Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-10-16

operating on the outskirts of Mex
leo City. 1t is replica of any
large Westinghouse plant and Is
already turning out nearly every
thing that company produces in
the United States-transformers.
household electrical equipment, in
Guiding refrigerators. washing ma
chimes, electric stoves, electric
coasters and smoothing irons.
Yet Westinghouse neither owns
nor controls it. 1t is Mexican
owned by Mexican bankers, CAPT.
talists and Independent investors,
lock, stock and barrel. The Mex
lean government itself. through its
financial agencies, has put money
into the business, which is an i'm
portant factor in any such new
venture. In nationalistic coun-
try like Mexico, where the labor
movement is so intimately tied to
the dominant political party, and
therefore the government. govern
ment participation is expedient.
Assembly-Line Methods
Here are the big Westinghouse
considerations in industrial Elec-
trica de Mexico: The company de-
signed and sold most of the equip
ment for the plant and for time
until subsidiary industries get un-
der way it will sell spare parts, or
semlmanufactured parts for the
production of finished goods. 1t
has farmed out some of it's tech
nicians, and one of it's most ex-
perienced managers. to organize
and direct the overall operations.
AS a matter of fact, John w.
White, formerly manager of West
inghouse operations, branch plants
and distributing houses in Japan,
Argentina and other countries. be-
lieves so confidently in the prof.
ect that he resigned from the COM
pany and entered into a contract
with the Mexican owners to take
over under the Mexican Board of
/ Directors. the actual operations of
the firm for a period of years.
A Mexican engineer, trained in
the best industrial schools in the
United States and experienced in
Westinghouse factories, is the
manager of the plant. responsible
for all Mexican personnel. Under
him an American engineer is the
technical overseer of production.
What is more, 125 Mexican labor
ers were brought to the United
States and trained in various
United States plants.
To begin with. one or two of
the United States-trained labor
ers were placed in each depart
ment of the Mexican plant to
train others in the operations of
that department. Today. less than
two years after the plant started
operations, everything is moving
on assembly lines with clocklike
precision and with what Mr..
White insists is equal If not great
er efficiency than is found in many
plants hack home"
But" I asked, what comes
after all this? Now that they
have a plant. equipment. trained
personnel. not to mention your
patents and trade secrets. where
do you come in? And further
more. where and when do you and
the handful of other Americans
go out?"
"As regards the few Americans
here" he said. I'VE do not expect
to become fixtures. The young
United States technicians here &C
cepted contracts for only a short
length of time. They may build
up such confidence and respect for
themselves and their work, they
will find similar or new opportuni-
ties in Mexico or other Latin
American countries. At any rate
| they will know the language and
the customs of the country, and
their experience will be such that
they will be more valuable to any
company.
'"The Mexican plant is a big
investment. The Mexicans will
want to keep up to date. The
Mexican buying public will want
new products. That means, new
equipment, requirements. new
methods, more know-how."
Dollars for 'Know-How'
1t may be argued that if the
principal motive or reason for
entering this field is due to lack
of dollars in these countries with
which to pay for finished goods,
where will dollars be found to pay
for patents, plants and know how i?
Supporters of the idea point out
the fact that there will always be
a certain amount of dollars.
Brazil will sell Coffee Cuba will
sell sugar, Chile copper and so on.
Mexico will still sell certain raw
materials, silver. zinc. henequin
fiber and other things for which
it will get dollar exchange. Tour
lists are spending more than $780,
600, 900 below the border this year.
The Mexican and other govern
ments, as we have seen, will use
their limited dollar exchange for
their own national purposes, to
benefit themselves; that is. to buy
what the country most needs, raw
materials, supplies and equipment
for their own plants and indus
tries. Among other reasons, they
do this in self-defense to give
their own people more jobs and
keep them satisfied.
At any rate here are examples
of what is happening. While there
are no dollars available in Argen-
tina to buy a number Of finished
products in the United States Gre
frigerators. for instance, there
are dollars available in Argentina