The Mexican economy hasbeen steadily recovering since the pandemic. In the first half of 2023, it recorded year-on-year GDP growth of 3.7%, making Mexico the fifth best-performing country in the G20. Increases in real wages and a strong labor market helped boost private consumption. This has all been very good news for appliance manufacturers.
One of the main beneficiaries of the boom is MABE, the country’s largest manufacturer of ovens, grills, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, and laundry centers. MABE also distributes other products under its brand names, such as air conditioners, water purifiers, and water heaters.
Founded in 1946, MABE began as a workshop manufacturing steel sheet boxes for tube lamps and then moved into kitchen furniture production. It began to manufacture ovens in 1953 and a bit more than a decade later MABE added refrigerators, pioneering the introduction of plastic interiors. Innovation has always been part of MABE’s DNA, enabling the company to grow into a successful international operation with 11 state-of-the-art plants in Mexico and Latin America, approximately 26,000 employees and annual sales of more than 13 million units.
In 1970, the company began exporting household appliances to countries in Central America, and then commenced exports to the United States from its new refrigerator plant in Querétaro in 1978. During the 80’s Mexico fell into one of the worst economic crises in its history, with the exchange rate of the Mexican peso to the dollar collapsing, going from 26 to 1 to 150 to 1. Demand for goods and services fell drastically, and government-imposed price controls meant that the home appliance market shrank. At the beginning of 1980, around 10 companies were competing for the Mexican appliance market. By the end of the crisis, only three remained.
MABE agreed to a joint venture with General Electric in 1987 and built a factory in San Luis Potosí equipped with the latest technology and capacity to produce one million gas stoves annually. It was focused mainly on serving the North American market.
Since initiating the joint venture with GE, MABE has been at the forefront of developing innovative home appliances. The company’s Technology and Projects center is the most advanced of its kind in Latin America and has been instrumental in MABE’s success in developing competitive and high-tech products. “We are always thinking of ways to improve our product range,” says Luis Berrondo, president of MABE. “It is an evolutionary
