The CRJ200 is a 50- seat regional jet. Gervais says the transfer of knowledge to Querétaro employees is going well. Bombardier has only transferred in a small group of expats

Réal Gervais, who leads Bombardier Aerospace operations in Querétaro, Mexico, stands in front of the company's temporary facility. Construction began on the company's campus in September.

from Montréal and Belfast to oversee production. Employment will gradually reach 1,000 to 1,200 over the next three to four years, he says. Bombardier's rapid progress in developing its site has not gone unnoticed in the sector, he says.
   "Several companies have visited the site here and they are definitely interested in Querétaro as we are trying to create an aerospace cluster," Gervais says. "The Querétaro government is generating a lot of publicity in an effort to bring in other companies. That's certainly what the government is aiming for, being number one in aerospace in Mexico. All the possibilities are here. It's a nice city of a million people. There are good schools and a brand new airport."
   The airport, completed in late 2004, has drawn considerable praise. Many consider it the best in Latin America, in part due to its long runways, which can accommodate an Airbus 380.
   Nick Criss is senior director, industrial services, for Cushman & Wakefield in Mexico, which worked with the Canadian company during its site selection process. He says the Bombardier project has broken new ground in Mexico in terms of the type of manufacturing it will be doing and also its location.
   "Prior to attracting Bombardier, Mexico had decided that aerospace would be a good industry to go after for several reasons," Criss says. "One, it's not as vulnerable to China as other industries because of the restrictions on aerospace [in China]. Mexico wanted to go after high- tech jobs to replace the manufacturing jobs it has lost to China. The problem was Mexico had been just saying the words and had no idea what it took to attract aerospace companies. The companies they had attracted were mostly tier- two or tier- three suppliers doing simple stuff and then sending it back to the United States to be finished and inspected.
   "In fact, they weren't getting the upscale aerospace work they were intending to get," Criss says. "Bombardier was put in touch with the appropriate people with Mexico's federal and state governments and they laid out the pillars that are required for the aerospace industry."
   Criss says another major factor powering the Mexican industry is the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA), a certification program with the U.S. that Mexico joined in 2004.
   "Russia doesn't have one and China doesn't have one, and because of that their airplanes are not on the international market," Criss says."Aerospace was left out of NAFTA, which was an oversight on the part of Mexico at the time."
   Mexico did not have a training system for aerospace technicians or engineers. The new school in Querétaro addresses that issue.
   "The biggest problem for aerospace, after the simple manufacturing stage, is the learning curve," Criss says. "It's extensive and expensive if you have to train your own people. Aerospace, to one extent or another, is a joint government- private sector enterprise anywhere in the world. It's not a true private sector like automotives. The fact is there is a close cooperation and risk sharing between government and private industry. That's something Mexico had to understand, and the [President Vicente] Fox Administration has embraced this in a big way."
   Criss reiterates Gervais' statement that Bombardier initially looked at Mexico as a site for a wire harness operation, which is a relatively low- tech, but labor- intensive manufacturing process.
   "When they looked at a vision of what Mexico could be, they broadened that plan," says Criss.

Brazilian aerospace firm Embraer is reported to be looking at Mexico as a potential manufacturing site. Pictured is Embraer's new European headquarters in Villepinte, France, near the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of Paris. The facility serves the EMEA region.

"Now, they are doing major structural assembly for a number of aircraft in Mexico and they've only been up and running for six months. This wasn't supposed to happen for four years. The reason they are moving ahead of plans is that the aerospace school is up and running and it is producing people capable of quality structural assembly."
   Criss says the aerospace industry is taking note of what Bombardier is doing; Cushman & Wakefield is currently working with about 10 companies that are considering Mexico, he says.
   Criss says aerospace firms making wire harnesses or other "low- end" products tend to locate near the border, supported by the company's U.S. suppliers and process people. But he says if companies are looking at a much larger vision of their Mexican operations and working with fewer restraints, the border is not the place.
   "The border regions have big turnover issues and no good education system to produce the types of players the aerospace industry needs. As companies focus on the ultimate possibilities of Mexico, it could have huge implications for site selection."
   Criss says border cities do not have a critical mass of technically trained high school graduates to develop a large cluster of the higher- tech aspects of aerospace. He says aerospace firms in general are primarily looking at four regions in Mexico: Querétaro, the Mexicali area, Chihuahua and the Monterrey- Saltillo area.
   "Those are the places where there will ultimately be some type of cluster," Criss says. "Mexicali is unique in that group and will get a certain share of aerospace because it allows companies to have a close relationship with their U.S. facilities. The other areas are more stand- alone, and companies locating there will have to make decisions about moving expats into the country."
   Maintenance- repair- overhaul (MRO) facilities are another portion of the industry that may see development in Mexico, Criss says.
   "Several big ones have gone in to Saltillo and several more companies are looking," he says. "MROs require a broader range of skills than structure facilities."