Fastener-World Magazine No.188_Global Version by Fastener-World

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Advertisers Index A

310EXPRESS COMPANY (Japan) Security, Tamper Proof, Anti-theft Screws...

163

A & M PRODUCTS CO., LTD. Automotive Fasteners...

208

A-PLUS SCREWS INC. Chipboard Screws, Customized Special Screws / Bolts...

131

A-STAINLESS INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. Chipboard Screws, Concrete Screws, Deck Screws...

淳康

264

ABC FASTENERS CO., LTD. Drop-in Anchors, Expansion Anchors, Wire Anchors...

聯欣

AEH FASTEN INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. Clevis Pins, Dowel Pins, Hollow Rivets...

鉞昌

ALEX SCREW INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 禾億 Button Head Cap Screws, Button Head Socket Cap Screws...

211 86

奕瑞

CHIN LIH HSING PRECISION (CLH) Automotive Nuts, Brass Inserts, Bushes, Bushings...

金利興

246

CHING CHAN OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY Eddy Current Sorting Machines, Fastener Makers...

精湛

CHONG CHENG FASTENER CORP. Cap Nuts, Coupling Nuts, Conical Washer Nuts...

宗鉦

42 248

CHUN ZU MACHINERY INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 春日 Cold Headers, Header Toolings, Heading Machines...

269

COPA FLANGE FASTENERS CORP. Hex Nuts, Hex Flange Nuts, Combi Nuts, Weld Nuts...

國鵬

CPC FASTENERS INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. Stainless Steel, Bi-metal Self-drilling Screws...

冠誠

大楊

ALLOY & STAINLESS FASTENERS, INC. (U.S.A.) Bolts, Nuts, Studs, Sockets, Washers, Bent Bolts...

DA YANG ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Special Automotive Nuts, Special Weld Nuts...

達宇

AMBROVIT S.P.A. (Italy) Chipboard Screws, Combined Screws, Machine Screws...

DAR YU ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws, Screw Nails...

DE HUI SCREW INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Drywall Screws, Decking Screws, Self-drilling Screws...

德慧

263

AN CHIAO MOLDS CO., LTD. Dies, Punch Dies, Carbide Quill, Punches, Pins...

安喬

116

276

ANCHOR FASTENERS INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 安拓 Drop-in Anchors, Expansion Anchors, Wire Anchors...

DELTEKS INDUSTRIES INC. 見承 Wheel Bolts, Bushes, Thread Forming Screws, All Kinds of Screws...

147

DICHA SOMBRILLA CO., LTD. 集財 Expansion Anchors, Sleeve Anchors, Nylon Nail Anchors...

APEX FASTENER INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. Nuts, Wing Nuts & Bolts, Turning Parts, Stamping Parts

嵿峰

登琳

ARUN CO., LTD. Bi-metal Screws, Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws...

鉅耕

DIN LING CORP. Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws, Furniture Screws...

龍昌

AUTOLINK INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. Automotive Screws, Machine Bolts, Flange Nuts...

浤爵

DRAGON IRON FACTORY CO., LTD. Bi-metal Self-drilling Screws, Sheet Metal Screws...

DRA-GOON FASTENERS INC. Chipboard Screws, Phillips Head Screws, TEK Screws...

丞曜

BCR INC. Automotive Screws, Piston Pins, Weld Bolts (Studs)...

必鋮

108

BESTWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP. Eye Bolts, Flanged Head Bolts, Hanger Bolts...

凱壹

258

BIING FENG ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 秉鋒 Blind Nut Formers, Multi-station Cold Forming Machines...

BI-MIRTH CORP. 吉瞬 Carbon Steel Screws, Chipboard Screws, Concrete Screws...

234

BOLTUN CORPORATION Automotive Screws, Bushes, Conical Washer Nuts...

恒耀工業

244

CHAN CHANGE MACHINERY CO., LTD. Screw Head Making Machines...

長薔

218

CHANG BING ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Hook Bolts, Holders / Hooks / Rings, Dowel Screws...

彰濱

CHANG YI BOLT CO., LTD. 6 Cuts/ 8 Cuts Self Drilling Screws, A2 Cap Screws...

長益

CHAO JING PRECISE MACHINES CO., LTD. Cold Forging Bolt Formers, Thread Rolling Machines...

朝璟

CHIAN YUNG CORPORATION SEMS Screws

將運

261 40 260

CHIEN TSAI MACHINERY ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 鍵財 Thread Rolling Machines

135

CHIH FU MECHANICS CO., LTD. Special Screws, Open Die Products...

智富

114

DUNFA INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. 敦發 Bushes, Spacers, Automotive Parts, Tubes, Turning Parts...

113

EASON TECH INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Spring Pins, Cage Nuts, Clip Nuts, Retaining Rings...

鈺森

EASYLINK INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Automotive Nuts, Thread Forming Screws...

易連

FAITHFUL ENGINEERING PRODUCTS CO., LTD. 誠毅 Anchors, Box Nails, Door/Window Accessories...

FALCON FASTENER CO., LTD. Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws / Bolts...

鉮達

FANG SHENG SCREW CO., LTD. Shoulder Bolts, Button Head Socket Cap Screws..

芳生

FASTENER JAMHER TAIWAN INC. Automotive Nuts, Blind Nuts / Rivet Nuts, Bushings...

占賀

FASTNET CORP. Dowel Pins, Flange Nuts, Weld Nuts, 4 Pronged T Nuts...

俊鉞

FILROX INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Blind Nuts / Rivet Nuts, Tee or T Nuts, Blind Rivets...

惠錄

122 81

FONG PREAN INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 豐鵬 Automotive Screws, Bi-metal Screws, Brass & Bronze Screws...

FORTUNE BRIGHT INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Cap Nuts, Dome Nuts, Nylon Cap Insert Lock Nuts...

鋒沐

福輝

125

FU KAI FASTENER ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 福凱 Precision Electronic Screws, Special Screws, Weld Screws...

218

118

FUSHANG CO., LTD. 甫商 Carbon Steel Screws, Chipboard Screws, Concrete Screws...

255

GIAN-YEH INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Rivet Dies, Self-drilling Screw Dies, Screw Tip Dies...

193

GINFA WORLD CO., LTD. 濟音發 Chipboard Screws, Countersunk Screws, Drywall Screws...

J.C. GRAND CORPORATION All Kinds of Screws, Chipboard Screws...

俊良

JA DEN ENTERPRISE CORP., LTD. Drilling Screws JAU YEOU INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 朝友 Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws, High Low Thread Screws...

