Fastenerblog.net

Guest Blog from STAFDA's Executive Director

Traveling Salesman — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:20:00 GMT

Georgia Foley has been STAFDA's executive director since January 2000. Her duties include overseeing all meeting planning activities, member programs, association relations, financials & communications. She joined STAFDA in 1994 as member services director & was promoted to assistant executive director in June 1998. Prior to joining STAFDA, she was the executive director of the Exhibit Designers & Producers Association (EDPA) for 7 years.

It was a pleasant surprise and honor to hear that Georgia had read past posts on Fastener Talk. The following contribution from Georgia is an update on what is going on regarding the STAFDA show in Phoenix in November:

With nearly a month into STAFDA registration for its November 7-9 Convention & Trade Show in Phoenix, things are off to a solid start. To date, 505 booths have been sold versus 441 for its ’09 Atlanta show. Also to date, attendance is stronger with 51% more distributor companies registered, 12% more associates, and rep registrations have tripled over last year! Even though the economy is still slow, it has stabilized and STAFDA members are more optimistic about this year. Many Phoenix exhibitors have upgraded their booth size from ’09 when many downsized because of the economy. This is encouraging.

One of STAFDA’s three hotels is nearly full. The Sheraton Phoenix is at 80% capacity with the Wyndham and Hyatt at about 40%. Unlike other cities where there is an abundance of hotels at a variety of rates, downtown Phoenix has only three main properties. The Sheraton is not yet two years old and the Hyatt and Wyndham underwent recent renovations so all three hotels are essentially “new.” Plus, with the expansion and renovation of the Phoenix Convention Center, the Center and hotels are running at capacity levels through early December. All three hotels are a block away from the Convention Center and the surrounding area has undergone a major renaissance the last two years. And it’s safe.

STAFDA’s educational sessions will cater to today’s important business sessions with the most pressing being credit and banking. Most STAFDA members spent ’09 cutting and slashing their operation to make them as lean as possible. At the same time, the financial industry underwent a major overhaul which significantly tightened up lending. Banking and credit appears to be the #1 concern to the construction/industrial channel. STAFDA will have a panel of banking experts, plus an official from the Federal Reserve Board, to talk about the construction industry and financing.

Sarah Palin will be STAFDA’s keynote speaker. Love her or hate her, people will show up to see her. As the face of the grassroots movement, the Tea Party, FOX News analyst, among a host of other titles, Ms. Palin has been in the news a lot this year. Has STAFDA gone political or endorsing a candidate? No. STAFDA has had other conservative speakers and U.S. Presidents as keynote speakers over the years: President Ronald Reagan; President Gerald Ford; former Secretary of State, Colin Powell; and two presidential candidates, Jack Kemp and Bob Dole. STAFDA’s audience skews conservative and pro-business.

In addition to its Convention & Trade Show, STAFDA offers a host of services with over a dozen business consultants that members can contact for free advice during the year. STAFDA also produces educational training manuals and important benchmarking reports. Annual membership dues are $350, less than a $1/day. Learn more about STAFDA at www.stafda.org.

Beer Label - Always Representing the Industry!

Traveling Salesman — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:09:00 GMT

Summer News Slow - Starting to Talk About Trade Shows

Traveling Salesman — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:25:00 GMT

I read most of the news that comes out through the various industry publications and web sites and, while there is SOME news out there, it also feels like people describe business in the summertime. "We're a little slow, lot of people on vacation." That is how the Fastener News seems to me. A couple earnings updates, a few acquisitions. A few new products introduced. Nothing really startling.

One thing that is happening is that trade show talk is heating up. I just received a note from the Fastener Show West that you can register now. I have had several people ask me about my plans for the upcoming show. I see the Mandalay Bay hotel room is available for $109 during the show, and it is a very nice hotel. There are plenty of places up and down the strip and lots of people have their favorite spots. But things are starting to heat up. That's a pretty good rate for the Mandalay and if you can save a few bucks that just leaves a few more for beer and food.

I know (and have been told) that you folks really don't want to hear about my personal life too much, but I will share this one quick thing. I don't actually drink a lot of beer, but I do like beer. My daughter just turned 21 so I took her to a local place to brew our own beer together...a little father/daughter bonding experience. She can take hers to college to help her study and I will have mine to drink and share. I'll try to post my beer label on here in the next couple days but I named it "Old Rusty Bolt". Thought some of you fastener folks might like that. It looks pretty cool.

Anyways, back to the shows.

Right at nearly the same time as The Vegas Show this year is the STAFDA Show in Phoenix. Next year the fastener show will be earlier and that will be a relief to those people that want to attend both shows. I am a STAFDA member and like to try to attend both shows. I know Sarah Palin is the guest speaker this year and that is a pretty big name, like her or not. STAFDA is quite a bit different from the fastener shows and has an entirely different feel to it. I like both shows. And, let's face it. Almost everyone is trying to cross sell these days and there are a lot of products that the traditional fastener house now sells that they passed on in the past. If there's a hole for a bolt, there was probably a drill bit or such that formed that hole. SELL IT ALL!!

I know it is a long way off but in the spring there will be fastener shows in Columbus, Ohio and in Branson, Missouri.

