By Forbes Argentina

Si se observa el recorrido realizado por Mirgor que este año cumplió sus primeras cuatro décadas es difícil que no aparezca la melodía de: “Muchachos… ahora nos volvimos a ilusionar…” Se trata de una compañía que realizó lo imposible varias veces y ahora va por su tercera estrella, una que la llevará a ser parte de las ligas globales.

It all started in a moment of uncertainty when nothingness itself approached and there were no more opportunities in the business that three partners ran in Tierra del Fuego related to construction. “We were left with nothing to do in one of the many economic ups and downs,” says Roberto Vazquez, founder and President of Mirgor.

In the face of the crisis, what Steve Jobs pointed out in his talk to Stanford University graduates arises: if you know how to unite your own history of what you experienced, you will find all the answers to face the future. For Roberto it was about returning to his roots: "I had experience in the automotive industry because I had been employed at Ford and I had friends there. And we were just in a new time for car manufacturing. The need arose for them to have air conditioning. And then we decided to dedicate ourselves to manufacturing that component, even though we didn't know anything. We sold some land we had and invested everything in setting up a plant.

Of course afterwards we had a lot of unforeseen difficulties. But we managed to capture a technological transition. There were less than 5% of cars that came with air conditioning for a market of 300 to 400 thousand units. We learned to manufacture, which is one of our first intangible values, and also to relate to brands to be licensees of their technology. That happened with the French company Valeo (name that comes from the Latin: “I'm fine”), which turns 100 years old. We knew how to learn from the greatest“, reveals Vazquez.

These two milestones, capturing technological transitions and relating to global partners from whom to acquire knowledge and processes were part of the Mandalorian path that Vazquez planted in the organization. As they grew they had their own manufacturing process that today is the sum of all their experiences. “We have been optimizing our way of manufacturing for many years, based on documentation from 1995, improvements were always being added and by the time we had the challenge of manufacturing the respirators in the middle of the pandemic, the full potential of Mirgor's capabilities was seen. We were able to do what not even its original manufacturer could solve“says José Luis Alonso, CEO of the company and to whom Vazquez gave the responsibility of taking the company to challenges that were unimaginable decades ago.

Given the demand, they expanded the electronic boards plant. “Our engineers requested to double the capacity of the plant, but when it comes to making an investment of that magnitude, taking a large amount of human and economic resources, we decided to expand it further, taking it to four times the current capacity. Today, after 7 months of operation after the production expansion, our model plant is at more than 85% of the design capacity. This confirms that when strong investments are made in technology and we can provide products of exceptional quality with world-class production costs, demand appears immediately, not only from the local market, but from other markets, exporting electronic boards to Brazil and South Africa.

Con una planta de 130 ingenieros electrónicos, en Mirgor tienen pasión por la creación de tecnología. An example is its electric bicycle for its Qüint brand, which is designed entirely by the company's engineers, meaning no third-party licenses are paid. And in the case of the automotive industry, they are also exporting components of their own design that are integrated into cars manufactured in plants in various countries.

"We are noticing great growth and if we consolidate what we are seeing we will be an increasingly relevant player opening markets for the country that have embedded Argentine intelligence. It is not just the software industry. It is embedding our knowledge in electronic systems and also exporting it“Alonso emphasizes.

Furthermore, the entire automotive market is growing because today even the headlight of a high-end car has an embedded electronic board. Before, when high-end cars had to bend their headlights, they physically moved to be able to follow the track of the wheel. “Today that disappeared, there are no more motors, there is a plate that deflects the light beam,” explains Alonso. Given the current manufacturing mix that Mirgor achieved in the company, they think that “a model that we can develop for the country is to make the electronic components in Tierra del Fuego and the others on the continent, in this way we help develop Argentina in several regions,” Vazquez enthuses.

The port of Rio Grande is one of Mirgor's dreams that they hope to start in March. “This is a key component, because lowering logistics costs is what will continue to drive the development of the province,” says Alonso.

Social responsibility is another area where Mirgor is very active. Among its activities is construction, a return to the Mandalorian path that gave rise to everything. Of course, now it is done with the incorporation of cutting-edge technology that allows the construction of homes of 60 to 70 square meters in just two or three months, which makes a new market viable that includes everything from their own employees (they already have around 5,000 collaborators as they like to call them) to the communities where the company is present.

Much of this growth was achieved with its own funds, but now the company achieved approval at its shareholders meeting of the issuance of an ON (negotiable obligation) for US$ 300 million. A new stage begins at Mirgor to give value to the shareholder.

For the future at Mirgor they expect great recognition. “As the market sees our international expansion, foreign investors will look at us in more detail. I think that as Argentina normalizes and funds come from abroad, Mirgor cannot be missing from any investor's portfolio. You must at least be in a Top 5 Argentine stock to invest“, concludes Alonso.

As you can see, these are not fantasies. There are reasons to be excited. Mirgor begins to have a global presence to reach its third star. One that the country will be able to celebrate by exporting its talent: “We want to win in all fields of play, we want to be the best in everything we set out to do,” Mirgor enthuses.