The 2022 Alacero Summit in Monterrey, Mexico brought market leaders from throughout Latin America together to discuss market challenges, changes, and opportunities for the future.
At the November 16 CEO panel, moderator Alejandro Wagner kicked off the discussion by asking Alacero President and Gerdau CEO Gustavo Werneck how he feels companies should lead while also pursuing sustainability and innovation.
Werneck said he believes achieving this ties closely to attracting and retaining talent.
“I think as CEOs and leaders this is very important to take into account- how much in the past 12 months you’ve invested in attracting talent, engineers, and others, by going to business schools to interview people who are getting hired by other companies, maybe talking to the students,” he said, adding that if CEOs are dedicating less than 70% of their time to this, it will be difficult for companies to stay competitive.
He also believes that companies need to look at vendors and clients from different perspectives.
“I think we need to bring a new level of collaboration or it will be difficult for us to move to the next moment,” he continued. “In countries like Brazil, 2,500 people die each year in work related accidents. How can we collaborate more with each other, other companies, and clients to solve problems like that.”
When Deacero CEO David Gutierrez Muguerza was asked how he views Mexico’s commercial relationship with the United State, he said he believes that there is still a lot of opportunity for growth.
“The question is how do we get more visibility to first the Mexican government, so they have negotiation strength, and then [additional visibility] to American manufacturing,” he said. “We need to convince [them] that we complement each other. As an example, in the beginning of 2012 we bought a company that was clearly falling in productivity and when we bought it, it had under 100 workers. That company imports Mexican steel into the US, and we grew that significantly to more than 500 jobs.”
He also said he welcomes the entrance of other steel companies to Mexico.
“In Mexico we have a huge potential for growth and to substitute imports. We produce less than we consume, but we need to be strategic about it,” he said. “We need to not continue to make or grow [production] In products that are already overloaded in investments. New steel competitors that can help substitute imports are welcome and that would be great.”
In their closing statements, both men said they believe that the key to companies’ success is to be client centric and to focus on finding different solutions to solving clients' current and long-term problems.
“I also think we need to modernize our sector and to involve more women in our sector,” Werneck concluded.
Gutierrez Muguerza agreed.
“I believe that as a company we should be committed to continue with our investments and to increase our investment in developing our communities that are closer to our plants,” he said. “Not just development to help with better streets, or a plaza, or a church, but with more comprehensive construction, and helping children have a better education.”