What else are people talking about out in the field?? Business. I hear a few people saying things are not so great but I hear a whole lot of other people that are doing really well, especially compared to last year. One sentiment I have heard several times lately goes something like, "I's not quite like it was in 2007 or 2008 yet but it's a lot better than last year". And I would agree with that. There is some momentum. These is something to build on. If you are not reinforcing your sales force right now I think you are really missing the boat. Every day I am out calling on people I find new opportunities. And, if you are continuing to do the same old thing and it is not working so well, try something else. There is business out there but you have to be creative, aggressive and persistent. Keep at it.

Fully Threaded Radio - #8

Traveling Salesman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:02:00 GMT

Fully Threaded Radio's 8th broadcast is up and ready. Remember, you can find it at:

www.fullythreaded.com.

I now download the Fully Threaded podcasts on to my I-Pod and bring them along when I am driving. Breaks up all the Jim Rome, Howard Stern, Margaritaville and books-on-tape. Eric and Brian fit right in with the other radio stars.

Summer Vacations - Summer Slowdown?

Traveling Salesman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:03:00 GMT

I've been gone a while on vacation and am just trying to get caught up on all the stuff important to keeping my office running. It kind of feels like I have not missed a whole lot. Lots of people on vacation this time of year. Still, sales seem pretty good as I get out to visit customers.

Beginning of the year was very strong. No one had inventory so everyone had some increased sales from January thru March. To me, it seemed like April slowed down just a bit - maybe everyone catching their breath. Now, I am hearing quite a few companies had very strong sales in May. That was good news. But, now what?

June figures (the ones I have seen) look pretty good. Still will not know completely for a few weeks. But July?? Who knows. Vacations always have an affect on July. But, if we are, in fact, in a bit of a recovery, maybe July will be strong.

I look at the fastener news sites and there does not seem to be a whole lot going on. Not a whole lot of big news. Fully Threaded Radio is coming out with another broadcast - I think this week.

And, I've got some other thoughts and subjects I'd like to bring up. Just need a few more days to clean off my desk before I can dive back in to blogging.

Some Info on "FastenatingDomains"

Traveling Salesman — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:52:00 GMT

It is sometimes funny in life how circumstances present themselves, circle around and then complete the loop to where things finally all make some sense. I know that sounds confusing so let me explain and add in some details.

A few years ago, I decided to start writing a fastener blog. So, I got on a website that could help me set up the blog and one of the first things I had to do was choose a domain name. Not surprisingly, I typed in "FastenerBlog.com" and found out that someone already had secured that domain. So, my next idea was to try FastenerBlog.net and that is of course where Fastener Talk resides. I went online and checked out the site fastenerblog.com and found that it really was an undeveloped site. Whoever owned that site was not really doing much with it, and I was OK with that because I wanted to develop something that, at that time, no one else in the industry was doing. But there was one thing on the site that got my attention and that was a Twitter site by the name of http://Twitter.com/FastenerNews. I checked out that Twitter page and found it to be a very thorough news source for tracking developments in the fastener industry. As a side note, I would encourage anyone in the fastener industry to subscribe to this Twitter page as it really is very good (http://Twitter.com/FastenerNews).

So anyway, as I was reading one of the Tweets one day I clicked on a story and after I read the story I kept clicking until I was finally led to a page that was sponsored by Hudson Fasteners, Inc., a fastener distributor started in Long Island, New York but currently located in Ohio. Somewhere along the line I finally pulled together the whole picture and realized the same person that was running Hudson Fasteners was the same person running the Fastener News Twitter site (http://Twitter.com/FastenerNews) and they were also the same person that owned the site FastenerBlog.com. This was a tech savvy person I was dealing with and I wanted to track this person down.

Well, I did. And the person is actually people. Lisa Kleinhandler and Cris Young are partners in the woman owned and operated fastener distributorship called Hudson Fasteners, Inc.. In addition to that, they own more Fastener Industry Premium Internet Real Estate than anyone I know of in the fastener industry. Let me explain...in addition to fastenerblog.com, they own hundreds of internet domain names...hundreds of them! And why is that important? Because when someone does an internet search on a search engine like Google, they are going to type in certain generic keywords to get started. So..you type in something like plasticanchorkits.com and ...yep, they own that domain. Maybe you try fastenerassortments.com...they've got that one too. aluminumfasteners.com, nylon-fastener.com, grade8bolt.com??? Yep, they own those too. If you produced Gr. 8 cap screws and you wanted people to find your site, wouldn't it be nice to own grade8bolt.com? It might not be that valuable today but more and more and more industries (including ours) are doing more and more commerce over the internet. And searching the internet is growing in importance. You can check out more of the Domain Names at www.FastenatingDomains.com.

When I started Fastener Talk, I was slightly bothered that someone already owned the domain, FastenerBlog.com. Especially someone who was not even using the site. But as I spoke with Lisa and Cris, I found them to be two astute business people who really love the fastener industry. One thing they pointed out was that these domains are like inventory. If you know that the industry is running low on stainless washers you might buy up all you can so that you have enough for your customers...and maybe even a little extra inventory that you can sell to another distributor who will need them. That's considered smart business and companies do that every day. Lisa and Cris see these Domain Names as valuable internet real estate or inventory. And if you don't think these domain names are valuable then Lisa and Cris think you might be shortsighted. Sure, you might own your own website (like ABCfasteners.com) but what if you own several popular sites that all lead people back to your company. You could show up multiple times under certain categories and they would all lead back to your website. Hmmm?? Interesting.