274

JERN YAO ENTERPRISES CO., LTD. Multi-station Cold Forming, Parts Forming Machines...

正曜

JET FAST COMPANY LIMITED Blind Nuts / Rivet Nuts, Aircraft & Aerospace Washers...

捷禾

JIANGSU WASHEN FASTENER new Blind Rivets, Rivet Nuts & Riveting Tools...

華盛

健業

268

HAO CHENG PLASTIC CO., LTD. Plastic Box Maker for Fasteners

皓正

214

HAO MOU NUTS MFG. CO., LTD. Nuts and Spacers...

豪茂

121

JIN SHIN CHYUAN INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws / Bolts...

161

HARVILLE FASTENERS LTD. new 豪威爾 Special Screws and Bolts, Sems Screws, Stainless Steel Fasteners...

110

JINGFONG INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 璟鋒 Hex Nylon Insert Lock Nuts, Wing Nuts with Nylon Insert...

179

HAUR FUNG ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 豪舫 External Tooth Washers, Long Carriage Bolts, Roofing Bolts...

155

JIN-YINGS ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Special Custom Fasteners, Auto/Motorcycle Fasteners…

晉營

206

HEADER PLAN CO. INC. Chipboard Screws, Collated Screws, Deck Screws...

JOKER INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Hollow Wall Anchors, Concrete Screws, Jack Nuts...

久可

143

HSIEN SUN INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 憲順 Hexagon Nuts, Tubular Nuts, Spacers, All Kinds of Screws...

100

KATSUHANA FASTENERS CORP. Collated Screws, Drywall Screws, Roofing Screws...

濱井

金欣全

HSIN HUNG MACHINERY CORP. Cap Nuts, Flange Nuts, Hexagon Nuts, Dome Nuts...

120

HSIN JUI HARDWARE ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 欣瑞 Bushes, Construction Bolts, Special Cold / Hot Forming Parts...

KEY-USE INDUSTRIAL WORKS CO., LTD. 凱雍 Flanged Head Bolts, Milled Bolts, Rim Bolts, Round Head Bolts...

159

慶宇

HSIN YU SCREW ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Acme Screws, Hexagon Head Cap Screws...

新雨

KING CENTURY GROUP CO., LTD. Drop-in Anchors, Self-drilling Anchors, Sleeve Anchors...

257

廣泰

129

HUANG JING INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Custom Washers, Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws...

皇晉

KUANG TAI METAL INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Stainless Steel Cold Heading Wire

HWALLY PRODUCTS CO., LTD. Drop-in Anchors, Chipboard Screws, Anchors...

樺麟

KWANTEX RESEARCH INC. Chipboard Screws, Drywall Screws, Furniture Screws...

寬仕

109

254 63

INFINIX PRECISION CORP. Customized Punches and Dies INMETCH INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Flanged Head Bolts, Locking Bolts, Stud Bolts...

欣翃

JIEN KUEN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 健坤 Hexagon Nuts, Nylon Cap Insert Lock Nuts, Square Nuts...

203

FU HUI SCREW INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws / Bolts...

英飛凌恆鉅

124

L & W FASTENERS COMPANY Construction Fasteners, Flat Washers, Heavy Nuts...

金大鼎

175

LIAN CHUAN SHING INTERNATIONAL 連全興 Weld Nuts, Special Parts, Special Washers, Flat Washers...

Advertisers Index L

LIAN SHYANG INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. Nut Formers, Nut Tapping Machines

連翔

149

LINK-PRO TECH CO., LTD. Customized Screws/Nuts, Pressing & Deep Drawing...

超傑

278

LINKWELL INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 順承 All Kinds of Screws, Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws...

LOCKSURE INC. Custom Washers, Flat Washers, Automotive Screws...

LONG THREAD FASTENERS CORP. Bi-metal Self-drilling Screws, Chipboard Screws...

MAC PRECISION HARDWARE CO. Turning Parts, Precision Metal Parts, Cold Forged Nuts...

126 172 16 250 48 141

253

SACMA LIMBIATE S.P.A. (Italy) Net-Shape Parts Former SAN SHING FASTECH CORP. Automotive Nuts, Automotive Parts, Carbide Dies...

三星

SCREWTECH INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Machined Parts, Thumb Screws, Micro Screws...

銳禾

今湛

271

SEN CHANG INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 昇錩 Customized Special Screws / Bolts, Socket Head Cap Screws...

長隆順

266

SHANGHAI FAST-FIX RIVET CORP. Blind Rivets, High Shear Rivets, Closed End Rivets...

256

SHEEN TZAR CO., LTD. Self-Drilling Screw Machines & Dies

新讚

鑫瑞

飛可斯

226

SHEH FUNG SCREWS CO., LTD. Chipboard Screws, Countersunk Screws, Wood Screws...

世豐

MASTERPIECE HARDWARE INDUSTRIAL 金全益 Brass Screws, Chipboard Screws, Deck Screws, Double End Screws...

224

世鎧

MAUDLE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 茂異 Button Head Socket Cap Screws, Flange Washer Head Screws...

SHEH KAI PRECISION CO., LTD. Bi-metal Concrete Screw Anchors, Bi-metal Screws...

SHEN CHOU FASTENERS INDUSTRIAL Button Head Cap Screws, Chipboard Screws...

神洲

MIN HWEI ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Button Head Socket Cap Screws, Chipboard Screws...

明徽 28

MING TANG MACHINERY CO., LTD. (WEN YANG) 玟暘 Screw Head Making Machines...

SHIH HSANG YWA INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. 新倡發 Flange Nuts, Flange Nylon Nuts With Washers...

168

MODERN ALLOY PLATING CO., LTD. Zinc Plating, Lubricants

SHIN CHUN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 昕群 Automotive Screws, Chipboard Screws, Customized Screws...

153

SHUENN CHANG FA ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 舜倡發 Long Screws, Concrete Screws, Machine Screws...

137

SIN HONG HARDWARE PTE. LTD. (Singapore) 新豐 Hexagon Nuts, Hexagon Head Bolts, Blind Rivets...

頂吉興

MOUNTFASCO INC. 崎鈺 All Kinds of Screws, Alloy Steel Screws, Automotive Screws...

106

NCG TOOLS INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Tools for Fastening Anchors, Blind Nuts / Rivet Nuts...

昶彰

SPEC PRODUCTS CORP. Lincensee Fasteners, Turned/Machined Parts...

友鋮

104

ND INDUSTRIES ASIA INC. 穩得 ND Pre-Applied Processes, Advanced Sealing Technologies...

