During the hardest months of the maquiladora recession between 2000 and 2003, many questioned the industry’s future. Today, one year later, the industry is recovering at an amazing pace from what was its worst downturn in history. Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest city and its  industrial capital, is one of the cities leading the industry’s rebound, which is not surprising given its long-standing industrial background and progress-oriented culture.

      This modern city has been the industrial leader of northern Mexico for more than 100 years, home to the nation’s largest iron and steel foundries, a major cement producer and world-class financial service institutions.

      “Greater Monterrey is second only to Mexico City in its industrialization and world class production of steel, glass, cement, plastics, chemicals, electronic components, textiles and apparel, automotive parts and other industrial products,” said Ramón Flores, managing director of CB Richard Ellis in northeast Mexico. “The industry in Monterrey is currently one of the most active markets in North America for manufacturing.”

      In effect, the so-called Sultan of the North had an outstanding year in 2004 with the opening of Carrier and Rubbermaid facilities. According to Flores, this trend will most likely continue throughout 2005, because of an increase in manufacturing exports and commitments of several companies to make new investments in manufacturing capacity. “There is a steady flow of companies looking to start operations in the logistics and high tech manufacturing fields”, said Flores.

      One of the biggest projects is Whirlpool’s new generation refrigerator plant; a 700,000 square foot facility that will be located in Ramos Arizpe, 55 miles from Monterrey. This plant had an initial investment of $80 million and Whirlpool has plans to invest another $100 million in the next few years. Flores said production of new generation refrigerators will start for the domestic and export markets in 2006.

            Even though Monterrey is leading the turnaround in northeast Mexico, the industry rebound is happening nationwide, said Mike White, managing director of CB Richard Ellis in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chih. “The industry is just starting to experience what will be one of the biggest turnarounds in history, a steady stream of companies looking to build a footprint in Mexico,” he said. “We expect...

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