The diagnosis of the conditions prevailing in the aerospace sector in Mexico has changed radically from what was observed in 2019 to the present. Prior to the pandemic that started in 2020, forecasts pointed that by 2025 the Asian region would be the largest market for this sector. However, the COVID virus changed that axis, and today North America is the most important region.
"Without a doubt, OEMs and top-tier assemblers are reconsidering the configuration of their production and supply chain, and are looking with much more intention and commitment to Mexico," says Claire Marie Ségolène Barnouin Préaud, director of Monterrey Aerocluster, a civil association that under the triple helix model joins the efforts of companies, state government and academia to form strategic plans that enable the development of this high-flying industry. This cluster will be present at FABTECH Mexico with interesting presentations by experts who will provide valuable experiences to visitors.
In addition, another phenomenon contributes to increase the attention to Mexico: the labor desertion that is intensifying in the United States, which causes companies to face an unprecedented personnel crisis, with the consequent closure of workshops and companies that cannot continue their operations, so they decide to move their lines or even their entire businesses to countries with lower costs and with more available talent. Mexico, the first geographic neighbor of the North American power, is already beginning to receive rounds of investors and visits from companies that come to do their due diligence. This could mean important opportunities for the country.
"Unlike 10 or 15 years ago, today we have a better organization among the different institutions that represent the aerospace sector in Mexico, such as regional clusters and the FEMIA [Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry], which added to a greater dialogue with the authorities allows us to make a common front and a much more attractive value offer to attract and retain business here," says Claire Barnouin, who also heads the French-Mexican Chamber of Commerce in the northeast of the country.
Expectations, Sky-High
According to estimates by the director of Monterrey Aerocluster, until before the pandemic, at the beginning of 2020, Mexico was in 11th or 12th position as a global supplier in the sector, exporting close to 13 billion dollars, while importing almost 11 billion.
Although the great havoc caused by COVID in the entire supply chain and production caused the exchange of raw materials and components, trade and employment (which fell 20% in Mexico) to decrease drastically in the global aerospace industry, everything points to the fact that in 2022, and even more noticeably in 2023, it will not only be able to recover its pre-pandemic levels when record figures were reached, but will achieve double-digit growth as it had been happening in the last 15 years.
"We intend to recover those levels and reach level 10 as a country supplier of aeronautical components," says Claire Barnouin, who according to her projections for the year 2024 will be able to generate about 100,000 jobs in the country in this sector and add about 400 companies in the industry throughout the country.
The director of the cluster, which this year celebrates its 14th anniversary and has 50 associates, identifies that although Mexico has sufficient know-how in the transformation of materials (metal-mechanical, particularly in the northern region) at the supply chain level, it is in the area of surface treatments or special processes, from chemical and thermal treatments to coatings, where it is necessary to focus and develop more capabilities and processes. "These processes have a certain degree of complexity and must be certified by the end customers, but there is a lot of demand that today is absorbed by companies abroad. We have to show what the demands are and develop local suppliers or, failing that, attract investors who decide to set up operations here in our region," proposes Barnouin Préaud.
French flagship companies in the aeronautical and aerospace sector such as Airbus Helicopter or Safran Group are established in the country, as well as other smaller but highly specialized companies, and of course, large US firms such as Honeywell, GE, PCC Auroestructures or Parker also have extensive operations, in addition to the well-known Bombardier, from Canada, and the Spanish companies ITP Aero or Aernnova.
Claire Marie is confident that Monterrey Aerocluster, during FABTECH Mexico, will properly represent not only the aerospace sector but also the advanced manufacturing sector, particularly companies dedicated to machining and stamping parts, in addition to bringing together in a single venue those who execute the processes, those who use the latest technology, the protagonists of the new market trends. "We will learn and meet new suppliers and customers, and as a cluster it will allow us to position ourselves as a civil association that brings together the guild of these industrialists," concludes Barnouin.