Southern Expansion

Collectron
www.collectron-int.com / HQ: Nogales, Ariz. / Employees: 5,500 / Maria Elena Rigoli: “We will be the
[employer] that [offers] the most experienced people, and the one that could manage any [company’s] expectations.”
Southern Expansion
Collectron has helped hundreds of clients successfully
establish Mexican production facilities. By Genevieve Diesing
collectron says it is the
oldest shelter plan operator in mexico and has subsidiaries in five cities.
Nogales, Ariz.-based Collectron has
helped more than 200 U.S.-owned
manufacturing companies save labor
costs by taking part in its Shelter Plan
program, a system the 40-year-old
company created to allow foreign
manufacturers to test production in
Mexico before committing to forming a Mexican subsidiary.
Since 1969, Collectron’s Shelter
Plan Program has simplified the
process of starting and operating
operations in Mexico as Maquiladoras
Operations, Collectron says.
Maquiladoras Operations – or “twin
plants” – are companies operating
under a special Mexican customs
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regime and were designed similarly
to a production-sharing model originally instituted in Portugal. More
than 4,000 companies operate under
this model in Mexico today.
Using Collectron’s system absolves long-term commitments, large
capital outlays and long start-up
schedules, it says, so a client needs
only to invest in equipment, materials, the transfer of technology and onsite plant management to launch
operations in the region – and benefit
from cheaper labor. For example, a
company can pay an employee an
hourly rate of $1.14 to $2.16, depending on skill level and other factors.
“U.S.-owned and foreign manufacturing companies continue to move
production to Mexico to take advantage of Mexico’s low-cost, qualityconscious work force, its proximity to
the United States and Mexico’s free
trade agreements with 32 countries,”
Collectron notes.
Collectron is the oldest shelter
plan operator in Mexico, it says, and
its subsidiaries are located and operate in five cities in the state of Sonora,
Mexico. The company manages 32
manufacturing facilities and leases
and manages more than 3.5 million
square feet of total space. It employs a
total of 5,500 people.
Collectron
Today, companies require a much
more educated and skilled workforce,
Rigoli says, which Collectron can provide. “We see companies bringing a
lot of technologies, which takes less
people and more technically skilled
workers,” she says. “We will be the
employer that offers the most experienced people, and the one that could
manage any company’s expectations.”
Rigoli sees the biggest demand for
expertise in the aerospace, electronic
and communications sectors. mt
Specialized Fields
Collectron does business with
companies in highly specialized
industries. These include:
collectron says it works
to ensure it provides
clients with employees who
are technically skilled.
F U N D E M E N TA LS
A CCOUNTING
I MPROVEMENT
D IALOGUE
M ARKETS
C ONTENTS
M F G TOMORROW
N EWS
E CONOMY
Collectron’s employees are bi-lingual and “bi-cultural,” the company
notes, and have extensive experience in starting-up and operating
Maquiladora plants. In addition to
being affordable, employees are more
than competent, President Maria
Elena Rigoli says. “It is important to
mention that production quality has
improved dramatically during the past
10 years,” she notes. “For example,
Ford Motors’ automobile stamping
and assembly plant in Hermosillo,
Sonora has been recognized by J.D.
Power and Associates as the second
most efficient automobile assembly
and stamping plant in the world.”
Economic Evolution
The Maquiladora industry is the
dominant economic force in its state,
Collectron says. Of the 92 Maquiladora
establishments in Nogales, 65 are
established at seven industrial parks
with a total of 25,400 employees. Six
of the 50 companies established in
Sonora fall into the electronic field.
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The industry has evolved significantly over the past 40 years, Collectron
notes. The first wave of companies to
take part in the business model were
mainly labor-intensive textile operations fields, the company says. The
second wave leaned less towards
assembly and more toward manufacturing processes. “Such firms used
automated and semi-automated
machines and robotics,” Collectron
says. “They rely on highly skilled
labor, such as specialized engineers
and technicians.
“Technological dependence on
the parent company disappears in
third-generation Maquiladoras and
thus decision-making becomes
autonomous,” the company continues. “Delphi Corporations Mexico
Technical Center in Cd. Juarez is a
good example of a third-generation Maquiladora. Delphi’s Cd.
Juarez operation employs about 700
Mexican engineers to develop patented products, such as oil sensor and
brake systems for automobiles.”
Aerospace:
>Belden Wire
>Radiall
>Rockwell
Communications:
>Winchester Electronics
>Alcatel
Automotive:
>Zodiac
>New England Interconnect
Medical Devices:
>Becton Dickenson
>Winchester Electronics
>B.D. Medical
International
Clientele
Collectron serves companies all over
the world. These clients are located in
the following regions:
Mexico
> Cellucap
USA:
> Arrow Electronics
> Otis Elevator
> Moen
> Xerox
Europe
> Radiall (France)
> Zodiac (France)
> EuroFresh (Holland)
> Edwards Vacuum (United Kingdom)
Published by Schofield Media Ltd. Tel: 312.236.4090 Fax: 312.236.4266
On behalf of Collectron International Management © 2010 Schofield Media Ltd. All rights reserved.