An Email from Juan (aka John)

My fiance, John Juan, went to El Paso, Texas this week, where he would go over the border to Juarez, Mexico during the day to work at the plant owned by his employer, Hubbell Power Systems.  By his permission, here is his email and several pictures in which he details his week as well as his thoughts on outsourcing.  El interesting:

Hey guys

I didn't know at the time, but Tuesday morning at 8am Mexico was playing Uruguay in the World Cup.  When we arrived at the plant, we walked into the office, and there wasn't a soul in the entire office.  When we walked out into the plant, every person that worked there was in a big open area huddled under a big projector on the wall that was playing the game!  The entire plant had shut down, and everyone had taken 2 hours off that morning to watch the game!  They weren't just watching the game, they had face paint on, beating drums, noise makers, generally just hootin' an hollarin'!  I couldn't get very good pictures because they had the lights off, but I attached a couple pictures of them anyway.  I came to find out, that if the plant didn't let the employees watch the Soccer (futbol) game, then no one would show up for work...so it's more productive to just let them take a couple of hours off, then risk the plant shutting down for an entire shift.

Hernan and I went to Cattleman's Steakhouse yesterday.  It is supposed to be a pretty famous place, or so I am told.  It was in the middle of the desert!  I attached a picture of the drive out there, and picture of the sign.

I also attached a couple pictures of the border.  You can see the fence in the background.

I have never really seen a Mexican factory, so it was interesting to see their culture, and see why it was so effective for corporations to move their operations to Mexico.  The salary for their operators is $1.30/hour, but they do have good benefits.  They were provided breakfast and lunch, and had a medical clinic in the plant.  Their Engineers make a about 1/3 of what we are making in the U.S., but Hernan says that the engineers in Mexico typically lack the ability to make decisions because they have always been given direction from U.S. Engineers.

My visit put a lot in perspective.  The reason for my visit was to complete a MCTO (Material Cost Take Out) project that involved bringing a formed copper part in-house.  I designed the forming dies and set-up the manufacturing operation inside the work cell.  Just by bringing the small part in house, it will save the company 100k/year.  However, in about 3 months, the entire operation will just be moving to China.  Hubbell has built a facility there, so they can take advantage of the $0.80/hour wages.  They have also almost outsourced all of their raw materials their too, so they will save in transportation.  I guess it's just interesting to watch things move out of Mexico, the same way it moved out of U.S. plants.

Just thought I would share!

Love,

John