Abundant Labor Pool for Manufacturing in Mexico
October 19, 2012
Although some manufacturing companies might shed a little concern about the skill level in Mexico’s workers, Mexico graduates more engineering students than the US, Germany, Brazil and Canada. Currently, Mexico graduates about 90,000 engineers and technicians per year. Increased government aid to education programs means that companies who manufacture in Mexico are now working with a highly qualified, skilled and trainable work force.
Mexico has served as a low-cost manufacturing destination for multinational companies, tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers. For instance, many global auto manufacturers hoping to take advantage of the large North American consumer established Mexico manufacturing plants to keep costs low. Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s former President, traveled to Hermosillo back in March to announce Ford’s $1.3 billion investment in the plant. As noted in the article “Mexico Auto Production Rates with World’s Best” published in the Arizona’s Daily Star on September 23rd, Calderón commented on how the labor has made an impact in the plant: “The Hermosillo workers are demonstrating once more that our country has talent, preparation and innovation to generate the best quality and at the level of the best in world.”
The Human Resources Department at North American Production Sharing (NAPS) has seen an increase in the caliber of the labor pool. NAPS offers a package of administrative support services to companies manufacturing in Mexico, which includes human resources and labor recruitment. NAPS has witnessed the rise in qualified engineers and technicians when recruiting for new and current clients. NAPS predicts that Mexico’s abundant labor pool is expected to increase. The significant improvement in university and technical-training programs have proved to boost manufacturing in Mexico and have added increased innovation resulting in better returns on foreign investments.
The education initiatives are specifically designed to make it more advantageous for companies interested in manufacturing in Mexico. For example, in 2009 the government-funded National Aeronautics University of Querétaro opened to teach engineering students techniques in composite materials and design that they would go on to use to build the Canadian firm Bombadier’s LearJet.
Read Full Press Release