North American Manufacturers' Representative · Since 2008
Vetted manufacturing across Taiwan, China, Mexico, Hong Kong, Thailand and India, with our own freight and customs arm behind it. We handle the quoting, the engineering back-and-forth, the PPAP, the shipping and the accountability - so your buyer deals with a US company and your plant gets a global cost base.
Where are you in the process?
Get parts in hand before you commit a drawing to a supplier.
Request samples →Send a print, a part number or a BOM. We route it to the right plant.
Start an RFQ →Quality systems, testing equipment and audit history, stated plainly.
Review quality →Section 232 changed the math. Taiwan versus China versus domestic.
See the breakdown →Capabilities
We do not run a broad catalogue of unrelated lines. We represent manufacturers we know well, in commodities that complement each other on the same bill of materials.
Customized automotive connectors, standard IDC / PCB / wafer / DIN 41612 headers, wire harnesses and terminal stampings. Vertically integrated in Taiwan since 1978.
Explore connectors →
Self-drilling and specialty screws, carriage and eye bolts, welded and spring nuts, anchors and stamped parts. Precision stainless, high mix, IATF 16949.
Explore fasteners →
Injection molding 30-450 ton, 57 punch presses, in-house tooling, die and investment casting, plating, contract assembly and filters. One source from tool to finished part.
Explore plastics & stamping →
What we actually do
Buyers are rarely afraid of Asian pricing. They are afraid of a PPAP that slips, a tariff surprise on a landed invoice, a quality escape with nobody on this continent to call, and a supplier that quietly goes dark.
Hellems Associates exists to take those four risks off your desk. We are a US company, in your time zone, on the hook for the program - not a broker forwarding email to a factory.
How a program runs
| 01 | Feasibility & quote Print, volume, target. We confirm the plant can hold it. |
| 02 | 3D & DFM review Tooling approach and design-for-manufacture feedback. |
| 03 | Tooling & samples Tool build, first articles, dimensional reports. |
| 04 | PPAP Submission level agreed up front, chased to approval. |
| 05 | Series production Releases, freight, receiving and ongoing supply. |
Origin strategy
Section 232 steel and aluminium tariffs rose from 25% to 50% effective 4 June 2025, and the scope now reaches derivative articles - stamped parts, fasteners and fabricated components, not only raw metal. That single change moved a lot of parts across the line between "cheaper in Asia" and "cheaper at home."
Representing plants in both Taiwan and China means we are not obliged to defend one origin. On tariff-exposed commodities Taiwan frequently wins outright. On tooling-heavy molded and assembled parts, China often still wins on total landed cost even with duty in the number. We will tell you which, and show the math.
See how we build a landed-cost comparisonA quoted unit price is not a landed cost. Ours includes the FOB price, freight, duty and Section 232 exposure at the classification we believe applies, so the number you compare against a domestic quote is the number that will actually hit your books.
Global footprint
Our represented lines are the core of what we do, but they are not the whole map. Where a part is better made somewhere else, we have vetted capacity to route it to.
Taiwan
Automotive-grade interconnect and cold-formed fasteners. IATF 16949. Our two principal plants and the deepest part of our book.
China
Injection molding, sheet metal, in-house tool build, casting, plating and contract assembly near the Port of Shanghai.
Mexico
A molding partner for programs where North American proximity, shorter transit or USMCA treatment matters more than the lowest piece price.
Hong Kong
A long-standing partner for components and consolidation across southern China and the wider region.
Thailand
A manufacturer currently running production parts for us - useful where a non-China, non-Taiwan country of origin is a requirement.
India
Working relationships we can open up where a program calls for Indian manufacturing or a second Asian origin.
Why the map matters more than any one plant. Tariffs, country-of-origin rules and freight economics move. Having qualified capacity in six territories means the answer to "can we make this somewhere else?" is usually yes, and usually within a quote cycle rather than a quarter.
Freight & customs
Sourcing a part and landing it are two different problems, and most representatives only solve the first. Hellems Associates has its own freight and customs brokerage arm, so the shipment does not get handed to a stranger the moment it leaves the plant.
Freight can be quoted as part of a landed-cost number or handled separately if you prefer to keep your own routing.
Why it matters
A piece price without freight, duty and Section 232 exposure attached is not a number you can compare against a domestic quote. Because the freight is ours, we can put the whole stack in front of you at quotation instead of estimating it.
A part number, a drawing, a BOM line you are unhappy with. We will tell you honestly whether one of our plants is the right home for it, and if not, we will say so.
