Global Fastener News

August 27, 2012 FIN – Industrial Rivet & Fastener Company’s expertise in rivets was the key to its founding 100 years ago, and remains an advantage today.
According to Bill Goodman, grandson of the founder, Greenwich Village distributors approached New York area rep Willie Goodman in 1912 to buy back and resell their rivets in smaller quantities. “They understood bolts and nuts, but didn’t know much about permanent fastening,” Bill Goodman said of the Manhattan distributors. Willie Goodman’s knowledge of rivets gave him the foundation for the establishment of Industrial Rivet & Fastener Co., Inc.
A century later, distributors still turn to Industrial Rivet for permanent fastening expertise, Bill said. The Northern
New Jersey-based company with 65 employees manufactures, imports and distributes a full range of solid, semi-tubular and blind rivets
both standard and special.
Joanne Goodman Sherman, secretary- treasurer, said one of the keys to the company’s success is the sales training program. “We teach our salespeople to be application specialists so that when they make calls on distributors or
customers, they will have a great deal of knowledge about how to best help our customers,” she said.
Industrial Rivet also has application engineers who travel globally to help customers with their toughest technical challenges.
“It is critical that the proper fasteners are used for the proper applications,” Bill told GlobalFastenerNews.com. “One of the advantages we have is that our outside representatives don’t just sell part numbers – they have the knowledge to guide distributors in choosing the correct products and can even train the distributors’ customers when needed.”
Joanne points out that the company’s website at rivet.com has made it easier for distributors to access inventory and specification information.

Business Heritage
The Goodmans note their business heritage predates Industrial Rivet. Customs and census research shows an ancestor named Adolf Goodman (Willie Goodman’s grandfather), who arrived from Europe in 1895 and listed his prior occupation as “tinsmith,” an occupation that used rivets regularly.
Willie’s son, Allen Goodman, remains active in the company today in administrative and sales roles.
Joanne and Bill recall sorting rivets in the living room as kids and now have been with the company for over 35 years.
Joanne noted that fourth generation – her son and vice president Steven Goodman – now with the company for 14 years, was “fascinated with rivets even at age seven.” Bill’s daughter, Taryn Goodman, is studying for an MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in anticipation of joining the company.
Another member of the fourth generation, Mark Goodman, has started working in the warehouse to learn the business from “the bottom up just as we all have,” Joanne said.
Family members have all developed their specialties within the company. Joanne says the way that the company has stayed together across the generations is that they collaborate well and they have a common vision for the future of the organization.
Acquisitions also have helped Industrial Rivet grow. The company acquired General Rivet in 1992; Strand Rivet in 2000; and Celus Fasteners in 2009.
The 2009 acquisition of Techform Fasteners Mfg. added breakstem, solid, semi-tubular and specialty rivet manufacturing to the portfolio of Industrial Rivet’s offerings.

International Growth
Industrial Rivet has 10 international locations in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, UK, Taiwan, China, Australia and Japan – beyond its 11 U.S. distribution centers.
The Industrial Rivet catalog has been reproduced in Japanese and German. “It is awesome to see it in a foreign language,” Bill said.

Customers Today
What do rivet customers want today? OEM lean manufacturing goals require production be fast and more efficient, Steven told GlobalFastenerNews.com. “They want to do more with less.” In addition to the physical fastener, they want “smarter” installation on highly engineered products through automation.
Industrial Rivet has responded with new technologies and tools to increase efficiency and quality at every phase of manufacturing. Rivets are permanent fasteners, Bill noted. “If they are not set correctly, then entire product has to be taken off the line for a cumbersome method of correction.”
Industrial Rivet’s application engineers are able to prevent problems and delays in advance of the manufacturing process. The company’s quality testing reduces installation issues, Bill noted.
Installation problems are one reason Industrial Rivet began offering its own assembly tools nearly seven years ago, Steven explained. “We can educate customers on how to properly install rivets with lower labor costs.” The company’s proprietary tools speed the installation of blind rivets five-fold, Steven said.
In terms of what the future holds, Industrial Rivet is seeing a major trend in the comeback of domestic manufacturing. Bill said, “We do believe American manufacturing is getting stronger.” Steven pointed out that China’s labor rates are increasing and there will be a tipping point that may make it less expensive to manufacture in the U.S. when calculating all costs, including shipping.
Joanne also noted there aren’t many companies specializing in rivet manufacturing. “We are opening up entire new markets for distributors – all from a single source.” Previously, distributors needed multiple specialists to offer their customers a broad enough range of products. Now that Industrial Rivet has expended its reach and inventory, distributors can offer their customers fastening solutions more economically and efficiently than ever.

Industrial Rivet inventories standard to highly specialized rivets. Its manufacturing capability includes designing and engineering custom and ready-made products. The company also supplies proprietary riveting products, automated rivet tools and rivet delivery systems.  The company is headquartered at 200 Paris Ave., Northvale, NJ 07647. Tel: 800 289-7483 E-mail: info@rivet.com Web: rivet.com ©2012 Fastener Industry News