Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1521713
20 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 Forker: Risk reduction is foremost, followed by communication and logistics. You still need to visit your factories and communicate that way. Mexico's advancement of technology is also helping. ere was a time when China was pretty far ahead on almost everything, but the gap is closing. Tell us more about that closing gap. Forker: Demand is driving it. ey see the needs, so they invest in equipment that allows them to perform that type of assembly. I haven't seen much in the way of circuit board fabrica- tion moving to Mexico. Stoehr: ere was some PCB fabrication indus- try years ago, but most companies intentionally got away from it. ere's one board manufac- turer that has expanded into central Mexico in the past few years with a huge 160,000-square- foot board facility. So, we see that happening more oen. Paul, do you see a change in the skill levels of the workforce? How is Mexico responding to provide more skilled workers? Forker: It's hard to quantify that outside our own organization, but we've responded by investing in a high ratio of degreed engineers to production workers to oversee and support lower-skilled workers and bring their skill level up through training. Here's a good example: We have a new cus- tomer pushing us technically, so we have to really examine some of our processes to be sure we're capable, and, if needed, we will put things in place to make sure that we're capable. Stoehr: ere are these border factories called maquiladoras, which are mostly duty- and tar- iff-free where raw materials are assembled, manufactured, or processed, then the finished product is exported. at's a model we follow. However, some of those border zones, like Juarez, are not safe because of drugs crossing the borders. You want to use bodyguards when you go in these areas, and that's just a very dif- ferent experience from other regions that are much safer. ey employ people in their facto- ries oen from other areas of the country who go there to find work. Our facility is in Tecate, just east of Tijuana. We have employees from all over Mexico, many of whom have not graduated from middle or high school. Our company does a lot of train- ing and development for our staff. We teach work skills, computer skills, English classes, and even high school/GED-type classes. Every year, we designate an Education Day and cele- brate anything our employees are doing to bet- ter themselves through training. We hear of other companies with low-trust environments, where employees enter the facility through turnstile gates and there are video cameras everywhere. It just feels very different. On some tours of our facility with potential customers, they'll look around and ask, "Where are all the security cameras?" We tell them that it's not part of our company cul- ture. We don't treat our U.S. employees that way, so why would Mexico be any different? You were early starters in the maquiladora era, and have been around longer than your maquiladora partners. Has that created trust Paul Forker