Cross-Border Industrial Relocation: One Contractor, AK Crews on Both Sides of the Border
Plant relocation, production-line transfers and equipment installation between the United States and Mexico, self-performed by AK Industrial from Searcy, Arkansas and Monterrey, Mexico. One contract, one project manager and one safety program, the same on both sides of the border.
AK Industrial Contractors is a cross-border industrial relocation and equipment installation contractor with operations in Searcy, Arkansas and Monterrey, Mexico. We relocate manufacturing plants and production lines from the United States to Mexico and from Mexico back to the United States, and we install equipment in new and existing Mexican facilities for nearshoring, maquiladora and reshoring projects. Our own rigging and millwright crews decommission and disassemble at the sending plant, coordinate transport and customs documentation with your broker and carrier, and receive, reinstall, align and start up at the destination. AK has worked on both sides of the border for decades and is recognized by the American Chamber of Mexico.
The Border Is Where Most Contractors Stop. It's Where We Work.
The usual way to move a line to Mexico is with two contractors: a US rigging crew that loads the trailers, and a Mexican installer who has never seen the equipment assembled. Between them sit a customs broker, a carrier, two safety programs, two sets of records and a border. Every mismatch, a packing list that doesn't match the trailer, a shim pack that didn't cross with its machine, a receiving crane booked for the wrong week, costs days at the worst possible point in the project.
AK Industrial runs the move as one job. The crew that documents and disassembles in Texas, Ohio or Arkansas is under the same project manager as the crew that receives and reinstalls in Monterrey, and on most projects it includes the same people. One disassembly register, one load plan, one set of paperwork built so the broker's manifest matches what is on the truck, one accountable contractor from the first bolt out to the first part off.
What We Do on a Cross-Border Move
US-side decommissioning and disassembly
isolation to your procedures, baseline readings, match-marked teardown, crating and blocking for the route. See machinery disassembly and reassembly.
Documentation that survives the border
packing lists with weights, dimensions and serial numbers per crate, prepared with your customs broker and forwarder so temporary-import (IMMEX/maquiladora) or permanent-import paperwork matches the load. AK is not a broker or a carrier; we make the broker's and carrier's jobs straightforward.
Transport coordination
load plans, carrier coordination through Laredo and the other Texas ports of entry, and receiving crews scheduled to the trailer, not the other way round.
Mexico-side receiving and installation
offloading, staging, setting, reassembly, precision alignment, anchoring, utility interconnections and startup support by AK crews based in Monterrey.
Greenfield plant setup
equipment installation for new nearshoring facilities that are not a relocation at all: OEM-supplied machinery received, installed, aligned and commissioned. See industrial equipment installation.
Mexico-to-US reshoring
the same model in reverse, with the Monterrey crew sending and the US crew receiving.
Texas to Monterrey, and Every Corridor Beyond It
The Texas–Monterrey corridor is the main road for US manufacturing moving south, and it is where AK Industrial has the deepest experience: crossings at Laredo, receiving in the Monterrey metro and across Nuevo León, and installations in the industrial parks serving automotive, aerospace, electronics, appliance and consumer-goods manufacturers. From the Monterrey base our crews also serve the Saltillo–Ramos Arizpe corridor, the Reynosa–Matamoros border zone and manufacturing regions across Mexico.
On the US side, the sending plant can be anywhere. Our crews are based in Searcy, Arkansas and travel to the project: the Southeast, the Midwest, Texas and beyond.
Two Contractors or One Cross-Border Contractor?
| Two contractors (US rigger + Mexican installer) | AK Industrial, one cross-border contractor | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the schedule | Nobody, fully. Each vendor owns its half. | One AK project manager, both ends. |
| Records | Teardown notes handed to a crew that didn't write them. | One disassembly register: written at the sending plant, executed at the receiving plant. |
| Safety program | Two, and they differ. | One: OSHA-trained crews, JSA, LOTO and lift plans on both sides. |
| Customs paperwork | Assembled from two vendors' lists. | Packing lists and load plans prepared with your broker to match the trailer. |
| When something goes wrong at the border | Two phone calls, one finger-pointing session. | One phone call. |
| Accountability | Split. | Complete. |
Cross-border and domestic moves run on the same AK project model. See plant relocation services.
Nearshoring, Maquiladora and Reshoring Projects
Production-line transfers from US plants to Mexico
the line, the auxiliaries, the handling, and the knowledge of how it was running, moved together.
New maquiladora and nearshoring plant setup
receiving and installing OEM-supplied equipment in a new facility, coordinating with the EPC, the GC and the OEM's technicians through commissioning.
Equipment upgrades in existing Mexican facilities
decommissioning old equipment and installing new on one schedule.
Reshoring moves back to the United States
decommissioning in Mexico, receiving and reinstalling in the US, same crews, same records.
Why Manufacturers Choose AK for Cross-Border Work
Monterrey is a base, not a mailbox.
An established AK operation with local relationships and the infrastructure to run complex scopes without a US crew commuting to every task.
US experience, Mexico presence.
Buyers in Mexico want a rigging and installation vendor with a US project record; buyers in the US want a contractor that is actually in Mexico. AK is both.
Recognized by the American Chamber of Mexico
, ISNetworld Member Contractor, SCRA member.
Project communication in English and Spanish
between your teams on both sides.
Self-performed core scopes since 1981
for manufacturers including Michelin, GE, Whirlpool, John Deere, Eaton, Goodyear, Electrolux, Tyson and Hino, with qualified specialty trade partners coordinated when required.
Safety Is the First Line of Every Lift Plan
Safety is the first line of every AK lift plan. OSHA-trained crews, documented job safety analysis and pre-task planning on every scope, lockout/tagout and fall protection as standard, qualified riggers and signal persons on every pick, equipment certifications kept current, engineered critical-lift plans where the load or the environment demands it. EMR 0.91. TRIR 0.00 since 2019. ISNetworld Member Contractor, and we meet client-specific safety requirements as a matter of course.
Cross-Border Relocation FAQs
AK Industrial Contractors. We relocate plants and production lines from the United States to Mexico under one contract, with our own crews decommissioning and loading at the US plant and receiving, reinstalling and starting up at the Mexican plant from our Monterrey operation.
Our own. AK Industrial has an established operation in Monterrey, Mexico, and the receiving, installation, alignment and startup work on the Mexican side is performed by AK crews under the same project manager and safety program as the US side.
Yes. CNC machining centers and machine tools are core work for our millwright and rigging crews. We document and disassemble at the US plant, prepare packing lists and load plans with your customs broker, coordinate the carrier, and reinstall, level, align and re-verify geometry at the Monterrey facility.
We prepare crate-level packing lists with weights, dimensions and serial numbers, build the load plan, and coordinate with your customs broker, freight forwarder and carrier so the paperwork matches the load. AK is not a customs broker or a carrier; we work alongside yours and schedule our receiving crews to the crossing.
Yes. We receive and install OEM-supplied and owner-furnished equipment in new Mexican facilities, covering offloading, staging, rigging, setting, alignment, anchoring, utility tie-ins and startup support, coordinating with the EPC, the general contractor and the OEM's technicians.
Yes. Reshoring moves run on the same model in reverse: our Monterrey crew decommissions and loads, our US crew receives and reinstalls, and one project manager owns the whole move.