Opening of a new production facility in Ciudad Juárez
The opening of the new production facility of Kurtz Ersa Manufacturing México S.A.DE C.V. in Ciudad Juárez marks a significant step for the company and the Chihuahua region. Over 70 guests, including business partners and colleagues from Mexico, the USA and Germany, attended the ceremony. The presence of prominent guests such as Cruz Pérez Cuellar, the Mayor of Ciudad Juárez, and Fernando Alba, who is responsible for innovation and economic development in the Chihuahua region, underlined the significance of the event.
It took just over a year from the ground-breaking ceremony to the opening of the new site, which covers 4,500 m2 of production space, offices and a demonstration centre – with the festive opening in Juárez, Kurtz Ersa has now established its third major service and logistics centre in the Americas, following Plymouth (USA) and Guadalajara (Mexico), Kurtz Ersa has now established its third major service and logistics centre in the Americas. The new facility will initially focus on the production of Ersa reflow soldering machines and will also serve as a pre-production site for the US plant. Kurtz Ersa has maintained a local presence under the name Kurtz Ersa México since 2012. Due to rapidly increasing demand in Mexico, the company moved to Guadalajara in 2016, relocating to larger offices complete with a demo centre for Ersa tools and machines, where customer seminars and training courses have also been held ever since.
In 2022, the strategic decision was taken to expand the company’s own production capacities to Mexico. Following the expansion in 2020 with the construction of a new building in Wertheim, the plant in Mexico will enable further growth, which will also benefit the production and development site in Wertheim and further strengthen Kurtz Ersa globally. Inspired by the success of the reflow soldering systems in Asia, where around 1,000 machines have been produced annually since 2013, it was decided to also manufacture the new high-end HOTFLOW THREE model in Mexico in future.
“After carefully evaluating various cities and options, including leasing an existing facility, we decided to build here in Juárez, a location that offers proximity to the US border, a talented workforce and excellent infrastructure,” said Albrecht Beck in his speech; in his role as President & COO of Kurtz Ersa, Inc., is also Managing Director of Kurtz Ersa Manufacturing México.
By early 2024, the management team in Mexico had assembled a start-up team of highly qualified engineers – six of whom had travelled directly to Germany, where they received comprehensive training, including building their first machine and working on documentation and processes. The aim of the manufacturing facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is to produce machines that match or even exceed the quality of machines ‘made in Germany’. To ensure this, the same advanced production methods and processes have been introduced.
“I am convinced that this plant will develop into a vibrant hub of our production activities and that we have made an excellent choice in Ciudad Juárez – on behalf of the management, I would like to thank everyone involved in the successful implementation of this project. In this context, I would like first and foremost to mention Marcelino Espelosin and his team in Mexico, who made the successful implementation of this ambitious project possible. I would also like to acknowledge the entire US team at Kurtz Ersa, Inc., as well as our German colleagues at Ersa and Kurtz, who have contributed significantly to setting up production here through their tireless efforts,” said Albrecht Beck, before handing the microphone over to Vincent and Rainer Kurtz, who, as representatives of the Kurtz shareholder families, emphasised the strategic importance of the project for the Kurtz Ersa Group.
The welcoming speeches were followed by the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony, a factory tour, a celebratory buffet and live music from a mariachi band, before numerous customers were able to experience the capabilities of the Kurtz Ersa systems first-hand at the Technology Day that followed.