A new beginning in Central America: Initiation of the Mexican MTM Association
By Dr. Hans Fischer, president of the International MTM Directorate
MTM is a familiar face in Mexico; Volkswagen AG was among the MTM pioneers in Mexico at the beginning of the 1980s. From this time on, MTM has also had a contact person there. José Brocado has spent nearly his entire professional life at Volkswagen and got to know MTM in Germany. Since his native language is Spanish, he held MTM training courses both in Spain and Mexico after qualifying as an instructor in 1983. An MTM Association was then founded in Mexico in the mid-80s, but it never took hold beyond the realm of Volkswagen. In his function as president of the International MTM Directorate, Dr Fischer had many discussions with José Brocado to find ways to expand the influence of the Mexican MTM Association to the broader public.
Mexico, or officially “Estados Unidos Mexicanos”, is a richly populated country in North and Central America. It borders to the north on the United States, to the south on Belize and Guatemala – the Pacific Ocean forms the western border and the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to the East. Mexico has a population of around 110 million and has been independent since 1820. The official language is Spanish, and 62 indigenous languages are recognized as national languages. The gross domestic product per resident is around 8,500 US dollars – suggesting potential in the Mexican economy hidden both in its comparatively large population as well as in reference to the neighboring US market. Around 87% of Mexicans are Catholic. At 7.5%, Protestants form the largest religious minority.
Higher education in the country is dominated by state universities, most of which are located in Mexico City. But there are important colleges in Guadalajara, Puebla, Veracruz and Monterrey as well.
At the end of January this year, Hans Fischer met with José Brocado in Puebla and greeted ten representatives of VW de Mexico, Brose, Kiekert and Peguform at an opening MTM seminar. The seminar provided information about MTM in general, the use of MTM in productivity management and the international network of active MTM Associations. A conversation held earlier with the director of industrial engineering at Volkswagen Mexico, Gunter Schröer, confirmed the willingness of Volkswagen as well as his own personal commitment to actively support MTM in Mexico.
On 2 September 2009 a general meeting of the Mexican MTM Association will take place within an MTM symposium in Puebla. Along with Volkswagen de Mexico three other companies have already confirmed their membership – at least seven member companies are expected by September. The MTM training in Mexico rests squarely on the shoulders of José Brocado at the moment – thus one of the first important tasks for the MTM Association will be to ensure passing the torch to the next generation and to support MTM in Mexico on more shoulders. The German MTM Association will still be overseeing the duties of an examination board for ensuring the quality of training until 2011. Within this framework the Mexican MTM Association offers public MTM training courses (building-block systems MTM-1, SD, UAS and Practitioner seminars). Training students in Basic MTM has also begun; an initial compact course took place at the university in Veracruz.
José Brocado will translate parts of MTMaktuell in Spanish to publish the events, results and special dates of the Mexican MTM Association and to begin his own edition of MTMaktuell.The Mexican MTM Association is scheduled to be made a new member of the international MTM family with all rights and responsibilities at the next regular meeting of the International MTM Directorate on 23 October in Stuttgart.
We wish all of our colleagues sharing the work for MTM in Mexico a successful start and all the best!