Industrial sector strengthens with the triple helix
Aguascalientes
By Alejandra Méndez
With the firm objective of building a new ecosystem that will make the state of Aguascalientes a national and international benchmark for its quality manufacturing, qualified workforce and geographical location, the Aguascalientes Industrial Cluster (CLIA) was created, which will bring together the most important automotive companies of the entity, the academy and the government.
In an exclusive interview for Mexico Industry, Luis Ricardo Martínez Castañeda, CLIA spokesperson, pointed out that the Cluster will work in four of the seven sectors included in the economic plan of the Martín Orozco Sandoval state administration, which is projected for 2045 : Automotive, information technology, aerospace and biomedical.
"We are aligned and with a long-term vision, we observe that in 2045 the state is characterized by its strength in these sectors thanks to the work that will be carried out by the triple helix," he added.
The strategic lines in which the CLIA will work will be:
• Innovation: Industry 4.0, incubator of new technologies, informative observatory, development of new products.
• Talent: Training, effective bonding, retention, knowledge economy.
• Conscious leadership: Develop the CLIA management structure, permeate a vision of humanistic leadership, generate economic development in the state of Aguascalientes.
• Globalization: Identity, vocation and branding, talent, support, agreements, platform, infrastructure.
Luis Ricardo Martínez Castañeda stated that currently there are 21 companies and three universities that are part of the CLIA and in the following months they will work to integrate more Tier 1, with the aim of closing 2021 with 40 or 50 companies.
"Nissan Mexicana, Flex, Continental, Marelli, EATON, Secretary of Economic Development of Aguascalientes, Universidad Panamericana Aguascalientes, Tecnológico de Monterrey Aguascalientes, Technological Institute of Aguascalientes, to name a few," he said.
AUTOMOTIVE OVERVIEW
Regarding the vehicle sector, the CLIA spokesperson indicated that 19% of the gross domestic product (GDP) that is generated in the state is generated by the automotive industry, which is generated by all the suppliers of Nissan and Compas.
"Additionally, more than 35,000 direct jobs have been created in these industries and in Aguascalientes one of the main foreign direct investment capitals is Japanese, more than 50% of this investment is from Japan and 90% goes directly to the automotive sector" , he asserted.
In recent years, very important projects of German capital have been registered in the hydrocalida entity, four years ago there was only a 7% investment percentage and currently it has reached 10 percent.
"With the work that is going to be carried out hand in hand with academia, companies and the government, we have projected that in the coming years, Germany will make more investments in Aguascalientes and reach 14 percent," he said.
SUPPLY GENERATION
Luis Ricardo Martínez Castañeda shared that previous years, in Aguascalientes, more than 670,000 units have been produced for the Nissan brand and for those that produce Mercedes Benz.
"We are a state that has distinguished itself by having an automotive industrial tradition and we want to take advantage of it to develop the other sectors that the CLIA is going to strengthen," he said.
Three assembly plants are located in the entity, 35 Tier 1 companies and more than 100 Tier 2 and Tier 3 companies, therefore, in order to develop the value chain, they will launch a call for these companies and SMEs to join the Cluster.
FUTURE PLANS
Finally, Luis Ricardo Martínez Castañeda indicated that the CLIA will work hand in hand with the triple helix, the National Network of Automotive Industry Clusters and the Centro Bajío Occidente Alliance to boost the competitiveness of the industry, attract new investments, improve training of human talent, obtain greater links, develop suppliers, support companies to export their products, among others.
