JUAREZ, MEXICO – Firstronic is opening a 70,000 sq. ft. facility here, the EMS company's first outside the US.

The company will initially equip the site with two SMT lines, with plans to eventually expand to seven. Equipment installation is scheduled in mid-August, and the facility should be fully operational early in September. Equipment for the facility has already been purchased, and employees have been retained.

No financial terms were disclosed.

“The latest Boston Consulting Group Cost-Competitiveness Index indicates Mexico has lower average manufacturing costs than China. It also found that China’s cost advantage over the US has shrunk to less than 5%,” said John Sammut, Firstronic’s president and CEO in a statement announcing the opening.