Made in Mexico HELLA lighting up the Mexican and from Abroad Automotive Industry

After four years of having started producing, HELLA Automotive Mexico Irapuato has positioned as one of the most advanced plants in the manufacturing of lighting components worldwide.

This German company decided to settle in Irapuato, Guanajuato, with an investment of high double digit in million dollars and became the fifth productive plant they launched in Mexico.

This factory is one of the largest from Grupo Hella and with it they want to contribute in the global vision of being a number one company which is at forefront, regarding the obtaining of projects for the manufacturing of lighting, headlights, tail light and interior lighting.

Harpak Mozaffari Gilani, director of Planta Hella Irapuato, underlined that choosing that area of the country positioned them due to their proximity with the assemblers and of the sector supply; in turn, they detected potential in human capital.

“This area has been recognized by our customers and the plant has important lighting development projects in a vehicle.  Our customers are satisfied by the location and layout this plant has because it is one of the benchmark in Grupo Hella,” he said.

PRODUCTS INNOVATION

In order to develop a new product requested by the customer, the process can take up to four years before it gets out of the market.

Several car manufacturers present a new vehicle concept, which is the lighting idea they want for the model and in other situations, they choose Hella to present them with proposals for development.

“The process is long.  We are already innovating years before the car is launched, they ask for a detailed quoting and different proposals.  We start the development phase, tooling manufacturing and an assembly line,” he said.

Each one of the lights goes under a validation and quality process, depending on the development complexity, changes are made or the manufacturing process is started.

Currently the plant has 20 production lines.

It has a manufacturing capability of 13,000 daily units, generating about 6.5 million tail lights and headlights per year, of which little more than half are exported to the United States.

ASKING FOR LOCAL SUPPLY

Harpak Mozaffari highlighted that in the last years the automotive supply in Mexico has improved, achieving that with the years companies be increasingly independent of raw material imports; in turn, it improves the “Waiting Time of an Order.”

“If I bring components from other countries they take a month to arrive, but if I have a supplier closer to the plant the delivery is in a couple of hours, that give us an advantage.  However, I believe that there is still too much to do to continue developing the sector,” he said.

He underlined that currently their raw material – granulated plastic – continues to be imported; situation why they consider that there could be an opportunity area in order for a local company can provide the product.

GROWING IN HUMAN CAPITAL

The Irapuato plant has more than 2,200 collaborators and has projected an increase of 30 % in personnel for May 2019.

He explained that this automotive Industry continues to be a continuous personnel rotation of a 6.5 percent.  That is why Hella seeks retaining talent by generating a better labor environment and with the inclusion of family in different recreational activities.

In turn, they have a “Training Center,” which has an approximate capability of 100 people, where they train them in theoretical and practical manner to know the assembly processes.

“We would like to generate the idea of Familia Hella; we are seeking to recognize the effort and results of our personnel even more.  We want families to approach the company to know us and transfer them the company values,” he said.

DATA

HELLA Automotive Irapuato

Total property land: 120,000 m²

T. Construction: 55,000 m²

Employees: 2,200

Start of operations: 2014