Firstronic to manufacture in Mexico

The contract will enable the firm to begin the assembly of electronic control units for industrial and automotive applications at its new Mexican manufacturing operations in Ciudad Juarez during the fourth quarter of the present year. Specific items to be produced include: electronic ignition control units for lawn and garden equipment, fuel pump controllers, electronic shifters and seat actuators. The company's Ciudad Juarez facility will occupy 70'000 square feet of industrial space, which will be filled with equipment and direct labor workers in two phases. The company will initially install three SMT lines and employ sixty individuals at the Juarez Mexican manufacturing operations, while within an eighteen month period it will expand to house seven SMT lines and to employ two hundred individuals. According to Firstronic president and CEO, John Sammut, "We are opening operations in Mexico to meet customers' local content requirements, as well as to reduce logistics costs, lead times and to expand the flexibility of our service. The Firstronic Ciudad Juarez operations will serve to complement our company's ongoing activities in Grand Rapids."