EMS@C-LEVEL
As Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and SCOOP writer, Philip Stoten, continues to talk to EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) executives he learns more about their individual and collective experiences and their expectations for their own businesses and for the entire electronic manufacturing industry.
EMS@C-LEVEL
Building Mexico’s Electronics Future Through Training, Alliances, And Advocacy, with Lorena Villanueva
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What does it take to turn nearshoring from a headline into factory-ready capacity? I sit down with Lorena Villanueva, who leads Mexico for the Global Electronics Association, to unpack a practical blueprint: align government incentives, open university doors, and certify talent where hiring happens. The conversation starts with a clear shift in strategy after a major rebrand—more resources and attention flow into Mexico, and the results show up in local programs that train hundreds at a time in Guadalajara and Guanajuato.
We dig into the three-helix model that guides the work: government, academia, and industry moving in step. You’ll hear how Education Weeks and Electronics Days translate into portable certifications that employers trust; how universities like UNAM and the Technological University of Querétaro are joining the association, updating curricula, and letting companies train on campus; and how factories reciprocate by bringing students to SMT lines for hands-on learning. It’s a closed loop that reduces onboarding time, strengthens retention, and builds a talent pipeline sized for real demand.
Lorena also shares how advocacy amplifies these efforts. With regional incentives shaping outcomes, the team brings multiple state governments—and soon federal representation—into the room at major trade shows, expanding the Mexico Pavilion and turning policy curiosity into concrete collaboration. The takeaway is simple and powerful: nearshoring isn’t magic. It’s the compound effect of standard-aligned training, open institutions, and trusted convening that shortens the distance between classroom, line, and market.
If you care about electronics manufacturing, workforce development, or how regions win in global supply chains, this one’s for you. Subscribe for more candid conversations with leaders building the next generation of capability, and share your own success stories—we’d love to learn what’s working in your region.
EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
Setting The Global-Local Context
SPEAKER_00Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I'm on the Global Electronics Association booth at Productronica 2025. And I'm joined by the leadership from Mexico, Lorena. Thank you very much. Lorena, always a pleasure to chat to you. One of the things I've noticed, particularly at this show, but more and more, is this idea of being acting, thinking globally and acting locally is really is really settling with the with the association. And we have these wonderful initiatives that impact lots of different regions, but we're delivering them differently in in each of those regions. Tell me a bit about how you see that and how that's happening in Mexico.
Rebrand And Regional Focus On Mexico
SPEAKER_01Yes. Well, you know, Phil, for 70 years we've been the IPC. And just last June we changed the rebranding to the Global Electronics Association, was precisely to strengthen that. So what the company wanted to do is to put more focus on the region. And that was especially impacting for my region for Mexico. Yeah, absolutely. So it's putting Mexico in the center of the debate, in the center of all the decisions. You know, every day we go to sleep and wake up thinking, let's see what happens now with the news, with the tariffs, with the the different governments, with the presidents, Mexico and the US. Um, and Mexico is in the center of the debate. So what the organization is doing is putting a lot more focus and resources and and strength in Mexico.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'm leading, I have the fortune to lead the Mexico team. And what we're doing, the I would say that the part particularity that we have in Mexico, and that what we're doing is we're joining forces with what we call the three helixes of the electronics industry. So I have alliances with the governments, the state governments, with the academia, the the education institutions, and of course with the industry.
The Three-Helix Strategy Explained
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and it's bringing those all together that's this hugely, hugely valuable. How do you do that? Is it responding to what the market's asking for? Is it putting together events where you can actually inform the market and maybe find out from the market what they need from your government initiatives? How do you create those too? Exactly.
