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INDIA-BASED COMPANY ESTABLISHED OPERATIONS IN PUERTO RICO
Expansion Management
By: Karen E. Thuermer
http://www.expansionmanagement.com/cmd/articledetail/articleid/15960/default.asp
December 1, 2003
Infotech Enterprises is establishing a joint partnership and pilot program with Pratt & Whitney in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, with the aim of eventually designing and developing high-tech aerospace propulsion systems. The new company will be called Infotech Aerospace Services.
The pilot program
will serve as a basis for future projects in developing software for
aerospace applications.
Infotech Aerospace will serve as a
near-shore facility for North American customers and will help
Infotech better serve its customers by creating an alternative
location for project execution and delivery, according to the
company.
Hyderabad, India,-based Infotech is making an initial investment
of about $100,000 in equipment.
The company has already started operations with 18 employees — 17
of whom are Puerto Rican; 16 are computer engineers. Once the
results of the pilot program are in, Infotech could increase its
recruitment significantly. The staff could be expanded to 450 by
2007, the company said.
The Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co. offered the company a
$250,000 incentive to locate in Mayaguez.
One key advantage is that operation costs for engineers on Puerto
Rico are 20 percent to 30 percent less than on the continental
United States.
Puerto Rico has become a prime destination for aerospace jobs
because the U.S. government now requires that U.S. citizens do all
defense and homeland security-related work. Previously, some jobs
were outsourced to low-cost countries with skilled workers, such as
India.
Island officials see the project as the catalyst for improving
its chances of becoming a center for the aerospace industry. Those
officials are hoping Puerto Rico is as attractive to the aerospace
industry as the island is to the pharmaceutical industry.
Tax advantages, excellent infrastructure, plus Puerto Rico’s
skilled work force, are factors that have given rise to the island’s
highly successful pharmaceutical industry.
These were major factors cited by Abbott Laboratories when it
decided to invest $350 million in a new biotechnology manufacturing
plant in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico.
“Puerto Rico’s people are its greatest asset,” said Harry
Rodriguez, divisional vice president and general manager of Abbott’s
Puerto Rico operations. “There is also easy collaboration with other
pharmaceutical companies and universities.”
The new plant adds an additional 107 acres to the existing Abbott
operation. The company will do its own lab testing and
manufacturing, and compete with similar operations in Ireland and
Singapore.
Other Caribbean Locales
Other Caribbean islands offer unique opportunities. In Jamaica,
those opportunities include bauxite mining, information technologies
(call centers and processing centers), agribusiness and textiles.
Agribusiness focuses on jerk and hot sauce manufacturing. A
cluster of about 50 companies works together to address key problems
in the industry, including the supply of raw materials, packaging
and forward linkages to export markets.
Information technology continues to flourish. In September,
National Asset Recovery Services Inc. announced the opening of its
multi-million-dollar contact center in Montego Bay.
The 26,000 square foot, 1,200-seat facility provides inbound and
outbound services, including debt collection, customer care,
telemarketing, data processing and help desk assistance.
“Giving our customers substantial cost savings, while maintaining
the quality they have come to expect was our main concern,” said
Christopher H. Buehrle, president of St. Louis-based National Asset
Recovery. “We decided that a location in the Caribbean would be a
much more desirable location.”
Convenience was also a factor.
“I can leave our headquarters in the morning and be sitting in my
Montego Bay office by noon,” Buehrle said. “That convenience,
coupled with a first-rate facility and state-of-the-art
telecommunications, has our customers excited.”
Grenada, which is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and
functions under a parliamentary form of government closely modeled
on the British system, is concentrating on food processing, fishing,
light manufacturing, information services and international
financial services.
Ocean Call, a telemarketing company, successfully operates from
Grenada. Ocean Call’s client, a publishing company, is moving 12
million calls per annum from the United States to Grenada, where
labor costs are considerably less, yet the English speaking labor
market is more than 80 percent literate.
Melvyn Mills, managing director of Ocean Call, said he initially
planned to set up the operation on another Caribbean island. But
after becoming frustrated with the lengthy procedures, he opted for
Grenada.
“Grenada is easy to do business with,” he said. “The more we are
here, the more we like it.”
Abbott Grenada Ltd. manufacturers a hospital pump called Flexiflo
and other medical pump insert assemblies from its facility in
Frequente Industrial Park.
“Within the time frame I have been in Grenada, the level of
technical expertise, infrastructure and support systems are much
improved,” said Jim Peczkowski, general manager of Abbott Grenada.
“Telecommunications has brought Grenada into the global community.”
Curacao is trying to attract financial services and shipping
companies by using the Bahamas as a model.
What makes Curacao a little bit more of a special case is that it
is still a Dutch protectorate and does not always get the same
benefits afforded to other islands.Back to Press Room /
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