Mexican maquiladoras : New capabilities of coordination and the emergence of a new generation of companies

SummaryThe assembly industry for export in Latin-American countries such as Mexico (called maquiladoras or ‘in-bond industry’) is at the biggest crossroads in its history. it is observed Auto parts and electronics plants are increasingly competitive, with greater diffusion of complexity, technology, organization and skills (in second and third generation companies) and new aspects of centralized coordination representing qualitative changes. However, maquiladoras are also in the most serious crisis in their history, which has negatively impacted on employment, their location’s regional activity and on reduction of foreign direct investment. Although maquiladora manufacturing is now picking up – largely due to economic recovery in the United States - there is concern among strategic local actors, that two years of crisis has begun a long term decline in manufacturing along the border, due to Mexico’s relatively high cost of labor when compared to that of countries like China.In this context the analysis of different types of companies according to their productive, organizational and labor complexity (generations) will help understand companies which are being affected in different ways by economic recession and particularly by new competitors. This article is structured in five sections. Sections one and two present the importance of maquiladora in the case of Mexico and its current international role. Section three shows a description of the three generations of labor complexity. Section four is a critical discussion of each generation of companies. Finally, section five presents the proposal of a new fourth generation of companies, based on centralized coordination of different activities. The research results are based on a case study at Delphi Corporation located in Juarez, Mexico.