COVER STORY Spotlight on…
Hexstone is synonymous with fasteners, fixings, hardware, ironmongery, and associate items for the engineering and merchant trade – and is the name behind six of the UK’s top specialist suppliers. Will Lowry visited Stone, Hexstone’s head office, to explore how Hexstone delivers a skilful balance between coordination and individuality.
W
hilst Hexstone may be a single corporate entity, it presents six distinct faces to the market: Owlett-Jaton, JCP
Construction Products, Galaxy Fasteners, Stainless Threaded Fasteners (STF), Icon Fasteners, and most recently, Unifix. The Hexstone name was introduced
to the market place in 2010 to reinforce, to each specific market, the strength and depth underpinning its constituent service elements. “Introducing the Hexstone name let customers know that each company is part of something bigger,” explains Keith Harrison, chief executive at Hexstone. “We have a lot to offer – whenever customers need it. We have a collective strength that delivers security and long-term sustainability that we know our customers value.”
“The name
above the door of every company is Hexstone,” continues Andrew Lowrie, marketing director at Hexstone. “However, it will be Hexstone trading as…whatever company it may be. We are very committed to ensuring each company maintains its own distinctive identity and has its own specialist products and customers, which is why we have structured Hexstone as it is today.” Keith Harrison adds: “We strongly
believe that the specialist nature of each company is important to maintain. Within each company we have experienced specialists in that particular field, and we have consciously kept them as separate teams with their own focus.
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That is why we have different faces to market and will continue to do so in the future. Being part of the Hexstone Group of companies simply means that we can diversify to develop and supply additional products to meet the needs of our established customer base.” Hexstone recently carried out a review of its operational resources at Bilston, and recognised the efficiencies and advantages to be gained by bringing Galaxy Fasteners, Icon Fasteners, STF and Unifix into one location. “Operational consolidation of these
companies into one site made sense,” comments Keith. “We looked at how we could improve our
operational procedures and decided that the most effective way was to join the back office operations of these companies.” In addition to
the operational changes, Hexstone has appointed David Jackson and Elaine Farmer as general manager and director of Icon
Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 89 September 2014
Fasteners and STF, and general
manager of Galaxy Fasteners and Unifix, respectively. David Jackson
took on his new role at Icon Fasteners and STF, following 16 years’ experience across both companies.
Icon Fasteners focuses on high-grade alloy fasteners, both socket and hexagon headed, in
a wide range of grades and finishes; it also offers a range of nuts, washers, and allthread. Icon Fasteners is one of the UK’s top distributors of Philidas and Holo-Krome®
products, too. Icon has
developed its capabilities within non-standard products, with an experienced specials team that can source and commission manufacture of parts to customer specifications. Icon will soon launch its e-commerce website – ‘Icon Trade’. The new online solution for Icon Fasteners’ customer delivers 24-hour accessibility, and is the new home to the full range of Icon’s stock range, where customers can place orders outside their usual working hours. STF is a distributor with more than 10,000 lines of A2 (304), A4 (316) stainless steel and brass fasteners. The company also stocks a range of A2 (304) stainless steel security screws, A4 (316) marine fittings, as well as the Action Can range of industrial aerosols. STF’s specials department sources
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