Over the last two years the State of Querétaro has become the most attractive states in Mexico for investment by foreign aerospace industries that wish to set up business. The arrival of the Safran group, along with the consolidation of Bombardier and the expected arrival of other companies, corroborate the importance of the state in that field.


Querétaro, a state known for high production in the automotive sector, contributes 10 per cent of the Gross National Product; however the state has become the main reference nationwide for the aeronautical industry and, according to the Secretary of Sustainable Development, Tonatiuh Salinas Muñoz, it has projected that its growth will reach 255% over the next three years.


“The aerospace industry represents a magnificent opportunity for consolidating a sector that was born just five years ago; we believe that there is an opportunity to consolidate it by integrating local suppliers, new investments and new finished products”, stated Salinas.
“Today we have 32 companies that are already within the sector and we have been informed that of those 32 at least eight are companies from Querétaro, the majority of which have migrated from the automotive industry to the aeronautic industry. These companies generate approximately 3 thousand 800 jobs and there is a growth perspective of 255% over the next three years, which demonstrates that the aeronautical sector is one of the sectors with the greatest perspective for accelerated growth in saturation as well as in generating employment”, indicated the State Officer in an interview with Somos Industria.


Just a few days ago, it was announced that the Aeronautic sector in Querétaro was strengthened by the arrival of five new companies that have made an initial investment of 107 million dollars and they will generate 390 highly specialized Jobs.
Heroux-Devtek and Global Products Services (GPS) are among the companies that will soon be setting up business in the centrally located state of Querétaro. In addition to this, another 9 companies showed interest in investing in the region.


The Heroux-Devtek firm presented a project for manufacturing launch structures and systems that will begin operating in 2011. The investment that will be required is a total of 90 million dollars and it is projected that it will create 250 highly specialized jobs. In the same manner, the company known as Global Products Services (GPS) confirmed that it will open their business center in Querétaro.
This news was mentioned during the working tour of Canada made by the Governor of the State of Querétaro, José Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa, along of the Secretary of Sustainable Development, Tonatiuh Salinas Muñoz, and representatives from the commercial and industrial sectors of the state.



Bombardier, the project’s motor

The ‘boom’ of the aeronautical industry in Querétaro began in May of 2006 when the Canadian company, Bombardier Aerospace, set up operations in the state to produce electrical harnesses and, little by little, it has expanded the range of products produced in its plants in Querétaro.
In the beginning, this important corporation set up business in the “El Marqués” Industrial Park, located in the municipality with the same name. This Park houses 63 specialized companies from a wide variety of sectors.


Bombardier’s first plant in the “El Marqués” park were used to train workers to manufacture the first products made by the corporation in the State, which were electrical harnesses. A little later, with more highly skilled workers, the company began producing fiberglass components.
Oscar Echeverría, Commercial Director of the “El Marqués” Industrial Park, informed us that since the administration of the business complex has worked closely with representatives from Bombardier, they have been informed that the Canadian corporation plans to continue operating in their Park, even though it already has three other plants in the Aerospace Park.


According to Echeverría, the arrival of Bombardier to the Park served as an “anchor” for the arrival of two Spanish companies that supply the Canadian company with different products and services.
“Within the park, we have two other companies that provide alternate services for Bombardier. One is Navair, which provides engineering solutions for electrical cabling and they are in constant communication with the people from Bombardier concerning different processes. They are also extremely focused on finding engineering solutions for electrical systems, which they call cabling for the naval, military and aeronautical industry”, indicated Echeverría.


Oscar added that the other company is Elymco, which produces electrical systems for airplanes. These companies are more focused on developing solutions that may be implemented at any time for an electrical system design within the different airplanes that are in development.
It is indispensable to mention that the “El Marqués” Industrial Park works on the development of a project called “Air Supply Park” which consists of building a cluster for companies that work in the aerospace sector, especially suppliers of large companies such as Bombardier and Grupo Safran.
“Within the park’s polygon we have approximately 5.5 hectares of land for the development of what we call a small Aerospace Cluster; this is an area of land that will be completely closed in which multidisciplinary buildings that can be divided into modules will be found and their size ranges from 13,000 square feet up and 4 modules can be combined, providing almost 64,000 square feet. This allows the spaces to be more flexible which are often are sought after by companies; but they are not necessarily like the large areas that are being used by established companies. They are for suppliers of the main components used in assembling airplanes”, pointed out the administrator.


