Global Fastener News

5 Blocks From Twin Towers Site, NABS Headquarters Is Open

John Wolz

Fastener distributor NABS has returned to its headquarters five blocks from the site of the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York.
Executive vice president Sam Laufer said the headquarters opened less than a half hour before the first plane crashed into the North tower on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
“Most people were in the office. Some were on the way in and saw the crash,” Laufer recalled.
They decided to stay in the office because they had electricity, telephone and bathroom facilities and the streets were filled with thousands of people fleeing through the dust and smoke. Police and firefighters came in to use the facilities.
About 2:30 p.m. they decided to close the office and make their way home. The next morning they opened a temporary office at their IT provider in Midtown.
They returned to the corporate office on Monday, September 17. Staff must go through security checkpoints to reach the offices.
NABS, founded by current president Jack Laufer in 1953 as North American Bolt & Screw Co., supplies fasteners and C Class components to the computer and electronics industries. NABS provides vendor managed inventory from 19 global locations so customers had “buffer stock at their various locations,” Laufer said.
Laufer said none of the 30 NABS headquarters staff lost family in the tragedy. “We were very lucky,” Laufer said.
“The knowledge that so many people are buried there makes it a difficult environment to work in and difficult to keep focused,” Laufer observed.
NABS is providing counseling. “Overall, we are okay.”
Lower Manhattan once had many fastener suppliers, but “we are one of the last,” Laufer said.
�2001 FastenerNews.com