One other thing I want to emphasize about these two women is that they love the fastener industry. Hudson Fasteners is a third generation company that has been around since 1946. Lisa's grandfather started the business as Hudson Nut & Bolt. The Twitter account they maintain is dedicated to bringing the latest news they can to others in the industry. For crying out loud, their phone number is 1-877-4-A-SCREW. I mean these ladies think about fasteners and technology continuously.

We had an enjoyable meeting and plan to meet again. I even found room in my heart to forgive them for scooping me on the name fastenerblog.com. I have to give credit where credit is due, and these ladies are innovative thinkers. And, my feeling is that when people are thinking in an innovative way, it often follows that business success is not far behind.

Captive Fastener Founder Passes

Traveling Salesman — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:25:00 GMT

I found the following obituary on the internet:

"The founder of the Captive Fastener Corporation in Oakland passed away this June at the age of 71. The industrialist succumbed to a battle with cancer after compiling a lifetime of achievements that exemplify the American dream for many.

Born in 1939 in Pittsburgh, PA, Joseph Alderisio moved to Oakland in his early twenties and, by the age of 36, had founded Captive Fastener in 1974. Originally based in Midland Park, Captive Fastener’s growth led to new facilities being established in Oakland, NJ."

I worked with Joe's company for many years and found him to be a tough but fair businessman. He was definitely driven. I understand that Joe had backed off his company responsibilities over the last several years and the company has been run by the existing management team which includes Joe's son, Joe Jr. This same team continues to run Captive operations.

The industry has lost an ambitious achiever and a strong personality. And, it seems to me that those type of individuals are often the ones that start and grow successful companies. You always knew exactly where Joe stood on an issue and you had to respect him for that. Condolences to the Alderisio family and good luck to the Captive team as they carry on.

Pac-West Meeting is Broadcast on Fully Threaeded Radio

Traveling Salesman — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:44:00 GMT

Wow. Sometimes you take a big swing at a pitch and sometimes you connect. Fully Threaded Radio took a swing by broadcasting a panel discussion that was held by the Pacific-West Fastener Association and I would say they hit this one out of the park. A long, ball, deep into center field...way back.. home run - and without the use of steroids!

To give credit where it is due, the Pac-West organization came up with a great idea of having a panel discussion where several industry veterans assembled and exchanged stories of their many years in the fastener industry. And, although the discussion was titled "Lessons From the Past", it might have been more accurate to call it "War Stories from Some Seasoned Fastener Veterans". The panelists paid tribute to Mel Kirsner by recalling a series of humorous encounters with the man for whom the Pac-West Golf Outing is named. I never had the pleasure of knowing the gentleman but the panelists really paint a vivid picture of the man through their tales. This is really an enjoyable discussion to listen to and one of my favorite Fully Threaded Radio broadcasts.

What's interesting is the fact that every fastener association has its share of industry veterans who would also have stories to share. And, there might even be a few "lessons" given along the way. But for me, lessons or no lessons, it is certainly enjoyable to hear the names, companies and travel tales of men and women who have been contributing to this industry their entire career.

Great show gentlemen. If you have not yet listed to Fully Threaded Radio, make this broadcast your first. Once again, go to www.fullythreaded.com. You can listen from your computer or download it from I-Tunes.

To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

Traveling Salesman — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:14:00 GMT

People who join online networking groups like Linkedin often search for groups to join where they can network with industry peers. If you are on Linkedin and searched to join a group that had to do with fasteners, more than likely you found and joined "Fasteners Industry". Janice Ceresa is the creator/owner/administrator of the Fasteners Industry Group on Linkedin. She developed this group a couple years ago which might have been a long time before a lot of us even knew what Linkedin was. What is Linkedin? I'm not a good person to describe it but Linkedin is kind of a place where people create their own business resume and share it with other members. The platform is more business oriented than a site like Facebook. The point is, Janice seems to me to be someone with vision and someone who embraces the new social media that seems to surround us more and more. I asked Janice if she would be willing to share a few thoughts on other social media and below are some of her thoughts on Twitter.

To Tweet or Not To Tweet?

My view of Twitter (www.Twitter.com ) is very simplistic; it’s just another tool to convey your message. No matter what your message happens to be recruiting, sales, specific products, websites, etc. utilizing a new tool then measuring its effectiveness is critical to any business. Business communication via social networking outlets can be overwhelming at first. Which one you chose is a personal preference. In order to find out what works you have to sometimes explore uncharted territory.

The number one question I get asked is (drum roll) what results do you get from Twitter? It's a great question but it has a complicated answer. There are four questions you need to ask when deciding to use Twitter.

#1 What’s your business goal?

You need to determine what you want to accomplish by using Twitter or any social media then measure results and see if you accomplish your goals. There is no cost to setting up a Twitter account, the only real cost is your time. If you have a small or limited budget free is always good but again you need to determine if it fits your goals and if it is worth your investment of time.

#2 How much time are you willing to invest?

If you are going to invest in Twitter see it through. Set specific goals (increase requests for product information XYZ) with a specific time frame (over the next 6 months). There is work involved and I am still measuring my use of Twitter based on the goals I have set. Typically the next question is “what are your goals”? Keep in mind Social Media is not meant to be cookie cutter so my goals are relevant to my job - after all I am a recruiter and my focus is candidates.

An example of something you may want to measure.

