Sargent Controls Mexico Manufacturing Testimonial

My name is Harry Labbe, I’m the plant manager for Sargent Aerospace and Defense in Tucson Arizona and Sargent Controls’ Mexico operation is located in Guaymas Mexico.

I’m here today to speak about the experience we’ve had in our Mexico operation. Essentially our experience in running a maquiladora, or what is considered an offshore manufacturing operation.

Our performance, in terms of aerospace manufacturing in Mexico, has been somewhat stellar, in the sense that we had high expectations to meet our customers’ demand.

Our experience manufacturing in Mexico has been a very positive one. Clearly some of the expectations that we’ve had, had to be defined real well. We worked with Offshore Group and doing that really set a stage for our Mexico manufacturing performance in the future.

Sargent Control’s future performance in Mexico is something that we’ve always been concerned about, trying to forecast growth, trying to match the market demands with our growth in our Mexico operation.

Some of the challenges that we’ve encountered include:  the assessment of our staffing to specific needs within our aerospace manufacturing processes. The employees or collective workforce that we’ve hired are well trained, The Offshore Group has done a fantastic job assisting us. There is a training center in La Roca Fuerte industrial park  in Guaymas, Sonora and this has been very positive for us in our efforts to  develop a skilled Mexican workforce to meet our demands. Sargent Control’s and the aerospace industry’s demands are changing all the times.  This means skill and ability requirements are constantly changing as needed to match the capital investments that we have been making.

So what we’ve found at Offshore Group’s industrial parks is that they provide a great environment for us through the flexibility of their Mexican Shelter Program services. We can focus on growing our business while Offshore Group focuses on resources such as HR, talent (workforce) so we don’t have to spend time and energy focusing on those non-value added areas. This has been probably the most positive experience that we’ve had with respect to our business in our Mexico aerospace manufacturing operation.

Going forward; now we are looking at a training system provided by the State of Sonora through its government’s investments in building the industry in the region. The Offshore Group has been essential in providing those connections, while supporting us in Mexico, Tucson and even meeting us at the Paris Airshow to facilitate some of those discussions. The Offshore Group’s support has not only been local, but also global. We get a local and global perspective and, at the end of the day, we’ve found that their performance as a service provider has exceeded what we had as initial expectations.

We have been able to meet our metrics in our Mexico aerospace operation over these past 4 years of development. We’ve met or achieved UTC (United Technologies Corporation) Supplier Gold, which is a globally recognized status, and we are the first company in Mexico to receive this status within the UTC scope or Supplier Gold program.

Beyond that, we’ve found a collaboration of talent within Mexico is vastly different from what it was 15-20 years ago. The government has made significant investment in the education of Mexican manufacturing workforce.  We find people that are computer literate that possess an education that is very technical in nature.  They also exhibit a strong great work ethic. The past stereotypes don’t apply today. Those are some of the fantastic things that are going on with us.

A recommendation that I would make to those thinking of opening a Mexico manufacturing operation is that after utilizing an expat presence in the initial start-up, it is advisable to try to reduce the expat component of the Mexican plant workforce as early as possible as part of an overall strategy. Combine the knowledge, the policies, practices, and procedures that you want your business to run by, and develop the right business strategy using local human resources.