SPECIAL RIVETS CORP. (SRC) Blind Nuts / Rivet Nuts, Blind Rivets, Air Riveters...

恆昭

145

NOVA. FASTENER CO., LTD. 鑫星 Hexagon Nuts, Square Nuts, Wood Screws, Chipboard Screws...

SUN CHEN FASTENERS INC. 展鴻鑫 Cup Washers, Flanged Head Bolts, T-head or T-slot Bolts...

SUPER DPD CO., LTD. 三御 All Kinds of Screws, Bi-metal Screws, Carbon Steel Screws...

SUPERIOR QUALITY FASTENER CO., LTD. Weld Nuts, Turning Parts, Long Screws, Spring Nuts...

PENGTEH INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. SEMs Screws, Special Screws, Binder Screws, PT Screws...

彭特

139

POL SHIN ENT. CO., LTD. 寶薰 Drywall Screws, Concrete Screws, Tapping Screws, Long Screws...

112

PPG INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL INC. 美商必丕志 Chromium-free Coating, ED Coating...

173

PRO POWER CO., LTD. Screws, Bolts...

鑫程椿

213

TAIWAN NYLON WASHER CO., LTD. 東佑典 Rubber Washers, Silicone Washers, Plasterboard Nails...

鉑川

TAIWAN SELF-LOCKING FASTENERS (TSLG) 台灣耐落 Nylok®, Precote®, Nycote®, Nyplas®, Loctite®...

101

PRO-VISA (LIN) INT'L CORP. 佾鼎 Self-drilling Screws, Stainless Steel Screws, Furniture Screws...

167

123

PS FASTENERS PTE LTD. (Singapore) Washers, Socket Set Screws, U Bolts, Alloy Steel Screws...

54 262

270

汎昇

QST INTERNATIONAL CORP. 恒耀國際 Hexagon Head Bolts, Square Head Bolts, Weld Bolts (Studs)... QUAN LIAN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Weld Screw Machinery

全鏈

REXLEN CORP. Clinch Nuts, Clinch Studs, CNC Parts, Stamped Parts...

連宜

TANG AN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Customized Automotive Parts and Special Fasteners

鏜安

THREAD INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. Chipboard Screws, Flange Nuts, Heavy Nuts...

英德

TONG HEER FASTENERS (THAILAND) CO., LTD. 東和 Hex Bolts, Stud Bolts, Socket Cap Screws, Hex Nuts…

TONG HEER FASTENERS CO., SDN. BHD Stainless Steel Metric Screws, Stainless Steel Screws...

177

東和

TONG HO SHING INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD. 桐和興 Hex Washer Head Screws, Indent Hex Head Screws...

TONG HWEI ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. A2 Cap Screws, Button Head Socket Cap Screws...

東徽

TONG MING ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. Stainless Steel Fasteners, Wire Rods...

東明

157

TRINITY STEEL PRIVATE LIMITED (Sri Lanka) Paper Strip, Plastic Strip, Wire Coil, Threaded Rod...

117

TSAE FARN SCREWS HARDWARE CO., LTD. 2 Cap Screws, Aircraft Nails, All Kinds of Screws...

采凡

105

TSENG WIN Ceiling Anchors, Cut Anchors, Drop-in Anchors...

成盈

169 55

185 46 259 151

VAJRA POWER INDUSTRIES, INC. 金和鋼 Insert Bits, Power Bits, Bit Sets, Bit Holders & Adapters, Nut Setter... VERTEX PRECISION INDUSTRIAL CORP. 緯紘 6 Cuts/ 8 Cuts Self Drilling Screws, Barrel Nuts, Cap Screws... WAN IUAN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 萬淵 Punches/Dies of Various Nuts, Screws, Sleeves and Socket Boxes WE POWER INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Chipboard Screws, Concrete Screws, Drywall Screws... WEI CHAN CO., LTD. Wire-drawing Dies, Nut Dies, Special Dies... WEI ZAI INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Anchors, Automotive Nuts, Cap Nuts, Flange Nuts...

Machines & Equipment 機械暨周邊設備區

258

BIING FENG ENTERPRISE CO., LTD.

244

CHAN CHANGE MACHINERY CO., LTD.

長薔

261

CHAO JING PRECISE MACHINES CO., LTD.

朝璟

260

CHIEN TSAI MACHINERY ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 鍵財

246

CHING CHAN OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. 精湛

248

CHUN ZU MACHINERY INDUSTRY CO., LTD.

春日

274

JERN YAO ENTERPRISES CO., LTD.

正曜

270

LIAN SHYANG INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.

連翔

250

MING TANG MACHINERY CO., LTD. (WEN YANG) 玟暘

MODERN ALLOY PLATING CO., LTD.

威力寶

262

QUAN LIAN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD.

253

SACMA LIMBIATE S.P.A. (Italy)

威展

256

SHEEN TZAR CO., LTD.

葦在

WINLINK FASTENERS CO., LTD. 岡山東穎 Stainless Steel Screws, Flange Bolts, Security Bolts, SEMS Screws...

WYSER INTERNATIONAL CORP. Cage Nuts, Cap Nuts, Clinch Nuts, Acme Screws...

秉鋒

頂吉興全鏈新讚

Tooling / Dies 工 / 模具區 263

AN CHIAO MOLDS CO., LTD.

255

GIAN-YEH INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.

254

INFINIX PRECISION CORP.

YI CHUN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD. 誼峻 Cap Screws, Socket Set Screws, Cage Nuts, Automotive Parts...

257

KUANG TAI METAL INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.

廣泰

185

WAN IUAN ENTERPRISE CO., LTD.

萬淵

YI HUNG WASHER CO., LTD. Rubber Washers, Plastic Screws, Custom Washers...

益弘

259

WEI CHAN CO., LTD.

威展

102

YING MING INDUSTRY CO., LTD. Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws / Bolts...

穎明

272

YOW CHERN CO., LTD. 侑城 Flanged Head Bolts, Chipboard Screws, Floorboard Screws...

YUH CHYANG HARDWARE INDUSTRIAL Automotive & Motorcycle Special Screws / Bolts...

緯聯

鈺強

Exhibitions 展覽 171

MTA VIETNAM 2021

223

FASTENER EXPO SHANGHAI 2021

安喬健業英飛凌

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Cover Story

Ambrovit The Best to Rely on

Ambrovit is a leading company in fastening systems, an Italian entrepreneurial reality that looks to the future with confidence, believes in the Italian and foreign market, with continuous development in technological research, product, growth, and adaptation in the automation, without leaving behind the adaptation to the new logics of communication and the quality of both our product and customer service.

