How do you choose the right industry practice for a search?

We start with the operating context, not the label. A plant leader for an automotive OEM in Saltillo, a Plant Director for a medical device CMO in Reynosa, and a Manufacturing VP for a chemical business in Monterrey all read as 'manufacturing' — but the assessment, corridor, and profile differ sharply. The industry page is the entry point; the search is scoped in a conversation.

Do you serve industries beyond those listed?

The practice concentrates on industries that make and move physical products. Technology, retail, hospitality, healthcare services, financial services, and professional services sit outside the scope. If a business straddles categories — a consumer electronics brand with a Mexico manufacturing footprint, for example — the industrial side is where we work.

How do industry, role, and specialty fit together?

Industry names what the company makes. Role names what the search is filling. Specialty names how the search runs — the ownership structure, the delivery model, and the corridor context. A single engagement usually names all three.

By Industry

Industries

The physical-products industries where Silvia Flores places leadership — manufacturing, supply chain, industrial sales, and the sectors that make and move product across the US–Mexico corridor.

Silvia Flores leads retained executive search across the industries that manufacture, process, package, and move physical products across the US–Mexico corridor. As Managing Partner at Alder Koten, she delivers each engagement through the firm's footprint in Houston, Monterrey, Mexico City, and Guadalajara.

The industry practice is organized in five groupings — core disciplines that run horizontally through every industrial company, and four vertical clusters that reflect how work is actually run: manufacturing and heavy industry, process and materials, regulated and consumer, and logistics and infrastructure. Each page below names the segments served, the roles typically placed, and the corridor geography that matters for that sector.

Core disciplines

The three horizontal disciplines that run through every industrial company — the search practice's foundation.

Manufacturing — VP of Manufacturing, Plant Director, and Manufacturing Excellence leadership for OEMs and Tier suppliers across the US–Mexico corridor.
Supply Chain — VP Supply Chain, Procurement, and Logistics leadership — the resilience layer that connects the plant floor to the customer.
Industrial Sales — Commercial Directors, VPs of Sales, and Key-Account leaders for industrial B2B businesses selling into OEMs, distributors, and end-markets.

Manufacturing & heavy industry

Discrete manufacturing sectors — the assembled and fabricated products that anchor Mexico's industrial economy and the US–Mexico trade corridor.

Automotive — OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, EV, and battery operations. Bajío, Saltillo–Ramos Arizpe, and the border corridor.
Aerospace & Defense — Airframe, engines, MRO, composites — under AS9100, NADCAP, and ITAR discipline.
Industrial Equipment & Machinery — Capital equipment, rotating equipment, aftermarket — engineered products for industrial end-markets.
Metals & Fabricated Products — Steel, aluminum, castings, forgings, stamping, structural fabrication — Monterrey and the northern industrial belt.

Process & materials

Continuous-process and materials-transformation industries — plants that convert raw feedstocks into engineered inputs for the manufacturing base.

Plastics, Rubber & Polymers — Injection molding, extrusion, tooling, engineered polymers — captive automotive suppliers to specialty compounders.
Chemicals — Specialty, industrial, petrochemicals, CASE, and agrochemicals — continuous-process leadership under EHS and regulatory pressure.
Packaging — Rigid, flexible, corrugated, glass, metal, labels, and sustainability transitions — Mexico is one of North America's densest packaging manufacturing corridors.

Regulated & consumer

Manufacturing sectors that carry regulated compliance regimes or direct exposure to consumer markets — where product safety, brand, and traceability sit alongside operations.

Electronics Manufacturing — EMS, OEM, semiconductor back-end, and industrial electronics — Guadalajara, Chihuahua, and the maquila corridor.
Medical Device Manufacturing — Class I / II / III OEMs and CMOs — ISO 13485, FDA 21 CFR 820, and EU MDR. The regulated backbone of the US–Mexico border industry.
Food & Beverage Manufacturing — Beverage, dairy, protein, bakery, snacks — SQF, BRCGS, and FSSC 22000 leadership across CPG suppliers and branded manufacturers.
FMCG & Consumer Products — CPG brands, apparel, durables, retail-driven contract manufacturing — where the plant and the shelf converge.

Logistics & infrastructure

The physical networks that move product and power the plants — logistics, energy, and natural resources.

Logistics, Transportation & Supply Chain — 3PLs, freight, warehousing, and cross-border operators — the corridor that makes nearshoring real.
Energy, Infrastructure & Natural Resources — Oil and gas, power, renewables, mining, and EPC — the capital-intensive projects that anchor the industrial economy.

How the searches run

Every search runs through The Dynamic Fit Method™ — Alder Koten's Ability, Capability, Capacity approach — delivered via the firm's seven-step retained search process. Explore the executive roles we place and the delivery specialties that shape how each search runs. Return to the full practice overview for the complete picture.

Industry practice questions

How do you choose the right industry practice for a search?: We start with the operating context, not the label. A plant leader for an automotive OEM in Saltillo, a Plant Director for a medical device CMO in Reynosa, and a Manufacturing VP for a chemical business in Monterrey all read as 'manufacturing' — but the assessment, corridor, and profile differ sharply. The industry page is the entry point; the search is scoped in a conversation.
Do you serve industries beyond those listed?: The practice concentrates on industries that make and move physical products. Technology, retail, hospitality, healthcare services, financial services, and professional services sit outside the scope. If a business straddles categories — a consumer electronics brand with a Mexico manufacturing footprint, for example — the industrial side is where we work.
How do industry, role, and specialty fit together?: Industry names what the company makes. Role names what the search is filling. Specialty names how the search runs — the ownership structure, the delivery model, and the corridor context. A single engagement usually names all three.