COVER STORY
30 years of supply solutions for distributors
At the beginning of July, Fastbolt brought together team members from Germany, UK and China to mark its thirtieth anniversary. Four years after his untimely death it was inevitable the event would be tinged by the regret Heinz Storch was not there to share in the celebrations of a remarkable success story and witness another significant phase in the development of the company he founded in 1982.
team members: “Thirty years ago Heinz would never have believed we could be here today.” Maybe not but he melded vision and ambition with no small measure of self-belief and entrepreneurship, to stretch everyone in his business and ensure it was continually driven forward. As Graham Joyce put it: “Heinz was an absolute pioneer. It wasn’t always easy with him, but it was always interesting. His foresight ensured investment in the best
A
ppropriately, having served 23 years as a director of Fastbolt, it was UK managing director Graham Joyce that told Fastbolt
Fastbolt began trading from a small
“ It has made the transition from a small UK business to an international group with its management and purchasing headquar ters in Germany.”
logistics and operations we could have at the time. That tradition continues today.” Dennis Silverton, the independent
accountant who supported Heinz Storch and, then business partner, Bernard Myers in forming Fastbolt claims the privilege of being not so much at the birth of the business as its conception. He highlighted another crucial characteristic. “Heinz and Bernard were straight, very honourable people. They believed business should always be conducted in the proper way.” He added: “Heinz was always keen to have the best equipment and the best people.”
38
rented warehouse in Milton Keynes. From its inception the company focused exclusively on servicing fastener distributors, a principle that has been rigorously maintained ever since. To established suppliers in the UK fastener industry, responding to this dynamic incomer was a real challenge. An executive member of the UK fastener distribution association at the time later acknowledged the dilemma: “In the end we decided it was better to have Fastbolt in the association where we could keep on eye on Heinz.” It is a tribute to the personality and integrity of Heinz Storch that within a decade not only was his business firmly established in the UK market but also he was elected chairman of the association, shaking it from stagnation and steering it towards the positive role it now plays in the UK industry. The real
symbol, though, of Fastbolt’s arrival and Heinz Storch’s vision and ambition was the custom built warehouse opened in Milton
Keynes in 1990. Today it still represents Fastbolt’s professionalism and modernity – then it was a quite extraordinary statement to a still, in many ways, hidebound market. Internally, though, it took some years
for the technology to advance. In common with all its competitors during the Eighties the phone was the principle contact with customers and the telex with suppliers elsewhere in the world. Graham Joyce recalls the day Fastbolt installed its first fax machine at the end of the Eighties: “We had no concept of how this single piece of technology would change our business.”
Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 76 July 2012
For that matter the market. For good or ill the fax for the first time allowed distributors to place simultaneous enquires with multiple suppliers and receive quotations within the day. In a geographically small and infrastructure intense country, next day delivery was already available and rapidly became the norm, fundamentally and irrevocably altering the service model of the fastener industry. The fax was also crucial to Fastbolt’s
importing activities. Infinitely more important, however, was Heinz Storch’s instinct for building long standing personal and commercial relationships with suppliers. He was one of the first European fastener businessmen to travel throughout Asia in search of reliable factories, a role that Graham Joyce took on and unquestionably developed. He will be uncomfortable at the comment but as well as forging a unique relationship with Heinz, Graham demonstrated extraordinary commitment in travelling for weeks in Asia to develop lasting relationships with manufacturers, many of which remain core to the Fastbolt business. Recruited very deliberately from a highly structured automotive purchasing background to take on the pivotal role of purchasing director, Graham injected new levels of professionalism into Fastbolt’s sourcing, laying the foundations for its growth both in the UK and later Europe. Electronic inventory control and sales
systems took a little longer than the fax. During the Eighties Fastbolt relied on thousands of Kardex records and the famous ‘red book’, featured on the cover of this magazine, was the daily barometer of sales. In the early Nineties Heinz Storch sought out the best available ERP system on which to take his business forward. The transition was direct from manual records to a near paperless sales enquiry and entry system. As always the biggest challenge was for people to adapt to a radical change in processes. Some did not; others blossomed and grew to become key members of the Fastbolt UK team. Heinz Storch believed in picking the right people, but that was never to be an unerring
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