strategicinsight SUPPLY CHAIN SOUTH OF THE BORDER
vendors now release their software
in different international markets
simultaneously, making new products available to Mexican buyers
more quickly than before.
Additionally, buyers can more easily share data and collaborate with
suppliers and customers outside of
Mexico if they use the same or
compatible software.
Collaborating with trading partners via an Internet portal, especially in areas like transportation
and supplier management, is
catching on quickly. Giral says he
also is seeing growing interest in
service-oriented architecture
(SOA) and supply chain performance measurement. Until a few
years ago, the country lacked data
centers that were capable of reli-ably hosting solutions. Now, there
are several such centers in Mexico,
most of them associated with big
telecom companies.
Customs and security
Customs policies and cargo security, which are intimately connected,
are high on the list of concerns for
anyone doing business with Mexico.
They’re also priorities for President
Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, who has
ordered some changes in customs
practices and reinstated a federal
security program to reduce thefts
from trucks traveling Mexico’s
highways.
The Mexican Customs
Administration (popularly known
as Aduana) is working hard to
change its image. That campaign
has succeeded, in Gonzalez’s opinion. “They are very professional
now and very easy to work with,” he
says. “I personally have not heard
about any negative things with
Mexican customs in years.”
Two years ago, customs officials
issued a five-year plan that called
for redesigned and simplified pro-
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cedures; greater use of automation, including an integrated IT system that encom-passes all stakeholders; and better management of change and of human resources,
among other measures. The agency is well
on its way toward achieving those goals.
Several years ago, it did away with the infamous “red light, green light” procedure for
selecting shipments for inspection and has
since implemented an electronic submission system for documents and payments.
Aduana is collaborating with international bankers JP Morgan on a pilot program
that will give tax-friendly treatment to
imports of raw materials for some manufacturers, reports Alvaro Quintana, formerly a high-level official in Mexican Customs
and now head of logistics business for JP
Morgan’s global trade services group in
Mexico. Under the pilot, three manufacturing companies and their customs brokers
are clearing shipments through customs
using a simplified document that contains
minimal information. They do not need to
classify the goods, and there are no physical
inspections by either the customs authorities or the brokers. After they’re cleared, the
shipments go to special bonded warehouses
called Recinto Fiscalizado Estratégicas
(RFEs), where they can remain for up to
two years tax- and duty-free.
The program is similar but more liberal
than one that’s already available to the auto
industry. Quintana expects that if Aduana
approves RFEs for wider use, the cost of
importing into Mexico—estimated by the
World Bank at $2,700 per container—will
drop sharply, because it will speed customs
clearance, eliminate two rounds of inspections, and reduce brokers’ fees by hundreds
of dollars per shipment.
Cargo security remains the biggest worry
for shippers, carriers, and 3PLs, despite
their best efforts. Truckers stick to major
highways and travel in convoys; warehouses are installing high-tech surveillance and
identity technology; and carriers in all
modes are spending millions of dollars on
guards and inspections.
But those measures have had limited success. A cargo security manager working on
the border (who requested anonymity for
safety reasons) reports that drug smugglers
are targeting companies that participate in
the Customs-Trade Partnership Against
