SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCÍA, NL.- A small and medium-sized company (SME) does not struggle to grow in Mexico, but to survive. In the country there are just over four million economic units in this category, which are 99% of established companies and where seven out of 10 jobs are generated, according to official data.

Most new SMEs do not survive their third year of life due to the challenges of not having financing possibilities, but also due to incorrect management of their logistics activities , the lack of technological tools and infrastructure.

“It is more difficult for an SME to access international markets first because of its financial capacity and then its operational and productive capacity,” said Mauricio Medina, CEO of TIP Mexico , during his participation in ETYL 2024 , a Grupo T21 event, during the panel Logistics solutions for SMEs in the T-MEC .

He added that for the 25% of SMEs that do have access to credit, the financial costs in the country can lead to higher operating costs.

In the logistics field, companies such as Quintaesencia Logística have sought to support the SME segment with specialized services , given the knowledge that these are companies that may not be consistent in their shipments or when they need to transport their goods they are small in size.

“We realized that there were many companies that were not being served as they should be or as they demanded precisely because of their size,” said Adrián Hernández, general manager of Quintaesencia Logística, during the ETYL, who explained that in the last decade they have dedicated themselves to building networks with their transport providers such as trucking companies, maritime lines and railway companies in order to have spaces available for SMEs when they need them.

The services offered by Quintaesencia Logística also incorporate visibility and traceability of goods , since for SMEs having this often means surviving or disappearing, given that a large part of the assets that will provide liquidity to these companies once their goods are placed in the final markets can be transported in a container.

In these circumstances, logistics operators must develop operational involvement with SMEs, as well as provide flexibility, according to Adrián Hernández.

This same flexibility has led railroad companies like Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) to bring more SMEs onto the rail network, allowing them to take advantage of the connectivity it offers across all three North American countries.

“How can we bring rail to small and medium-sized businesses? The first thing is to have system capacity and we have a new service that is competing directly with trucks, it is called the MMX, which is a train that is going from San Luis Potosí to Chicago consistently in 3.8 days,” said David Eaton, commercial director of CPKC de México.

Finally, the specialists agreed that the incorporation of technology will facilitate the operations of SMEs, since they can count on reductions in storage costs, operational efficiency, inventory forecasts and improvements in production.

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El cargo Logistics and financing, among the great challenges for SMEs apareció primero en T21.

SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCÍA, NL.- The supply chain of the beer industry established in Mexico is a success story, even more so in a country that poses extensive logistical challenges for producers and their transportation providers in the search to satisfy the demand of insatiable end consumers.

A Mexican consumes on average just over 60 liters of beer annually , a market that contributes to the economy of more than five thousand farming families, but which has also become the country’s main export product in the agro-industrial sector.

In the case of Heineken , which acquired Grupo Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in 2010, but whose history dates back to 1890, its supply chain has evolved in recent years based on the challenges that have arisen.

Its seven breweries (production centers) and a malt house in Mexico receive hundreds of tons of inputs and packaging necessary for the production of its beer catalog daily and, from there, the final product comes out (around four billion liters per year) which is stored in its 170 distribution centers in the country and exported to international markets, as well as to the 17,000 Six convenience stores , which have established themselves as one of its main sales channels in the local market, even as an essential part of its omnichannel strategy (physical and digital channel).

“Everything flows through the multimodal transport process: rail and road transport for inbound activities ; and rail, road transport and maritime transport for outbound operations ,” said David Gallardo, Director of Transport and Warehousing at Heineken Mexico, during his participation in ETYL 2024 , a Grupo T21 event, in Success Story 2: Beverage Industry .

The executive indicated that, following the acquisition of the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, Heineken made the decision to focus more on its core business and develop a strategy with third-party partners in its movement of inputs, packaging and final product, with whom it travels up to 120 million kilometers annually to supply the domestic and export markets.

“A large part of added value is understanding consumer habits to understand and plan the S&OP ( sales and operations planning ) process,” said Gallardo, who indicated that they currently have control over the peaks in demand that occur during the year, which allows them to have better management of their inventories.

However, the opposite happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when this industry was not closed for the first time since the Mexican Revolution, and had to do so for two months. “They were going to put candles outside the factories so we could get going again,” Gallardo said.