Increase in traffic to your company website or specific documents? If you have a website you should be able to include “hits” (metrics) from Twitter or social media sites in the analytics you are already collecting. If you are not collecting website data that is a whole other conversation.

#3 What social media site is right for you and your business?

If you don’t want to use Twitter you don’t have to but I would encourage you to try other forms of social media. Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning or blogging just to name a few. There is a LOT of information on social media and there are all sorts of exports willing to offer you advice but at the end of the day you need to decide what and how you would like to invest your time. It’s also important to have a team that supports your initiatives. I am fortunate to work with an outstanding and supportive team at Anixter Aerospace Hardware. Without that support I would not have ventured down the uncharted territory of Twitter.

#4 Why try Twitter?

Why not!? Not trying something new will pretty much always yield the same results. So I would encourage you to try something new like Twitter, measure it and what you may just find is another tool to support your business goals.

Janice Ceresa

Anixter Aerospace Hardware

http://www.linkedin.com/in/anixter

http://twitter.com/AnixterAero

http://twitter.com/Anixter

Business in the middle of disaster

Traveling Salesman — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:58:00 GMT

A few years back, my brother-in-law had a job where he sold some kind of product related to aluminum siding. He lives in Florida. When all the hurricanes hit Florida, he would win all the sales contests. Seriously. There would be so much damage and his products were used to repair homes. He made a ton of money. His peers in other states began to refer to him as Hurricane Joe.

Just earlier this week I was talking to a company in Chicago that mentioned they were starting to see some large inquiries for their products out of the gulf coast area. I think we can all agree that watching the oil spilling all through the gulf makes us sick to our stomach. The wildlife, the beaches, the poor families who lost loved ones. Nothing good coming from this disaster. But still, the cleanup and repairs are going to require some kinds of products that we all sell.

So, that is my question. Is anybody seeing additional business due to this unfortunate event? I feel a little sick even asking the question, but it is a legitimate fact that someone is going to have to supply some kind of parts and, oddly enough, some company is going to benefit from selling these products. Anyone out there shipping more stuff down to that area?

The Importance of Sales Calls

Traveling Salesman — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:20:00 GMT

Rob Lucas is a partner in Fidelis Fastener along with his associate Larry Thomas. Fidelis is a company that offers distributors direct connections with vendors overseas as well as logistics and supply chain support. Fidelis offers a new model in the industry that has the ability to aid in cost reductions for distributors. Rob and Larry are frequently asked to give their personal insights on developments in the Asian markets and they have spoken at both the National Fastener Shows - East and West and have also been interviewed during their overseas travels by Fully Threaded Radio (fullythreaded.com).

After spending some quality time with Rob at the Midwest Fastener Association he agreed to contribute the following post to Fastener Talk.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SALES CALLS

Recently (while attending the MWFA show in Chicago), I ran in to T.S. and we started discussing sales calls, travel and territories. This was actually just a couple of guys chatting about the business and these seemingly simple topics, but it really got me thinking that they are not as simple as just the basic "sales person 101" type subjects. After stewing on it for a day or two I began thinking of the real significance they have in the market.

In this day and age there are so many means of communication that sometimes I think the traditional sales calls seem to be lost. Phone call and aimless have been with us now a while and now we have WIFI most everywhere which allows people to connect to the internet remotely. We have new cell phones or smart phones which allow for the same access to the internet and then there are the online buying and selling services that occur and are promoted more and more everywhere. While all these are fantastic tools and make our lives much easier, they can never replace face time and the relationships either developed or being developed that come from a good old fashioned sales call.

In our business model, my partner and I always talk to our customers about relationships. In fact RELATIONSHIPS was a key word we stressed in our presentation at the Columbus fastener show. Our relationships with overseas vendors and the power that brings to the distributor once they begin to establish these same type relationships. The same message applies to relationships in domestic sales. You can gain more knowledge by seeing someone than you ever can by an email, phone call or an online service of buying/selling. Sitting down with a customer is a small part of the overall "sell" but it has tremendous power. You will gain market knowledge, maybe a window in to what they are seeing from their portion of the market, some insight into what their competitors are doing, the activity taking place in the office around them and most importantly, you see that person/s. Seeing them allows you to strengthen your relationship if you have one, or to build and cultivate a new one. Anyone who has been a road warrior at one time or another can certainly appreciate and understand where I am coming from.

While T.S. and I were talking, I started thinking of how many times I hear customers and vendors alike say how few and far between people visit them anymore. Perhaps the reason is the economy and companies are deterring the sales teams from travel to minimize expenses, or maybe the reason is they think a call is not needed since they are doing "ok" with that customer. Whatever the reason, I think it is a shame and foolish. In the economy we have had recently, now is an ideal time to spend extra cash to see your clients. They have more opportunity to visit since their work time is not so hectic. Where once they may not have been able to see you due to time restraints, a slower economy affords that face time.The amount of money spent on travel to visit customers may look excessive, but ask T.S. or other road warriors what their expenses are and if it is worth it. I can tell you that our company's travel expenses are probably higher than most, with all our overseas travel and domestic travel. However, I can also say that without it, we would not be in business. There are so many ways to manage a travel budget and stretch that dollar to your benefit. We have mastered these tools and learned to travel as inexpensively as possible in order to get that valued face time. Cheap rental cars, budget hotels, shopping for airline tickets, staying with friends and family are just some of the ways we keep our costs low. Heck we can travel to Asia for a few weeks including airfare, cheaper than most travel domestically for a few days. So if you plan ahead and utilize some of these tools and others, you can achieve road time while not breaking the bank. Now if you are thinking that your business is "ok" and does not warrant a call (very few think like this I am sure), think again. You can never offer enough service and information to your customers, the more they know about you and you of them, the better off you will both be in the long run.

