Global Fastener News

Webster announced NEF sold its Chinese affiliation, Ningbo Wili Precision Fasteners Co. Ltd., effective at the end of 2012.
NEF updated its AS9100 Certification to Revision C with a 100% score.
NEF is an ISO 9001:2008, AS9100C and QSLM Levels 2/3 certified supplier to the commercial, military, aerospace and automotive markets. Founded in 1963, NEF manufactures small and miniature screws and is located at 9 Tremco Dr., Terryville, CT 06786-0322. Tel: 860 589-3242 Web: nef1.com  ©2013/2014 Fastener Industry News.
For information on permission to reuse or reprint this article please e-mail: FIN@GlobalFastenerNews.com

August 19, 2013 FIN – When Robert J. Webster founded North East Fasteners 50 years ago, the New England area was the major force in the fastener industry.  Today, this Connecticut company is one less than a half-dozen fastener manufacturers in the region.
In 1963 the nearby town of Waterbury, CT, was the cold heading capital of the world.  In large part this was due to the Scovill Manufacturing Company, which was manufacturing millions of brass clothing rivets for blue jeans and other products.
Scovill trained hundreds of header operators who would add to or start-up their own cold heading manufacturing companies.
The region’s many fastener manufacturers are why the Waterbury and Hartford Fastener machinery companies originated in nearby Connecticut towns.

But in the decades that followed fastener production moved – first to Rockford, IL, then Japan, followed by Taiwan and China.
“Globalization and difficult economic conditions drove many of the once thriving New England plants producing fasteners into diversification, downsizing and then, often, right into extinction,” current NEF CEO Eric Webster explained. “Now, less than six fastener manufacturers remain.”
NEF survived by being “fairly crafty, hyper efficient and most importantly by controlling the overhead in order to avoid being overly exposed during the more difficult downturns,” Webster told FIN. “We were just small enough and had such a specialized niche that we were able to survive the initial blasts of the new ‘global paradigm’.”
NEF can produce a 70-pound box of -00- screws totaling nearly one million parts.
“These are very small screws,” Webster says as he points to the several thousand screws in his hand. “If NEF can make these very tiny screws to the highest standards, it can easily make any size screw to the exact standards.”
NEF now produces a size range up to number 10 diameter and up to 2 inches in length as well as the Metric equivalent.
Webster credited NEF’s focus on efficiency from the point of quotation through shipment for the company making it while nearby companies disappeared.
Even machinery is packed efficiently into a relatively small plant. There are over 80 high-speed production machines into the SQ FT facility.
”We can and do rebuild nearly all of our equipment in-house and on a regular basis,” Webster added.
NEF’s employees average over 18 years of fastener experience and total well over 2.8 million hours of manufacturing screws. “Our employees are empowered and encouraged to improve the quality of the systems affecting their work,” Webster told FIN.
NEF has computerized every aspect of sales, quotations, quality, production and testing procedures.
“In over a 15-year period NEF has continuously built its own state of the art software programs,” Webster explained. “Starting with the first potential customer inquiry, the system tracks and alerts the NEF employee to any and all of the customers unique fastener requirements, which allows for a sophisticated and exacting quote to be e-mailed within seconds.”
The software is designed for “easy, one click access, allowing everyone from sales people, machine operators, quality control as well as the shipping department to get answers to questions from specifications and prints to specialized shipping instructions.
All appropriate employees can quickly track every job from the Employee Communication Center in the middle of the plant.
“Essentially the software allows a custom fit for every one of our 1,000 plus customers,” Webster said.
He termed NEF’s software as “our competitive edge.”
The Employee Communication Center also displays monthly statistics in easy-to-read graphs allowing all employees to see how NEF is doing. This knowledge “binds the team together,” Webster explained. “Everyone will know if the quote to order ratios are up or down as well as where the production efficiencies are at from the scrap to parts shipped out the door. On top of that they are alerted to any new issues, fastener technical news events, as well as what’s on the events calendars.”

Webster also credited selection of high quality raw materials and tooling for NEF’s success. The company invests in the “best tooling and raw materials rather than lose production efficiencies with changeovers and scrap,” he said. That leads to an “impressive record of holding tight tolerances; the current rejection rate which is now holding steady at 0.02%.”

Recession Survival
NEF survived the recession which began in 2008 by becoming even more “intensely focused,” Webster told FIN. “We just got in a different mode. Every single thing we did mattered.”??Quickly NEF developed a detailed recession game plan “and we followed it to the letter resulting in not one NEF employee was laid off,” Webster said with pride.
The real beneficiary of NEF’s recession plan was the customer, according to Webster. ??”Because the ultimate goal is “never having to disappoint a customer. There is no secret to running a successful business, just follow the Golden Rule and be efficient at it.
”??NEF sells 95% of its fasteners through distributors and Webster aims to stick with its distribution strategy.??The third generation of the Webster family has joined NEF. Jason Webster, the founder’s grandson, is vice president of the business office.
The next 50 Years??NEF will soon add 6,000 sq. ft. to its plant. It is now producing 1.5 million parts per day, but with the additional space it will be expanding slotting, threading and heading capabilities as well as their size range.??”Things can change rapidly,” Webster acknowledged. “We’ll be ready. We always have been. It’s been pretty challenging at times, but I think we’ve shown that we’ve got what it takes.”
NEF is AS9100C certified with a 100% score and ISO 9001:2008 plus QSLM Levels 2/3 certified supplier serving the commercial, military, aerospace and automotive markets.??North East Fastener Corporation is located at 9 Tremco Dr., Terryville, CT 06786-0322. Tel: 860 589-3242 Fax 860 589-6969 Email: nef@nef1.com Web: nef1.com
©2013/2014 Fastener Industry News.
For information on permission to reuse or reprint this article please e-mail: FIN@GlobalFastenerNews.com

Related Links:

• North East sFasteners Corp.