Supplier Traces Safety Culture Back to Internationalized Industry

Q: How have you established your company’s products and brand in the Mexican market?

A: CEJN is a Swedish company with over 65 years of experience. In Mexico, however, we are a young company, having been in the country for only six years . This makes us practically a startup, especially considering that the industrial market in Mexico and overall is much more complex than the B2C or the C2C market. In the last six years, we have made contact with some of the most important and recognizable companies in the oil and gas value chain, along with their specialized distributors. The characteristics of our products allow us to have a significant presence in every market and in every industry. However, among our specialties are components that can handle ultra-high pressure conditions. Those requirements in Mexico present themselves for the most part in the oil and gas sector. 

Renewable energy is also an important sector for us. We have a great deal of business in the installation and maintenance of wind power generators. Aerospace and automotive are two other prominent industries in Mexico where we play a significant role, due to their requirement for pneumatic components. In addition, we play a significant role in the offshore industry, due to the use of our products in marine applications.  

Q: What are your manufacturing capabilities in Mexico?

A: At the moment, we only assemble our products in Mexico. We have no manufacturing capabilities in Mexico; we only do adjustments and fittings of prefabricated parts that we receive from abroad. However, we have started manufacturing a specialized fitting for gas management made of stainless steel that is commonly used  in the oil and gas industry and in the healthcare sector. However, this is only a small fraction of our volumes. Most of what we handle is imported, mostly from Europe, although certain countries in Asia also supply our components.  

Q: What role do your components play in the safety and security of oil and gas worksites?

A: We play an extremely important role. As a matter of fact, safety is integral to our founding values, considered a vital part of the company’s culture for more than six decades. All of our products have a safety angle implemented into their design and their applications. For example, our ultra-high pressure couplings and hoses can withstand up to 58,000 psi. The failure of any of these components represents a significant risk of material and bodily harm on an oil and gas worksite. Therefore, the ability of our components to sustain high pressures and resist failure represents a significant shield from terrifying accidents. We can talk about safety in terms of performance or we can talk about it in terms of reliability to our clients. Other potential clients are driven by cost, so we know that safety has to be explained in those terms as well. We always identify in each organization who is in charge of workplace safety, so that we can approach them directly as part of our pitch. Companies external to Mexico that are entering the Mexican market are particularly sensitive to the subject of safety, so we know they will be  responsive to our safety offer. This is not to say that Mexican companies are not sensitive to this question, they definitely are, but foreign companies deal with a different risk matrix.

Q: How do you approach conversations on the cost-safety equation with Mexican companies?

A: What has helped us make progress  in those conversations is the degree to which foreign operators have come to influence the Mexican market. Everybody in Mexico’s oil and gas industry now works for them in some capacity or another. This has been a positive influence on the country’s safety culture. We also work with the most recognizable companies in the industry at an international level, so we have established best practices in industrial safety through our work with them. When we approach other operators, we can reference the work we have already done. This can accelerate the adoption process for new standards in a way that benefits us. However, changing the safety culture of an entire industry is never quick and easy.

CEJN is a Swedish engineering firm and manufacturer of pressurized industrial components and technologies for the energy, automotive, aviation and IT sectors.