxico

38 Negocios ProMéxico Negocios ProMéxico 39
german technology
Manufactured
in Mexico
The German firm W. Voit Automotive welcomes the current peak of the
Mexican automotive industry. For the company, this is the perfect time to
find and secure clients in the dynamic auto parts market.
____
by omar magaña
photos courtesy of w. voit automotive
W. Voit Automotive, the German firm specializing in
production of metal parts for the automotive, electronics
and home appliance industries, intends
to expand from western Mexico to the country’s
El Bajío region, which has recently been the most receptive to
companies interested in developing cars demanded by the world
market.
After a decade of good performance in El Salto, Jalisco, W.
Voit has decided to expand its operations and install a second
plant halfway along the industrial corridor created by large car
manufacturers between Puebla, in the center of the country, and
Monterrey in the north.
“Studies on the automotive market in Mexico tell us that the
El Bajío region is projected to be the largest automotive cluster
in Latin America by 2015,” explains Thomas Oberthuer, the company’s
CFO in Mexico.
The goal is to enter the growth dynamic of this sector, which
is the main consumer of steel and aluminum-stamped pieces for
high precision applications produced by W. Voit since its founding
in 1947 in St. Ingbert, Germany.
The brake systems that Continental produces in Mexico use
W. Voit Automotive membranes and inlaid shells. Bosch’s plant in
Toluca purchases Voit Automotive deep-drawn shells for its electric
motors. ZF Sachs, also located in El Salto, buys products for its
shock absorbers, while Valeo, with production centers in San Luis
Potosí, Aguascalientes and Ciudad Juárez, as well as Brose, in Hermosillo
and Reynosa, requires frames, headers and other pieces
manufactured by W. Voit for its cooling systems.
“We could say that between 50% and 60% of our products leave
the country –not only through us but through our customers,” says
Oberthuer. These days, the attention of the company is focused on
the movements taking place in the states of Querétaro, Guanajuato
and Aguascalientes, where the Asian giants of the automotive sector
–including Mazda and Honda– have begun to set up shop.
“There’s talk of future opportunities for the automotive market
in Mexico and about seeking a second location,” confirms
Oberthuer. Oberthuer’s analysis of the automotive market in
Mexico is backed up by studies made by consultants such as
PricewaterhouseCoopers, who continue to place Mexico among
the world’s 10 major automotive producers, on a list that includes
countries such as China, Japan, the US, Germany, South Korea,
Brazil, India, Spain and France.
Figures show that the Mexican automotive industry overcame the
financial turmoil of 2008 in one piece and, as of 2009, production has
maintained an average growth of 13%. Mexico produces 2.5 million
units per year, of which 1.8 million are intended for export.
According to the experts, Mexico has a steady flow of investments
in this economic sector and also possesses skilled labor,
traits that make it an attractive country for major industry players
worldwide. Thus, the arrival of new assembly plants has activated
all the supply chains linked to the industry and encouraged the
formation of clusters of suppliers and service providers.
W. Voit Automotive perfectly exemplifies the exponential
growth that auto parts companies have experienced over the past
five years, even before the acceleration foreseen in the near future.
The Mexican subsidiary of the firm was founded in 1998 from
the merger of a Mexican company and Voit in Germany under the
trade name Grupo Kervo, with equity shares.
The company arrived in Mexico to become the leading supplier
of stamped metal pieces for the Bosch plant in Toluca but a delay
in the great technological conglomerate’s projects caused W. Voit’s
operations to start slowly and the company did not begin production
until 2001.
Grupo Kervo’s first customers included companies in the electronics
industry from the Guadalajara metropolitan area and by
the end of 2001 its sales volume had already reached a million usd.
The main catalysts for the company’s development came soon
after. The first was the consolidation of contracts with Bosch; the
second, the bankruptcy of Grupo Ferrau, a competitor in the production
and sale of metal stampings in Mexico.
Its business relationship with Bosch consolidated and in doing
so became the leading company specializing in the development,
stamping and finishing of metal parts, so W. Voit’s growth in
Mexico was ensured.
“The fact is, at first, there wasn’t a single company that could
manufacture the parts with the tolerance tests required by Robert
Bosch,” says Oberthuer. By 2004, the company had already registered
a turnover of 15 million usd and in 2006, the assets of the
Mexican partner were absorbed by the German group, at which
time the company adopted the name by which it is now known.
Currently, W. Voit Automotive de México sales amount to 40
million usd annually. The Mexican subsidiary is constituted as an
independent entity, responsible for its own funding and in the last
five years it has maintained a consistent investment of about 15
million usd.“We see very strong growth for the company in Mexico;
we want to develop a second line of technology within a three year
time limit,” reveals Oberthuer.
In addition to this new technology, W. Voit Automotive considers
it a priority to start production of its own tools in Mexico.
Currently, there’s a design team of nine engineers of different
nationalities working in the company’s plant in El Salto, which is
w. voit has decided to expand its
operations and install a second
plant halfway along the industrial
corridor created by large car
Manufacturers between puebla,
in the center of the country, and
Monterrey in the north.
certified in the development of stamping tools –but their production
is still being carried out in Germany.
In order for that to happen, the company is also investing in the
education and training of the staff at a plant that now has 418 employees,
including designers, administrators and human resources
in the workshop, production, logistics and quality control areas.
“Last year we began with our own training program. We’re
doing it in collaboration with the Center for Industrial Job
Training (CECATI); young people between 16 and 18 years of age
are hired and they enter into a dual system in which they spend
three days in CECATI for theoretical and practical courses and
an extra three days at the plant to learn all the processes,” explains
Oberthuer.
Other employees have scholarships in various areas of engineering
from the Jalisco Technical University (UTJ) and the company
is defining a new phase in its training endeavor, which will be
to transfer a technical career specialized in the production of dyes
from Germany to Mexico.
Undoubtedly, this is the ideal time for W. Voit Automotive in
Mexico. The opportunities have been placed directly before it and
the company is prepared to seize them. n
www.wvoit.com