Latest Mexico lands first major auto parts manufacturing plant
Taiwan-based Hota Industrial Manufacturing has signed an agreement to construct an auto parts factory in Santa Teresa, Latest Mexico.
The $72 million facility can be on 30 acres in Westpark Industrial Park and can create 350 jobs. Construction is scheduled to start in 2024.
“Hota selected Latest Mexico’s Borderplex due to the supply of desirable land, the workforce, and our logistical benefits that gives access to each Mexico’s factories and North American customers,” Alicia J. Keyes, Latest Mexico’s economic development cabinet secretary, said in a news release.
The Hota Industrial Manufacturing plant in Santa Teresa opens a brand new chapter for the state’s economy.
“There are several machine shops scattered around Latest Mexico — and Boeing, BlueHalo, Intel, Admiral Cable Inc. and Prent Corp. have manufacturing here — but I do consider that Hota can be the primary large auto parts factory within the state,” Bruce Krasnow, spokesman for the Latest Mexico Economic Development Department, told FreightWaves.
Hota is Taiwan’s largest manufacturer of gears and shafts for vehicles, motorcycles and heavy-duty business trucks, producing about 20 million automotive transmission gears annually, in keeping with the corporate’s website.
![](https://www.freightwaves.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/07/Borderlands_New-Mexico-1200x675.jpeg)
Hota Industrial Manufacturing is Taiwan’s largest maker of gears and shafts for vehicles, motorcycles and heavy-duty business trucks. (Photo: Hota)
The corporate’s clients include automakers Ford, General Motors, BMW and Tesla, in addition to automotive supplier BorgWarner.
Hota’s factory can be about 6 miles from the Santa Teresa port of entry, a business and noncommercial gateway on the U.S.-Mexico border. Greater than 160,000 business trucks passed through the Santa Teresa crossing in 2022.
Santa Teresa is about 20 minutes from El Paso, Texas. The realm, commonly often called the Borderplex, also includes Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Latest Mexico officials touted recent infrastructure investments as catalysts helping to draw investment along the border, including $700 million in improvements announced last 12 months. One in all the most important upgrades can be a $170 million expansion on the Santa Teresa port of entry, which incorporates a congressional request for a presidential permit for a rail bypass.
The expansion includes improvements on roads and highways to assist traffic flow and trade operations within the Santa Teresa, El Paso and Juarez areas.
“Hota is considered one of several recent firms who see Latest Mexico as an answer to fortify
and diversify their global supply chain,” Keyes said.
Other firms recently opening facilities or announcing investments in Latest Mexico include Franklin Mountain Packaging, Louisiana Pepper Exchange and Oro LLC.
The Latest Mexico factory can be Hota’s first manufacturing facility outside of Asia. The Taipei, Taiwan-based company has greater than 1,500 global employees and offices in Europe and Mexico, in addition to Detroit and Los Angeles.
Hota had been considering a site in Texas to open its first manufacturing facility within the U.S., in keeping with a 2021 report from the Financial Times. In the identical report, Hota officials said the expansion into the U.S. was banking on increased demand for electric vehicle parts.
FedEx closing facility in Texas, eliminating 48 jobs
FedEx is permanently closing a facility in Temple, Texas, and shedding 58 staff by Sept. 4, in keeping with a Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed with the state.
Company officials didn’t provide a reason for the closure. The layoffs include 48 couriers, two managers, two service agents, five handlers and a dangerous-goods agent.
Some employees will remain employed after the closure and be shifted to nearby FedEx locations, company officials said.
The closure follows closings in Mississippi and Georgia, where the corporate is permanently shuttering facilities and eliminating positions.
Nippon Express opens logistics warehouse in Arizona
Nippon Express recently opened the Mesa Logistics Center in Mesa, Arizona.
The 58,354-square-foot warehouse facility goals to serve customers within the semiconductor chip industry. Mesa Logistics Center includes 14 truck bays and is about quarter-hour from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, in keeping with a news release.
The warehouse offers the environmental conditions — including temperature and humidity levels in addition to dust and static control — vital for handling semiconductors and electronic components, Nippon officials said.
Tokyo-based Nippon Express is a worldwide logistics services company with 739 worldwide locations and greater than 33,000 employees.
San Diego customs agent charged with taking bribes from drug smugglers
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Leonard Darnell George has been indicted on charges that he took bribes to permit drug-filled vehicles to go through the U.S.-Mexico border, in keeping with federal prosecutors.
George faces a charge of receiving bribes by a public official and two conspiracy charges for trafficking and distributing drugs, in keeping with the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego.
Prosecutors allege George, together with Mario Angel Gutierrez, Esteban Galvan and 4 unnamed defendants, allowed vehicles containing methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and heroin to enter the U.S. from Mexico.
If convicted of the bribery charge, George faces as much as 15 years in federal prison. George and the opposite defendants face possible life in prison if convicted on the conspiracy charges.
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