The chief executive of Cumbre Motion Systems resigned on Saturday, less than a day after the Colombian company signed financing commitments for a plant it says will become the country’s largest electronics-manufacturing investment. The project, on the outskirts of Cali, is designed to package and test processors for industrial robots, with production due to start in 2028.
The company’s filing with Colombia’s corporate registry puts the investment at COP3.2 trillion (about €710 million) and the planned workforce at 1,100. Board chair Ada Avan said the departure of Adrián Carrion-Flórez was unexpected, but the financing agreements remained in force and construction preparations would continue.
A sudden change at the top
Carrion-Flórez’s resignation took effect immediately, according to the filing, which gave no reason beyond “personal considerations”. Avan said the board had not appointed a permanent replacement and would name an interim chief executive within 10 days. The company did not say whether Carrion-Flórez would retain any role as a shareholder or adviser.
“We have a signed project, a committed site and a timetable; none of those changed with Saturday’s news,” Avan said in a telephone interview. She declined to say whether the board had discussed the possibility of a departure before receiving his notice.
We cannot ask suppliers to wait for a new chief before we honour a signed schedule.
Ada Avan, board chair
Cumbre’s plan is not a semiconductor wafer factory. It would receive imported wafers, then package and test the chips and assemble circuit boards in Yumbo, an industrial municipality beside Cali. The company says the first line will produce 1.8 million control processors a year, for use in warehouse equipment, farm machinery and factory robots.
What the record investment buys
The plant is planned for an 18-hectare (44-acre) site and is expected to create 1,100 jobs once all production lines are running. Cumbre says 420 positions will be filled during the first stage, including technicians and engineers. It has also pledged to buy COP480 billion (about €107 million) in locally supplied services and components over five years.
A review of the corporate registry’s investment notices since 2000 by a Valle del Cauca trade association found no larger single electronics-manufacturing commitment, said its research director, Magdalena M. Jasso. She cautioned that the comparison covers announced projects, not completed spending, and that Cumbre’s total depends on its production targets being met.
The company’s financing package combines loans and investment from a group of Colombian and overseas backers. Kevin Olivo, a manufacturing analyst who reviewed the published terms at Cumbre’s request, said the project could help suppliers move into higher-value electronics work, but warned that the hiring plan would depend on securing trained staff and maintaining access to imported components.
Cumbre says it will begin site preparation in January and expects to install its first testing equipment in late 2027. The company has not disclosed the names of its lenders or the precise split between debt and equity. Its next public update, including the interim chief’s appointment, is due before the end of October.
