From Atomica:

ma·qui·la·do·ra (mä-kç'lä-dô'rä)
n.
An assembly plant in Mexico, especially one along the border between the United States and Mexico, to which foreign materials and parts are shipped and from which the finished product is returned to the original market.

[American Spanish, place where the miller's fee is paid, maquiladora, from Spanish maquila, portion received by the miller in return for milling one's grain, from Old Spanish, from Arabic makîla, measured, measure of capacity, feminine passive participle of kâla, to measure.]


This word is associated, in my mind at least, with exploitation of workers and bad environmental conditions. Many American companies locate their factories just across the Mexican border in order to take advantage of cheap labor and less restrictive environmental regulations.