Further international expansion
By founding the sales company Waelzholz México, headquartered in Mexico City, the company is responding to the growing importance of the Mexican market. Due to the fact that the automotive industry and its suppliers have established operations here in recent years, Mexico is now regarded as North America’s manufacturing hub. Mexico wants to become the world’s fifth-largest automotive manufacturing location by the year 2020. As such, it makes sense for Waelzholz to strengthen its local presence.
“Mexico is a market we’ve been interested in for a long time,” reports Andreas Reil, who, as CEO of Waelzholz Brasmetal, is responsible for establishing the new sales office. “At the present time, the industries in Mexico are still strongly focused on the US market, but this will change due to the many free trade agreements.” In fact, one third of the goods exported by the Waelzholz plant in Brazil today are already destined for Mexico. In addition to this, steel materials from the company’s other locations are also shipped to the Latin American country. According to Reil: “We supply our entire range, from cold rolled steel strip to coated and stainless steel grades to electrical steel strip. No other manufacturer of cold rolled steel achieves this in such variety. In this context, our customers include both local companies and international key accounts.”
Increasing the local service level
Due to its importance, Waelzholz is specifically developing the Mexican market. Under the leadership of Andreas Reil, a project team from different locations that includes employees from Mexico, Brazil, America, and Germany is involved. The team not only includes sales and materials specialists, but also those from finance and logistics. Reil explains the reason: “We already have a strong presence with our customized material solutions and engineering services. Our goal, however, is to further increase the local service level, which will in turn make us more attractive for companies that we haven’t yet been able to reach. As a result of founding Waelzholz México, we can now offer a complete local logistics solution for the entire Waelzholz product range – from handling the import process to local storage and demand-oriented delivery. The new office in Mexico City is another milestone in Waelzholz’s internationalization strategy.”
This will create real added value for customers, as it means they will receive the customized solutions that Waelzholz is known for – with respect to both its products and services.
If you’re looking for the right cold rolled steel strip supplier for your Mexican business, please contact Omar Chávez from Waelzholz México.