T.S. and I were also chatting on territories and he asked a great question..."Rob, how can you cover so much ground effectively?" My response was simple, "I can't". I did not respond to him like that to show a lack of work ethic or poor salesmanship, it was an honest answer. There is no way any one or two people can cover a territory completely. I live in Chicago, and with my day to day operations, staying on top of my business and my schedule, there is no real way for me to cover a small territory the way I dream I could, let alone the globe. In fact, in all my past employment positions in sales it was impossible. It is impossible for anyone! Sure you can make sales calls and write call reports and do all the traditional things required in sales, but can you really cover it completely? Do you have a strong relationship at every customer in your territory? Know all the players at that customer? Know all there is to know about their ever changing business on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis? Know the competition thru and thru? Know all the ins and outs to make you effective as well as support them 100%? If you answer honestly, you will agree with me. However if you answered honestly and still disagree, please write the rest of us a book on how you did it and share your secrets.

This business is still a people business and no amount of technology can replace that. Sure offering the latest technologic tools is great service not to mention some publicity for your company, but it will never replace knowing your customer. The world is shrinking due to technology, but it is the people that make the world go around. Even the guys at Fasteners Clearing House who's business is entirely technological understand this and are out as much as possible selling themselves and trying to understand their customers better. The point to that is nobody, not even those who base a business off of the latest technological tools can afford to not see the customers and the market they try to support.

So....get out there and see those good friends of yours or go meet some new ones. You never know what you will unearth with your next visit to a customer. Good luck and happy selling!

Rob Lucas
Managing Partner
Fidelis Fasteners, Ltd. (HK)
Mobile: +1.630.532.0458
Skype: rob.lucas2

www.fidelisfasteners.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/roblucasfidelisfasteners

Mid-West Fastener Show Report

Traveling Salesman — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:19:00 GMT

What can I say about the MWFA table top show? I tell you what...that show is always a good time. It's not just a trade show. It is a social gathering. There are so many fastener suppliers and distributors in the Chicago area and a whole bunch of them show up every year whether it is the table top show or the Fab-Tech show with the full booths. This year was a table top year, which is when all the exhibitors are assembled in one large room where they display all their brochures and samples on plain old tables. It's great. You can see from one end of the show to the other which means you can spot anyone attending the show without too much difficulty. And they do have a good number of distributor attendees. Lots of big and small distributors were represented at the show and at the Fastener Bash right after the show. No time to disperse...you just close up your booth, take stuff to you car and walk down the hall to the Fastener Bash for a couple hours. Even for those folks going home after the show, there's always time for a quick drink or two.

The Midwest Fastener Association is a large group. There are a lot of members which should be no surprise as they are located in the Chicago area. I'm not from Chicago but I always enjoy visiting. And I do not want to sound too hokey here but I've got to say this...the Chicago fastener community is like a big, happy family. That is is a fun group to hang out with. Sure, the show is professional and the exhibitors are certainly doing their best to talk with their good customers. But there is a certain "looseness" to the whole show that is very comfortable and very enjoyable. And the exhibitors seem to really interact and enjoy each other. It might be like an Irish family that all sit around the dinner table and then go fist fight in the streets later on. I'm sure not everyone there gets along and, let's face it, they are business competitors. But inside the walls of the show it is like one big, happy fastener family. At least that's how I see it when I'm there and if I am wrong, so be it. I always have a good time at the MWFA shows and this year was no exception. Great job Nancy and the gang.

One last thing. I did speak with some exhibitors who had never been in the show before and I know a couple that came away with some very good new sales leads and contacts. Won't go into details but I am absolutely certain that some productive things were accomplished at this show which will lead to new business for these first timers.

Quick Comment on a Fastener News Story

Traveling Salesman — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:15:00 GMT

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Art Wondrasek, former owner of QSN. I really did not know him. I spoke to him on the phone one time. But I knew who he was and knew that he ran QSN which seemed to be a very successful company. I think it was just two short years ago that he sold his company to Anixter and even though I did not know him I think it's sad he did not have more years to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

I guess it's just another lesson that you need to enjoy the journey and appreciate all the days, even the ones when you are working. And some of the luckiest people are those who love what they do and are able to continue their work as they get older. If you get to keep working on your own terms...that's about the best. If you hate your job, look for one you like. It might be out there.

WolframAlpha - Check it out Engineers

Traveling Salesman — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:05:00 GMT

The note below was sent to me by an old High School friend. I watched the intro and was amazed. I think you will be too. Being me, I tried to put in information relating to fasteners and I did not get back any interesting results. Still, I think this is a very interesting site and maybe one that some of you engineering-types might be able to use. It is startling to see what information is available online. Even if you are not an engineer, check it out. Very interesting site.

Watch the introduction FIRST, then save the site to your favorites.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

What is a fastener company really worth?

