Three Mexican companies bridging the country’s offline workforce with global clients
Mexico’s makers have been gaining attention for their ambition and potential – but getting in touch with the can-doers is still a big problem. We highlight three countries trying to join the dots.
Mexico has long been well known for its can-do attitude. Today there’s also investment to match the ambition and a talented workforce – not to mention the effects of US tariffs on countries such as China, which are creating fresh opportunities here. But here’s the rub: even people wanting to make things closer to home in the Americas have struggled to engage with Mexico’s informal, mostly offline system of factories and makers. We meet three companies trying to join the dots.
Prima
Connecting ideas with makers
Headquartered in Mexico City’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighbourhood, Prima identifies products with potential – from welded metal structures to other industrial components – then finds the factories to make them. Once selected, it sets up a joint venture with the plant and manages the production process. “Getting to work with Prima isn’t easy,” says co-founder Daniel Autrique. “We’ll audit you and look at working standards, safety and insurance.” Clients and factories communicate via a digital platform, with AI helping with everything from quality control to engineering.
Prima employs 70 people and raised $42.5m (€36.6m) by the end of 2024. It has been canny in realising that, though Mexico can’t compete in everything – electronics, for example, is out – it can forge ahead in metals, plastic assembly and welding, while ensuring high standards of production, traceability and sustainability. It is also tapping into the shift to near-shoring, making the US a key market. Autrique, who hails from a family of industrialists in San Luis Potosí, says that there’s “a forgotten system” in Mexico, with factories doing business via text messages with little banking credit. Prima is bringing that resourcefulness and work ethic into the 21st century.
Yumari
Harnessing the skills of Mexico’s workers
Andrés Díaz Bedolla is the CEO and co-founder of Yumari, an AI platform that links Mexican factories with companies – many of them in the US – that need any number of products, from clothing to home decor and furniture. According to Bedolla, interest in Yumari surged in April when Donald Trump unleashed his trade war.
As with Prima, a big part of the job is the standardisation and professionalisation of the vast, skilled but unregulated factories that already exist. In Yumari’s case, an app features a “buyer dashboard” where clients can view everything from ideas and sampling to manufacturing and logistics. “If anyone comes to our platform and says, ‘We used to manufacture in Asia but need a cheaper option,’ we say don’t come to Latin America,” says Bedolla, explaining that Yumari isn’t about offering low-cost substitutes for Chinese factories but rather about taking pride in where and how things are done.
Allie
The future-proof factory-builders
Allie uses technology to enhance efficiency and combine complex processes. It works with clients in F&B and packaged goods to make their machinery “smart”, rather than having a series of operations working independently of one another.
Through Allie’s FactoryGPT, clients can talk to their factory, which has become a “thinking, speaking entity”, says Allie’s co-founder Alex Sandoval, who is originally from Venezuela. AI and machine learning predict “deviations” to nip any issues in the bud, while the system suggests ways to optimise the production line. “We have a computer that connects to all the machines,” says Sandoval. “That’s every data point in the factory.”
Comment:
There are wrinkles to work out in Mexico’s manufacturing but there’s specialism, skill and agility aplenty to rise to the challenge. The country won’t thank Donald Trump for his tarifs but that competition may just help this sector to make more of itself.
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