Tijuana EDC attended a tour leaded by the San Diego CITD , in collaboration with the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies at San Diego City College and Baja California’s Secretariat of Economic Development (SEDECO). The industrial tour was part of the activities leading up to this year’s Manufacturing Day, it included visits to manufacturing facilities in Tijuana for companies interested in business opportunities in the border region.
More than 24 participants, which included business owners & representatives, as well as trade specialists and economic development professionals from both sides of the border, boarded a chartered bus and participated in the tour that began with a visit to Mexican Customs’ import facilities. During the visit to the import facilities—which was arranged by Tijuana Customs Administrator, Jorge Fernando Boy Espinosa—the group took a guided tour of the import inspection facilities and heard about the process for importing goods into Mexico, including the documentation required and how merchandise is inspected. Jorge Fernando Boy underlined that more than 1,800 commercial crossings take place through this facility per day.
After the tour at Mexican Customs, the group departed to Hunter Custom Manufacturing (HCM), a division of Hunter Industries, which custom molds components and products for the medical device, automotive, industrial, and aerospace industries, among others. At the plant, Ian Monroy, HCM’s Business Development Manager, walked the group through the factory floor and discussed the various components produced there and their manufacturing processes. In addition their manufacturing capabilities, HCM also has a state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution system which allows them to provide just-in-time delivery and inventory management services to its customers.
Once the tour of HCM was concluded, the group took a break for lunch at Tijuana’s popular Food Garden, then headed for the last stop of the day at Össur Mexico.
Össur is a company headquartered in Iceland that manufactures prosthetic solutions and bracing products for people with osteoarthritis and injuries, as well as contract manufacturing of custom hearing aids for DGS/OTICON. At the Össur Mexico facilities, Director of Mexican Operations, Eduardo Salcedo, and his team, which included Production Manager Jaime Hernandez, CNC Manager Alfredo Perez, and DGS Operations Manager Mario Toyos, welcomed the group and provided a presentation on the company history, philosophy, and product lines. The group also heard about Baja California’s growing manufacturing sector and supplier opportunities from Jose Lopez, Undersecretary of Baja California Economic Development Secretariat, before taking a tour of the company’s manufacturing floor. One of the interesting aspects of Össur’s operation is that the products they manufacture are all made to the customer’s exact specifications—from the prosthetics to the hearing aids—and they need to have fast turnaround times. This requires finely tuned manufacturing processes and state-of-the-art equipment.
