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    Molex plans second Manufacturing plant in Guadalajara to serve North American Electrification markets

    Oct. 24, 2022
    The investment in the new plant will offer new tools and processes developing interconnect solutions for electric vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems and connected vehicles
    Image credit Molex
    Molex 6356a5efc0d5c

    Molex will open a second manufacturing plant in Mexico for producing next-gen electronics for the electric vehicle and industrial electrification markets in North America, the Illinois-based company announced Monday.

    The new, planned 60,000-square-foot plant in Guadalajara will double Molex’s manufacturing footprint in the region. The company is committed publicly to investing another $130 million in production and engineering talent to serve its North American market.

    “The opening of a new factory in Guadalajara dedicated to transportation customers further enhances our ability to effectively and economically address the most complex challenges in automotive connectivity, battery management, vehicle safety and zonal architectures,” Mike Bloomgren, Molex president for transportation and industrial solutions, said in a statement.

    The investment in the new plant will offer new tools and processes developing interconnect solutions for electric vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems and connected vehicles, according to the release.

    The Molex expansion in Mexico is another in a line of manufacturing announcements aimed at shortening the electrification supply chain for the North American markets. Industrial and energy technology firms such as ABB, Cummins, LG, First Solar, Fluence, Factorial Energy, Hyundai and others have made multi-billion-dollar commitments to building or expanding new U.S. and Canadian plants focused around EVs, batteries and hydrogen, among others.

    See all of our recent EnergyTech coverage on companies tightening the C&I Energy Transition Supply Chain

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    Molex added that its Guadalajara expansion also “strategically shortens supply chain cycles by enabling the local team in Mexico to expedite supply-and-demand decisions to mitigate product development and manufacturing risks,” according to the company release. “The opportunity to increase and align multiple, geographically dispersed supply sources improves Molex’s overall resiliency in addressing changing market dynamics and disruptions on behalf of automotive customers globally.

    Acquired by privately held Koch Industries in 2013, Molex produces electronics and interconnective technologies for commercial, industrial, health care, computing and data sectors.

    Earlier this month, ICL announced it was planning a $400 million EV battery manufacturing plant in St. Louis. Many companies are ramping up U.S-based clean energy technology production sites in the wake of the recently pass Inflation Reduction Act, which offers more than $300 billion in various decarbonization and infrastructure incentives.

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    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]). 

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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