Aerospace sector needs more specialized engineers
In Mexico, every year 130,000 students complete a career related to engineering, but instead of having “allologists” or “generalists”, these professionals should have a specialization, as is done in other countries, such as Germany.
This was stated by Paola Hernández, Director of Customer Business at Honeywell, and Óscar Rodríguez, President of the Bajío Aerospace Cluster, during the panel entitled “Investment and innovation: drivers of growth in the aerospace industry”, held at the Mexico Nearshoring Summit 2025.
When asked by the moderator about Mexico's labor and geographic advantages in aerospace, the Honeywell executive said that one of Mexico's advantages is its proximity to the United States -the main manufacturer in the aerospace sector- which translates into lower costs, as well as the country's connectivity.
He added that there is quality and competitiveness on the part of Mexican workers, of which there are more than 50 thousand professionals in the industry who have been trained at universities or aerospace training centers and have certifications endorsed by international entities.
“This makes the workforce in Mexico quite recognized; likewise it is competitive, it is more economical, without sacrificing the quality aspect, which makes it much more profitable,” he said.
Hernandez mentioned that Mexico has focused on the manufacture of various components of the aerospace industry such as fuselages, landing gear, airframe systems, propulsion systems and all these companies have maintained certification and this makes all production easier to integrate into the global supply chain.
The director explained that the country needs to increase its local supplier base, as the country still depends on a large part of inputs imported from the United States and Canada, as well as investment in research and development to move from manufacturing to developing innovation processes, technology and prototype development.
He added that in Mexicali, Honeywell has a Technology and Development Center, which is one of the largest in the world and there they are carrying out engineering tests, prototypes of components that will be installed in the new generation airplanes.
Paola Hernandez commented that public policies, in which companies, government and educational institutions participate, are key to the continued development of the aerospace sector.
She added that one of the great challenges facing the industry is to keep the workforce up to date and with certifications, hence the need to invest in training, courses, etc.
For his part, Óscar Rodríguez commented that one of the challenges they face is that university programs are very inflexible and slow to change; he said that as a cluster they are in close contact with educational institutions and authorities to look at study plans, but changes take two to three years.
He reminded that 130 thousand engineers are generated annually in the country, and if the example of the German or Canadian model is taken, where they do not generate so many engineers, but specialized technicians, it would be better to stop training many “generalist engineers or all-rounders” and have much more specialized technicians.
