NORTH AMERICAN NEWS Thousands of fastener companies

noted in FIN’s Fastener History Fastener Industry News marked its 35th

T

he online Fastener History section provides a glimpse into what was lost in the 2003 Southern California wildfire that destroyed Mel Kirsner’s Fastener Museum. Each month of the 1997 FIN Calendar featured quotes from

books and catalogs collected by Kirsner. The collection included such items as an 1892 catalogue from Pawtucket Manufacturing Co and a book, ‘History of the Bolt & Nut Industry’, written by W.R. Wilbur in 1905.

In April 1997, the FIN Calendar summarised Archimedes being

credited for discovery of the screw thread, and in May of that year the subject was the ‘First method of threading a screw’. Fastener History includes key fastener European executives:

FIN’s 1997 interview with Reinhold Würth in Germany is just one of many industry leaders who have shared the secrets of their success. Among the notables: 1997 FIN – EIFI’s Lench: ‘Europe concerned about dumping of cheap imports’; 2002 FIN – Heinrich Bossard: ‘Customer, not competition, drives business’; 2007 FIN – EIFI’s Micheau: ‘Seek common ground’; 2013 FIN – Lederer: ‘Distributors seek more influence in EU policy’. A 1983 FIN article reported on 10 fastener associations

representing 1,000 companies holding a networking meeting. Participants rated new country-of-origin marking requirements as the most important problem facing fastener distributors. The articles posted in Fastener History are from the

three and a half decades covering the industry’s news. The industry’s largest gatherings are described through the

years: 2009 FIN – ‘First fastener fair held in 1995 in England’; 2009 FIN – ‘‘World’s Largest’ Title Goes to Fastener Fair Stuttgart’; 2010 FIN – ‘International show organizer Mack Brooks acquires Fastener Fair’.

In a 2002 FIN interview, Jim Bannister of the National Industrial Fastener Show & Conference recalled the steps to

anniversary by reaching 500 stories posted in its Fastener History section on GlobalFastenerNews.com

the first show in 1981 in Columbus, OH: ‘How the fastener industry discovered Columbus’. The start of the western version is explained in a 1997 FIN article headlined: ‘Las Vegas Show gamble pays off’. A succinct 20-year history of the fastener industry was written

by FIN founder, first publisher and editor Dick Callahan in 1999 for FIN’s 20th

anniversary.

The Fastener History section offers education for those entering the fastener industry. A sampling of articles for new recruits includes: 2000 FIN – ‘Book Review: Historical search for the father of the screw’; 1997 FIN – ‘From cradle to grave – the fasteners in your life’; 1998 FIN – ‘The ubiquitous A325’; and 1994 FIN – ‘Why 99.9% accuracy fails in quality measurement’. For the ultimate technical knowledge, the Industrial Fasteners

Institute's Joe Greenslade in 1997 offered a list of required fastener reference manuals. There is a 2013 update from Greenslade with the original 1997 article. News continues to become Fastener History: Weather was a

big issue in the US during the early months of 2014 as the Polar Vortex became the latest storm to disrupt the fastener industry. Among previous weather articles in Fastener History are the ice storms that closed Infasco in Canada for a month in 1998; the 1994 typhoon in Taiwan; and Super Storm Sandy in 2012. Also providing history is the 1979 through 2013 Obituaries section on GlobalFastenerNews.com. The fastener stories of more than 250 people – from age 2 to 101 also add to industry history. More FIN articles – which over the decades take on a historical

role instead of news – since the newsletter was first published July 10 1979, will continue to be added to the Fastener History section on GlobalFastenerNews.com.

Paul Tiffany elected NFDA president

Paul Tiffany of Copper State Bolt & Nut (Phoenix, Arizona) was elected as the 2014 – 2015 president of the National Fastener Distributors Association.

remain on the board as immediate past president. Four new board members were elected to serve on the

C held 18th 30

NFDA board: Gary Cravens of Advance Components (Carrollton, Texas), Jim Lindrup of Great Lakes Fasteners & Supply (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Kevin Miller of Bamal Fastener Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina), and Marc Strandquist of The Würth Group (Indianapolis, Indiana). Continuing on the NFDA board are Giovanni Cespedes of

Falcon Fastening Solutions (Charlotte, North Carolina), Kameron Dorsey of Beacon Fasteners & Components (Wheeling, Illinois), and Bob Luzum of Accurate Component Sales (New Brighton, Minnesota). The new board was introduced at the NFDA 2014 Annual Meeting, – 20th

June in New Orleans, Louisiana. Highlights of the annual meeting included executive sales planning sessions Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 88 July 2014

asey McIlhon of Assembled Products (Des Moines, Iowa) will serve as vice president, Marty Goeree of The Elgin Group (Batesville, Indiana) is the new associate chair, and Kevin Reidl of Hodell-Natco (Cleveland, Ohio) will

(ESPS), an educational programme on ‘Entrepreneurship, sales and leadership in the new economy.’ More than 120 people participated in the meeting. Tribute was paid during the meeting to retiring board members

Sara Mallo of Rotor Clip Company (Somerset, New Jersey) and Jay Queenin of Specialty Bolt & Screw (Agawam, Massachusetts). During the annual business meeting, outgoing president

Kevin Reidl gave an update on the association’s activities during the past year and plans for the coming year. Nine new members were introduced at the annual business meeting: Atlas – a PennEngineering brand, EFC International, General Fasteners Company, Huron Automatic Screw Company, Pacific Warehouse Sales, R&D Fasteners, Sigma Fasteners, Tour de Force CRM and TRAMEC Hill Fasteners. The annual business meeting also featured remarks from Bill Chen and Ivan Lin of the Taiwan Fastener Trading Association. Materials from the meeting can be found in the article archive

at www.nfda-fastener.org. A member password is needed to access these materials.