South Texas Manufacturing: Stronger Connections, Greater Potential

Manufacturer urges RGV and Mexican businesses to build opportunity together.

South Texas can capture more of its manufacturing potential by connecting existing businesses, sharing regional resources and bringing Mexican industry more directly into development discussions, according to Rolando A. Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who identified himself as an owner of Border Manufacturing Contractors, Gobar Systems and Silicon Technologies, spoke with Pro Texas Industry at the COSTEP–UTRGV gathering. With roots and business activity in the Brownsville–Matamoros area, he welcomed the opportunity to learn about emerging technologies and meet manufacturers from across the Valley.

“It’s really important to know people who are in the same industry as you because you can help each other and not just be their competitors,” Gonzalez said.

He credited UTRGV’s Dr. Mostafa Malki with bringing business, education and government into the same conversation. That combination, Gonzalez said, allows participants to discuss problems they share and identify opportunities to work together.

His strongest recommendation was to approach industrial growth as a regional undertaking. Gonzalez questioned competition between the Upper and Lower Valley, arguing that the Port of Brownsville and border location create opportunities whose benefits can extend beyond one community.

“There’s going to be a spillover effect and it’s going to benefit everyone,” he said of pooling resources around those opportunities.

Gonzalez also called for deeper engagement with manufacturers in Matamoros and Reynosa. In his view, regional cooperation needs more direct participation from the Mexican side and a better understanding of the businesses already operating throughout the area.

He pointed to an additional challenge: local plant managers may have extensive knowledge but limited authority to make decisions for companies headquartered elsewhere. Gonzalez argued that encouraging more local entrepreneurship could help the region develop its own industrial partnerships and strengthen its value chain.

“No longer do products because they’re cheap, but bring innovation into the equation,” he said.

That recommendation places technical capability and business ownership at the center of cross-border growth. It also gives established manufacturers a role in shaping the next phase of investment, rather than treating development solely as a search for new arrivals.

Gonzalez welcomed the cooperation visible at the gathering while calling for a more complete picture of existing industrial capabilities,broader county participation and more joint events.

“They’re working together, they’re seeing each other, they’re working in unison, and I think that that’s always positive,” he said.

His message was a call to extend that cooperation across the entire Valley and into Mexico. For South Texas manufacturing, stronger connections among the businesses already here can help new investment generate wider opportunities for suppliers, entrepreneurs and workers.