What Hi-Lex makes

Hi-Lex is an automotive Tier-1 supplier built around mechanical motion: control cables and the window regulators, door modules, and power closure systems those cables drive. Its core product, the mechanical control cable, transmits push-pull and rotary motion inside a vehicle for functions like transmission shifting, parking brakes, hood and gate latches, and seat adjustment. The company describes control cables as functional parts that have evolved alongside the automobile itself, and it runs its own research on cable systems aimed at smoother, quieter, more reliable actuation.

Around that core sit three larger assemblies. Hi-Lex produces window regulators at scale, more than 10 million a year across its global operations, and molds the components used in those assemblies in-house so it controls quality from part to finished unit. It builds door modules that integrate the regulator, motor, and wiring into a single carrier. And it makes power lift gate systems in both steel and plastic outer-tube spindle designs, single or dual spindle, with the option of full system integration: spindles, the electronic control unit, pinch strips, and a kick sensor for hands-free opening.

The customer base is not only cars. Hi-Lex is a long-standing supplier of control cables for recreational vehicles, boats, ATVs, personal watercraft, motorcycles, and golf carts, and it applies the same cable technology to medical devices, industrial equipment, and household appliances. Across all of it, the buyer is usually an OEM or a larger assembler integrating Hi-Lex parts into a finished product. The North American operations concentrate on the automotive and closure product lines out of their Michigan and Alabama plants.

Ownership and footprint

Hi-Lex Corporation was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Takarazuka, Japan, where it is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under ticker 7279. That public parent is the backing behind the North American business profiled here. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2025, the group reported consolidated net sales of roughly 304 billion yen, about two billion US dollars, with profit growth even as sales dipped slightly, per the parent's own results announcement.

In North America, Hi-Lex runs an integrated cluster of sites. The North American headquarters, the Hi-Lex Automotive Center, sits at 2911 Research Drive in Rochester Hills, Michigan, handling engineering and sales. Manufacturing runs out of Hi-Lex America in Battle Creek, Michigan; two Hi-Lex Controls plants in Litchfield, Michigan, at 152 and 125 Simpson Drive; a Hudson, Michigan site; and Daedong Hi-Lex of America in Cusseta, Alabama, a joint-venture operation with the Korean supplier Daedong. The Litchfield operation is the anchor: one site has run for roughly 34 years with about 340 associates, and a newer second site adds about 100 more.

Certifications and quality

A regional automotive industry profile lists Hi-Lex as certified to TS 16949 and ISO 14001. TS 16949 is the predecessor of the current IATF 16949 automotive quality management standard, and a Tier-1 supplier shipping window regulators onto Ford, Honda, and Toyota lines operates under the current standard, and its part approval discipline, as a condition of that work. The company does not post a dated certificate on its own site, so we report the certification as a claim and recommend buyers confirm the current certificate and audit date directly. The in-house molding of regulator components, rather than buying them in, is the company's own stated lever for holding quality across the assembly.

Known customers

Hi-Lex's North American programs are documented in part through a regional industry-partner profile of the Litchfield operation, which names specific window-regulator and lift-module programs.

Hi-Lex also displays a wall of OEM brand marks on its own site, including Toyota, Honda, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche. Those are brand imagery rather than program-level customer confirmations, so we do not count them as documented customers beyond the named Litchfield programs above.

Sourcing evidence

Hi-Lex's North American entities show up clearly in US customs records, and the pattern is the intercompany flow of an integrated global manufacturer rather than a reseller importing finished goods. Hi-Lex America in Battle Creek has 3,642 US import shipments on record, with its most recent in September 2026; its top foreign shippers are Hi-Lex's own affiliates, the Chongqing Hi-Lex Cable System Group in China and the Japanese parent, alongside TSK Korea and Titan Fastech. Daedong Hi-Lex of America in Cusseta has 2,928 shipments, also active into September 2026, sourced chiefly from its Korean joint-venture side, Daedong Hi-Lex and Daedong Door, plus Inteva Korea.

Read together, that is roughly 6,500 US customs shipments across the two plants, feeding a domestic manufacturing base from Hi-Lex's own global network of cable and component operations. Buyers weighing supplier concentration or tariff exposure can read the origin mix as a genuine global-affiliate supply chain, one that also carries the nearshoring question that comes with China- and Korea-origin inputs.

Coverage caveats apply. These are US ocean-freight bill-of-lading records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, some records name freight intermediaries rather than manufacturers, and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Hi-Lex Corporation make?

Hi-Lex manufactures automotive mechanical control cables and the assemblies they drive: window regulators, door modules, and power lift gate systems. It produces more than 10 million window regulators a year worldwide and also supplies control cables for recreational vehicles, marine craft, medical devices, and industrial equipment.

Who owns Hi-Lex?

The North American Hi-Lex operations are part of Hi-Lex Corporation, a Japanese company founded in 1946 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under ticker 7279. The parent reported group consolidated net sales of about 304 billion yen for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2025.

Where is Hi-Lex located in North America?

Hi-Lex's North American headquarters is at 2911 Research Drive, Rochester Hills, Michigan. Manufacturing runs from Hi-Lex America in Battle Creek and Hi-Lex Controls in Litchfield and Hudson, Michigan, plus Daedong Hi-Lex of America in Cusseta, Alabama.

Who are Hi-Lex's customers?

A regional industry profile of the Litchfield plants documents window-regulator and lift-module programs for Ford, Honda, Toyota, and PACCAR. Most other program relationships are unnamed, as is normal for a Tier-1 cable and regulator supplier.

What certifications does Hi-Lex hold?

Hi-Lex is listed as certified to TS 16949, the predecessor of the current IATF 16949 automotive quality standard, and to ISO 14001, per a regional industry profile. The company does not post a dated certificate on its own site, so buyers should confirm the current certificate and audit date directly.

Is Hi-Lex actively importing?

Yes. Both US manufacturing entities were actively importing as of September 2026, with about 6,500 combined US customs shipments on record, sourced largely from Hi-Lex's own affiliates in China, Japan, and Korea.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.