The National Fastener Distributors Association is pleased to announce the 2019 recipient of its Fastener Professional of the Year award is Kevin Queenin of Specialty Bolt & Screw (Agawam, Massachusetts).

The Fastener Professional of the Year award was created by NFDA to honor individuals and companies that make a substantial positive impact on people’s lives. The inaugural award in 2017 was presented to Robbie Gilchrist of Capital Marketing (High Point, North Carolina). In 2018 Jim Ruetz of AIS (Franksville, Wisconsin) was honored.

EFC International provides safe and high quality swing couplings for hydraulic, pneumatic, vacuum, gas, chemical fluid and water applications. The swing couplings are manufactured with the latest technologies to provide production methods that achieve efficiency, increase plant safety, improve productivity and save costs for industrial connections.

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We're celebrating 10 years of manufacturing the world's best Wave Springs this summer with one TINY announcement!
Rotor Clip's proud to announce that we are able to produce wave springs as small as 3mm O.D.!

(That's .118 inches)

Midland Industries is happy to announce our new Press Ball Valves are coming soon. The Press Ball Valves will be ready to ship on August 1st.

EFC International’s offering of the BCT Rivet nut is a best practice light-weighting solution for attaching carbon fiber and composite panels in automotive.  The rivet nuts are manufactured by BBA with BCT® (Bulge Control Technology).

BCT Rivet Nuts are ultra-high strength and engineered to prevent cracking or delamination of carbon fiber panels. The patented design enables an engineered yield point on the body of the rivet nut ensuring the bulge formation always begins beyond the panel and is drawn back on the panel. BCT rivet nuts can be placed near the edge of the panel without fear of inducing a crack in the panel.

The Gilchrist Foundation has awarded three scholarships from the 2019 applicants. Congratulations to the recipients. We wish them well and are pleased to assist them with their education.

They are as follows and their sponsoring companies:

The National Fastener Distributors Association (NFDA) recently awarded a scholarship for Fastener Training Week, an advanced fastener technical training program produced by the Fastener Training Institute, to Jeffrey Boushell, an outside sales representative for Wurth Revcar (Roanoke, Virginia).

Jeff’s supervisor, Jamie Farrell, says, “Jeff hit the ground running just over 12 months ago, capitalizing upon his sales training and experience from previous jobs. His intuitive mechanical abilities have allowed him to become an immediate asset to his existing customers. However, in the highly competitive fastener market, we want Jeff to stand out from the crowd.

Doug Ruggles of Martin Fastening Solutions (Florence, Alabama) has been elected as the 2019-2020 president of the National Fastener Distributors Association. Adam Derry of Field (Machesney Park, Illinois) will serve as vice president, Kelly Charles of Sems & Specials (Rockford, Illinois) as associate chair, and Kelly Cole of Hayes Bolt & Supply (San Diego, California) will remain on the Board as immediate past president.

Three new Board members have been elected to serve on the NFDA Board: Don Haggerty of Lindstrom/Stelfast (Edison, New Jersey), Craig Penland of Eurolink FSS (Greer, South Carolina), and Jodie Thinnes of Copper State Bolt & Nut (Phoenix, Arizona).

Würth Industry North America is pleased to announce its exclusive partnership with The Fastener Training Institute as the 2019 "Sustaining Sponsor" of FTI. This new level of sponsorship will help FTI fund both existing programs and develop the new content needed to grow. The generous support of Würth will be acknowledged throughout the year at FTI classes, webinars and industry events.

"We are excited to partner with FTI to ensure we provide the next generation of engineers and technicians with the knowledge they need to support their companies' growth and innovation", said Dan Hill, Chief Executive Officer for Würth Industry North America. "Würth prides itself on a long history of engineering expertise and appreciates FTI providing high quality fastener training for the industry."

Advanced Cable Ties is proud to announce the release of another high-quality product manufactured in the USA at its headquarters in Gardner, Massachusetts.

The market has spoken and ACT has once again delivered an innovative approach to an existing idea.  Engineers in many industries have asked for a Fir Tree Push-Mount Cable Tie with superior holding power.

Assembled Products, Inc has earned recognition as a Partner-level supplier for 2018, and was inducted into the Supplier Hall of Fame and Enterprise Supply Management Supplier of the Year in the John Deere Achieving Excellence Program. The Partner-level status is Deere & Company’s highest supplier rating. Hall of Fame status is given after a supplier attains a Partner-level rating for five consecutive years. The Urbandale-based company was selected for the honor in recognition of its dedication to providing products and service of outstanding quality as well as its commitment to continuous improvement. Company employees accepted the recognition during formal ceremonies held on April 16th in Davenport, IA.

Assembled Products, Inc is a supplier of Consolidation and Assembly Services to John Deere’s operation throughout North America.

