Maquila operations offer competitive advantages to many corporations. Yet they also present cultural challenges rarely seen in national organizations. There is a direct relation between the quality of communication between foreign and corporate offices and the amount of trust between the two entities. Therefore, a maquila consulting firm can recommend simple steps to best build this trust and avoid these challenges.
North American Operations Consulting, led by Robert Mirrielees, provides complimentary 30-minute consultations about your maquila operation. Give us a call and we’ll guide you through the steps.
True technical manufacturing issues exist everywhere, and their corrective actions are universal. For example, poor inventory control issues can be fixed no matter what the country or language is. Often, what bogs down multi-cultural organizations is the parallel existence of two different sets of continuous improvement programs. While one is usually dictated by corporate, without due diligence and consensus, the other is voiced by local management. And its not like these 2 approaches are public. Unfortunately, all of this happens behind the scenes, creating a culture of distrust with significant resource inefficiencies.
One competitive advantage that NAOC offers maquila consulting clients is many years experience resolving technical issues in Mexico. Another is our experience mitigating cultural differences. Finally is our familiarity with organizational issues frequently found between corporate offices and their plants.
Far too often, maquila consultants focus on the wrong problems and miss the mark. If we attack the right problems with the right methodology, our solutions stick. A valuable maquila consultant will hone in on on root cause of your problems, provide corrective action, and implement the continuous improvement process in concert with your suppliers in Latin America.
As your maquila consultant, we’ll work with you on a structured approach to improve the communication, measurement approach, and results coming out of the facility. You will gauge our true success after we leave, when our improvements stick, and the culture left behind paves a path for continuous improvement, with or without us.
It’s no secret that no one likes external people in their facility. But at the same time, having a supplier that continually is missing the mark on quality or delivery is no good, either. We can work in your supplier’s site to create a win-win for you both, bringing your business relationships to a new level!
Contact us for a free consultation about improving your maquila operations.
