• INVENTORIES: Manufacturing assembly plants in some areas of northern Mexico, known as maquiladoras, have begun to build up supply inventories as a way to prepare against a potential new shock to global supply chains given the rise of coronavirus cases in Europe.
• RESERVES: According to officials in Mexico’s maquiladora industry advocacy association (INDEX), some plants have expanded inventories from an average of 7-day supply to an average of 20-day supply. There are more 6,400 maquiladora plants in Mexico mostly near the US border.
• CHANGE: “Before (the pandemic) we were very much producing just-in-time, trying to have supplies ready for what we were producing day by day, or week by week. But with this, every producer has now built its reserves”, said Gerardo Vázquez, head of INDEX in the northern state of Sonora.
• MODEL: Developed by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota in the 1970s, just-in-time practices have been questioned in the face of the pandemic. In September, a high level official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called to strike a balance between just-in-time and just-in-case practices.
