Given the relocation of companies (nearshoring) and the renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), supply chains in the country face challenges in infrastructure, customs, security, technology, among others, industry specialists agreed.
Antonio Arranz, president of DHL Express Mexico , said regarding the USMCA that work must be done on the correct rules of origin, as well as having the necessary infrastructure for information management and security.
“Infrastructure is the most delicate issue we have; there is a delay of 10 or 20 years, and the United States is getting very serious about cybersecurity and not letting them get away with dumping. So one of the issues that Mexico most urgently needs to work on in the customs area is how to ensure the correct rules of origin and the correct infrastructure,” he commented.
He explained that there is also an opportunity in the management of customs areas, mainly in ports and some airports, a situation that is contrary to what exists at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA).
“When the 12 bonded warehouses opened at AIFA, it freed up 200,000 square meters of capacity that Mexico City didn’t have. Mexico needed those 200,000 square meters to be able to operate; the implementation was painful, but it advanced us 20 years. Monterrey Airport is behind, as is Guadalajara’s, and the only modern one is AIFA. Bonded warehouses are needed at the borders to do this; the only risk is that it will become a monopoly,” he commented.
During the 3PL Ally panel, third in name, first in excellence organized by Conalog , Iliana Gámiz, CEO of E2E Supply Chain Services, mentioned that there is a great opportunity to offer a complete solution for the supply chain , that is, supplier, transport, visibility, among others.
Regarding the labor reform, he considered the initiative positive because “it brought order, since before we competed with companies that had their payroll off the books, and our costs were higher than the market, especially in the maquiladora sector, and clients said they had three cheaper suppliers. And that helped us a lot in bringing order.”
Jorge López, VP Sales at NetLogistik, explained that in the technological field, the digitization of processes must be applied , “one of the challenges that we continue to face in the Latin American market is the incredible fact that many processes are still carried out on paper; we lack that value proposition.”
Furthermore, he said that the implementation of these processes leads to economic benefits, an increased level of service, and benefits for the end customer.
Regarding the use of artificial intelligence, he commented that there is currently the concept of artificial intelligence agents for the supply chain, a tool that helps to automate processes and analysis.
Comment and follow us on LinkedIn: @Evangelina del Toro / @GrupoT21