Local Events And Education Weeks
SPEAKER_01That that has been key. All the the events that we've been doing across Mexico in the key electronics hubs, in some key um cities that, for example, Guadalajara, that you know so well that it is called the Silicon Valley of Latin America and hubs of electronics that have been growing a lot, like Guanajuato, the automotive um hub, like Guadalajara, the electronics hub. So what we do is we we go locally and we join forces with the governments and with the the education institutions, and we we do this this uh events like the the IPC days, now the electronics days. Yeah, we now do the the week of education together with the with the governments. And what we do is we we have an open house, we open the the doors and we train whoever comes. So we've had education weeks, for example, in Guanajuato, where we train 300 people.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's hugely valuable, and they go away with what a a certification to say that they've attended uh a training day and that creates all kinds of opportunities. Talent's a big issue, and it's interesting when you know we think of Mexico as having kind of unlimited talent, but it's not unlimited. You've got to you've got to train those people, you've got to be able to retain and keep those those people. That's a big part of what IPC advocates for. Good training, um, good retention, good worker relations. Is that something that is important in Mexico and and really resonates with the members there?
Talent Gap And Nearshoring Reality
SPEAKER_01Completely, completely. Lately, after COVID, we started talking the world started talking about near shoring. And Mexico was, of course, the key point of near shoring for the United States. But near shoring is not done by magic. I always tell people near shoring is not a magic one that you shake and then everything will come to you. We need, as a country, to be able to demonstrate that we have well-trained and certified um people and talent, and you just mentioned it. It's not something that is done naturally, it's not something that that everybody is prepared for. There are statistics, Phil, that if we wanted to cover for the entire demand that we right now have to be able to call Mexico the the key partner for the the electronics uh supply chain of the United States, we are in a deficit of five million engineers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which is phenomenal, isn't it? And it is just just building up even an engine that's gonna deal with part of that is hugely valuable. Correct. And you know, you're part of the Helix that's academia, is it is a key part of that. Are they receptive? Do they want to partner with industry? Do they want you to connect them to those people?
Universities Join And Open Doors
SPEAKER_01They are just last week. We announced two new members that that became members of the association, and one is the largest public university in all Latin America, the UNAM, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. They just joined last week, and and the second one is the Technological University of Querétaro, one of the key electronics clubs. So every day we're seeing, and of course, they will be bringing the rest. Yeah, every day we're seeing more interest from the academia. These large public and private universities are interested in becoming members of IPC, of the association, and everything that that they get with being members of us.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, no, that's hugely valuable. And how do how does that interaction work? Do you end up with industry being able to go into academia and teach? Do you end up with academia being able to bring the classroom down to the SMT line and actually visit and see?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. What they're doing, this is very interesting. It's a great question question. The UNAM and the University, the Technological University of Queretaro both are opening their doors for the industries to come and get trained there, or they are going to start visiting.
Advocacy And Government Partnerships
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And the other bit I just wanted to touch on was advocacy and politics. You know, I don't want to get into the politics of of what's going on in in any of the countries that that we're talking about here. But there needs to be advocacy, and a lot of what goes on in Mexico is in terms of incentives, is regional. You need to you need to connect to all those different areas. Is that something you've been able to do?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00We had um you had some of them with you in uh Apex, didn't you?
SPEAKER_01In Apex, yes, for the very first year government show up in 25 years of Apex. We we had this last March for the very first time, the Mexico pavilion. And we brought three different governments, state governments. So next year for 2026, we're even we're gonna grow the the Mexico Pavilion, and we are we're inviting even the federal government.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
Collaboration As The Core Advantage
SPEAKER_01So we'll have representation from four different state governments and people from federal government. So that is the way, sorry, how the association wants to get more connections, more alliances with the governments, and get to to um work on the advocacy also for Mexico, but from the association's standpoint.
SPEAKER_00But just having them connect there, having the those those government bodies, and and you take them around and show them what's going on on the floor there, having them connect with those academic organizations that you talked about that hopefully will send representation there as well. Right. I think those things are that are hugely valuable. And and to me, this is one of the things that that the Global Electronics Association does better than anybody else is create this and enable this collaboration. Correct. You know, people pick up the phone when you ring, they listen, they're prepared to give time, and they're prepared to come together and try and figure out how together we can make the industry better. And I think that's where it gets really exciting. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, it's that's correct, it's it's fantastic. Lorena, thanks for your time. Pleasure to chat, and uh look forward to seeing you hopefully next time in Mexico.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Phil.