A Wide Catalogues of Articles 088

Fastener World no.188/2021

With an extremely wide catalogue of articles that are constantly being updated, Ambrovit offers products that are increasingly innovative in terms of both technology, materials and finishes. Every professional sector can find in the catalogue what is necessary to carry out every job, from carpentry to construction, from mechanics to wood.

Cover Story Periodical Adaptation to Meet Market Demand

A Perfectly Organized Warehouse

A Renovated Laboratory

But if a high-performance, high-quality product is essential to be a market leader, the continuous adaptation of the infrastructure to make logistics quick and punctual is no less important. It is therefore a natural consequence that Ambrovit periodically adapts its automation lines to the constant increase in market demand, so that the customer can benefit from a perfect service, with fast delivery times, without inaccuracies, knowing that he can count on a reliable partner.

In order to have a catalogue of thousands of products ready for delivery, it is also necessary to have an adequate, easily accessible and perfectly organised warehouse.

Certifications

For t h is reason, A mbrovit has doubled its warehouse and management robot ics wit h t he most up-to-date technology on the market today. All the products in the catalogue are constantly tested in the renovated technical and experimental laboratory dedicated to quality control with the most sophisticated equipment, a further guarantee for the customer who can then interact with the company to obtain useful information for use, based on needs.

An Everrenewed Portal

With a la rge ma rket, which today includes almost all European countries in its portfolio, achieving international standards and having all the most important European certifications is an obligation and essential objective that Ambrovit has pursued in recent years. The certifications obtained are a satisfaction for Ambrovit, for its work and commitment.

T h e e ve r- r e n e we d p o r t a l w w w. ambrovit.com is an important working tool for dealers, where they can find all the technical information and types of Ambrovit products. The portal contains various topics and information, such as the interactive catalogue www.catalog.ambrovit. it/, which is clearly laid out and easy to consult, and is a fundamental working and sales tool for Ambrovit customers. Fastener World no.188/2021

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Feature

Grasping Post-Covid Business Opportunities

HUANG JING Keeping Production in Taiwan and Investing Heavily in Replenishment in Advance for Customers

Dedicated to the OEM production of small construction screws, Huang Jing is capable of offering drywall, self-tapping, bi-metal, and many other small screws applied in construction. Besides those general specs, it can also produce as per customer’s drawing (available specs from M2.0 to M16.0). With the synergy between its own plant and associate factories, it has increased its average monthly capacity to 1,200-1,500 tons and maintained long-term collaboration with many Taiwanese traders. To look into the customers register of Huang Jing, it is not difficult to find a customer working with it for either 10 or 20 years, not to mention the fact that lots of them are from European, U.S., and Japanese markets. The loyalty of its customers is quite impressive and rarely seen these days when costs are always put in the first place. “What customers care about the most are basically prices, quality, technology, and services. What makes us formidable is that we can always fully satisfy customers’ requests in these parts, or even go beyond market standards. The ongoing order placements and positive feedback are the best proof of our customers’ recognition,” said Jimmy Chen, Vice President of Huang Jing. contact Jimmy Chen (Vice President)

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Email: hj.screws@msa.hinet.net

Details Matter! The Principle Revealed in Its Customer Service

“If an int’l standard requires the tapping speed within 1-2 seconds, for certain customers we can even make it better to within 0.5 second,” VP Chen said with confidence. As construction screws are usually fastened by hand in most cases and places where they are being fastened may be insecure, so if the tapping speed can be faster, the safety for users will be also further ensured. All these words clearly demonstrate the fact that Huang Jing considers itself not just a purveyor, but a company highly committed to customers. Huang Jing even actively introduced straightening machines only for a customer’s long screw order in order to ensure screw straightness and avoid unsuccessful fastening, which has not only made it win the customer’s high rating, but also uplifted its competence in the market. It has also received a Supplier of the Year award from one of its customers in recognition of its outstanding services.

ounded 25 years ago, Huang Jing Industrial Co., Ltd. has grown from a small factory of around 330 sqm to a large plant with warehousing, packaging, and manufacturing operations in Kaohsiung (Taiwan). Much different from its industry peers, it started business first from accepting orders placed by Japanese customers wellknown worldwide for their strict quality requirements. Thanks to strict requirements of Japanese customers on compliance with int’l standards and years of collaboration with these customers, Huang Jing has not only obtained a wide knowledge of int’l standards and work procedures, but also has taken the lead in product manufacturing, quality & manufacturing procedure control, and customer service for years.

by Gang Hao Chang, Vice Editor-in-Chief of Fastener World

Collaboration with Associate Factories and Investing Heavily in Replenishment in Advance for Customers

In addition to competitive prices, Huang Jing also works with associate factories hiring many senior technicians with 15+ years of experience, so it is capable of satisfying customers’ demands for various processes and post-manufacturing treatments. Maintaining good relationship with materials suppliers to ensure uninterrupted supply, Huang Jing only uses materials from Taiwan CSC and also invested heavily in replenishment in advance for certain longterm customers. “If a customer is in urgent need, we can ship in time and help alleviate the customer’s inventory burden, which is one of the added values we can offer. Despite high shipping cost, we can also help customers create the best balance between prices and quality,” said Chen. He added, “For long we’ve been adhering to the strategy of keeping production in Taiwan and working with associate factories to fully satisfy customers’ demands. During these months we’ve seen continuous growth in orders from Europe, USA, and Japan, so we also hope to add more equipment to streamline our work efficiency and further improve our quality, service, and supply. Always stepping forward while facing challenges and working with associate factories to win customers’ trust and share risks have been our everlasting mission statement over the past years.”

Fastener World no.188/2021

129

Feature

Grasping Post-Covid Business Opportunities

Globally Known for a Trio of Patented Screws

A-stainless International Co., Ltd.

by Dean Tseng, Fastener World

resident Howard Tsai has had nearly 40 years of experience in the fastener industry. He co-founded A-stainless with General Manager Asser Liu in 1988 which mainly develops and exports special wood screws, industrial SEMs screws and construction screws. For more than 2 decades the company has served a wide array of clients. It can manufacture IFI/DIN/ISO/JIS/BSW-compliant standard products as well as customized products as per drawings. It can also develop patented products that are time-saving and fit for purpose with powerful functions.

