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TECHNOLOGY,
KEY FACTOR OF THE SUCCESS OF GRUMA.
In the middle
of the 70 s, the degree of development of GRUMA operations in Mexico
allowed the idea of extending operations beyond our frontiers because, among
other things, the rigorous subsidy policy that controlled in that time corn and
tortilla industry represented a serious obstacle for growth; a growth that also
was practically impossible to stop at those days.
After
beginning the consolidation in the Costa Rican market, a series of factors such
as commercial and technological development ones prepared the ground for GRUMA
to consider the United States as the following step in its expansion
process.
In those
days, Don Roberto González Barrera perceived the growing popularity of the Mexican
food in that country; during a journey for California he observed that the
industry in that state had some degree of technology; however, he also realized
that GRUMA s technology was very superior and there were elements to
compete there.
With
that objective in mind, Roberto González Barrera committed himself to the task
of introducing his flour to the tortilla makers in the United States, who showed
very little interest in the beginning because they thought they had the best
form of making tortillas and a better quality product.
In that time
the tortilla industry in the United States was highly dispersed into small companies,
whose owners were struggling not only to seize a share of the nascent market
but also to be competitive using an inappropriate technology, which eventually
would render insufficient to an ever-increasing and more exigent demand.
Then I thought my task was showing them that very good tortillas
could be made with Maseca flour. But how would I demonstrate that? Well,
by doing them myself , Don Roberto recalls, who was successful almost
immediately by producing his own tortillas, and in no time he already owned
several tortilla
shops.
In
1976 he acquired a small tortilla factory that sold US$ 2 million per year, with
a name that may sound familiar to more than one person: Mission Foods, a name
that this subsidiary of GRUMA still conserves.
In
this stage the strengthening of the technological component became a prevailing
issue, which would eventually have in important influence to penetrate the North
American market, according to the testimony Mr. Manuel Rubio
Portilla.
GRUMA s current
General Manager of Engineering and Technology commented to the AL
GRANO magazine Special Edition that in 1978 he worked in the development of a
machine that could produce 600 tortillas per minute, and whose operation in
Mexico was not cost-effective given the effect upon the industry by the
application of a subsidy. This fact encouraged them to transfer such machine to
use it in the United States.
However, it was
not that simple, because some difficulties and setbacks were faced to introduce this
Mexican technology into the American market. The strategy used to introduce such
machinery into North American territory showed again Don Roberto González Barrera
s venturesome spirit and personality. Along with Mr. Rubio s
advice, he decided to purchase Elecktra Food Machinery Company with headquarters
in El Monte, California.
Mr. Rubio himself
explains the reasons of this acquisition: Apart from the technological
aspect, the purchase had a merely commercial reason that allowed us
to win some time, because it is not the same to compete alone in a market than
buying an established business with its own customer portfolio and to whom the
approach is with greater confidence .
Once
the technology with Mexican design and patents was applied to the machines built
in Elecktra Food Machinery, and complying with all the specifications imposed by
the government of the United States, the company was transferred to Monterrey
N.L., and the company became what now is TECNOMAIZ.
For one of the main responsible
people behind GRUMA s development, the incursion in the United States is
perhaps the most important step of the company in its first 50 years of life.
In my opinion , says Mr. Rubio, the biggest step that this business
made to gain the importance now it has was when we went into the United States,
because we are of the few ones, or perhaps the only foreign company that could
enter this difficult market with technology of its own
.
Had we failed there
, Mr. Rubio reckons, today the company would have a different magnitude
and a different type .
More
than 20 years later, GRUMA is leader in practically all the local markets and
products with which the company takes part in America. The prestige and
experience acquired by the company when it first entered and stayed in this
market, with a technology of its own and with a Mexican origin product, are now
one of the valuable assets for the development of the company in the diverse
regions of the world where it holds operations.
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