EMSNOW Mexico: Interview with SEHO’s Guillermo Maldonado Macias
Business in Mexico is heating up and equipment companies like SEHO are seeing growth. We caught up with Guillermo Maldonado Macias to get an update.
EMSNOW: Please tell us about SEHO’s operations in Mexico. What services do you offer customers and where are they located?
SEHO has a presence all over Mexico; we have customers from Baja California to Puebla, Guadalajara area, Bajio area and center of Mexico. Around 200 SEHO systems are installed all over Mexico, including reflow ovens, solder-wave and selective-soldering. Our office is located at Guadalajara Mexico in Corporate Aura Tower. There we have spare parts on site and we provide sales services, project coordination, service and technical support, technical process and applications training for technicians and engineers, telephone support in Spanish24 /7, as well as direct remote connection to SEHO equipment for remote diagnostics.
EMSNOW: What is your background?
I’m an electronic engineer. I have experience in engineering and management positions, coordinating engineering and sales groups. I have worked for German, Canadian, Finnish and USA companies. I have 27 years experience in Electronics Manufacturing, 17 years being part of SEHO group .
EMSNOW: SEHO has a reputation for research and training. Now that many of the training webinars are available online, have you seen an uptick in requests from customers to access SEHO’s expertise in this area?
We have been providing Online training with our experts via our SEHO Academy group especially throughout the pandemic. Many have taken advantage of the webinars; we have been able to join customers around the world and have experiences from similar processes running in different part of the world and are able to exchange experiences and share knowhow. The response from our customers has been very good. They have been interested in all tje new topics and we have had large numbers of attendees.
EMSNOW: How has the pandemic affected SEHO’s operations in Mexico? Are you able to call on customers, or are you mostly still working from home?
Production lines of our customers have been running full time. All our FSEs have been providing service onsite; we have been following all our customer health and safety protocols as implemented and we have taken all the online training provided by our Government Health authorities. We have been performing tests to check all our FSE’s health and provided all safety tools required to reduce the risk of infection. All FSEs work from home when no customers request onsite service, following our health authorities’ recommendations. For all sales projects or engineering topics, Zoom conferences have been the solution from home or our office; we are still using them frequently to contact our customers .
EMSNOW: What end markets are you seeing as growth opportunities in Mexico as the recovery starts? Is automotive your main focus, or are there other areas that you see developing faster?
We have two main markets in Mexico, automotive and appliance. We have seen the appliance industry growing faster than the automotive industry, but both are very active today. I personally think both industries are recovering faster than expected and their production forecast is already the same level as before the pandemic.
EMSNOW: Are you continuing to see new business coming from China as companies shift their manufacturing to be closer to their end customer?
Yes, companies are looking to have their suppliers closer and closer every day, to reduce logistics issues and improve delivery times, to get in material on time to the production line. For the North American market Mexico is the best option with highly qualified engineers and talented people providing great manufactured products and services.
EMSNOW: Are your customers complaining about component shortages? Have there been supply chain disruptions beyond the pandemic?
Yes, this problem is affecting all our customers. Mainly the electronic components suppliers are from Asia and pandemic affected not only Asian companies but customs in all countries. The transportation companies are delaying material delivery, affecting all the supply chains around the world and this impacts delivery times for several components needed for our customers.
EMSNOW: How is SEHO’s business in Mexico in 2021? Will there be a full recovery from the challenges of 2020?
Our business in Mexico has been really good this year; projects placed on hold last year are coming back this year and our first quarter sales numbers shows a positive trend. We are working close to our customers to fulfill equipment delivery times in order to ensure their projects start on schedule. We are very optimistic that this year will bring strong business growth to SEHO in Mexico.
EMSNOW: Is there anything else you’d like to tell EMSNOW’s audience?
We believe that challenges like this pandemic always bring knowledge. We have had time to think of better ways to do things and to work closer to our customers to strengthen our business relationship for mutual success.
