Guanajuato towards the development of smart parks and ports

New technologies implementations in industrial parks and ports to improve logistic efficiency and industrial competitiveness

With the changes on the logistics sector and international trade, the creation of research, development and innovation is fundamental to improve the infrastructure and competitiveness of the port industry.

This reality is promoting the new “Smart Port” concept, defined as a development that apply to information technologies to power the logistics 4.0 infrastructure, with that is seek to guarantee the sustainable development in the supply chain.

That is why Guanajuato Inland Port (GIP) is joining this new era of the sector, aiming to simplify complex processes, reduce energy consumption, lower transportation costs and therefore having more attractive connections to benefit the manufacture environment of the State.

Luis Quiroz Echegaray, director of the GIP said that for 20 years was planned the industrialization of Guanajuato and that today with the Fourth Industrial Revolution they would like to reinvent themselves.

“The world changes fast.  Right now you hear a lot about e-commerce and quick delivery, but behind that there is a merchandise movement and it is important to satisfy the customers, but our strategic question is: where are we and to where are we going? We have to make an entire planning,” he said.

Currently, the Guanajuato “Dry Port” is one of the industrial logistics and of business platform that has consolidated nationally and in Latin America, for being a site that has centralized the manufacture, logistics, technology creation and innovation.

“It was designed in a disruptive manner, technology was generated to position it and today our innovation is recognized,” he said.

Currently, the Inland Port has 1,277 hectares, from which more than 1.5 million m² were built, more than 3.8 billion dollars of direct investment, an Interior Customs, an Intermodal Railroad Terminal, 4 industrial parks and one focused in aeronautics, an In-Bond facility, the Instituto Politecnico Nacional and soon a CONALEP, more than 120 companies from 18 countries settled.

About 17,000 have been generated there and it is planned to reach 25,000 collaborators in 2022; likewise, GIP has a City of Innovation, Technology and Services, as well as an Innovation, Logistics and Transportation Center.

With all those elements it became the first Dry Port in being integrated to the Inter-American Committee on Ports of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2015, which allows potentiating internationally.

TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

When analyzing that for 2020, 50 % of the vehicles in Mexico will be produced in the center area of the country, GIP intents to consolidate inside the national and international industry as a profitable Smart Port 4.0, and to achieve this they introduced the vision inside the Guanajuato Development State Plan 2040.

With which, they will ensure an industrial and logistic infrastructure that facilitates the economic activities, and in turn they could create the Logistics and Transportation Center of Guanajuato.

Last year, they held the congress “Global Logistic Innovation” and the World Leaders Summit in Logistics Innovation, where experts participated in this sector and they told them in which areas they have to make changes:

1.     Change the terrestrial cargo of long itinerary to railroad

2.     Improve intermodal connectivity of the ports in the country

3.     Project the demand of cargo flows from origins and destinations, to determine the bottle neck points

4.     Improve connectivity of the main logistic corridors

5.     Develop a national map of the desirable infrastructure, service and technology in the country

6.     To increase people’s mobility system through railroad

7.     Promote innovation in production, process and services to reduce time and costs

8.     Create the infrastructure for high speed cargo trains

“It is important for us to attract and retain the companies that arrive here, and we have to comply what we promised because if not, they leave.  For that it is important having a sustainment program for companies and it is to continuously change the service schemes,” he said.

For the consolidation of the Dry Port, there is a new business model which consists in having a good relation in ruling and the Guanajuato Inland Port Organisms (OGPI, by its Spanish initials;) and in turn, generate more efficient energy, as well as in the hydraulic part where it is sought to implement an operator organism.

Regarding human capital formation, they will be together with the Instituto Pirelli and of Volkswagen.  Regarding the Smart City they intent to create a housing polygon at GIP.

About digital and smart security, they will implement more civil protection, security 4.0 and with the help of Ministry of Public Security C5i.

Regarding Innovation City, they are approaching institutions to this planning such as the CIATEC, the Centro de Innovacion en Optica (CIO) and the CIMAT to generate more research, technological development and innovation; as well as the creation of the Center on Innovation, Logistics and Transportation.

