The Summer 2012 edition of the New Mexico Partnership newsletter highlighted the Interceramic ribbon cutting in Santa Teresa and the very successful AUVSI conference that MVEDA staff attended in August. These reprints are courtesy of the New Mexico Partnership.
New Mexico News
In July, Interceramic, one of the largest tile manufacturers in North America, held a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new distribution center in the Santa Teresa Business Center. Governor Susana Martinez was on hand in Santa Teresa for the event hosted by the Border Industrial Association.
Headquartered in Chihuahua, Mexico, Interceramic leased an 80,000-square-foot facility and will create 30 jobs at its new operation. According to New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela, “A major factor in the company’s selection of Santa Teresa was the establishment of an overweight cargo zone north of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, which allows trucks with weights up to 96,000 lbs into this limited zone. The establishment of this zone was a joint effort between the New Mexico Economic Development Department, the New Mexico Legislature, the New Mexico Partnership and the Border Industrial Association. Interceramic is the second company to take advantage of this unique zone on the U.S.-Mexico border within the past seven months.”
According to Gabriel Grijalva, Interceramic’s Director of Supply Chain and Logistics, “The overweight zone and the rapid crossings at the Santa Teresa Port will allow us to transport our product into our U.S. market more economically and efficiently. In the future, we hope to expand our operations in Santa Teresa.”
With annual sales of approximately $500 million, Interceramic is a leading manufacturer of ceramic tile, bathroom fixtures, setting materials, and natural stone. The company uses 240 franchise stores to distribute its product in Mexico, 14 stores in the south region of the U.S. located across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Georgia, and 65 independent distributors for the rest of the U.S. and Canada. In addition to their North America operations, the company also has distribution centers in Panama and Guatemala and an interesting venture in China to produce high design ceramic tile and offer it through exclusive local distributors.
Sales Missions & Trade Shows
The Partnership attended the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems North America conference in Las Vegas in early August where we exhibited and hosted a reception. We had excellent community participation at both events. There were representatives from 12 communities that included economic developers and city officials from Albuquerque Economic Development, Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance, Clovis Industrial Development Corporation, Roswell-Chaves County EDC, Artesia Chamber of Commerce, Gila Economic Development Alliance, Deming-Luna County EDC, Rio Rancho Economic Development Commission, Eastern New Mexico Economic Development Alliance, Sierra County Economic Development Organization, SWNM Council of Governments, and the City of Roswell and the City of Deming. NMEDD Cabinet Secretary Jon Barela attended, as well as Joe Bullington from Jacobs Technology at NASA’s White Sands Testing Facility. We received assistance from the participants in manning the booth as well as answering questions about New Mexico and our resources at each of the events.
Seven of the communities and Jacobs Technology helped to sponsor the events and received level-appropriate recognition in return:
• Platinum: Albuquerque Economic Development
• Gold: Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance
• Bronze: Artesia Chamber of Commerce
Clovis Industrial Development Corporation
Deming-Luna County Economic Development Corporation
Gila Economic Development Alliance
Jacobs Technology
Roswell-Chaves County Economic Development Corp.
The first evening of the conference, we hosted a private reception in a members-only area of the House of Blues, called the Foundation Room, on the 43rd floor of Mandalay Bay. It was well attended by all of the New Mexico representatives, including people from White Sands Missile Range, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Physical Science Laboratory at New Mexico State University who helped answer questions about the state’s resources and capabilities. From the private sector, Mistic and Silent Falcon Technologies were on hand to share their experiences of doing business in New Mexico. Our guests included more than 30 executives from 12 companies.
It was a great success for New Mexico. With the support and participation from our communities, we were really able to increase New Mexico’s presence and share with company executives all the state has to offer to support the UAS industry. We look forward to similar efforts in the future.
