Tequila production process

For the more than 33 years of personal and professional growth I've lived at Casa Sauza, I'd like to acknowledge what this great company (number 9 in the ranking of the Great Place to Work program, Mexico) has done for my family and for myself.

When, where and how did I start working at Tequila Sauza

I started in 1983, on November the 7th, when the much remembered and loved Don Javier Sauza Mora, was still the president of the company. I worked in the bottling area that was located in Vallarta Ave, Guadalajara, Jalisco. Back then, I had only finished middle school, which was good enough to join a company.

I started bottling tequila and since staff rotation was common back then, due to the lows and highs of production, there were more than 150 temporary workers that came in and out of the company. Plus, there were 180 plants and yet, whenever the temporary workers were released, I was lucky enough to stay.

Back then, when the production was low, I worked as a part of the cleaning staff and, since I had to clean Don Javier Sauza Mora's office, I had the honor to speak to him on an everyday basis.

Professional Growth in Casa Sauza

In 1988 I finished studying my career as an Industrial Accountant at the ITSI (Instituto Superior de Irapuato), which opened doors to me. I was then able to collaborate with the bottling area's pay-sheet and also with the vouchers of the Secretary of Commerce and Industrial Development for exportation.

At the same time, I started my 2 year-training in Total Quality. At that time, I was offered the opportunity of a promotion, I would be in charge of waste control in the bottling and storing of merchandise area.

In 1990 the well remembered Engineer Saúl Morales Acosta, Operations Director, asked me if I wanted to be a Line Supervisor, which I happily accepted. By this time, I was already a trusted employee.

When the packaging manager was sent to a mill of the same company in Nayarit, they named me General Packaging Supervisor. In 1988 I married and thus, started a new phase in my life.

Tequila, the Promised Land

In 1994, I was one of the 20 lucky ones who were chosen to work in Tequila, Jalisco, once the Guadalajara Packaging Plant closed. I was assigned there the very same day my third daughter was born.

We started operating in Tequila by the end of August of that same year, bottling mostly 100% agave products, around a 30% of a 250 ml national white tequila. The rest was bottled by the head office back then. Due to our good productivity, we were later assigned to bottle almost an 80% of the total production.

Back to my professional growth, I was sent to study a year and a half certificate at the ICAMI in Guadalajara, to get training on middle and senior management. At the same time, I studied senior high school in Tequila and then a certificate at TEC de Monterrey (Technological Institute) on Process Statistics, both quantitative and qualitative.

During this time I had the great opportunity to further develop myself at my workplace thanks to Senior Management; back then directed by Engineer Victor Galindo, followed by Eng. Oscar Doclaud, Eng. Francisco Quijano and my current boss, Eng. Miguel Álvarez, who left me in charge of packaging and warehouses. Besides, they gave me the opportunity to finish my professional career in Electromechanical Engineering with a specialty in automation.

CASA SAUZA, a Place of Professional Achievements

I currently manage and control the production of packaging. Thanks to the implementation of the TPM program and the 2 awards received (excellence and consistency) we now have better control of the processes throughout the company.

Thanks to the knowledge of Ing. Jose Luis Alvarado and with the great support of our current Director Eng. Servando Calderón, we are moving towards Continuous Improvement and Automation at an accelerated yet firm pace. Thanks to the management of my superiors, I made my first training trip to the United States of America.

CASA SAUZA place of PERSONAL achievements

My family was given a publication at Casa Sauza magazine and I finished my University Career in Electromechanical Engineering.

My 2 daughters have now a University degree from Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG), one in Marketing and the other one as a Chemical Engineer. My youngest son is our engine. In spite of his impairment (brain paralysis), with the great support of my wife and the Teletón (organization that gives support to impaired children), he is currently studying his 4th semester of an Administration career, at UDG. Thanks to him I have known artists, football players and a way to see the world in a much more inclusive way. Grandchildren are arriving, they are new engine sparks that will be proud to be called grandchildren of Sauza.

Our training never ends. I am currently studying English. And I would bore you with the more than 200 courses I've taken here.

For all of the above, how can I not be thankful to Sauza? Thank you, Sauza, thank you very much!

I hope people find workplaces like this, not of bosses but of developers and trainers. Here, the benefits are not just for oneself but for one's family as well. This is a company with great values.

Come and visit Casa Sauza so you can learn how the modernization of our production processes deliver the purest tequila that you will find in the market.