Based on the plans that have been drawn up, it is estimated that building will begin for this entrepreneurial polygon in the middle of 2011; everything will depend on the time frame indicated by interested companies.



The aerospace park

One of the Bombardier Aerospace Company’s main incentives for opening a center of operations in the State of Querétaro was the creation of the Aerospace Park, a complex exclusively dedicated to companies in the field and something that will be basically custom-built for the Canadian company.
According to Francisco Estrada, Regional Director of Grupo Vesta, a company involved in developing the Park, the complex has a surface area of close to 90 hectares and 23 available, and there are five companies operating in it at this time: Bombardier, Meggitt, Snecma/Messier Dowty y AE Petsche.


According to the administration’s expectations, within a year’s time three other companies will set up business in the park.
The park was formally established in July of 2007 and the first building was finished in April of 2008. Bombardier has three buildings of its own, one of which is for the use of AE Petsche, a Bombardier supplier. The first plant has a surface area of 86,000 square feet where fuselages and tails are manufactured; while another building which has a surface area of 43,000 square feet is used for manufacturing harnesses. The building where AE Petsche operates has a surface area of 43,000 square feet.
Meggitt is a specialist in manufacturing brake systems and its building occupies 236,806 square feet; the SAFRAN group, along with its two companies (Snecma and Messier Dowty), manufacturers of motors and landing gears, has a plant with a surface area of more that 398.264 square feet.
When Bombardier released the official announcement in which it indicated that it was seeking a Developer for this macro-project, Grupo Vesta competed with 22 other national and foreign companies, all of which attempted to offer the best economic and technical conditions for developing a project of this type.
The Vesta project, which had the backing of the State Government, offers several characteristics that cannot be found outside of the Aerospace Park such as: access to the airport runway, if required; land with rent that is not affected by the economy; the right to an electrical energy connection at no cost since a sub-station was constructed exclusively for this complex, which guarantees the quantity and supply of electricity. In the same manner, the State Government made necessary investments in the Park’s infrastructure which has resulted in the fact that cost of the roads, telephone system, gas lines and fiber-optics in the Park have not been an expense for its occupants.


The State of Querétaro has numerous advantages for attracting investment in the aerospace sector. This includes security, road infrastructure and skilled labor, along with the Universidad Nacional Aeronáutica de Querétaro (UNAQ) which prepares future workers according to the sector’s needs.


“Companies that set up business in Querétaro have the advantage of being able to set up their training programs in the UNAQ, where they establish their teaching programs around work that will be carried out directly on the production line when the worker graduates. It teaches them what they have to do and how they have to do it and that has an impact on the operating costs since this allows them to achieve levels of productivity and quality necessary in a very efficient and rapid manner”, added Francisco Estrada.


Within the Park’s installations, Vesta is now developing another building for Bombardier, which will be used as the venue for manufacturing LearJet 85 airplanes. It must be mentioned that this building will be constructed under LEED scheme, which contemplates designs and construction that are eco-friendly and which also allow for the reduction of operating and maintenance costs of the same.
According to the information provided by Bombardier, the construction and preparation of the manufacturing and assembly installations of Learjet 85 airplanes is progressing according to plans. It is a project in which 250 million dollars will be invested. The company indicated that it is working with 40 suppliers around the world on the detailed design phase in order to manufacture tools based on composite materials for the production of the first airplane, as well as tests for preparing composite materials and that all is proceeding according to that planned.


On March 30, 2010, the Querétaro plant received certification for manufacturing parts from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). All of the project’s objectives have been achieved and the program is on schedule and will begin providing service in 2013.
In 2008, the French company, SAFRAN SNECMA AMERICA Group, arrived. This company maintains, repairs and checks turbo-reactors for the aerospace industry, and with this, the consolidation of Querétaro as the leading state in this area was completed.


It must be noted that the arrival of these two large companies (Bombardier and the Safran Group) has brought about the arrival of suppliers and smaller companies that jointly generate an important economic spillover and employment for people from Querétaro, with expectations of greater future growth.