Fastenerblog.net

Trying to source a hard to find fastener?  Looking for a specific “brand name” or trademarked fastener?  Trying to break into new markets and attract new customers?  Mike McGuire wants to help.  Yes, that Mike McGuire.  The guy who started the fastener show, sold it to Emerald Expositions and tried to retire.  The idea was nice but Mike is a long time entrepreneur and sitting still did not sit well with him.  Never has.  So, Mike has dived right back in to the fastener industry and is launching a new website called Worldwide Fastener Sources (WWFS).  The site can be found at www.worldwidefastenersources.com.  At this moment, the U.S. site is up and running live and you can find it at www.usfastenersources.com.  The Eurasia site and Asian site will be up and running within a day or two.

Mike’s fastener experience didn’t just come from running the fastener show.  Mike started in the fastener industry working in a family business, a distributor called Capitol Sales in Columbus, Ohio.  Mike did a lot of different jobs just as many people do when they work in a family business.  And, one thing he had to do was source hard to find fasteners, some that he still recalls looking for after all these years.  But since those early days Mike has been in the unique position of meeting many fastener manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors who exhibited at the fastener show.  In fact, the idea of World Wide Fastener Sources came from Mike’s desire to make the trade show even better, even though he no longer runs it.

Mike explained, “when you walk into the Vegas show, there are suppliers from all over the world and most have tables filled with every kind of fastener one can imagine.  I thought, what if there was a more efficient way to navigate the show, to specifically pinpoint the companies that actually make the parts or at least specialize in specific product categories.  That is where the idea for WWFS originated.”

Mike started a multi-year process of organizing fastener suppliers from all around the world.  World Wide Fastener Sources has products broken down into 88 major product categories and Mike looks to add more.  Everything from “Aerospace Fasteners” to “Zinc Die Cast Fasteners” with many others in between like Bent Wire, Clamps, Knobs, Shaft Collars, Tape and of course Hex Head Cap Screws and Socket Screws.  The site has three components – US Fastener Sources, Asian Fastener Sources and Eurasia Fastener Sources which includes suppliers from Europe, the Middle East over to and including India.  Mike currently has contacts in 81 countries, in 22 of the 24 time zones and is building the list of contacts constantly.

WWFS will be an informational website for selecting sources of supply of fasteners and fastening products around the world.  There will be NO fee for buyers who use the site to do their sourcing.  The cost (investment)  for suppliers to register and display specific product offerings varies based upon how much detail they choose to add to their profile.  Suppliers can simply set up a company profile or they can get more specific even listing specific products or part numbers such as mil-std. and/or DIN/ISO numbers.  And users will be able to search from over 2,800 trade names which should prove valuable to companies who are master distributors for specific brands.  To give you some perspective on the magnitude of this site, there already over 10,000 specific fastener products listed on this site.

I could continue on with more and more detail on the American part of this site but it is better if you take a look yourself at www.usfastenersources.com.  To directly communicate with Mike about setting up a company profile, contact him at [email protected].   I had an opportunity to review the site and wander around a bit when it was set up with “sample” companies.  I could see how product could be sourced by Products, Trade Names, Suppliers and by Part #’s.  And sourcing fasteners is the main function of the site.  But I also nosed around some other areas of this site and spent time looking under the tab labeled “Resources”.  There is a ton of content there.  Fastener Abbreviations, Glossary of Fastener Terms, Fastener Standards and even cost cutting recommendations and information on tariffs including a Harmonized Tariff Schedule.  Again, take time out to check out some of the fastener resources that Mike has included on this site.  In addition to being a valuable sourcing tool I can see that the site will also serve somewhat as a fastener library.