Run for the Border The lads and I crossed the border at Otay Mesa (insert Eddie Murphy as Buckwheat joke here), and from there it was a short but horrifying drive to the Camino Real hotel—TJ’s swankiest joint. The guys were scaring me with stories about the hotel not having a roof and being infested with cucarachas, but they were full of it. The hotel was nice—albeit bright pink and purple. I drank all the Diet Coke in the mini-bar. (It's called Coke Light there.)
Enter Señor Bustamante Alejandro Bustamante is the president of Playmex (Plantronics Mexico). His name is super fun to say. Try it. The guys and I met Alex for dinner in Tijuana, and Alex ordered a bunch of delicious food for us, including the best margarita I've ever had, and this delightful meat dish that I dug until it was revealed that it was beef tongue. Then I felt like I'd been making out with a dead cow … another margarita, por favor!
L-R: Dean, Alex, and David.
The Playmex Play-by-Play Alex told us all about Playmex over dinner, so we'd have some background before we toured the factory in the morning. Playmex has been in business in TJ for 32 years. 3,600 employees manufacture 8,600 products there. They have developed an innovative system (called Jikari) that allows them to be extremely efficient and flexible, and adhere to super strict quality standards (for example, if a new supplier wants to work with Playmex, they're required to send them ten lots of components without a single failure). Jikari works so well that many MBA students from around the world visit Tijuana to study the system, and Playmex has won numerous awards in Mexico and Europe.