“Those are the challenges, with the Smart Port is to generate a collaboration community using technology, governance elements, logistics, smart infrastructure, the improvement of people mobility, security, training and a smart economy,” he said.

INDUSTRIAL PARKS FACE THE FUTURE

Before an imminent capture of massive information and its processing, is necessary that the industrial parks – as well as smart cities – are updated and join the industry 4.0, thus was announced by Claudia Avila Conelly, director of the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (AMPIP, by its Spanish initials.)

In exclusive interview with Mexico Industry, Avila said that this subject has been analyzed for a year among the members of AMPIP aiming to know the reality being faced by the parks before the imminent arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Internet of Things.

“We ask ourselves, what is happening with the industrial parks? We see smart buildings and smart cities, then we have to be prepared, this will impact us and in a very positive way.  We are reviewing the characteristics of the future industrial buildings, of parks and of what today is being demanded by the businessmen, as the manufacturing processes also have changed with the impact of industry 4.0,” she said.

She announced that the AMPIP is working together with the NAIOP, settled in the United States (Commercial Real Estate Development Association,) who represents not only the industrial market, but also shopping centers and offices, therefore, they are implementing strategies of industry 4.0 on their new developments, taking into account aspects related with electronic commerce, among other issues.

“We do not want to be left behind, we are being proactive to know what is happening in the real estate market and how this technological change impact us, aiming to be at forefront,” she emphasized.

She noted that there already are smart parks in other countries such as China, where the smart part is related with the use of technology to measure the efficient use of electric and solar energy, companies are connected to a digital network to register consumption, generating information as of big data.

“Another innovation is the use of Business Intelligence and the Business Analytics, to generate data and know, for example, the number of containers entering the parks, generating information that allows making decisions,” she explained.

AMPIP settled as part of their action lines in industry 4.0 knowing if there are parks applying these technologies, or that they have the need of applying them, verify if they have or not the required infrastructure and investigate the cost this will generate them, aiming to provide a cost-benefit landscape.

She noted that ProMexico has a program called “Route Maps” in sectors such as automotive industry, where strengths and weaknesses are identified to have a wide perspective and upon that establish strategies to make a decision.

Regarding this, she revealed that the AMPIP is working with a Route Map of Industrial Parks with a real estate approach, with the objective of knowing opportunity areas in electronic commerce, smart distribution centers and the use of industrial buildings on each park.  In a second stage they pretend to expand this data base to speed the distribution centers, merchandise delivery, among other aspects.

GUANAJUATO INDUSTRIAL PARKS, SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLE

Carlos Alberto Martinez Marquez, president of the governing board from the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (APIPEG,) said that the industrial parks have achieved to satisfy the needs of companies and it has been achieved triggering the economic development of the region.

But he detailed that it is important to improve the spaces, access routes, safety, connectivity, logistics, construction and of services of the industrial park by implementing information technologies to potentiate the industry.

“With the demand of the productive activity, new commercial and of production trends: just in time, zero inventories, door to door service have to transform in order to be more intelligent,” he said.

He explained that with the se of forefront technology, trained suppliers, and parks that guarantee the return of investment and be profitable, the improvement of the connectivity, security systems and the use of renewable energies will create better logistic nodes.

He said that there are European countries pioneers in this subject such as England, Germany, France, Denmark and Spain who are at forefront generating smart industrial spaces that have taken them to be more competitive in the industry and are serving the high productivity demand and ecologic need.

In the country has been gradually increased the industrial land offer, building construction and services he said.  Mexico has more than 650 industrial parks attached to the Parks Official Standard and are looking for the way of changing their modality to Smart Parks.

Regarding Guanajuato, he referred that the industrial parks in the region are about to be transformed with the support of developers such as Lintel, Amistad, Marabis, Cuadritos, Vesta, Vynmsa, Advance, Central Guanajuato, Opcion, Amexhe and Stiva, among others.

“In APIPEG we are promoting the implementation of better practices in quality matters.  This is because we believe that one of the keys for success is the differentiation through added value services that allow users operating in optimum conditions,” he noted.