The New Mexico Economic Development Department announced that two more companies have been awarded state economic assistance to boost manufacturing expansions and create jobs at New Mexico’s international Borderplex in Santa Teresa.
The newest additions to Santa Teresa are Coast Aluminum and Monti Inc.
Investing in New Mexico's international border to improve infrastructure and expand global trade has been a priority for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as the state continues to diversify the economy. New Mexico is seen as a strategic location for businesses looking to fortify global supply chains and locate manufacturing closer to North American customers.
Gov. Lujan Grisham recently returned from both Taiwan and Australia where she met with government and business leaders interested to learn more about New Mexico’s competitive advantages.
“The latest expansions to New Mexico are domestic companies who see the Borderplex as a strategic location for manufacturing,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. “My administration’s investments in this region are paying dividends with new jobs and sustainable growth as we create a manufacturing center of excellence in Southern New Mexico.”
“These companies are choosing New Mexico because of our superior business climate that supports facility expansions through infrastructure assistance, while also helping workers get needed job training and tuition-free educational opportunities,” Acting EDD Cabinet Secretary Jon Clark said.
Coast Aluminum, Inc. has broken ground on a 73,500-square-foot distribution center in the Santa Teresa Binational Industrial Park. The company, which has 15 locations throughout California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona, as well as five locations throughout Mexico, distributes custom and in-stock aluminum materials and stainless steel, copper, brass, and architectural metal products.
“We chose to locate our newest facility in the Santa Teresa industrial base due to its close proximity to our existing customer base in the region and because of the great assistance from the New Mexico Partnership and the State of New Mexico,” Tom Clark, president of Coast Aluminum, said.
“Coast Aluminum is another big win for New Mexico,” Melinda Allen, presidentCo and CEO of the New Mexico Partnership, said. “Having a company with such widespread coverage throughout the Western U.S. and northern Mexico will strengthen the state’s supply chain logistics and help attract other industries needing these products for their production plants.”
EDD has pledged $350,000 from the State of New Mexico Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) job-creation fund to support the $10 million expansion, which will create 37 jobs. Coast is expected to complete its Santa Teresa facility by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The second company awarded LEDA assistance is Monti Inc., a US-based leader in industrial component manufacturing and fabrication. The family-owned business is headquartered in Cincinnati and plans to invest $14 million in New Mexico. Monti is currently overseeing an 80,000- square-foot renovation of a site at 2690 Airport Rd., Santa Teresa. Once complete, the facility will have 36 employees and serve as a regional hub for Monti’s manufacturing and distribution of electrical components. The state is assisting Monti in the expansion with $350,000 from the LEDA fund.
"We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new location in Santa Teresa and look forward to bringing high-quality products closer to our customers,” VP of Sales & Marketing Gordon Narburgh said. "This expansion has been made possible by the hard work of our teammates, who are constantly focused on providing timely, excellent service with an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction. We are especially thankful for our loyal customers who have partnered with us in our journey to become an acknowledged industry leader."
The Santa Teresa location will feature copper bus bar and sheet metal fabrication, along with a state-of-the-art five-stage powder coating line. The building provides enough space for optimized product offerings, future growth, and the storage area necessary to serve customers with shorter manufacturing lead times as well as the ability to stock parts for quick shipments.
“Monti is one of several companies to recently select Santa Teresa to expand their operations because of the region’s impressive manufacturing talent and superior logistics capabilities,” Jerry Pacheco, business advisor to The New Mexico Partnership, said.
“Monti is currently looking for machinists and fabricators,” Molly Fender, Monti’s vice president of Human Resources, said. “For 52 years, Monti has shown that we not only invest in new opportunities and the latest equipment, but in our workforce. Employees are our greatest asset – we offer extremely competitive wages and generous benefits.”
The Santa Teresa Port of Entry is a primary crossing between the United States and Mexico and is the first land port without a bridge structure from the east. And as the only port not limited by space or weight, it serves a critical function for the El Paso and Ciudad Juárez industrial regions. The port also clears many regular commercial vehicles and a larger segment of private commuters. In the last two years, Santa Teresa Port of Entry, or STPOE, has doubled the number of commercial vehicles processed per hour and hit a new record in 2022 by processing more than 160,000 trucks.
“Both of these projects point to the distribution and logistics advantages that the NM Borderplex region has to offer, and we are becoming more and more recognized as the center of trade for North America,” said Davin Lopez, President & CEO of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA), which provided support to the projects.
Coast Aluminum and Monti join other recent expansions in the Borderplex, including Franklin Mountain Packaging, Louisiana Pepper Exchange, and the Taiwan-based Hota Industrial.