The company’s special products are patented in Taiwan, the U.S., Europe and Japan. The thread design of its Square-Thread screws and Double-Spiral screws for instance lowers 40% of drive-in torque compared to chipboard screws, completes the job with less effort, and decreases the chance for head rupture due to insufficient hardness and torque as the stainless steel screw drives in the workpiece. The design is favored by clients and triggered mimicking by rivals.

contact

Besides several patented wood screws, A-stainless develops and manufactures self-drilling screws. Since forged-point production which is ubiquitous across the industry in the past decade has had problems on unstable tapping speed, the company collaborated with machine companies to develop a special cut-off General Manager Asser Liu E-mail: astainless@hibox.hinet.net

machine for manufacturing Milled-Point screws with a highly stable tapping speed. A drivethrough test confirms that the Milled-Point screw delivers more stable tapping speed, drives through more efficiently and through thicker workpieces as compared to forged-point screws.

Authorized ttap® Manufacturer; Diversified Service

Besides product development, A-stainless has been authorized by a world-renowned header punch company to manufacture the special patented ttap® header punch, empowering its products with more functions and competitiveness. Furthermore, the company invests in an wire drawing plant that manufactures 0.2-10mm stainless steel wire products including cold-headed wires for screws, spring wires, mesh wires, and EPQ Wires. It not only works on integrating upstream and downstream production to control screw material quality, but also provides clients with more diverse service.

Square-Thread / DoubleSpiral / Milled Point Screws; Patented in Numerous Countries

Safe Through Two Crises in 2020; Capacity to Increase This Year

The U.S./China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 turned the Taiwanese fastener industry into a state of chaos. In 2019, the trade war made American customers switch orders to Taiwanese and Southeast Asian countries and made the heyday for Taiwan fastener industry. In 2020, the outbreak of the pandemic made American and European customers withdraw orders and postpone shipment, causing piled-up cargoes and hiatus of production. Later on, the pandemic eased and American and European customers placed a myriad of orders to Taiwan that drove the capacity of local factories over the rooftop, and hence there was a chaos of material shortage. Thanks to vertically integrated production and clients’ trust, the company was able to tide over the crisis. Looking ahead this year, A-stainless will continue to develop screws with new functions, increase capacity, train technical staff, and improve quality control to meet clients’ demand on service, quality, lead time and price.

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Fastener World no.188/2021

Compiled by Fastener World

Company Focus

Eyeing to Expand Distribution Network and Achieve Higher Gross Profit

TCI Dominates the Stainless and Aluminum Supply Chain Biden’s US$2.25 Trillion Infrastructure Plan to Benefit TCI In order to stimulate the economic development a nd i ndu st r ia l g row t h m o m e n t u m of t h e d o m e s t i c U. S. ma rket , Biden’s ad m i n ist ration ha s announced in late March 2021 the socalled “Infrastructure Plan.” This 8-year investment and employment improvement p r o g r a m w h i c h i s wo r t h U S $ 2 . 2 5 trillion will be mainly focused on the infrastructure of railways, highways & bridges, electricity systems, and electric vehicles. Having been expanding its dist ribution network i n U.S. ma rket for more than two decades, TCI is also expected to become one of the major beneficiaries of the Infrastructure Plan. TCI is said to be one of the best exempla r y compa n ies which has successfully transformed itself from a traditional manufacturer to a master distributor of industrial products. It is even called “the Amazon.com” among its industry peers. TCI is also proud to be the only stainless master distributor in the industry. Currently, TCI adopts a distribution strategy of “70% from domestic production a nd 30% f rom import” for stainless steel products in U.S. market. In 2018 TCI officially expanded its business to aluminum distribution by acquiring Alumax Milled Products in the U.S. Compared to other suppliers importing products subject to high tariff rates, TCI not only has successfully consolidated its leading position in U.S. distribution network, but also has had the advantages of inventory available at lower prices and localized production. Since TCI started its deployment in U.S. distribution network very early and the Infrastructure Plan of U.S. administration has been under way, TCI is very likely to achieve a remarkable revenue growth this year.

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Fastener World no.188/2021

Distribution is More Profitable Than Manufacturing！ BUSINESS TODAY CEO Hsieh: This company with tremendous strength completed successful transformation and made gross profit equivalent to its net profit.

“

Photos/articles provided by TCI I felt the pulse of the traditional industry at TCI!

The main purpose of my visit to Tainan this time was not only to see the peripheral effects brought by TSMC located at Southern Taiwan Science Park, but also to call at some vibrant companies. During the visit, I arranged a special visit to Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Company Limited. I received a cordial welcome from Ta Chen founder Mr. Robert Hsieh. Then, on a very early morning (at around 5:30 a.m.), he sent his nephew to the hotel I stayed to pick me up and drove me to Ta Kang Shan in Alian (Kaohsiung) for hiking. President Hsieh also invited all the directors and supervisors of the Group to go hiking with us. He spent his own money to maintain the cleanliness of the mountainous area and built 4 what he called the five-star public toilets, creating clean and tidy hiking trails for all people to enjoy. He goes hiking there on Saturdays and Sundays and appreciates the solemnity of Chao Feng Temple built 350 years ago. I’d rather describe this trip as a walk with President Hsieh rather than a hike. It was a relaxing trip and we also had our breakfast together at a guest house of one of President Hsieh’s friends. Then, we drove back to the hotel and changed clothes for a factory tour and briefing at TCI.

Company Focus

On a podium, President Robert Hsieh presented to the audience his corporate development strategy with very detailed figures. He told us that in the supply chain of industrial products, the profit margin of distributors is much higher than all the manufacturing cost of producers. As a result, Ta Chen spared no effort to expand its distribution network, making it large enough to reach an economy of scale and reaching the gross profit margin equivalent to its net profit. What he has adopted is a Quiet Managing Strategy to get the real-time intelligence updates of the Group’s global operations. President Hsieh once introduced this way to Taiwan President Tsai, Ing-Wen and was greatly praised by her. At noon, President Hsieh invited all guests to enjoy lunch with him at Ta Chen’s staff restaurant serving vegetarian and healthy cuisine with very good taste. In this restaurant, staff can have their lunch for free and can even take some cuisine away after 12:30 p.m. This restaurant serving lunch to staff has been open for 8 years. Every staff there gives a big thumb to it. The nearly 70-year-old President Hsieh founded TCI and BBI. He is fully dedicated to his work, treats all employees as his family members, and always stands in the forefront to lead the Group. Today, I witnessed the vibrant energy of Ta Chen and the implied meaning of how an ideal company to work for should be!

