 A Maquiladora is a factory in Mexico that imports parts and then assembles them into finished goods and ships them out of the country. This is done duty free and tariff so that costs are kept to a minimum. The maquiladora industry is one of the main generators of foreign exchange, after oil, in the Mexican economy. Maquiladoras are the source for 1,164,000 direct jobs which in turn generate many indirect jobs and other services that depend on this sector.
Foreign companies establishing assembly operations in Mexico find this scheme very advantageous, allowing them to reduce their labor costs and their transportation costs by operating in geographic areas close to the border.
Although in recent years the Mexican government has created several different programs to promote exports, the maquiladora is still the most important.
The most growing activities in the maquiladora are the auto parts and the clothing business, although the electronics industry has the largest concentration of plants and employees.
The “maquiladora model” created as an emergency resource for economy recovery, became the foundation for industrial development in northern Mexico, and the largest exportation front in the country.
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