Traveling Salesman — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:57:00 GMT

Allan Weitzman is a Fastener Talk reader and supporter. Allan took the initiative to accept my invitation to be a guest blogger. Allan and his family run Jay-Cee Sales and Rivet. After reading a recent post on Fastener Talk, Allan called me to discuss something I had written about. I said, "Allan, why don't you write down what you just told me and let me post it on my blog?" Below, I present to you his thoughts on why some fastener companies that have impressive sales might not have real value.

Traveling Salesman,

It doesn’t surprise me at all that a company with revenues of $12 million plus sold for only $5 million. There was a fastener company in the mid west that sold a few years ago. I’m going to leave out the name because I’m not 100% sure of the actual numbers. They had revenue around the low $20 million dollars and sold for only $2 million.

It’s a prime example how companies are afraid of turning away business. It's most common in the small start-ups in the industry. When we sell to our customers we need to take in account how long it will take to get paid and if there is a mistake on our part, have we built in enough profit to service the customer without losing our shirts. And we provide AAA+ service to our customer - the way we want to be serviced by our vendors.

We sell rivets. Anyone can sell a rivet. In reality we are selling relationships and service. Service is priceless. If you can’t make a profit on what your selling, you can’t afford to supply the service. This company in the Midwest never turned down business. Year after year their automotive customers bullied them into price reductions…and of course they caved. That took away their ability to make a profit so they could not afford to service their customers. It’s a snowball effect from there.

We to are subject to e-mails and phone calls for price reductions from automotive and aerospace manufactures. They ask for 5% price reductions…I always like to ask them “when is the last time we saw a 5% price reduction in a car”?

The price reduction makes sense when making larger, more complex components…not rivets. As time goes on, auto-part suppliers get more efficient and have learned from, and corrected, costly mistakes. Figuring this stuff out saves them money. There is nothing to figure out in the fastener industry. You feed the wire into the header and out comes the rivet. There isn’t any cost savings short cut that will save anybody 5%. Follow the practice of giving these reductions and that is the formula for taking a company with $20 million in revenue and selling it for only $2 million. We have never, never, never given in to the request of the reduction unless we were getting a reduction from our vendors. Most important…we’ve never, never lost business from it either. I really do believe that when a large production is at stake…service is much more valuable than a 5% reduction.

There are a few fastener companies out there with terrible reputations regarding service. Customers may not say I'm the cheapest guy on the block…but there shouldn’t be any complaints about my service.

Thank you,

Allan Weitzman

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Who's Buying U.S. Fastener Companies?

Traveling Salesman — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:06:00 GMT

I'm no sleuth, and I'm no financial analyst. I know a lot of manufacturers and larger distributors are owned by "holding companies" or "Equity Partners". So, when companies are bought and sold I sometimes do not pay too much attention, especially if the products produced by the companies are ones I don't sell too often or ones that are no too familiar to me. As I was reading the May 24 edition of FIN (Fastener Industry News) I saw a couple articles that caught my eye. One was a list of the top ten fastener acquisitions during 2009. The other was on the front page - "Platinum Equity Selling Avdel to Pan-Asian Equity Firm". I skimmed that so quickly, I had to do a double take. Did they just say that Avdel was sold to an Asian investment firm?? AVDEL??? As the article clearly states, "The acquiring company is Asia Trading company Limited, an entity controlled by CVC Asia Pacific, a pan-asian private equity firm, and Standard Chartered Private Equity Limited, the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank ("CVC Standard"). So...in fact, Avdel is owned by an Asian equity firm. I googled Avdel trying to look up the company history. Heck, I'm not even sure where the company started - but I do really know if Avdel was originally a U.S. company. Cherry Rivet is a name that has always been around since I have been in this business and I guess I always thought it was an American firm. Please, let me know if you know.

Then, as I scrolled through the acquisitions from 2009 I saw that Tinnerman Palnut Engineered Products was purchased by A. Raymond & Co. -- a company headquartered in Grenoble, France. Hey, I studied in France in college. I like France. Paris is awesome and the French host family and people I met were great. Daniel Rivalin is a regular contributor on this blog. But the French bought Tinnerman. TINNERMAN!

Yeah, I know. A lot of the Tinnerman product is produced in Canada anyways. I don't know. It just seems like Avdel and Tinnerman have been long established fastener industry staples and now they were bought by firms from outside the U.S. Maybe it is no big deal. We import and export all over. Mital Steel bought up a bunch of U.S. Steel companies and I did not make a fuss. It just kind of struck me weird. There are some other industry names I would not really like to see bought by foreign entities. Huck, Penn Engineering, Fastenal, McMaster Carr, Nucor. Like I said - I'm no sleuth. For all I know some of these could be majority owned by foreign investment groups. I'd just like to think that we in the U.S. still do own some portion of our fastener manufacturing capability.

One other surprise I read in the latest FIN had to do with Fastenal's acquisition of Holo-Krome. According to the FIN report, Holo-Krom had annual net sales of $12MM and the purchase price was $5MM. Those numbers seemed surprisingly low to me. Not sure why, but they were. Is see bar tabs at the Vegas Show that rival those numbers.

Well, I've got to find some more time to read the industry publications. Surprising some of the stuff I find in there if I take the time.

