'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
When a jumbo jetliner touches down almost anywhere in the world, the last thing on the pilot's mind is that the plane's brakes likely were made in the capital of one of the most crime-riddled states in Mexico.
"Our first objective was to get into the U.S. market and get a deal with U.S. customers," said Nicolas Maillard, director of the French-owned Manoir Aerospace plant in Chihuahua City, 235 miles south of El Paso, Texas.
"The real advantage is the cost of labor," Mr. Maillard said. "In France, labor would account for about 30 percent of the cost of production on an item like this. Here, it's roughly 10 percent, and we're closer to the market we're trying to reach."
