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Market Entry & Advisory
Navigate market challenges with the help of Prodensa's material experts.
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Identifying the optimal site and production network strategy in Mexico.
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Turnkey Operations Models
Leverage our 39+ years of experience and partner with us on your Mexico project.
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Doing Business in Mexico
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Our 5-step methodology to launch or expand your operations in Mexico, and thrive in a booming market.
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The 40-hour workweek in Mexico

Your productivity doesn't have to suffer.
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Mexico 40 Hours

Fewer hours doesn't have to mean fewer results.

Reducing the workweek from 48 to 40 hours is not merely an administrative adjustment. It represents a cut of up to 16.7% in installed capacity per worker if your operation isn’t redesigned in time. For a plant that’s already running at full capacity, that means immediate decisions about shifts, production lines, leadership, and labor costs. Every week without a thorough assessment is productivity, deliveries, or profit margin that you won’t be able to recover.

The 6 risks you can't afford to overlook:

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Immediate drop in throughput.
Immediate drop in throughput. Fewer hours per operator result in fewer finished parts.
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Labor Cost Inflation.
Labor Cost Inflation. Additional shifts, emergency hires, and unplanned overtime can significantly drive up labor costs.
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Legal and Union Perspective
Legal and Union Perspective

Hasty changes to labor policies open the door to fines, lawsuits, and labor disputes.

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Failure to fulfill obligations to customers.
Failure to fulfill obligations to customers. If your capacity drops without warning, you put contracts at risk.
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Operational leadership without a playbook.
Operational leadership without a playbook. Without a management overhaul, hourly productivity doesn't increase. It just leads to more chaos.
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Brain drain to better-equipped plants.
Brain drain to better-equipped plants. They retain employees by providing a well-organized work environment and a clear value proposition for employees.

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The challenge isn't just legal. It isn't just operational. It's both, at the same time.

The Solution

Two fronts. One diagnosis. Six weeks to get ready.

Most firms approach the 40-hour reform as a legal issue. Others reduce it to an exercise in process reengineering. Both fall short. At Prodensa, from day one, we integrate the people and operational aspects into a single assessment—because simply adjusting the time clock without redesigning operations or preparing leadership isn’t compliance: it’s improvisation.

Our dual approach is led by two executives with decades of manufacturing experience in Mexico, who work in parallel on your plant and provide you with a single roadmap.

The two pillars of diagnosis:

People Management
Assessment
alvaro-garcia-prodensa-40-hours-expert-mexico
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ALVARO GARCIA Vice President of Human ResourcesWe audit practices related to human resources management, leadership, corporate culture, and compensation to ensure regulatory compliance and talent retention under the new labor framework.
ALVARO GARCIA Vice President of Human Resources
What does the job assessment cover?
  • Document review: policies, individual contracts, internal regulations, pay scales.
  • Interviews and focus groups with leadership and key employees.
  • Workplace climate and engagement survey.
  • Compensation and benefits benchmarking against the local manufacturing market.
  • "Employer of Choice" checklist to position the company as a leading employer.
Answer the question: Are your people practices—leadership, compensation, retention, workplace culture—ready to support talent in a 40-hour workweek?
Operational Evaluation
Framework
Luis Hernandez, Manufacturing Expert, Productivity, Mexico, 40 Hours
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LUIS HERNANDEZ Sr. AdvisorWe evaluate throughput, processes, quality, and operational governance to identify where capacity is being lost today and how to recover it before the reform takes effect.
LUIS HERNANDEZ Sr. Advisor
What does the production framework cover?
  • Value Stream Mapping and analysis of material and information flow.
  • Analysis of theoretical vs. actual capacity and OEE measurement.
  • Identification of bottlenecks and sources of variability.
  • Evaluation of standard work, quality systems, and maintenance practices.
  • Gemba walks and assessment of daily management routines, tiered KPIs, and governance.
Answer the question: Can your operation maintain current output with fewer hours, or are you about to pass on a drop in capacity to your P&L?

The Combined Result

A single, integrated assessment that provides:

  • Quantified gaps on both fronts, with data and direct on-site observation.
  • An Opportunities Matrix prioritized by impact versus feasibility.
  • A roadmap with three time horizons: short term (3–6 months, quick wins), medium term (6–18 months, leadership development and structured governance), and long term (18+ months, Manufacturing 5.0 enablers and cultural consolidation).

