FIN Marking 35th Year By Featuring Fastener History
FEATURE
Jacques Besson’s screw-cutting machine, 1579.
Fastener Industry News is marking its 35th anniversary by topping the 500 mark of stories posted in the Fastener History section on GlobalFastenerNews.com.
The online Fastener History section provides a glimpse into what was lost in the 2003 Southern California wildfire that destroyed Mel Kirsner’s Fastener Museum. Each month of the 1997 FIN Calendar featured quotes from books and catalogs in Kirsner’s collection, which included such items as an 1892 catalogue from Pawtucket Manufacturing Co. and a 1905 book, History of the Bolt & Nut Industry, written by W.R. Wilbur.
In April 1997, the FIN Calendar summarized Archimedes being credited for discovery of the screw thread, and in May of that year the subject was the “First Method of Threading a Screw.”
Fastener associations are covered, from the 1979 articles on the National Fastener Distributors Association drawing 329 to its autumn meeting and Jack Sullivan becoming the first chairman of the New England Fastener Distributors Association.
A 1983 FIN article reported on 10 fastener associations representing 1,000 companies holding a networking meeting where new country-of-origin marking requirements was the most important problem facing fastener distributors. In 1986 the NFDA introduced its “Total Measurement Tool” for Fasteners. In 1996, the Chicago Bolt, Nut & Screw Association turned 50 and FIN interviewed one of its founders – Howard Langdon – who was still active in the industry.
In 2004 CBNSA became the MidWest Fastener Association. In 2009, LAFA & WAFD “Approved ‘Unification’ as Pacific-West Fastener Association.”
Many association conference sessions are covered, such as these, which turned out to be accurate forecasts: “1994 FIN – Marbacher & Unferth: Metric is Coming“; “1994 FIN – ISO 9000 Is Coming“; “1994 FIN – What to Do When Your Best Customer Requires You to Use Bar Coding“; “1996 FIN – Darling: Paperless Distribution is Already Here“; “1998 FIN – Electronic Commerce is Catching On“; “1998 FIN – Supply Chain Management: It is About Partnering to Cut Costs“; “2001 FIN – Distributors Told: Don’t Wait for the Customer“; “2002 FIN – Taylor & Darling: China Production Growing“; and “2004 FIN – Korth Tells IFI & NFDA: Automotive Leadership Must Change.”
The Fastener History section includes thousands of fastener companies mentioned in FIN articles dating from 1979 to the present. In 2012, four companies reached 100: Chicago Hardware, Illinois Tool Works, Industrial Rivet and Portland Bolt. In 2003, the Fastener History section features the “Chronology of the 1st 100 Years of SPS Technologies.”
But companies don’t have to reach the century mark to have their history recorded: “2009 FIN – Fall River Manufacturing Marks 25th Anniversary,” or the 2007 FIN article “Taiwanese Consortium Buys Brighton-Best,” which traces its history to a Cincinnati storefront factory in 1925.
• Successful fastener company executives have offered their tips to FIN readers over the decades. FIN’s 1997 interview with Reinhold Würth in Germany recorded just one of many industry leaders who have shared the secrets of their success. Among the notables: Win Adams, Wayne Golden, Henry Bossard, John Zehnder, Morrie Halvorsen, Larry Stanley, Pat O’Toole, and the EIFI’s Jean-Paul Micheau.
• The industry’s largest gatherings are described through the years. In a 2002 FIN interview, Jim Bannister of the National Industrial Fastener Show & Conference recalled the steps to the first show in 1981 in Columbus, OH: “How the Fastener Industry Discovered Columbus.”
The start of the western version is detailed in a 1997 FIN article, “Las Vegas Show Gamble Pays Off.”
A 2009 FIN article announced Fastener Fair Stuttgart became the world’s largest fastener gathering.
• Recessions are part of the economy. In 1983, seven fastener executives – Weldon Shrum, Don Broom, Jim Revercomb, Mary Anne Baker, Larry Stanley, Sid Goodwin and Jim Snider – gave suggestions on “Surviving the Recession.”
• A succinct 20-year history of the fastener industry was written by FIN founder, first publisher and editor Dick Callahan in 1999 for FIN’s 20th anniversary.
• Most U.S. presidents since 1979 are included in the Fastener History section – usually involving tariff issues: “1980 FIN – Carter Administration Sets Tariffs on Fasteners from India” and “1983 FIN – Section 232 Investigation Report Reportedly Recommends Reagan Administration Not Renew Trade Sanctions.”
FIN’s checking with industry veterans Edith Cameron, George Wasmer and Ben Benson led to a 2009 article: “First Fastener Presidential Visit” as President-elect Obama toured Cardinal Fastener in Cleveland en route to his inauguration. The article adds that the fastener industry received “momentary presidential attention” when President George H.W. Bush signed the original U.S. Fastener Quality Act in 1990 and President Bill Clinton signed three FQA amendments during the 1990s. And former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan spoke to the Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association.
• The Fastener History section offers education for those entering the fastener industry. Articles for new recruits include: “2000 FIN – Book Review: Historical Search for the Father of the Screw“; “1997 FIN – From Cradle to Grave – The Fasteners in Your Life“; “1998 FIN – The Ubiquitous A325“; and “1994 FIN – Why 99.9% Accuracy Fails in Quality Measurement.”
For technical knowledge, the Industrial Fasteners Institute’s Joe Greenslade in 1997 offered a list of required fastener reference manuals. There is a 2013 update from Greenslade with the original 1997 article.
• News continues to become Fastener History. Weather was a big issue in the U.S. during the early months of 2014 as the Polar Vortex became the latest storm to disrupt the fastener industry. Among previous weather articles in Fastener History are the 1994 typhoon in Taiwan; the ice storms which closed Infasco in Canada for a month in 1998; and Super Storm Sandy in 2012.
• Also providing history is the 1979–2013 Obituaries section on GlobalFastenerNews.com. The fastener stories of more than 250 people – from age 2 to 101 – add to industry history.
More FIN articles will continue to be added to the Fastener History section on GlobalFastenerNews.com.
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