The Fastener Distributor's Burden

Traveling Salesman — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:24:00 GMT

As part of this blog, I have always wanted to have "guest bloggers". There are a lot of knowledgeable people out there with a lot of industry experience that I would like to see shared within our industry. Charlie Accetta is an industry veteran who has worked on both the supply side and the distributor side of this business. I got to work with Charlie for a short time period and appreciated his perspective on the industry. Most recently, Charlie was the General Manager for Richard Manno & Co. and currently is searching for his next professional opportunity. I asked Charlie to write something for Fastener Talk - anything he wanted - and I present to you his views on the fastener distributor's burden in the document below. You can connect with Charlie through LinkedIn by clicking the following link: http://ow.ly/1SHc2

The Fastener Distributor’s Burden

A fastener, in and of itself, is not usually viewed by the industrial community as an important component of commercial production. The small steel screw, unremarkable brass hex nut and endless list of dimensional flat washers represent to the end-user such low levels of cost, risk, and technological innovation that people placed in the position of procuring those items are status zero. Folks purchasing toilet paper for Hewlett-Packard rate higher in the internal hierarchy than equally experienced fastener buyers. This is an integral point to consider in reviewing the fastener distributor’s place in the world of assembly manufacturing.

I love the term Supply Chain. For me, it evokes an old-timey bucket brigade, except each member of the line adds something to the bucket before passing it on to the next member. The particular something is an open value, dependent on both the end requirement and that specific member’s role. The cold-header, machinist or stamping house forms the part. The electroplater coats it. The heat-treater alters its physical strength. The packager places the items in a cute little baggie for easy access and identification. The ideal result places the bucket of finished parts into the hands of a final assembler who puts out a particular fire. Sometimes, however, something goes terribly wrong in transit and everyone finds out the hard way that a value added along the way was of the high-octane variety. When the smoke clears, we all know who gets the first phone call.

This, dear friends, is the sorry state that fastener distributors find themselves in currently. There are a number of specific issues at play, demanding such high levels of oversight at each instance during the gestation of a fastener it is inevitable that some checkpoint or other fails to reveal a problem. Covering some of the major points briefly (because you all have your own problems to address, right?):

Problem 1 – Living up to the oversell
- The packaging of a full-service supply program usually includes as part of the pitch the implicit (or explicit) promise to manage all phases of development, often down to reviewing custom prints for errors. Fastener distributors compete so viciously for high-volume accounts that cost bases for the goods no longer matter. The nasty value-added component in that Power Point presentation has destroyed profitability, especially with offshore accounts. Anything that goes wrong in an assembly featuring a fastener is automatically determined to be the fault of the fastener, if only because it costs the end-user nothing to have the fastener distributor perform an in-depth failure analysis.
Problem 2 – Regulatory compliance
- The Fastener Quality Act, NAFTA, RoHS (in all its varied forms), Buy America and ITAR together place an enormous amount of accountability on the shoulders of distributors. With each category monitored by a separate government entity (and them always eager to justify their existence) compliance activity is essential. The problem for distributors, especially the smaller outfits, is the amount of resources necessary to withstand scrutiny. And you thought dealing with the IRS was a headache? Try explaining to an agent from the U.S. Department of State how you missed the ITAR stamp on that fourth generation print copy.
Problem 3 – Big Box competition
- In the beginning, there was McMaster-Carr and MSC Industrial, the lazybones solutions for MRO fastener purchasing. Just pick up the book, find your part and call your order in. The per-piece price might be higher than wholesale distribution could offer, but the value lay in convenience. Then along came Fastenal, following a methodology similar to the Sam Walton models of tactical location and supplier subjugation. Fastenal changed the competitive landscape for one-horse (and even five-horse) distributors by dropping low-overhead operations within the vicinity of large-scale consumers and offering to sell them anything. Those were your customers once, but you wouldn’t sell them mops and rubber gloves, so they sidled off into the category of inactive accounts. To make matters worse, universal internet access turns W.W. Grainger and Amazon into players in the fastener supply game. When I tell you all that every catalog house monitors competitor pricing and adjusts accordingly, you’d better believe it. It’s becoming next to impossible to hit profit home runs on items where true costs are only a mouse-click away.
Problem 4 – Vendor relations
- By definition, a distributor stocks goods manufactured by others for immediate delivery. Only, that definition is no longer sufficient in describing the changing role. Where, at one time, a distributor could play several manufacturers or importers against one another in an effort to hold down costs, many distributors have since negotiated that flexibility away. I remember years ago Joel Roseman, while still with Vertex, made a presentation to Tower Fasteners to (sort of) lock in pricing and guarantee availability for every stainless “A” item. Granted, Joel was a visionary, but I personally thought it a crock and Tower never consummated the deal. However, the idea that manufacturers and importers could offer distributors buying programs on commodity items has gained credence in recent years. The risk/reward benefit is suspect, at best. In exchange for reduced buying activity, the distributor must still analyze turns, inspect for quality and renegotiate frequently. What once required passable performance on the part of a low-paid buyer now demands a flawless level of ongoing analysis for that portion of the product mix. It may seem like a better way to do business, but it only works if every product on the shelf is included in the process. Ask your program customers … they’re the experts.

I could go on (and on), but I’m fast approaching one thousand words and I lost most of you at “Hello.” I’d like to thank the Traveling Salesman for allowing me to squat on his valuable real estate and I’d be happy to expand on the points above (and then some) if he feels it might do some good.