About TCI Ta Chen International, Inc. ("TCI" or "the Company") is a leading master distributor of stainless and aluminum coils, sheets, plates, long products, tubes and PVFs. TCI is an industry leader in inventory depth, breadth and availability and efficiently serves over 3,000 customers in the U.S. through 8 strategically located warehouses. Founded by Mr. Robert Shieh in 1989, TCI entered the US market as a newcomer to the stainless steel distribution business. Within 10 years, the Company has grown from a small operation in Los Angeles to become the largest and most recognized name in Stainless Master Distribution in the United States. TCI bought Brighton-Best Socket Screw Mfg. in 2008. Brighton-Best Socket Screw continued to open distribution centers in the USA, UK, Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia. Brighton-Best is currently located in 31 locations in 6 countries and supplies over 7,000 distributors throughout the world.

“

About BUSINESS TODAY CEO Hsieh

Left: BUSINESS TODAY CEO Chin-He Hsieh Right: Ta Chen President Robert Hsieh

The founder of “BUSINESS TODAY”. He is currently the consultant of Taipei City Government and the guest professor of CTBC Business School. Fastener World no.188/2021

133

Industry Focus

2020 Financial Reports

of Fastener Companies

U.S.A.

134

Compiled by Fastener World Updated on Apr. 8, 2021 Monetary unit in millions (USD)

Financial Year

Net Sales

Gross Profit

Operating Income

Pre-tax Income

Net Income

2020

9,286

---

173

-170

2019

10,433

---

-438

-1,125

Change (%)

-10.9

---

2020

27.59

4.91

---

0.06

0.05

2019

32.87

5.74

---

0.68

0.53

Change (%)

-16.0

-14.4

---

-90.4

-90.7

2020

5,647.3

2,567.8

1,141.8

1,132.7

859.1

2019

5,333.7

2,515.4

1,057.2

1,043.7

790.9

Change (%)

+5.8

+2.0

+8.0

+8.5

+8.6

2020

11,797

4,238

1,019

947

695

2019

11,486

4,397

1,262

1,209

849

Change (%)

+27.0

-3.6

-19.2

-21.6

-18.1

2020

1,368.29

---

65.76

-33.93

-24.49

2019

1,214.36

---

7.69

-108.75

-85.47

Change (%)

+12.6

---

+754

---

2020

3,192.39

1,343.32

350.74

334.25

251.11

2019

3,363.81

1,432.04

399.99

383.12

288.86

Change (%)

-5.0

-6.1

-12.3

-12.7

-13.0

2020

20,139.65

---

835.53

721.47

2019

22,588.85

---

1,782.80

1,271.14

Change (%)

-10.8

---

-53.1

-43.2

2020

1,267.94

576.38

252.36

249.56

187.00

2019

1,136.53

492.13

181.25

178.35

133.98

Change (%)

+11.5

+17.1

+39.2

+39.9

+39.5

2020

769.97

182.08

---

-102.71

-79.76

2019

723.53

193.90

---

78.26

98.62

Change (%)

+6.4

-6.0

---

Financial Year

Revenue

Gross Profit

Operating Income

Pre-tax Income

Net Income

2020

225.24

---

10.44

10.96

7.71

2019

221.24

---

13.02

12.97

9.35

Change (%)

+1.8

---

-19.8

-15.4

-17.5

Fastener World no.188/2021

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 14,864 vs. 14,631 31.238 vs. 31.723 3,964.7 vs. 3,799.9 6,295 vs. 6,005 2,468.61 vs. 2,437.98 2,382.43 vs. 2,311.23 20,125.39 vs. 18,344.66 1,232.56 vs. 1,095.36 1,193.88 vs. 1,192.70

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 106.45 vs. 92.87

Fastener World no.188/2021

135

Industry Focus

Europe (SEK)

(SEK)

(EUR)

(GBP)

(EUR)

(CHF)

Financial Year

Sales

Gross Profit

Operating Profit

Pre-tax Profit

Net Profit

2020

4,756

1,252

452

---

299

2019

4,348

1,183

368

---

253

Change (%)

+9.3

+5.8

+22.8

---

+18.1

2020

3,195

567

116

2019

3,093

543

Change (%)

+3.2

+4.4

+18.3

-5.4

+3.7

2020

952.2

630.6

---

120.6

87.8

2019

1,100.1

536.7

---

30.5

24.3

Change (%)

-13.4

+17.4

---

+295

+261

Financial Year

Revenue

Gross Profit

Operating Profit

Pre-tax Profit

Net Profit

2020

1,247.02

---

-28.10

---

-37.32

2019

1,693.98

---

110.27

---

69.77

Change (%)

-26.3

---

2020

200.22

55.10

4.077

3.042

-238

2019

208.95

62.63

17.09

16.42

12.24

Change (%)

-4.1

-12.0

-76.1

-81.4

---

2020

7.5

-11.0

-42.0

-53.0

2019

5.2

0.4

-20.5

-42.9

-63.5

Change (%)

+44.2

-100

---

Financial Year

Sales

Gross Profit

Operating Profit

Pre-tax Income

Net Income

2020

812.79

248.73

---

82.23

67.05

2019

876.22

273.25

---

93.01

74.23

Change (%)

-7.2

-8.9

---

-11.5

-9.6

South Korea

(Pung Kang)

136

Financial Year

Sales

Gross Profit

Operating Profit

Adjusted Earnings After Tax

2020

63,714

7,653

219

160

2019

80,282

9,144

1,368

1,041

Change (%)

-20.6

-16.3

-83.9

-84.6

Fastener World no.188/2021

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 4,991 vs. 5,250

3,071 vs. 2,710

1,414.7 vs. 1,514.3

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 1,859.32 vs. 2,000.74

216.13 vs. 204.56

895.8 vs. 953.9

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 641.30 vs. 652.72

(KRW) 2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 83,048 vs. 88,126

137 Fastener World no.188/2021

Industry Focus

Japan

(JPY)

Financial Year

Revenue

Operating Profit

Ordinary Profit

Net Profit

2020

5,309

-146

-231

-322

2019

7,093

-273

-361

-1,509

Change (%)

-25.1

---

2021 Prospect

6,000

150

110

Change (%)

---

2020

12,468

108

-184

2019

14,567

585

668

472

Change (%)

-14.4

-97.2

-83.8

---

2021 Prospect

11,142

105

Change (%)

-10.6

+70.2

-2.3

---

2020

32,904

1,303

1,418

764

2019

34,857

2,596

2,853

1,937

Change (%)

-5.6

-49.8

-50.3

-60.5

2021 Prospect

38,000

2,400

2,600

1,600

Change (%)

+ 15.5

+ 84.1

+ 83.3

+ 109.2

2020

18,950

-57

-132

2019

22,050

432

662

469

Change (%)

