The North Coast Fastener Association just held its 7th Annual Distributor Social. The day consisted of a tour of ND Industries, a “lunch and learn” session on Fastener Failures conducted by Element, a fastener association roundtable discussion, a presentation by the NFDA on their Profitability Study and a Panel Discussion moderated by one of the dynamic voices of Fully Threaded Radio, Eric Dudas. Oh yeah, and then there was the three hour long Distributor Social! By all accounts, it was a great success.
One of the highlights was the Panel Discussion with Eric Dudas. I have been to quite a few panel discussions and usually find them to be pretty enjoyable. This one was different. The panel was made up of Brian Musker (Fully Threaded Radio and Fasteners Clearing House), Ryan Kertis (Stelfast and President of Young Fastener Professionals) and Bob Baer (V.P. at Abbott Interfast and member of the Mid-West Fastener Association board). Dudas took a risk by recruiting these three thoughtful, but not widely recognized fastener gentlemen. None of them has their last name on a building or own large multi-national fastener companies. They have not been on the usual rotation of panel discussions held across the country by other fastener organizations. But these three forward thinking individuals made numerous interesting and thought provoking observations, and when the event concluded I heard a few people comment it was the best panel discussion they had attended. I would concur.
In October, at the Vegas Fastener Show, Ryan Kertis and the Young Fastener Professionals will be presenting the results of their year long survey on attracting and retaining employees, specifically in the fastener industry. Ryan let a few of his observations sneak out while answering questions on the NCFA panel and I would highly encourage anyone going to the Vegas Show to make time to attend his presentation.
Another highlight of the day was the NFDA Profitability Study presented by former NFDA President, Kevin Reidl of Hodell-Natco. Kevin was an excellent presenter, but what he presented was truly eye opening. I am not an NFDA member but I would encourage any and all distributors to go to their website and participate in the survey. To participate in the survey is FREE and if you participate you will be given the report results along with some industry comparisons to your individual company. This is quite a generous overture by the NFDA as you do not have to be an NFDA member to participate and get the benefits of getting a copy of the report. And, all information you share goes directly to the company doing the survey and not to the NFDA. It is completely confidential and specific information is destroyed immediately after the data is extracted. Little hint — if you want to be a higher profit company, you’d better watch those operating expenses!!
I will try to share some of the other highlights from the “Fastener Summit” but you can get a glimpse of some of the day by checking out the NCFA Facebook page.
Also, thanks to the gang from Branam Fastening who set up a golf simulator in the Distributor Social conference room. That was an awesome twist on a good event and the proceeds were donated to a very good cause. And, I hit a golf ball within 13 feet of a Par 3 hole which is something that ain’t ever happened on a real golf course!!