Lexmark announces new projects in Ciudad Juarez

As a border, Ciudad Juárez is the location of important operations nationally and internationally. Here there are even unique plants and technical centers that do not exist elsewhere in the country. One of these cases is that of Lexmark, a company dedicated to the manufacture of cartridges used in all printers of the same brand in North America and also in the south of the continent. Now Lexmark seems to enter a new stage due to the investments, new projects and environmental sustainability strategies that they have decided to implement in their operations. In an exclusive interview for Mexico Industry, Guillermo Gallegos, general manager of the Lexmark Ciudad Juárez campus, shared the details of the current state of the plant.

NEW INVESTMENT, NEW PROJECTS

According to Guillermo Gallegos, Lexmark made an investment in its campus located in Ciudad Juarez with the aim of adding a new plant focused on the final assembly of printers for the Americas market.

This new project had an estimated investment of 60 million pesos (3 million dollars).

Gallegos estimated that this new plant will produce up to 450,000 printers a year.

In addition, it will have 70,000 square feet of productive area and 230,000 square feet of warehouse for components and finished product, giving a total of 300,000 square feet of new buildings.

The manager also explained that the project will generate around 200 new direct jobs in the locality.

Since 2007, Lexmark Ciudad Juarez had not made such a significant expansion in its operations; The last was the opening of a cartridge recycling plant at the plant.

The manager shared that Lexmark is always looking for opportunities under the regionalization strategy, in which they manufacture the products consumed in the region in which they are used, in this case, North and Latin America.

He shared that producing these printers in Mexico brings considerable benefits in logistic terms to meet the demand of the continent.

The expansion was planned for 1 year, so they are in the last stage of the project, the implementation, to start operations in the first or second week of December 2019.

As general manager of the campus, Gallegos said he was excited and happy about this new operation. He commented that this expansion was challenging, as they competed with other manufacturers, external to Lexmark, in Mexico. “In the end the question was whether these printers were to be manufactured inside or outside of Lexmark? The business analysis showed that it was better to manufacture within Lexmark, ”he explained.

Among the advantages of manufacturing these printers in the plant, Gallegos mentioned several:

• The speed to implement

• Staff knowledge

• Almost 25 years of experience manufacturing Lexmark products

For the manager, this new project is a vote of confidence from the corporate and reflects the work and effort of all Lexmark Juarez associates.

These printers also pose a challenge for company personnel. According to Gallegos, employees are in a process to learn how to manufacture these printers to achieve the production numbers expected by the company.

He estimated that it will take the staff 3 to 4 months to reach maximum production capacity. “The Juarez group, no matter what challenge it has, regularly responds efficiently. I have full confidence that our associates will be able to manufacture this product with the high quality standards that Lexmark requires, ”he said.

PLANT IN CIUDAD JUÁREZ, KEY PART IN THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF LEXMARK

For Lexmark, the plant in Ciudad Juárez stands out due to actions in search of environmental and social sustainability, focused on a reduction in the use of natural and recycled resources.

“Lexmark staff begins with best practices for energy conservation, rational water use and waste reduction, which need to be documented to generate significant changes. In recent years, Lexmark has made progress in its sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives at the Ciudad Juarez Campus in Mexico, which has a deep commitment to environmental and social progress, ”said Allen Waugerman, president and CEO of Lexmark International , Inc.

In this sense, Lexmark Mexico has managed to reduce 10% of energy consumption by 2020, after having reported a progress of 13%. This is due to electricity management programs, the results of which are sought to be replicated in plants worldwide.

In the case of the plant in Ciudad Juárez, the recycling operations building is certified (LEED) Gold, in addition to being focused on saving and energy efficiency achieved through the use of intelligent compressed air systems, chillers, ventilation , heating and use of LED lamps.