Strategic third party partners

The extensive logistics needs that Heineken presents from its production and distribution activities in Mexico have been the turning point for the development of strategic third-party partners. One of them is Grupo México Transportes (GMXT) , based on its two railway companies, Ferromex and Ferrosur.

“We cover the main production areas in Mexico, where all the breweries are located,” said David Jiménez, deputy director of the Industrial Segment at GMXT, who explained that intermodal corridors have been built to support their clients, in this case the breweries, in their long-distance transports, but also in their last miles, even through transport partners.

“(We have developed) systems for securing (empty) cans to reduce damage and loss. We have innovated to load all the products onto the railway, which was previously unthinkable ,” he said.

According to Ángel Garibay, general manager of ALA Transportes , Trayecto (number 1 in the Top 100 of Auto Transport ), for a company like Heineken, with large logistical needs, involvement with its transport providers has to be at a deep level.

This has forced ALA Transportes to always seek continuous improvement and professionalization  in its services, and “understanding the model of the client’s needs.”

In this case, ALA Transportes is involved in the movement of raw materials and finished products for Heineken, which although it is not a just in time model , it is necessary to understand that each product or input requires a different specialization in the transport model and even certified operators.

“There are a significant number of configurations for these needs and once the design of the model to be worked on is in place, it requires a significant connection in technology. For Heineken, it requires real-time production or finished materials and requires a joint design to be able to achieve the service required,” said Ángel Garibay.

To provide the service to Heineken, ALA Transportes has installed a control tower from which the traceability of the movement of goods is provided, but also as a security tool for the products being transported.

“ Today the challenge in Mexico is security . Unfortunately, in this area we seek to be as dissuasive as possible. The product we transport is sensitive to rapid handling,” he said.

In the case of Ferromex, Jiménez indicated that the company invests around 40 million dollars a year in security , in response to an increase in theft and vandalism on the railway.

“We have a security intelligence area, a security control center in Guadalajara, where the intelligence and security area controls and monitors the trains. We have drones that fly from Guadalajara in case there is a community that is going to be affected by railroad robbery ,” he said.

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El cargo The sparkly and successful beer supply chain in Mexico apareció primero en T21.

Nearshoring is transforming Mexico’s logistics landscape, driving a wave of investments that are turning the country into one of the main production hubs for the North American market. As industries relocate their operations from Asia to Mexico , great opportunities are emerging, but also considerable challenges, mainly in terms of infrastructure and logistics.

In this sense and under the motto Maximizing Logistics Opportunities with Nearshoring , ETYL 2024 arrives with its 22nd edition, on October 9 and 10 in Monterrey and will have the participation of 25 panelists and nearly 250 attendees .

This event will bring together industry leaders, logistics providers and key players in the manufacturing and transportation sectors , who will discuss how to capitalize on the opportunities offered by nearshoring and face the challenges that lie ahead.

In addition, it will be a special moment where attendees will be able to network , generating alliances that will strengthen the country’s logistical and productive capacities.

ETYL 2024 will feature luxury panelists such as Carlos Elizondo Mayer-Serra , Mexican academic, journalist, political scientist and internationalist, who will offer a keynote lecture on the analysis of Mexico’s economic and competitive outlook for the period 2024 to 2030 .

It will also feature the presence of Maite Ramos , CEO of Alstom , who will give a conference focused on the development of talent and leadership in the mobility industry .

Panelists such as Erik Markeset, general director of Tsol , and David Eaton, commercial director of CPKC of Mexico, will share their vision on the opportunities and challenges posed by nearshoring .

The event will feature a series of workshops that will address key topics such as: Cold as added value in logistics , where the advantages of refrigeration in the supply chain will be explored; E-mobility logistics , focused on the challenges and opportunities of transport electrification.

There will also be meetings that will address topics such as digital transformation in logistics, with the use of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain and e-mobility logistics .

Success stories will also be included, showing concrete examples of how nearshoring is impacting these key industries in Mexico.

In this context, ETYL 2024 is presented as a key space for the logistics and manufacturing industry in Mexico, at a time when the country is emerging as one of the main beneficiaries of global industrial relocation.

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El cargo ETYL 2024: The Forum to Explore Logistics Opportunities and Challenges in the Era of Nearshoring apareció primero en T21.