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“It's almost as if Mexico has changed gears”

Carlos Reyes has been the trusted expert for Wheelabrator customers in Northern Mexico for over a decade. With expertise across industries like rail and foundry, he helps companies optimize their shot blasting processes and navigate emerging trends, enabling growth. We spoke with Carlos about the region’s rise and how Wheelabrator is supporting customers during this dynamic time.

Carlos, what’s the best part of your job?

The best part is visiting customers, whether they’re new or long-standing. It’s always illuminating to see their process and ask questions. With our vast installed base and sector spread, typically, I'll have seen a similar application before, but still no customer is the same. Same sector, different culture. Same machine, different priorities and challenges. Having our know-how and experience to draw on, but then using that to give the customer the solution that’s right for them, responding to their unique way of doing things – it’s all hugely rewarding. Another amazing thing is when customers are looking for technology only Wheelabrator can offer. Many of our customers in Mexico are moving from batch to continuous shot-blast technology. And we have exactly the right technology for that, plus the support network to look after it. It’s about helping customers achieve a complete step-change in their production.

What’s driving that trend? 

Mexican foundries are improving with high-speed molding lines like DISAMATIC, boosting production capacity. To keep up, shot blasting operations must run seamlessly without slowing down the process, which applies to die casters and other industries as well. A continuous process creates more production headroom on the same line.

The other driver is external investment. You’ve got European automotive businesses setting up in Mexico and they’re familiar with, for example, our super powerful Continuous Tumblast (CT) machines. So, they’re just glad we’re here to help them build and support their high-volume lines. 

Similarly, for more delicate workpieces, like aluminum castings, we’ve got our mesh belt machines that offer a high-performance, continuous process that doesn’t ‘tumble’ parts and is proven. 
We sold our first ever CT only 5 years ago and they’ve suddenly taken off. That’s a huge shift we’ve seen. Almost as if Mexico has changed gears.


CT Continuous | Wheelabrator
What do you think has triggered that demand surge for Mexico as a manufacturing location?

There’s an element of nearshoring for US companies who may have been producing overseas and perhaps suffered supply chain disruptions recently. And of course, businesses from outside the Americas seeking to manufacture closer to the US market. It’s not just foundry, but a whole number of sectors we’re strong in: construction equipment, rail, aerospace, and all sorts of assembly facilities.

For both, Mexico offers a great industrial skills base, just as things like foundry skills are becoming harder to source in the US and in Europe. 
We work very closely with our colleagues at DISA, StrikoWestofen, Simpson and ItalPresseGauss, and with our Wheelabrator colleagues globally. We’ve all noticed that our deep technical knowledge of our processes – whether that’s green sand molding or aluminum melting – is in high demand, and we increasingly becoming extensions of our customers’ teams to supplement know-how and experience that’s retiring from their own workforces. In Mexico, our customers are in the enviable position that they have the skills here to scale production and modernize it at the same time.

 

Is that where digital solutions and the Industrial Internet of Things come in?

Yes! But in Mexico, digital is a different sell. It’s more about enabling growth. Our digital technology for shot blast processes suits this. It’s less about the ability to collect data or monitor the processes and more about freeing up maintenance teams, preventing downtime (of a newly continuous process!), using resources in a smarter way. The opportunity is that we’ve got young, skilled teams on the factory floor, who want to use digital tools to get better and work smarter.

Must-have equipment aside, what can customers only get from Wheelabrator’s unique strength in Mexico today? And what does that mean for customers?

Our installed base, without a shadow of a doubt. We’ve got a huge footprint already in Mexico, going back decades. It means our infrastructure, our teams, the technical support are local and responsive. Combine that with the global Wheelabrator network and equipment portfolio and we can support a lot of growth and change. 
For anyone establishing manufacturing capacity in Mexico, we can say, “we’re already here and can support you build up whatever it is you need, whatever it is you’re familiar with”. That’s really powerful. 

We also work very closely with the other Norican teams here in Mexico. We have weekly catch-ups, and it helps us develop a really good understanding of processes upstream and downstream from our equipment. We’ve got easy access to colleagues’ knowledge, so can help customers more holistically with an issue. And if a customer mentions something to us about, say, their sand mixer, we can speak to the Simpson team about it. 


We’ve talked a lot about the big macro trends. What are the smaller challenges and opportunities you’re helping customers with?

Because there’s so much positive momentum in the market, we’re seeing a lot of requests for machine upgrades and equipment modernization. 

It’s about getting better performance or new capabilities faster. That can be upgrading to new blast wheel technology, where we have really good options from our global wheel portfolio: EZX, TITAN or ATLAS - something for every application and preference.

Other upgrades that make a real impact include sound proofing and ergonomics for health and safety. I’ve recently helped a customer sort an issue with their abrasive reclaim system on a non-Wheelabrator machine. We moved the reclaim system to the same technology the customer already had on their Wheelabrator machines, and it dramatically reduced maintenance and machine downtime.


EZX Blast Wheel | Wheelabrator

Carlos - Thank you for your time!

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