-14.1

---

-97.3

---

Southeast Asia

138

Gross Profit

Pre-tax Profit

Net Profit

534.907

48.282

9.714

7.300

2.417

2019

680.729

97.961

71.846

68.822

57.578

Change (%)

-21.4

-50.7

-86.4

-89.3

-95.8

2020

555.000

---

44.944

30.931

2019

646.725

---

29.018

19.766

Change (%)

-14.1

---

+54.8

+56.4

Revenue

2020

6,864 vs. 8,222

14,517 vs. 15,535

46,222 vs. 45,989

24,299 vs. 25,938

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 289.250 vs. 277.444 653.504 vs. 665.876

(INR)

Financial Year

Total Income

Pre-tax Profit

Net Profit

2020

3,325.01

-151.93

-322.12

2019

4,552.45

37.99

25.58

Change (%)

-26.9

---

2020

31,450.1

3,764.0

3,140.4

2019

40,198.9

6,196.9

4,361.9

Change (%)

-21.7

-39.2

-26.9

Fastener World no.188/2021

Total Assets

(MYR) Operating Profit

Financial Year

South Asia

(Sundram Fasteners)

2020 vs. 2019

Total Assets 2,527.309 vs. 2,820.867 32,315.2 vs. 33,963.5

Fastener World no.188/2021

139

Industry Focus

Analysis of 2020 Financial Reports of

Taiwan's Public Listed Fastener Companies by Dean Tseng, Fastener World

The end of 2019 was a dividing line on Taiwan’s fastener sales. It was followed by the outbreak of COVID-19, and starting from the second quarter of 2020, we had been told by numerous fastener companies about their plummeting sales. This is something that will undoubtedly manifest in the annual revenues and EPS of public fastener companies. This author rounded up performance indicators of these public companies into the following chart, through which we will compare the numbers for a glimpse of what the chart has to reveal.

Sales Revenue and EPS in 2020 Revenue (1,000 NTD) 2019 Growth (%)

Ranking

Company

Tong Ming Enterprise

9,171,338

8,807,059

QST International

8,824,031

9,925,200

Chun Yu Works & Co

8,054,615

9,333,591

2020

EPS (NTD) 2019

Change

4.1

2.94

2.77

0.17

-11.0

2.52

2.16

0.36

-13.7

0.75

1.60

-0.85

Tycoons Group

7,930,384

11,519,202

-31.1

-0.39

-1.42

1.03

New Best Wire Industrial

5,765,791

6,241,040

-7.6

1.58

1.24

0.34

San Shing Fastech

5,072,643

6,549,045

-22.5

2.04

2.77

-0.73

Sheh Fung Screws

2,253,521

1,817,019

24.0

3.71

3.55

0.16

Rodex Fasteners

2,127,028

2,419,478

-12.0

1.94

2.38

-0.44

Sumeeko Industries

1,990,511

2,431,674

-18.1

2.53

4.51

-1.98

Intai Technology

1,961,112

2,327,239

-15.7

5.11

7.54

-2.43

OFCO Industrial

1,825,709

1,147,717

59.0

1.66

0.73

0.93

Chen Nan Iron Wire

1,825,106

1,584,339

15.1

-1.08

-0.12

0.96

NAFCO

1,704,031

2,816,190

-39.4

1.14

6.66

-5.52

PATTA International

1,503,425

1,865,652

-19.4

0.92

1.45

-0.53

Chun Zu Machinery

1,221,097

1,579,288

-22.6

0.94

2.15

-1.21

Sheh Kai Precision

1,061,740

1,117,875

-5.0

2.37

3.36

-0.99

Ching Chan Optical Technology

468,353

606,140

-22.7

1.45

0.56

0.89

Source: mops.twse.com.tw

Tycoons dominated the ranking in 2019 with the highest revenue, but fell around 30% in the year of pandemic outbreak and was outpaced by Tong Ming. However, Tycoons’ EPS jumped dramatically from minus 1.42 to minus 0.39, greatly diminishing the company’s deficit. Tong Ming already made it to the revenue of NTD 8.8 billion in 2019, and continued progressing 4% to NTD 9.1 billion in 2020 when the pandemic became severe. One of the entrants in the chart with the largest growth margin in revenue is OFCO, up 59% from NTD 1.1 billion to NTD 1.8 billion with the EPS increasing by nearly NTD 1. The next that follows is Sheh Fung growing 24% from NTD 1.8 billion to NTD 2.2 billion in revenue but with a smaller EPS growth margin. Sheh Fung was followed by Chen Nan Iron Wire with the revenue up 15.1% from NTD 1.5 billion to NTD 1.8 billion and the EPS increasing by nearly NTD 1.

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Fastener World no.188/2021

The entrant with the largest revenue drop was the Asian aerospace fastener leading supplier NAFCO which plummeted by nearly 40% in revenue and was down NTD 5.5 in EPS but still managed to keep the EPS for 2020 at NTD 1.14, above the NTD 1 mark. It is no news that the world’s aviation industry was almost to the point of being beheaded by the pandemic last year. NAFCO managed to pull itself through and it still has the opportunity to turn the tables. Among the 17 entrants, 4 have increased their revenues and 13 have decreased their revenues, the majority of which took an impact on their revenues. Additionally, 9 out of the 17 entrants reported decreased EPS, which means half of the 17 lost pretty much profit margins last year. However, the EPS of the 9 entrants did not turn negative and it means they kept themselves resilient against the deficit during the pandemic. Overall, Taiwanese public listed fastener companies shared a common impact on revenues and profits in 2020. Indeed, Taiwanese fastener industry was shrouded in a sentiment of market depression, but as we move into May 2021 and look back, we find ourselves as part of Taiwanese fastener industry are fortunate to have a stronger base and a continuously operating supply chain to weather the difficult time. The market sentiment now sings a different tune from last year’s. Steel demand and prices are surging, as are the inquires from abroad. The top priority now is to take back as much as what the virus has taken from us.

