At the Heart of it All
WRITTEN BY Frew Murdoch PROJECT DIRECTED BY Jamie Waite Andrew Davidson, Regional VP, Fastenal 2 Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine
Having spent his entire working life at the business, Regional Vice President Andrew Davidson is the perfect candidate to share his experience of growth within Fastenal. Andrew joined Business Enquirer’s Laura Watling to discuss leadership, crisis management and business growth.
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Fastenal
At the Heart of it All
From here, Andrew helped set up regional di visions throughout Europe, until he took on his current role, leading Fastenal’s Northern Euro pean-based business, in 2013.
Time and experience have been well earned by An drew, who joined Fastenal at age 18. Having start ed in one of Fastenal’s manufacturing locations in California, his career has taken him to Toronto as a branch general manager, and then to the Czech Republic in 2011 to set up a regional division.
“I believe leadership is a skill which can be learned and developed through time and experience,” shared Andrew, regional vice president of Fastenal.
“What is unique to Fastenal is that everyone starts at the ground level, with the opportunity to work their way up. It is very unusual for us to hire at management level. We always aim to grow em ployees from within,” Andrew said. Throughout his time travelling and manag ing divisions in Europe, Andrew has learnt that leadership styles and approaches need to be adaptable. “It is key, especially for Fastenal, that we adapt to the different cultures, and even sub-cultures, of the communities we work in,” he said. “It’s crucial that we take the business’s core values and then adapt approaches to implement them.” In his time as a leader, Andrew has cemented his core belief in people and takes a collaborative approach to leadership. “We employ people in particular roles because of their skill set and experience. I trust that they are better than me at their remit. As much as possible, I involve staff in all the strategy decision making,” said Andrew.
Fastenal
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An organic growth strategy Fastenal is a global market leader in supply chain management, primarily as a supply chain partner to industrial companies. The business employs more than 20,000 people worldwide, with an annual turnover surpassing $6 billion. To date, the business is valued at $30 billion.
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“The purpose of our business is to strip away the cost and time of managing supply chains for low value parts, making it easier for our customers to focus on their high value items and their core oper ations,” explained Andrew. In 2008, Fastenal launched a vending machine programme to streamline inventory manage ment and control the consumption of consum ables. “We made this decision to support our customers in using less and becoming more agile, knowing that it would realistically reduce consumption of the products we were selling by 25-30%,” explained Andrew. “It goes beyond sustainability for us. CSR governance has long been in our DNA, whilst we are also driven to be the number one industrial dis tributer in the world.”
“Maintaining a strong and purposeful digital foot print is key, and we’ll continue developing this more as a high-level strategy,” said Andrew.
Fastenal supplies products such as PPE, tools, and equipment to a wide range of industries including manufacturing, engineering, con struction, and governments. However, Andrew insists that the products are secondary to the
Fastenal also offers customers beneficial digital technology, enabling them to monitor, track, trace, control and analyse consumption to have a clear view of how supplies are being used in the business.
“Fastenal is one of the very few international busi nesses that have grown organically into all of its operating countries, and I truly believe this is based on our emphasis on company culture, which has been instilled since Bob Kierlin founded Fastenal in 1967,” shared Andrew.
• Ambition – a value needed to grow future leaders from entry-level roles.
• Integrity – critical to have in all employees given the high levels of decentralised deci sion-making authority.
The business’s culture is underpinned by four core values:
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supply chain solutions they provide, which is what he describes as its core offering.
• Teamwork – a One Team ethos needed to bring all 20,000-plus employees together for a common goal. “At Fastenal, although we do take skills and expe rience into account at the hiring stage, cultural val ues remain at the forefront of our recruitment de cisions. We aim to find the right personalities who will run with the opportunities presented to them. This enables the business and our people to grow organically,” Andrew said. At Fastenal, although we do take skills and experience into account at the hiring stage, cultural values remain at the forefront of our decisions.recruitment “ “
Supply Chain Feature
• Innovation – a culture which encourages entrepreneurial decision-making from all of its staff.
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By plugging the gap in the PPE space for govern ment bodies and the healthcare sector, Fastenal saw growth throughout 2020.
Supply Chain Feature
• Keep their people safe • Keep customer supply chains stable
Once again, opportunities have been found in challenges, with Fastenal growing by 19% in the second quarter of 2022.
Opportunity found in challenges Andrew highlighted that being able to take com mand and make decisions in a crisis is a skill that he has had to hone on his leadership journey.
Nothing has tested that set of skills more than the COVID pandemic.
“For me, collaboration is key in leadership; but in some situations, decisions need to be made quick ly, and people in those situations are looking for a clear direction,” he said. During the COVID pandemic Fastenal Europe had three key priorities:
• Prioritise supporting first responders
Supply chains were grossly affected by the pan demic, and the challenges continue with the disruption caused by Brexit and the conflict in Ukraine.
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“It was crucial for us to take an empathetic ap proach to our staff throughout the globe, and we were lucky to be able to support the wider public at the same time,” Andrew shared.
“The challenges we are seeing in the supply chain sector and labour market are only making our mis sion of freeing up time and costs for our customers stronger,” said Andrew.
“We’ve learnt from the COVID pandemic that agili ty is key,” said Andrew.
Supply Chain Feature
“I think of culture as being like a human body. Exe cution is the arms and the legs, strategy is the brain and the culture is the heart. And like the human body, the heart is the first organ to develop. Every thing in business should start with the culture,” ex plained Andrew. By developing the business’s leaders from with in, this belief is easily carried throughout the organisation. “As a leader, I think it’s important to believe deep in yourself that your people are the best equipped to drive the business,” said Andrew. “Really care about your people and treat everyone as the indi viduals they are. Finally, keep learning – leadership is a skill set.”
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The vital organs of business Although Fastenal is a multinational organisa tion, there is a well-defined culture throughout the business, no matter the region. Fastenal and its leadership consider business strategy sec ondary to culture.
Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine
Fastenal As a leader, I think it’s important to believe deep in yourself that your people are the best equipped to drive the business. “ “ Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine 13
Fastenal
www.fastenal.com
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