Vertiv opens Mexico plant to cater to hyperscale industry

Ohio-based telecoms and energy management infrastructure provider Vertiv opened a 40,000m2 plant in Monterrey, Mexico to develop and test thermal management products for both the local and regional datacenter industry.

In a statement, Vertiv said that the plant, built on a 80,000m2 site in the capital of Nuevo León state, will focus on cooling systems for hyperscale datacenter customers and should generate “hundreds of new jobs” by 2023. 

The plant is already in operation, having gone live in June, with its inauguration only announced publicly now. No details of the investments in the facility have been provided. 

Most of the new posts the company is looking to fill for the plant are for engineering operations. These include staff who are professionally trained and experienced in power distribution and cooling solutions; design of new products to improve energy efficiency, capacity and footprint; development of technology in alternative materials and refrigerants; and rack power distribution and integration, the company said.

COO Jason Forcier said that the aim is to continue expanding Vertiv's market presence in the region, supported by the new Mexican site.

Vertiv sells to the largest hyperscale datacenter developers operating in Latin America, including Ascenty, Equinix, ODATA and Scala.

“All customers are extremely concerned about how to become even more efficient, considering that their end users, which are hyperscale customers, are making public commitments of sustainability and this ends up pushing the entire chain,” LatAm VP Rafael Garrido told BNamericas in March.

To meet these demands, Vertiv said it has been working on new and upgraded products with improved energy and water efficiency, with others planned for release in the coming months.

OPERATIONS

Vertiv said it currently operates in more than 130 countries, employing around 24,000 people.

The group posted net sales of US$1.15bn in 1Q22, up 5.3% year-on-year, or a 0.4% increase when excluding the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency.

Net sales in the Americas, which include Latin America, grew 6.7% in the period.

The company also said global orders were up 34% compared with the first quarter of last year, leading to a record-high backlog of US$4.1bn.

Nevertheless, due to effects attributed mostly to inflation and supply chain problems, Vertiv produced an operating loss of US$45mn in Q1, with an adjusted operating profit of US$13mn.

These problems translated into a U$85mn impact from material and freight inflation, US$38mn from foreign exchange, labor inflation and commissions, US$15mn from lower volume and US$10mn higher R&D investment.

“We unnecessarily built inventory in the Americas based upon a higher sales plan, which drove the purchase of significantly more raw material than needed to satisfy first quarter shipments,” CFO David Fallon said about the supply chain woes in a Q1 earnings call.

Vertiv will report its second-quarter results on August 3.