Listening to Marcos Wunder makes you want to travel to Mexico yourself. We talked to the German-Brazilian about founding a company in Mexico, ESG in mechanical engineering and the most beautiful places in the country. Another interview from our #peopleinournetwork series.

I am German-Brazilian, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Being a qualified electrical engineer, I have been with Wipotec for more than 12 years now. In the beginning, I was responsible for mechanical engineering projects as a project manager.

Ten years ago, the momentum came in the South American mechanical engineering market and I was offered the position of Sales Manager South America. Of course, I accepted without hesitation! Over the following ten years, I gained a lot of sales experience with Wipotec’s high-tech solutions, the Latin American and partly also the Asian mechanical engineering market. Eventually, in January 22, the management invited me to help found Wipotec Mexico and to take over the lead of the new subsidiary.

Compared to other Latin American countries, Mexico has a highly industrialized and export-oriented economy. We therefore see particularly great potential in the food sector and the pharmaceutical industry, and we are also active in the areas of logistics, chemicals and building materials. In Mexico, as in the other countries where we run subsidiaries, we have strong competition in the local market.

All things considered, our competitors in Mexico have been in this market longer than us. Nevertheless, we have already sold over 300 machines and now, after establishing Wipotec Mexico, we are aiming for a higher market share.  We are convinced that we can offer better solutions for our customers in the Mexican industry.

Wipotec is continouously busy to further development its mechanical engineering and highly individual solutions. Additionally, we are very involved in social and environmentally friendly projects. At our only production site in Kaiserslautern, for example, we obtain electricity to a large extent from renewable energies. Geothermal and solar technology are our choices and we are striving to become completely self-sufficient in the foreseeable future.

I have another example that is worth to mention. In 2014, we opened our own day-care center and fitness center on our company premises. In addition to that, we at Wipotec fully support the global ban on slavery and forced labour, which is also a priority for business development in Mexico. All of this is part of corporate social responsibility at Wipotec, which we take very seriously.

Surprisingly, the incorporation process ran quickly and smoothly here in Mexico: we initiated it in June 21 and the company was already officially registered by mid-September. After that we had to overcome some institutional hurdles and have a lot of patience to work with the highly bureaucratic Mexican system.

You need a lot of patience with the process of import permits, registration or accounting matters. For this purpose, I travelled to Mexico end of October. I spent 4 weeks, until mid-December, there to take over the office in the German Centre and to initiate the registrations. By the end of July 2022 we will not have cleared all the hurdles. It will take a while, but we will definitely make it!

German Centre Singapore gave us a lot of support in founding and entering the market. That is why the decision to use the services of the German Centre again for the Mexico location was an obvious one. We received a very warm welcome at German Centre Mexico. It was set up as agreed and I had all the freedom to design it myself.

In either case, at the German Centre everything is just right. All of the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. The manager, her staff, the security and cleaning staff work carefully in harmony to ensure that the daily routine always runs smoothly. I can also say that I feel very comfortable in the building of the German Centre Mexico, because I think everything fits here.

It is a fascinating country, geographically diverse and privileged: two very long coastlines on the Pacific and the Atlantic. Two places are particularly close to my heart: The first place is Teotihuacán, home of the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, fascinating structures! To this day it is not known exactly when the city was built, the area was already permanently inhabited in the 6th century BC and was the largest city on the American continent.

The secnd place is Acapulco, a beautiful city in the Southwest Pacific, which partly reminds me of Rio de Janeiro. It is situated between the coast and the mountains. Many beautiful beaches and a dynamic nightlife let everyone feel the true warmth of Mexico.