UL, based in Illinois, recently opened its first-ever Mexican-based laboratory in Querétaro, Mexico, according to a press release.
"Today marks an exciting new day in our three-decade relationship with Mexico as we open UL's newest state-of-the-art laboratory in Querétaro," president and CEO, UL Inc., Jennifer Scanlon, said in the release. "Given our mission of working for a safer world, UL is dedicated to using its testing and certification expertise to help manufacturers in Mexico grow and prosper by helping to bring their innovations to market quickly and safely."
The new facility, spanning 221 kilometers (137 miles), is located in the northwest side of Mexico, inside the Kaizen Industrial Park complex, neighboring the Querétaro International Airport. Its focus will be ensuring the product safety and performance of the local market, and the exportation process to the United States, Canada and other territories across Latin America.
"Adding testing capabilities in Mexico will strengthen our ability to help customers export products to the United States, Canada and other Latin American countries while meeting safety and performance testing and certification needs in Mexico," said Weifang Zhou, UL's executive vice president and president of testing, inspection and certification, in a press release. "UL's presence in Mexico means that local manufacturers have a global partner to help them navigate regulatory landscape complexities throughout the Americas."
The testing sites are set to work on engineered materials, wire and cable, appliances, lighting, refrigeration and other consumer-based materials. The launch adds onto three decades of operations made in Mexico on behalf of UL. The company has since established a busy engineering and customer service office in Mexico City and an engineering team in Querétar to better fulfill the needs of the Latin American market, according to a press release.
In addition to its North American local testing capabilities, the brand will also offer the Normas Oficiales Mexicanas (NOM) mark in Mexico, as well as other Latin American testing services, upon receiving accreditation approval.
“With Mexico ranked as one of the world's top exporters in the automotive industry, UL's experts will utilize state-of-the-art customized equipment to provide automotive materials testing,” the press release stated.
The move was celebrated at a grand opening ceremony, which featured Scanlon and Zhou, as well as undersecretary of industry and commerce, Héctor Guerrero Herrera, Office of the Mexico Secretary of the Economy, Steve Conlon and counselor for Science and Technology, U.S. Embassy to Mexico, Rodolfo Flores, among various other experts.
A global safety science company, UL has now established its presence in more than 140 locations worldwide. The company works with more than 14,000 scientists, engineers and problem solvers, among other experts based across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa.
"UL's Querétaro laboratory demonstrates our commitment to offering high-performance services to manufacturers in Mexico from a single source and at one location for testing and inspection," Flores said. "It also demonstrates our commitment to empowering manufacturers with shorter development cycles, a faster time-to-market and the ability to be more competitive in the global marketplace."