INSIGHT Hall: 4 Stand: E50


Brighton Best International - a three year perspective


On 2nd


January 2008 the Brighton Best group of companies was acquired by a consortium of investors from


Taiwan, headed by Mr. Robert Shieh, president of Ta Chen International, Inc. On the third anniversary of the formation of Brighton Best International we asked Peggy Hsieh, executive operations manager, and Jun Xu, director of purchasing, to reflect on progress and look forward to developments in Europe.


It is three years since the formation of Brighton Best International. What do you feel are the most important qualities T


a


Chen has brought to the business? A customer once said that everyone in


the industry focuses on becoming number one. They keep their heads down, work, work, work, then when they get there, they stick their heads up only to ask why they’re all alone. Then they turn back to watch what everyone else is doing, only to have all their competitors catch up to where they are. With Ta Chen’s financial strength, technological expertise, and evolution of the stainless steel wholesale distribution business in the United States, Brighton Best had a clear roadmap to follow thus allowing us to avoid this pitfall. Brighton Best and Ta Chen International


operate as separate and independent businesses. However, the two companies are fundamentally the same in business strategy and philosophy. The Ta Chen backing and resources allow BBI to continue investing into resources and talent in the industry to better service our customers and grow sales. In addition, Ta Chen provided an IT platform that


BBI was able to quickly use and adapt to create an online marketplace for customers to buy fasteners. The IT system not only allowed BBI to quadruple its tonnage sold by adding only 10% to sales costs but also brought transparency and convenience to our customers. By focusing on ourselves and our


customers, both companies have been able to build successful businesses focused on quality products, extensive inventory, competitive pricing, and the best customer service in the industry.


How is BBI positioned today in the world fastener market – and in the European market specifically? How do you see that changing over the next two or three years?


Today, Brighton-Best International is


the largest fastener wholesale distributor in the USA. When Brighton-Best was acquired in 2008, the company was mainly known as a socket screw distributor, where socket screws represented over 80% of its sales. Few people know that socket screws represent less than 17% of Brighton-Best sales as of 2010. However, this does not mean that


118 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 67 January 2011


Brighton-Best lost market share in sockets but rather it was able to grow market share in the other new product lines, such as medium carbon, low carbon, and stainless, much faster. We were able to capitalise on Brighton’s reputation for quality, inventory, and customer service to quickly expand into all things fasteners to become the most convenient, one-stop- shop for customers in the US. Although today Brighton-Best is still


recognised as primarily a socket screw distributor in the European market, we hope to change that perception in the next one to two years as we have in the USA, by the continued expansion of inventory depth and range as we enter the medium carbon / low carbon / and stainless markets.


Online marketing and trading has become a hot topic in the US over the last year, with BBI’


s name featuring largely . Explain


how BBI has approached the transition to these new channels and how you see that developing in the Group’


s strategy


in Europe? BBI is not the originator of online


sales in the fastener industry, but we are


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188