German technology company Siemens is looking to the Mexican market for technological and sustainable solutions, including automation and electrification of processes to reduce emissions.
The company also plans to invest more than P2.2 billion (128 million US dollars) The states of Nuevo León, Jalisco, Queretaro and Chihuahua, creating more than 1,000 jobs.
BNamericas is in talks with Alejandro Brenfalk, CEO of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, to learn more about the company's main areas and plans.
American names: Can you tell us about Siemens' areas of interest in Mexico and how you evaluate your business in the country?
Pre-infarction: We're celebrating 130 years in Mexico…so what we're accomplishing this year is a great accomplishment. We have five factories, plus a headquarters in Mexico City and two R&D centers.
These factories are located in Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua), Monterrey (Nuevo León), Queretaro, and Mexico City. They mainly focus on the development, design and production of medium and low voltage electrical equipment for the industrial and residential sector.
We have 26 sales and service offices in the region. We also have a global shared services center in Guadalajara (Jalisco) and are responsible for all of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean – 26 countries in the region. We serve key industries such as automotive, food and beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, cement, mining and electrical industry.
We have three main areas of focus. The first is the industrial sector, i.e. manufacturing, operations, automation and control. The other is infrastructure. We have electrical infrastructure here, especially for electrical systems, for smart buildings and electric chargers, for example. The other is mobility, i.e. trains, subways, intelligent systems for handling people and chargers.
American names: What can you tell us about the investments announced to expand operations?
Pre-infarction: We are going through an expansion phase, which is very stimulating, not only in Mexico, but globally. In the middle of last year, we announced an investment of 2 billion euros [US$2.14bn] Worldwide, significant investments are made in Asia, Europe and the United States, especially in new high-tech factories and innovation laboratories.
As part of this, in Mexico we have several important investments. The first we call the Mitras project in Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, which is a new factory of about 20,000 square meters, involving about a billion pesos in total investment. We hope to open that this year.
At the end of last year, we announced an investment in Queretaro in a new factory in the Kaizen Industrial Park, which we hope to open in the middle of this year. The center will specialize in manufacturing products and we will double the production capacity.
We have a factory in Querétaro, in Balvanera, but this will be our second factory. Same thing in Monterrey. We have one factory and Mitra will be the second. In the case of Queretaro, the investment will be 900 million pesos.
Finally, earlier this year, we opened a factory in Ciudad Juárez, called Itesa 4. In the 16,000 square meter factory, we manufacture measurement equipment for energy distribution for the building sector. We will have four product assembly lines, and later six more lines for metal components and aluminum bars.
American names: Is this expansion into Mexico part of a strategy to take advantage of nearby regions?
Pre-infarction: There are a lot of reasons, and it is clear that the market is growing and these investments are justified. On the one hand, local transportation has helped the vote of confidence in the region by the corporate sector in Germany and the performance we have seen by being so close to our customers in Mexico and North America. Mexico benefits from this situation very well because it is a major player in the global economy.
We are an open economy. We have a lot of free trade agreements. It's because of the geographical location of course, adjacent to the United States. We have everything to continue this growth trajectory in the companies where we work, in infrastructure, industry and mobility.
Our economic and political stability also helps create investment certainty. This is reflected in the potential and growth we are seeing in the energy industry. It is necessary to replace gas processes or inefficient production procedures with clean energy electric processes to reduce and mitigate carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.
What we do here is a wide range of electrical work ranging from medium voltage power systems, low voltage distribution and power automation to smart electrical grids. We also have systems, solutions and products for energy-intensive buildings, emitting around a third of carbon dioxide emissions.
American names: What potential does Siemens see in Mexico in terms of electricity?
Pre-infarction: We are extensively involved in the electrification and control of conditions required by a data center to make it reliable. We are strongly involved in this trend, not only in Mexico, but throughout the world as well.
On the other hand, in the field of electric mobility, we have a broad presence in many areas of the chain, from battery manufacturing to automation, digitalization and electrification of battery stations. In the assembly of selected battery packs, the assembly of battery cells, we do that as well – we automate these production lines. We train the operators who will manufacture or work in these plants using new technologies, with virtual reality so that the operators are ready when the plant is ready.
So, it's a broad presence from the beginning. We have software tools for electric vehicle design and optimization. Then, to manufacture the batteries, we are in the cell production plants and then assemble the battery packs. And of course, in one of our most important sectors, which is the automotive sector, where the entire vehicle is assembled, we have a presence in practically all manufacturers in Mexico.
And then, outside of the factory, we also have a very strong portfolio of electric chargers for vehicle charging stations, trucks, fleets and delivery vans, so we're present in different aspects and they're both sectors that are clearly growing nationally, the vehicle electric sector and charging infrastructure.
American names: What about decarbonization and sustainability?
Pre-infarction: Sustainability is one of our pillars. Furthermore, more than 90% of our portfolio has a positive impact on our customers' sustainability. We have important solutions that we are implementing in Mexico to track the carbon footprint of each product, not only at the final assembly stage, but throughout the supply chain, including throughout the state.
For example, we signed an agreement with the state of Querétaro to make our platform, called SeaGreen, serve as a basis for collecting CO2 consumption data from the entire industry and stimulating improvement and CO2 emission reduction projects.
In terms of energy generation, transmission and distribution, we also have a significant impact because we are there at all stages with smart systems and smart electrical grids to become increasingly more efficient. Obviously, with power generation, transmission and distribution, both using electrification equipment, low and medium voltage, but also using intelligent sub-controllers to make energy management more intelligent, to be able to automate electricity generation to determine its type. of the energy we will require.
We provide advice on energy efficiency, conversion, gas production or appropriate temperature management in processes requiring steam.
American names: The government is betting on the states located in the southeast, while the neighboring regions are concentrated in the north. Do you see potential in other areas?
Pre-infarction: We see a lot of potential in the region, which is why we launched the Siemens Xcelerator initiative last year to accelerate the sustainable digital transformation of industry for our customers. It's a portfolio tied to what we call industrial transformation, which is connecting the real world to the digital world and being able to emulate real world operations, but digitally, makes it much more efficient and much faster.
So, it's about collaboration. For example, we signed an agreement with Deloitte and Softec, two very important companies in the consulting sector, to develop digital projects. Why? Because we see potential in the sectors we serve, in industry, infrastructure and mobility, which is a good frame of reference for our 130th anniversary.
