Exhibitor Profile: NovaLink Offers Turnkey Mexican Sourcing

This Texas-based company, exhibiting at the Expo this year, can help companies from manufacturing all the way to distribution.

It took decades for U.S. companies to establish working relations with factories and trading partners in China and elsewhere in Asia, but now those companies are looking for a fast-track solution to bring that sourcing closer to home in Mexico and other Latin American companies.

This has given rise to companies like NovaLink, resources which offer turnkey solutions for companies north of the border looking to relocate as quickly and painlessly as possible. “NovaLink offers a manufacturing model that provides the smoothest, quickest path to realizing the multitude of benefits waiting for you in Mexico”, said Jason Wolfe, President/CEO of the Brownsville, TX based company which has been helping connect companies across the border since 1988. “Our business model is the ideal way to start an operation in Mexico while leaving the path open to other options once you have a functioning program in place. You control the course of your project.”

NovaLink offers a full slate of services, utilizing its two facilities in Mexico, one that is 400,000-square-feet in Matamoros, the other 75,0000-square-feet in Saltillo, as well as its Brownsville distribution center. “We are not a manufacturer of a specific product ourselves i.e. dress pants. Rather, we align ourselves with companies that want to set up manufacturing in Mexico and do not have the desire, capability, or scale to do it on their own. We partner with these companies to establish operations in our facilities and then we provide all of the infrastructure functions including the direct management of the manufacturing so that the client can focus on their business.” NovaLink partners with local workers and equipment suppliers to establish a unique factory-within-a-factory model, tailored specifically to each client's needs. They offer comprehensive administrative services, ranging from human resources to permitting and benefit coordination. “We provide everything necessary for companies to set up operations in Mexico, along with ongoing manufacturing oversight, allowing them to focus less on manufacturing operations and more on their core business."

NovaLink is currently working with 22 clients, housing manufacturing operations ranging from 5,000-square-feet all the way up to 65,000-square feet per client. It has worked with companies in the apparel and soft goods fields such as VF, Lands’ End, Patagonia and Fruit of the Loom but also such companies as GM, Ford and Toyota amongst many less well known companies that also need the benefits of being in Mexico. “Clients are looking for flexibility and less risks, With the combined strengths of both parties, virtually any product manufacturing can be developed and accomplished under our model.” Wolfe said.

Beyond manufacturing and production, and as part of their complete service offering, NovaLink handles the cross border transportation to and from its facilities in Mexico and the U.S. warehousing facility in Brownsville where importers can take it from there to get goods to their customers or rely on NovaLink to handle the 3PL side of the business as well. It will even work with companies in transition to running their own plants  “Our client realize we are manufacturers by experience, not real estate agents looking to lease our facilities. This gives us an advantage as we know manufacturing and speak that language,” he said.

Since it began, NovaLink has worked with products as varied as gowns to dinette sets and from aprons to fire extinguishers. “We’ve been doing this for a very long time,” Wolfe says, adding “and we’re good at it.” More information on NovaLink is available on its website, novalinkmx.com.