IFE Americas recently announced the release of their newly updated website, saying:

"After a couple of months planning, we are delighted to announce the launch of our newly redesigned website.  We wanted a new website to better collaborate with our customers and distribution partners. We hope you like the fresh new look of the IFE Americas website, and the improved navigation that will allow you to find the product information you need quickly and easily."

Würth Revcar Fasteners, Inc. is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a leading distributor of fasteners, industrial components and vendor-managed inventory. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) benefit from the completely transparent, data-driven vendor-managed inventory program of their fasteners and industrial components with Revcar.

On March 10 1969, Revcar, a regional fastener supply store, was founded by Jim Revercomb, Sr. and Jack Carter in Roanoke, Va. A couple of years into the venture, Carter left and Revercomb took over the entirety of the growing business. Looking to expand throughout Virginia, Revcar cultivated a customer base north and east of Roanoke. They opened another branch in Richmond, VA in 1983 to better serve these customers. Just five years later, it was recognized as a master distributor by top proprietary lines like ESNA, Greer, Tinnerman, Huck, Heyco, and others. During this time, Revcar began its foray into vendor-managed inventory, contracting with OEMs to provide their fasteners.

Midland Metal Mfg. is excited to announce the acquisition of Mid-America Fittings, Inc. (“MAF”). MAF will be part of a growing distribution platform that includes Anderson Metals, LLC (“Anderson”), Midland Metal Mfg. (“Midland”), and Buchanan Rubber Ltd. (“Buchanan”). The platform is a leading North American manufacturer and distributor of valves, fittings, hoses, couplings, and related products to a variety of end-markets.

"The acquisition of MAF bolsters our capabilities as a leading platform within the specialty distribution and manufacturing arena,” said Vince Hodes, CEO of the platform. “We welcome Scott Shane to the team and look forward to leveraging MAF’s industry expertise and unique manufacturing capabilities, which will allow us to become a one-stop-shop solution for our customers’ stock and custom needs.”

Nautic Partners, LLC (“Nautic”) is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of LindFast Solutions Group (“LindFast”), in partnership with LindFast management.

Headquartered in Blaine, MN, LindFast is a master distributor of specialty fasteners in the North American market serving a broad base of national, regional, and local distribution customers through its metric (Lindstrom) and imperial (Stelfast) product brands. As a master distributor, LindFast provides an important link in the fastener supply chain by offering a deep inventory as a “virtual warehouse” of approximately 130,000 low volume, slow moving SKUs that distribution customers need quickly but are non-economical to inventory and source themselves. These SKUs represent high‐touch, specialty products that can be difficult to source due to their unique length, diameter, thread pitch, metal choice, or finish. In addition to sourcing unique product and providing virtual warehouse services, LindFast provides its distribution customers a range of value‐added services such as break bulk, packaging, kitting, plating, coating, and guaranteed stock programs, among others.

The 8th Fastener Fair Stuttgart, International Exhibition for the Fastener and Fixing Industry, ended last week after three very successful show days at the Stuttgart exhibition grounds in Germany. A total of 12,070 visitors from 90 countries came to Stuttgart to discover the latest trends and products from all areas of fastener and fixing technology and to network with other industry experts. This represents a further growth in visitor numbers by 3% compared to the previous event.

A total of 987 exhibitors from 45 countries presented the complete spectrum of fastener and fixing technologies on a total net exhibition space of 22,200 square metres: industrial fasteners and fixings, construction fixings, assembly and installation systems and fastener manufacturing technology. This represents a further increase in exhibitor numbers by around 10% and a further increase in exhibition space of 5% which resulted in the biggest Fastener Fair Stuttgart to date.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our brand new Sherex website! It has been completely overhauled from top to bottom with additional product listings and a completely new navigation system, designed to help you find the optimal fastener. For more information, go to our website via the link below, or call us at:  (866) 474-3739. 

This article is available courtesy of Caliper.

With the number of jobs and applicants increasing, many professionals are turning to advanced tools such as personality assessments to aid them in the hiring process to determine if potential candidates are the right fit for their company. But what is a personality assessment?

The International Fastener Expo (IFE), the largest and most established business-to-business tradeshow of every type of fastener, machinery and tooling, and industrial-related products in North America, is now accepting speaker submissions from fastener industry professionals and motivational and team building presenters for the Sept. 17-19 show conference schedule. The annual conference schedule features experts on technology, key laws and regulations, business solutions, testing and inspecting, management and leadership, and many more topics affecting the fastener industry.

New at IFE 2018, the conference schedule was expanded to include an additional day and featured 18 educational sessions; IFE 2019 plans to be just as jam-packed. Among the most popular sessions in 2018, Vanessa Sciarra, vice president for legal affairs and trade and investment policy, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), presented “U.S. Tariffs and Trade Policies - What to Expect in 2019,” a rundown on current trade policy, to a full house of engaged attendees. Video of her presentation is available for purchase at https://www.fastenershows.com/2019/02/12/us-tariffs-trade-policies-fastener-industry/.