All within six weeks, ready for your executive committee to make decisions before the reform is imposed on them.

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Deliverables

Concrete documents. Hard data. Actionable decisions.

At the end of the six weeks, you’ll receive a comprehensive package of six deliverables designed so that your executive committee can make decisions, your operations team can execute them, and your legal department can rest easy.

Integrated Assessment of People and Operations Consolidated report with quantitative findings (OEE, theoretical vs. actual capacity, cycle time, scrap, turnover, absenteeism, compensation benchmark) and qualitative findings (Gemba observation, interviews, focus groups). It accurately identifies the specific gaps that prevent you from operating on a 40-hour schedule without losing throughput or talent.  
Prioritized Opportunity Matrix Potential initiatives mapped by business impact versus feasibility of implementation. It tells you what to tackle first, what can wait, and what requires the most investment—eliminating the paralysis of “where do I start?”  
Prioritized Action Plan Specific steps, suggested areas of responsibility, and a timeline for closing the most critical gaps. Designed so you can start implementation the following week, without having to hire another consulting firm to put it into action.  

Six weeks of diagnosis. Months
a head start over your competition.

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How We Do It

A structured 6-week process. No improvisation.

Our methodology combines the disciplines required for the assessment: document review, direct on-site observation, technical analysis, and benchmarking. We don’t come to apply a one-size-fits-all template—we come to assess your operation using tools proven in over 1,000 manufacturing projects in Mexico, and to provide you with a data-driven baseline upon which you can make executive decisions with confidence.

1. Immersion In-depth analysis of existing information before setting foot on the factory floor. We review operational KPIs (production, historical OEE, scrap, first-pass yield, rework), HR data (turnover, absenteeism, headcount, payroll records, individual contracts), internal policies, company regulations, and key financial reports. By the end of this phase, we have a list of critical questions that will guide all fieldwork.
2. Floor Observation Gemba walks led by Luis and his operations team to observe the actual flow of materials and information, the behavior of operational leadership, and adherence to daily management routines. At the same time, Álvaro and his HR team conduct structured interviews and focus groups with operators, supervisors, middle managers, and senior management.
3. Technical Diagnosis

We apply the diagnostic tools specific to each pillar:

  • Operations: Value Stream Mapping, analysis of theoretical vs. actual capacity, OEE measurement, cycle time and bottleneck studies, standard work evaluation, and quality systems.
  • People: Digital workplace climate survey administered to the entire workforce, benchmarking of compensation and benefits against the local manufacturing market, and evaluation against the Premium Employer Checklist.
4. Gap Analysis We compared our findings with best practices in the manufacturing industry in Mexico, quantified the impact of each gap in terms of productivity, labor costs, and compliance risk, and prioritized the opportunities using an Impact vs. Feasibility Matrix.
5. Executive Presentation & Roadmap Integrated presentation to the steering committee featuring findings, a matrix of prioritized opportunities, an action plan, and a 3-, 6-, and 18-month roadmap. Includes a live Q&A session with Álvaro and Luis to address strategic questions and align on next steps before leaving the room.
6. Conclusion of the Analysis Each phase ends with reviewable interim deliverables, so you don't have to wait six weeks before you can start making decisions. If we find an urgent issue in Week 2, we address it immediately.
Why Us

40 Years Supporting Manufacturing in Mexico. We weren't just starting out when the reform began.

Since 1985, Prodensa has been a strategic partner to foreign investors and domestic manufacturing groups operating in Mexico. We have supported more than a thousand manufacturing projects across fifteen industries—from the initial setup of IMMEX operations to the reengineering of plants that have been in operation for decades. The 40-hour workweek reform is just another chapter in a book we’ve been writing for four decades. You wouldn’t wing it with a problem of this magnitude—and neither would we.

The Numbers That Back Up the Promise

1985 Years of service to the manufacturing industry in Mexico
+12k Employees under our administration for clients
+15 Industries primarily focused on exports
+1,000 Manufacturing Projects Carried Out by Clients

The Prodensa Way™: philosophy + knowledge + execution

TPW is not a framework imported from a global consulting firm. It is a model built and refined directly on the shop floor in Mexico over four decades, integrating three inseparable elements: the philosophy of how to earn the trust of a plant manager, in-depth knowledge of Mexico’s regulatory, cultural, and labor union framework, and disciplined execution that translates analysis into measurable results.
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