A press line moving between countries is the same six stages as any relocation, plus two that will decide your schedule: customs and documentation. Here is how the sequence works, based on how MECSOL has run it — including the ABB job, which moved complete stamping and machining lines from Tennessee into Coahuila.
Disconnection and tagging come first, and they matter most
Everything downstream depends on the discipline of this stage. Cables, hoses and lines are tagged and photographed as they come off; sub-assemblies are marked; the scheme is written down rather than carried in someone's head. Two months and two thousand kilometers later, that record is the difference between reassembly and archaeology.
This is also the reason we insist on the same crew at both ends. The people reading the tags are the people who wrote them.
Crating and transport
Presses travel as major components. Beds, crowns, uprights and drives are crated or cradled to their weight and their center of gravity, not to what fits the trailer. Oversize loads need route surveys and permits on both sides, and heights that clear in one country do not automatically clear in the other.
Customs, and what it needs from you
Under USMCA the paperwork is manageable, but it is unforgiving about detail: commercial invoices, proof of origin, and serial numbers that match the equipment exactly. A serial number transcribed wrong holds a press at the border while your new plant waits for it. We coordinate with your customs broker so the documentation is built during teardown, not improvised at the crossing.
Setting, leveling and start-up
At destination it becomes a standard installation again: foundations and utilities verified, components set in sequence, anchored, grouted, leveled to the manufacturer's tolerance, reconnected and commissioned — with the readings documented before anyone signs off.
What people underestimate
Site readiness at destination. A line can be flawlessly disconnected, crated and shipped, and still sit on a floor for weeks because the pit is not finished or the electrical drop is not in. The stage that most often costs a schedule is the one nobody is watching.
Common questions
How long does a cross-border line move take?
Complete lines with foundation work at destination run in months, not weeks. The ABB relocation involved more than 20 presses plus complete lines and around eight months of on-site work.
Who handles customs?
Your broker, with us building the documentation as the equipment comes apart. We do not act as the customs agent — we make sure what they receive matches what is actually on the truck.
Can you do only part of the scope?
Yes. We have been brought in only for the electrical disconnection of presses in the U.S. and their reconnection in Mexico, which is exactly what the Glasgow, Kentucky job was.