Makino, one of the world’s leading companies in advanced manufacturing technology, has broken ground on a new tech innovation center in Querétaro. 

“The talent and capacity of the people of Querétaro continue to attract key investments for technological development!” Governor Mauricio Kuri wrote on Sept. 30 on his official X account after leading an inauguration ceremony earlier that day. 

With an investment of 400 million pesos (US $21 million), the new plant will supply production machinery to the automotive, medical, and aerospace industries, the tractor-trailer manufacturing sector, and the household goods and electronics manufacturers. The plant is expected to start operations next year, creating over 200 jobs in the state. 

Once the plant begins operations, the company expects engineering projects to be conducted for five machining centers within the first year, each with a capacity of 20 to 25 machines integrated with advanced engineering systems and robots. 

The facility will have LEED Gold certification (signaling a project’s comprehensive adoption of best sustainability practices). It will harness sunlight, rain and wind and will have thermally insulated walls.

Head of Makino México, Eduardo Medrano, told El Economista magazine that they believe this project will spearhead engineering services in Mexico and will establish the center as a benchmark in the production of complete manufacturing solutions.

“We manufacture machinery in Japan, Singapore, and China. Makino wants Mexico to create engineering projects to use this machinery technology, generate it with inventiveness, and use Mexican creativity to assemble it with automation,” Medrano said, stressing that it will be an “iconic” project for the state and for the North American region in general.

Makino, Inc. CEO Peter Hoecklin explained that the company’s decision to expand in Mexico results from an exhaustive analysis of global opportunities. Mexico offers competitive costs, a young population, an open economy, and a privileged location, Medrano said.. 

Meanwhile, Makino’s global president, Shotaro Miyazaki, stressed that Mexico is key to the company’s strategy in emerging markets, with Querétaro standing out for its infrastructure, education, and highly qualified workforce.

Makino’s investment joins the one recently announced by tech giant Microsoft in the state. In May, the company inaugurated Microsoft’s first Hyperscale Cloud Data Center Region of its kind in Spanish-speaking Latin America. 

Querétaro will also be the site of an investment of over $5 billion by Amazon Web Services in a cluster of data centers, which was announced in February.

With reports from El Economista and Líder Empresarial