The technology firm Cisco Systems Inc. plans on doubling its investment in manufacturing in Mexico by as much as US $2 billion a year, improving processes, implementing its Internet of Things (IoE) initiative and contributing to smart manufacturing.
The company’s Latin America chief, Jordi Botifoll, said at a press conference this week that Mexico is in a position where it could gain ground over other countries and improve its competitiveness.
He said smart manufacturing, in which automation and information technology are incorporated into manufacturing processes, would make Mexico more attractive to multinational firms.
The company’s director of business development for IoE said manufacturing has been isolated from the internet, that systems used to be closed, but smart manufacturing is changing that. Horacio Werner also said Cisco is working with the government to generate a smart manufacturing community to bring the benefits of IoE to manufacturing areas.
There are challenges in terms of security, he said, and what preoccupies investors is knowing the country is safe and predictable and has interconnectivity and automated systems and processes.
It’s an important time, Werner said, because in the next 12 to 24 months a large quantity of Chinese manufacturing is going to move. “. . . if Mexico isn’t prepared to be more attractive, more than it is at present, it’s going to lose a historic opportunity.”
Cisco Systems has had a manufacturing base in Mexico for 20 years, and the components produced here are worth $8 billion annually.
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