You want to buy a pair of pants?

Imagine having to contact the guy who sells the fabric, and going to his store. Visiting the person who’s going to sew it, going to the zipper factory to buy one. Then going to the label maker’s shop, followed by a seamstress who puts the zipper and button on. After so many twists and turns, you finally got your pants.

Usually all of those parts suppliers are in different physical locations and have different sales processes. It is a lot easier to buy one over the internet or going to a store, isn’t it?

Global consumption of goods has evolved; it is a key factor in countries. Visualize that on a national level and with thousands and thousands of products coming from diverse regions all over the world. All the imports and exports used to be like that for companies.

Do some paperwork here, something else there, finish up in a totally different place than where you started and spend hundreds of thousands of pesos in logistical resources to do so. Foreign trade processes are a large contributor to each country’s GDP.

That was the outlook for foreign trade in Mexico until the VUCEM project, Mexico’s one-stop shop for foreign trade (VUCEM for its initials in Spanish) which is currently operated by Axtel, was consolidated in its VUCEM 2 stage, optimizing the system and its processes.

Now importing and exporting goods is a lot simpler, cheaper and more practical, additionally leading to benefits for the companies themselves. But achieving it was not easy.

Axtel, a communications expert, also had to become an expert in systems and understand the importance of the service they were supporting. If the VUCEM 2 system failed, for every minute out of service, thousands of pesos would be deducted. And rightly so.

Without the VUCEM 2 online, billions of pesos in merchandises could be left behind in the country’s entry or exit ports, containers and/or warehouses. The team that spearheaded the start of the project knows that an organizational change was created from it.

A new way of visualizing what is being done, now more comprehensive and customer-focused. The communication and way of working that took place between different areas and teams
was unprecedented. 24 hour shifts of continuous work, since the world never sleeps.

Now you know, that behind every package you order online and that gets to your door without a hitch, behind every imported product you find in supermarkets and stores, is VUCEM 2 and the Axtel team.

Even that pair of pants you’re wearing.