Virtual Fastener Trade Show

Traveling Salesman — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:15:00 GMT

The day before the Columbus Show I stopped in to visit a customer. I met with four people from purchasing and all were at least 50 years plus - probably even 55+. They were talking about how they had no young people in the company that were learning what they knew and they were commiserating about what a "brain drain" there would be in the company once people their age begin to retire. And, for their company, they are right. But I see a lot of young people being groomed at certain companies. And when I say young, I mean anywhere from 21 to 35. As my good friend, Larry Kelly, of Buckeye Fasteners says "you cannot say 'back in the day' until you hit at least 40". So, back in the day, how did those 4 buyers get taught their job? Has it really changed that much?

Here are a few things the next generation has that I think my generation did not have (and, I'm not even 50 yet -- oh, but so close). First, this generation has google. Sure, it hurts companies that lose business to once "unknown" suppliers but young people can find anything now online. Next - we have the Fastenal school of training. Let's face it. Fastenal hires a lot of people and keeps a lot of people. They also fire a lot of people and they lose a lot of talented people. Fastenal has been the equivalent of a AAA baseball farm club that is grooming players for other major league teams. The success of Fastenal certainly shows that they are retaining a lot of the young talent they groom but a lot of other companies have hired new employees from Fastenal branches and many new companies have been started by former Fastenal employees. They were groomed in the Fastenal minor league system. When I attended the Columbus show I stopped by to talk to The Ohio State people about their fastener program. That sure wasn't around when I started in this business 25 years ago.

Every year we lose some industry knowledge and that is always a bad thing. But, I do think the next generation has ways of learning that will help them fill the gaps that are left. Hopefully, some companies will realize that they do not benefit by just training their employees to be part number jockeys. We need them to know the products and how they work and where they are installed. But, again, I do see some very capable young people out in the field and I am eternally optimistic about the future.

Which brings me to my next project. Since all these young folks are so tech savvy, how about a virtual trade show? It'd save on travel costs and people could come and go as their day allows. You'd get online, log in with a pre-determined password and visit with a whole group of suppliers from all around the industry. As you are meeting, you could click over to LinkedIn and check the background of the people you are talking to. You could e-mail them a copy of your catalog while you Skype with them and you could even show your factory in the background. Heck, you could show them the machine that their parts would be made on. And how about those overseas sources that claim they can produce anything. Oh yeah buster, well walk that camera out to that machine and show me a live picture of that part falling off your machine -- and then I'll believe it. Broker or no broker?? Really big companies could hire camera crews to come on site and coordinate their presentations. I think I am on to something here.

So, I'm going to have to think some more about this virtual trade show. We'll get everybody texting and tweeting and virtually networking and woofing (re: The Office) -- all while other members of the industry will be thumbing through their boxes of file cards and sending faxes. Understand this - I'm not saying one way is better than another. I'm just saying that the next generation is going to have a whole new way of doing things as they infiltrate our workforces. True story - I recently tried to leave a voice messege for one of my children and got the messege that his voice mailbox was full. So, when I saw him I told him he needed to erase his messeges in case I needed to leave him a voice messege. He told me he does not even use the voice mail on his cell phone anymore - it's too old and clunky. He texts all his communications. And there are more like him out there. Yikes.

Yes, I might jst be on to something with this virtual trade show. I just need to figure out a way to get the free beer out to my target audience to make sure they all attend.

Mid-West Fastener Expo June 7 & 8

Traveling Salesman — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:32:00 GMT

Next up on the fastener trade show circuit is the Mid-West Fastener Expo. Let's face it...Chicago is a fastener industry mecca. Lots of fastener manufacturers are located in the area. Almost all fastener importers have some kind of presence in the area. Add to that the fact that Chicago is a great city with tons of great restaurants and fun stuff to do. Sounds like a good combination to me.

One thing that is kind of unique to the Mid-West Fastener Expo is that it is run by an Industry Association. The Mid-west Fastener Association was incorporated in 1946 and is the oldest fastener association in the U.S. According to MWFA's Executive Director, Nancy Rich, one of the association's ways it gives back to its members, and the fastener industry, is through its scholarship program and its continued emphasis on industry education. Income from dinner meetings, the trade show and the MWFA golf outing is used towards education programs and scholarships and the MWFA has awarded over $417,000 in scholarships over the last 25 years. Wow. That's a lot of money.

Nancy sent me a copy of the MWFA Mission Statement which was adopted 1-9-2007:

"The MWFA's purpose is to serve and promote the fastener industry and the ever changing needs of its membership. Specifically the MWFA is dedicated to representing all segments of the industry; manufacturers, distributors, importers and suppliers to the industry."

The Mid-West Fastener Expo takes place on June 7 & 8. On June 7 is the fastener show followed by the Fastener Bash - which, as I have observed in other years, is a very well attended networking social that takes place immediately after the show. As I always say -- the shows are important but the networking opportunities are golden!!

On June 8 is the 58th Annual MWFA Golf Outing - the Bill Lang Sr. Memorial Outing. The outing is followed by dinner and a silent auction with funds being generated for ---yep, you guessed it -- the education and scholarship programs.

Nancy, if you are reading (and I hope you are) please feel free to add anything I have missed. I look forward to seeing you at the show.

Fully Threaded Radio #6 Ready for Listening

Traveling Salesman — Fri, 28 May 2010 11:05:00 GMT

Fresh off visit to the National Fastener Show East, the guys from Fully Threaded Radio are back on the airwaves. If you have not listened to one of their broadcasts yet, you really should. Just check it out at www.fullythreaded.com.