北美自由贸易协定正在大力推动墨西哥经济。这个国家现在与10年前不同，它正在成为一个更加工业化的国家。80年代初，以石油出口为基础的经济增长率为80%，而现在只有25%。墨西哥在1996年出口了1000亿美元的货物。几个工业部门的快速发展导致了这种情况。最具活力的领域之一是汽车制造业。得益于出口潜力，汽车行业在1995年的严重危机中幸存下来，现在正经历巨大的提振。基于这些考虑，有必要分析形势，学习积极的经验，并为即将毕业的制造工程师寻找机会。

NAFTA is pushing Mexico's economy very hard. The country is different now than 10 years ago, it is becoming a more industrialized nation. The economy which in the early 80's was 80% based on oil exports is nowadays only 25%. Mexico exported goods during 1996 for an amount of 100 billion dollars. Several industrial segments developed at a fast pace to produce this situation. One of the most dynamic segments is automotive manufacturing. The automotive segment survived the severe 1995 crisis thanks to the exporting potential, and is now undergoing a great boost. Under these considerations it is worthwhile to analyze the situation, learn positive experiences and seek areas of opportunities for graduating manufacturing engineers.