Helvoet opens new support office in Detroit

By Liz White, ERJ staff

Hellevoetsluis, the Netherlands-Helvoet Rubber & Plastic Technologies opened a new office in Plymouth, Michigan-a Detroit suburb-on 8 Aug.

The Dutch rubber and plastic specialist said the move "is symbolic for two reasons." Firstly it is the firm's final disentanglement from Philips, as Helvoet moves from Philips' North American Automotive headquarters, said a statement on the Helvoet website.

Second, "this will be the first Helvoet Rubber & Plastics office located in the automotive capital of the world," the group said.

Helvoet expanded considerably into automotive supply and precision plastics components when it bought the Philips High Tech Plastics Automotive unit early this year. The Philips unit specialises in high-precision plastics parts and specifically supplies a third of all impellers (centrifugal fans) for automotive fuel pumps, the group claims.

The team moving into the new office is: Lisa Carlson, inside sales coordinator; Dennis Que, development engineer; and Mike Kole, sales & marketing manager.

Helvoet said this office offers customer support to: Delphi, Visteon, Ti Automotive, Borg Warner, Siemens North America, and Bosch, and may add several others including; ASMO, TRW, and Eaton.

In May this year, another unit of the Dutch-based group opened, when Helvoet Mexico in Queretaro was officially inaugurated.