IKOR Industries offers several competitive advantages. These are based on the operations and systems that have been established, the workforce, and the location of our facility.

Flexibility of Operations

The IKOR operation is flexible and designed to meet the customers’ changing needs. The operation allows for levels of cyclical work demand as well as growth with current and/or new products the customer may want to develop. The operation is designed for movement of cells to address these demands and the workforce is versatile with experience in design, development and cellular manufacturing. The facility is built with flexible electrical and compressed air delivery, allowing for changes to the flow of production.

IKOR has often developed, sometimes with the input of the customer, a supply chain for various materials and packaging. These sources are both in the North America, Latin America and Asia.

Reliability Our Workforce

The IKOR workforce is the key to its high yield quality manufacturing as well as its capacity for throughput and growth. This is based on the experienced management team with over 45 years of production/management experience. The IKOR Team is experienced in detailed design, Quality Systems (ISO), production planning and cost containment. The manufacturing personnel are experienced in various techniques, systems and equipment. The ability to expand the team is due to the availability of the experienced unemployed workforce in our immediate area, allowing for employment in days, followed by training if and when needed.

Assistance with Logistics (Shipping)

IKOR works with logistic coordinators in several ways. IKOR assists the customers’ internal logistics personnel and their designated logistics coordinators in planning and executing shipments to and from any location in the world. IKOR also works with specific Logistic Strategic Partners, familiar with global and Costa Rican logistics. IKOR can organize, through its logistic partners, shipments on behalf of the customer and their accounts, and include this in the services at an additional cost. The logistic partners that IKOR primarily works with are global companies with operations on all continents.

Duty-Free Trade

IKOR is located in a Duty-Free Zone, Zona Franca Puntarenas. This location and licenses that IKOR has secured from the Costa Rican Government allow IKOR to receive any and all materials to manufacture finished products or components of finished products duty-free and tariff-free. This also allows 10% of all finished products to enter the Costa Rican market duty-free, as needed, and 100% of its manufactured product into other Free Zone operations should the opportunity arise.

Also IKOR manufactured products can then return to the United States, duty-free under trade Central American Free Trade Act, as well as to Mexico under a separate treaty and yet another with Canada. IKOR also can ship to the countries of China, Singapore, El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile and Mexico, as per treaties with each of those counties. Also Costa Rica as part of Central America has agreed to a treaty with the European Union, in the first region-to-region duty-free treaty.

Additional Advantages to Strategic Partnership with IKOR

IKOR provides an outsourcing niche to customers looking for an alternative to the sources most well known. Costa Rica offers clear competitive advantage to each of these sources. Examples of these advantages over the most well known outsource locations are as follows:

1. U.S. and Canadian sources – IKOR offers lower cost manufacturing with the same quality standards, quality performance levels and yields.
2. Mexican sources – IKOR provides higher quality production, while maintaining similar price levels.
3. Chinese sources – IKOR eases production coordination and communication, while providing a distinct advantage to lead times for an order, flexible demands and with delivery from time of production and/or order in 4 weeks. The flexibility advantage IKOR has over those of Chinese sources allows the customer to meet changing order and market needs.

Why Costa Rica?

Costa Rica is politically stable and has enjoyed a democratic government for over 185 years. It is the only country in the world without a military. It remains the leader of democracy in Latin America and promotes the concepts of economic stability, development and capitalism and represents the most successful example of these in the region. It is, and has been, closely tied to the democratic and economic leaders around the world, especially the United States, Italy, Germany, Canada, Spain, Russia, Taiwan as well as other economic and world leaders in the G8 and the UN Security Council.

Costa Rica has one the highest literacy rates in the world and is second in the Western Hemisphere, requiring all children pass all 12 grades of primary and secondary education.

The Costa Rican energy delivery system is highly reliable as it is the center of the power grid for the region. Costa Rica produces 97.5% of its energy from sustainable power sources of hydro, wind and geothermal power. Costa Rica is rated by INCAE Business School, associated with Harvard, as the 7th best location in the world for logistics, with ports on the Pacific and Caribbean Coasts, and two international airports approximately 500 miles north of the equator.