Pacific Partners, LLC is a manufacturers representative firm for contract manufacturing. Essentially, we are a "for hire" International Purchasing Organization (IPO). Fortune 200 size companies have their own organizations for this function. We provide the same service to companies smaller than Fortune 200. The product we deliver to our customers is knowledge of how to do business in Asia.

The suppliers we directly represent are all world class manufacturers. But, like many other fine Asian businesses, they have been unable to market their services effectively to American businesses. All of these suppliers currently provide contract manufacturing to large, well-respected companies. However, in every case, the Asian supplier was not able to effectively market to the large company. Instead, the large companies (customers) found these suppliers.

Our customers choose to do business with us because:

• We deliver cost savings and quality. Tooling costs are significantly lower in Asia. And, the tedious hand assembly we source for them in Asia usually represents a corner in their factory with high employee turnover, morale problems, and productivity and quality issues.

• We know costs and culture. We work directly with the supplier to meet your needs. Cultural gaps exist that often make it difficult for our customers to go it alone. Without us, customers must incur the costs and difficulties of finding and developing an ongoing relationship with an appropriate supplier. Our commission per end customer per supplier is usually less than the cost without our services.

The suppliers we represent pose no competitive threat to our customers. Our suppliers will not actively market the end product. That is not their niche. Their strength is manufacturing and engineering; their weakness is marketing.

We have strong relationships with the suppliers we represent. Asian culture is such that business is very context oriented; relationships are long term and valued. We can count on our suppliers to work with us as issues arise. Also, our suppliers can act as "trading companies" when we need an additional supplier for a specialized part such as a "centerless ground ball bearing." This is a real benefit ... the best such supplier for a specialized part may not be accustomed to dealing with Westerners. The suppliers we represent can bridge this gap.

Since our function is to bring supplier and customer together, our customers have the long-term assurance that their supplier will be there tomorrow. All of our suppliers have been in business a long time and are here to stay.

We can place business with many suppliers; we are not limited to the firms we currently represent. We have a lengthy list of firms we have not yet chosen to represent - firms we have experience with. Plus, we have contacts in Asia that can assist us in finding most any kind of supplier.

Another benefit of our services ... use of AEI for freight forwarding means we can offer our customers' products delivered to their door.

I am Pacific Partners founder and my name is Harry McGrath.

My background includes a degree in engineering from Lehigh University in 1975 followed by 12 years experience in most aspects of engineering related to manufacturing. From 1988 to 1991, I was an engineering supervisor. I am a registered Professional Engineer.

From 1991 to 1995, I was manager of engineering, quality control, materials, and production for a 150 person US high tech manufacturing operation in Winston-Salem, NC. During this time my group earned ISO 9001 quality certification and MRP II Class A materials certification. We were finalists for the North Carolina Quality Leadership award and semifinalists for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. We took aggressive strides in Quality and customer service that afforded us 40% per year growth in sales. By paying strict attention to the details of manufacturing and a strong team effort, we doubled our profits as a percentage of sales. Success in manufacturing in the US led me to a unique overseas opportunity.

In 1995 my family and I moved to Taipei, Taiwan where we lived through 1998. My first year in Asia I managed my company's Taiwan factory - a 550 person Taiwanese workforce. I then moved to the International Purchasing Organization (IPO) function where I worked directly with suppliers in Taiwan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and other Asian countries - traveling to the suppliers factories, assessing their capabilities, and working through startup issues. I made connections with many suppliers and learned the ropes of how to be successful doing business in Asia.

Most Fortune 200 size companies have seasoned manufacturing professionals in Asia looking after their interests. Smaller US companies are not in a position to do this which is the idea that caused me to found Pacific Partners, LLC. Pacific Partners is designed to be an IPO for small to medium sized US businesses. We can do for your company what the IPO group does for large companies.