Everything you thought you knew about manufacturing has been proven wrong by the opening of the first manufacturing facility at Port San Antonio, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Bangalore India based Indo-MIM is a leading global supplier of precision-engineered products using Metal Injection Molding. It manufacturers products for the automotive, aviation, and biomedical fields.
CEO Krisha Chivukula tells News Radio 1200 WOAI that, contrary to the message that was told during the 2016 political campaign, manufacturing in the U.S. is far from dead.
"You bring the right technology and skills, there is a large number of well qualified people in the United States, well qualified engineers, and that created opportunities for enterprising businesses to come on shore," he said.
Indo-MIM's 100,000 square foot facility is expected to employ 200 advanced manufacturing professionals, with a possibility of increased employment.
Another myth that is busted by the company's arrival is that U.S. based companies offshore manufacturing to Asia and Latin America to cut costs. But here is a company that is based in Asia setting up a manufacturing plant in San Antonio.
"There is only so much you can do overseas, and that is great," he said. "But you have to be close to your customer, and you have to be able to recruit good talent."
Chivulkula says Indo-MIM searched the entire U.S. to find the right place for what is the company's first ever manufacturing facility in the country. He says several cities in Texas were also considered, before the decision was made to locate at Port San Antonio.
"When you look at the San Antonio work force, it is a diverse work force, it is a work force that has a lot of technical skills," he said. "It is a work force which is industrial in nature, it has an industrial culture."
Indo-MIM will in fact export the products made at the Port San Antonio facility to customers in forty countries in the the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
PHOTO; PORT SAN ANTONIO