3,000 kilometers south of the Obelisk, in the Rio Grande, the wind blows at more than 100 kilometers per hour, but at the Mirgor power plant there is a different type of wind. The visitor receives an air shower to remove any dust particles, before dressing as a surgeon and wearing special anklets to prevent static electricity.
The first thing that catches the eye are the posters that encourage your tour with the photo of the employees and different emojis in green, yellow and red as they respected the 5S standards, the Japanese organizational technique.
Salaries, which in another not so distant time were $ 2,000, today at the blue price They don’t get to 400. And in companies they are not strangers lack of people problem in a Tierra del Fuego with full employment.
Despite the presence of the University of Tierra del Fuego, the UTN and, among private individuals, UCES and the Universidad Siglo XXI, affirm that talent is scarce. Companies have their own schools and the requirement to enter is the completion of high school. They compete with tourism.
Where is the advantage?
A Mirgor lead the cell phones with Samsung in a process that according to the requirement of the scheme must be fully assembled. Where is the advantage? “In Samsung’s confidence that it allows the latest models to launch at the same time as they do in Korea,” they argue.
There they also ensure that in Prices are related to the region. And they put the logistics together in an effort to keep imported ones safe from stock.
In the plant they do the dishes that are the soul of televisions. The components arrive from China in millimeter-sized rolls, the robots absorb it with the air and glue it according to the drawing. It is the brain of the device. There are other larger plates that are attached manually. welding with waves of tin in state-of-the-art furnaces is another sticking point. The control is double, optical and a pass through X-rays.
Production lines are brand new with machines that don’t drop below $ 5 million, most of them Panasonic. In a normal year they ship 360,000 televisions. With the World Cup in Qatar they place 800 thousand.
The Japanese method
On other blackboards, the drawing of a fish skeleton draws attention and refers to what needs to be considered in terms of the environment, manpower, efficiency, how it is measured and managed. The method is also Japanese.
Alejandro Vizzari is the manager of the company founded 39 years ago on an initiative by Mauricio Macri and his soulmate, Nicolás Caputo who still holds the 8% of the shares to supply radio and arias to Sevel which brought together Fiat and Peugeot under the direction of Franco Macri.
mirgore is the only auto parts company in Tierra del Fuego, the Caputo family has the majority stake, the Anses has 23% and the rest is listed on Wall Street, turnover of 350 million dollars, exports of 200 million dollars It has 3,600 people and 53% are women because of their motor skills, which are key in the assembly of Samsung. In Tierra del Fuego, there are different bargaining systems between plant personnel, contracts and discontinuous service personnel.
Mirgor works for Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford, among others in its 60 thousand square meters of Río Grande.
Disembarkation in Baradero
And it is about to open in Buenos Aires Baradero a 7,000-meter plant for injection and painting for auto parts such as bumpers, armrests with inversion of 30 million dollars. There are a total of 18 pieces.
Toyota chose it as its best global supplier after designing a multimedia platform that replaced their radios. They export it to Brazil. And they attribute their innovations to a special department in which invest 5% of the billing.
It’s not the only plan: they will increase theirs participation in agri-food. And they plan to go to branches in Uruguay and Paraguay.
The regime that benefits this industry was drafted by the military in 1972 and walked on the tracks in the name of the population of that territory for geopolitical reasons.
In recent times, in an itinerary to the rhythm of the crises and the lack of dollars, opinions have diverged, among those who criticize the the high level of import and the lack of greater local integration, as well as emphasizing that these benefits are not passed on to the user.
The 20 plants of the island
There is more 20 factories of the consumer electronics industry in Tierra del Fuego. Cell phones, televisions, air conditioners, microwave ovens and electronic components for cars (car radios, electronic control modules) are produced. Nine out of 10 mobile phones, televisions and air conditioners sold in Argentina are manufactured in these factories and they do so according to the method of “Terminal industry” which consists in integrating components that come from a global network. They generate 8,500 direct jobs, 15% of provincial employment. It is a highly skilled and labor-intensive industry. Plant revenue was $ 2,600 million last year.
The defender
His defenders, such as the radical senator Pablo Blanco, claim to contribute 15% of the income to the Tierra del Fuego treasury.
“It is absurd to consider the cost of taxes and that of imports. What you have to consider is that 10 million cellphones, 2.7 million televisions, 1.5 million antennas have been sold and this not only pays taxes, but it would be much more expensive for the state if they were completely imported, “he says. to White a Clarione.
“The goal of the regime was to populate the island, for geopolitical purposes. And after the sanction, the Fuegian population multiplied by 13. The electronics industry is not the only activity protected by 19,640. In addition, the plastics, textiles, fishing, clothing, mechanical and petrochemical industries which employ nearly 3,000 workers. The investment of the French oil company Total for oil exploration for 700 million dollars is also in full swing “, White limits.
detractors
In the Civic Coalition I’m on the opposite sidewalk. “We have proposed to end the regime, which today it only benefits a couple of privileged living, paid by all Argentines. It’s been 50 years. It has made electronic products more expensive, “said the president of the Civic Coalition of Deputies, Juan Manuel López. He said the regime” will exempt companies from all national taxes and protect them eliminating all competition. And he explained that this measure represents “the highest fiscal expenditure of the 2023 Budget, with 0.35% of GDP“, he described.
By the way, there are three countries in the region that have decided to have an electronics industry with similar regimes, this is the case with Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.
“It’s a strategic decision like that of the automotive industry,” says Pierre Iribarren, Production Manager at one of Newsan’s five factories in Ushuaia.
Every product must have authorization the special customs commission composed of the national and provincial secretariat of the sector, the trade union, the business chambers and the Banco Nación, in addition to the trade unions.
Unlike the system it rules in Brazilian Manaus, where the big brands are installed directly, here they are licensed or associated with local businessmen. “They trust us,” they say.
Next to Mirgor, the first thing that surprises in the BGH plant is the Cobots, as i call them collaborative robots they designed to help operators with the task. The robot is responsible for leaving the piece in such a way that it does not have to make lateral movements and no force. There are not a few people who have suffered from tendonitis and other diseases in this manipulation. BGH leads in air conditioners. There they develop inverter technology to save energy, they produce for their own brand and for third parties such as Tophouse de Coto. to elaborate one every 30 seconds after a process involving 260 hands and lines of machinery installed for approximately US $ 5 to 8 million. The traceability of each piece is absolute and the method they apply is that of continuous improvement..
in ushuaia Reina Newsan, of the entrepreneur Rubén Cherñajovsky who is linked to the government and especially to Daniel Scioli. It has 5 factories and a sum of brands that has grown from the old Continental Fuegian for 35 years.
That of the air is most modern in the world and they ship them under their Noblex, Philco, Siam brands and on behalf of third parties such as Carrefour at a rate of 800,000 per year. your robots They work at very high speeds: they can place 84,000 components in one hour. These are 0.15 micron pieces. They have 3,000 employees who were reinstated after the pandemic. The production challenges are manifold, from the sudden death of the components to the possible leakage of refrigerant gases, says Facundo Bianciotto.
One of its branches is Pulpo, dedicated to the recycling of cardboard and polystyrene used in packaging. 98% recycle. The cardboard is transformed into pulp and with special dies it is transformed into tablets that are placed in the containers of the household appliances to avoid blows or in the maples for the eggs; among many other uses. Octopus is called upon to absorb the waste of the Fuegian industry and then supply it. The plastic turns into tiles, which is the final disposal of these containers. In command Diego Cano, UBA economist. He is curious, one of his mentors was the late economist Jorge Schvarzer, who was very critical of the Tierra del Fuego regime.
Source: Clarin
