My name is GABRIEL ROA GONZÁLEZ I am a graduate of the Faculty of Engineering of the UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO, where I studied the career of MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. After I left school in 1964 at the age of 26 years, I dedicated myself to the Foundry Industry. I started in a small workshop as an employee where I performed all the work: Management in the administrative and production areas, Sales and Purchasing.
The partners of this company granted me a 28% shareholding and the credit to pay these shares when I had the necessary resources. The objective of this company “FUNDICION CONTESA S.A. DE C.V.” was the manufacture of gates and mechanisms to operate irrigation gates (See photo 1), our main client was a Government Institution, the “SECRETARÍA DE RECURSOS HIDRÁULICOS,” whose main function was to build irrigation systems for Agriculture in all the National Territory.
Unfortunately the workshop did not have enough production capacity nor the capital to be able to finance the orders that the “SECRETARÍA DE RECURSOS HIDRÁULICOS” granted us, which were substantial, in a few words, we could say that we could not manufacture large orders and even less we could finance them. Consequently, we could not generate profits, so I dedicated myself to increase production capacity and to look for new clients. The result of this struggle that took 12 years was that in 1976 we reached the break-even point, when our income was enough to pay for our expenses.
The first four years were extremely difficult because there were no profits, I could not collect my full salary so I only collected half and the other half I contributed as capital, at the end of four years I had contributed more than my partners had contributed when they started the company in 1962. One of them accepted his liquidation and withdrew from the company, the other one remained with 30%, years later he asked me for his liquidation and I was able to pay him, at that moment I remained with 100% of the stock participation.
Looking back, we can explain why the company was able to get through those difficult years without closing down operations. In 1968 the MITSUBISHI group installed a parabolic antenna to send via satellite all the information of the OLIMPIADA that was held in MÉXICO, for this we were hired by the Japanese company to supply the lead counterweights of this antenna, with the result of delivering on time and obtaining a very good profit.
In 1970 the company obtained a contract from the construction company ICA (one of the largest in Mexico) to manufacture all the electrical installation manholes of the METRO LINEA 2 in Mexico City, the result was on time delivery and with a very good profit. In 1976, when we reached the break-even point, the volume of production began to increase and the profits began to grow, then the company was able to capitalize, so that we could start the construction project of an industrial building.
In 1981 and 1983 a 46,000 square feet flat land was acquired (see photograph No.2) in the industrial zone of Ocoyoacac in the State of Mexico, an hour and a half from Mexico City. In 1985 the construction of the warehouse began, with 17,000 square feet of roofing (see photographs Nos. 3 and 4), but years later there was a drop in profits, so additional income was needed, which was obtained through a partner who contributed 30% of the capital, not only the construction of the warehouse was done, but also the equipment and machinery were also built (see photographs Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). Finally we started operations in this building in 1997.
The first three years 1997, 1998 and 1999 that we worked in the new plant were very successful, we obtained good profits and we were able to capitalize the company, unfortunately in the year 2000 a national economic crisis started which provoked a big reduction in the market of castings, we lost many customers and among them our main customer “TELEFONOS DE MEXICO,” who bought us a good volume at a good price and their payments were very punctual, the termination as a customer was motivated by a technological improvement that was presented, the cable support that we were manufacturing was very robust because it had to support the copper cable that was very large 3 1⁄2″; in diameter and very heavy and was replaced by a fiber optic cable of 2” diameter, very light, composed of very thin plastic filaments so the new support was very light, made of a very thin laminalamine with a very low cost. Although we had enough capital to work, we were not able to resolve the situation because it was prolonged for several years, in 2010 the partners decided that the solution was to terminate the operation of the company and proceeded to the liquidation of all workers and employees; the liquidation of each of the suppliers and the pending taxes were paid.
I did some consulting work for the foundry industry, mainly to solve ecological problems (equipment for the control of emissions into the atmosphere) and I kept in touch with my colleagues. Lately I have found a niche market in the U.S. for castings that I am able to serve. I have managed to form a group of foundry suppliers that have the technical and administrative capacity to supply important quantities of castings with the quality required by customers located in the U.S.A. This group called “CAST IRON FOUNDRY GROUP MEXICO,” has as its main goal to provide the best quality castings to our customers in the USA.
CAST IRON FOUNDRY GROUP MEXICO 