Fastener World no.188/2021

141

Industry Focus

Brexit - A Drama in ‘X’ Acts

by Peter Standring

Act One: Swimming against the tide? In this author’s lifetime the population of the Earth has increased three and a half times to ~7.5 billion and is forecast to become close to 10 billion within a few years. Clearly, given the finite resources this planet has and the increasing demands placed upon it, logic dictates that to survive, the human population must work together. As a boy, I was fascinated by old maps showing a patchwork of small countries some having unpronounceable names. Many of these, as I learnt later, consisted of regional populations which, for one reason or another, simply refused to acknowledge each other’s existence. One solution to the problem of people not sitting together to discuss their differences, is to sweep lots of similar groupings into one large gathering and to give them all a seat at the same very large table. Such Federations, Associations, Unions etc., exist around the world and have even broader examples within the International Institutions of the United Nations, The World Bank etc.. T he British Isles is a n a rchipelago consisting of over 6000 separate islands which are often coloured pink on maps. In days long gone, having the largest navy in the world and a very large Treasury where many other countries also kept their money for safe keeping, the British sought to paint other places on the map pink as well. The purpose, to establish trading monopolies. With the end of Empire, the only remaining pink places on the map outside the British Isles are tiny overseas Protectorates. Great Britain, which is the largest island in the archipelago, consists of the kingdoms of England and Scotland together with the Principality of Wales. The second largest island is Ireland which includes the Irish Republic (Eire) in the south and the British Province of Northern Ireland in the north. Both England and Scotland are monarchies which currently have a Queen (Elizabeth II) as Head of State.

142

Fastener World no.188/2021

(Image source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Fastener World no.188/2021

143

Industry Focus In 1973, the United Kingdom (UK), consisting of Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (to give it its full title), joined the existing six nations which formed the European Economic Community (EEC). Over the resulting years, the EEC expanded to include 28 independent nations and was rebranded as The European Union (EU). This was to reflect its new Political as well as Commercial development.

As GB is an island, it has no direct borders with any countries of the EU. However, in the island of Ireland, there exists an unmanned border between the North and the South. Since the Brexit agreement ensures a, ‘free to travel’ border within the island of Ireland, it follows that all Customs checks must take place within GB and/or the sea ports of Northern Ireland. This is termed the Northern Ireland Protocol.

On 31st December 2020, the UK became the first country to leave the EU. In so doing, it sought to end over 40 years of joint legal regulations and contracts relating to virtually all aspects of life.

So, whilst many of the world’s leading trading economies are seeking to link their commercial activities to encourage the expansion of business, the UK appears to be moving in the opposite direction with regard to their closest and largest trading partner.

Act Two: The show must go on It is an interesting reflection on the topsy-turvy world in which we live that profound changes affecting the lives of millions of people can be made with just the stroke of a pen. At the end of Empire, the UK, like other ex colonial nations, created a Commonwealth of those countries which had previously been within their judicial authority. This was and remains headed by the Monarch. However, in 1973, on joining the EEC, the UK was required to reduce its trading links with the former parts of its Empire. This author well recalls the Government pleas to UK business to create trading links with its new European Partners citing the large populations lying just off shore. Post BREXIT, the same political pleas are now being made to develop trading links with any and everyone outside the EU trading bloc, particularly to those nations which continue to form part of the British Commonwealth. This is interesting given that many Commonwealth countries lost their largest trading partner when the UK joined the EEC. Of course, the global Coronavirus Pandemic has had the effect of throwing virtually all human activities into slow motion.

For BREXIT, this has had the very desirable effect of easing the demands on its roll-out. Given the apparent lack of preparedness of virtually everything, it is impossible to speculate what might have occurred if all travel, transport, communication, manufacture etc., had been functioning as it did in 2019. But, as the saying goes, we are where we are and, like the Circus, the show must go on. So, the Ringmaster, consummately attired in his bright red coat and wearing a tall black hat, strides purposefully into centre stage and cracks his whip to attract attention. “Ladies and Gentlemen”, his rich voice intones, “Today, we have a show for you unlike any seen before. Our performers from around the World, consist of the biggest and best you have ever witnessed. So, I ask you all, to provide a huge round of applause for what is to come.”

Act Three: Mutiny in the ranks? The Big Tent terminology used to describe the home of a Circus, is very similar to the hypothetical table around which many political players are invited to sit and where their dissenting voices are rarely listened to.

I n Sc ot la nd , wh ich c ou ld vot e to b e c ome a n independent nation within a decade, the BREXIT vote was strongly in favour of the UK remaining inside the EU. This was also the case in Northern Ireland. However, in Wales and England, the popular vote was to leave the EU.

In 1999, the UK Parliament passed legislation granting devolved powers to local administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With the exception of Northern Ireland where the majority of the voting population wish to maintain their links to the British Parliament, the regions of Scotland and to a lesser extent Wales, see complete independence as a future political goal.

Were Scotland to vote for independence from the UK, then it is likely they will seek entry to the EU. Being located close to Scandinavian countries, it is clear that direct access by sea from and to Northern Europe would present no problem.

England does not have devolution and in terms of population, at over 80% of the UK is by far the largest grouping. Scotland has less than 10% population, Wales ~5% and Northern Ireland ~3%. However, in this particular trading situation, the relative size and distribution of the population is perhaps of less importance than the respective regions of the UK which they occupy.

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In such a scenario, there would have to be a new series of border customs posts at all land crossings between Scotland and England. This would also be the case with all the entry ports for local trade. The same would be true for Wales if the population there were to obtain independence from the UK.

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Industry Focus This situation concerning what might happen if the UK were to be replaced by their individual component entities acting independently is currently being played out between Northern Ireland and The Irish Republic (Eire).

Act Four: When push comes to shove! The Irish Republic and the UK joined the EEC at the same time in 1973. This of course meant that all trade between the two countries was regulation and tariff free. Although borders were open for trade, the roads between the north and south of Ireland were controlled by the British Army. This situation continued until the Belfast Agreement was signed in 1998 ending the so called ‘Troubles’. The BREXIT negotiations were conducted with the full agreement from all parties that there should never be a ‘Hard Border’ on the Island of Ireland. In essence, this meant that any goods could enter or leave The Irish Republic and/or Northern Ireland land borders without “customs” checks. Clearly, to do this whilst maintaining cross border regulations would mean that any and all checks must take place before, or at the point of entry from GB into Northern Ireland. This apparently simple requirement threw a huge spanner into the BREXIT negotiations. On the EU side, ‘free movement’ across the land border between the north and the south was a ‘red line’ situation. For the UK, since Northern Ireland was a part of the country, there could not be any borders between GB and Northern Ireland. This seemingly insurmountable problem was finally resolved (in time for the BREXIT agreement to be signed) by introducing the Northern Ireland Protocol. The 63 page, closely argued text covers all aspects of trade in the special situation which exists in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It naturally requires customs checks between GB and Northern Ireland which the UK Prime Minister stated could and would never happen. Just weeks after its rollout the First Minister of the Devolved Northern Ireland Government has called the Protocol “disastrous” and is demanding that it should be dismantled. At the time of writing this article, litigation is being threatened by both the EU and UK in international courts relating to this situation. A n im mediate physical consequence of t he imposition of customs requirements between Northern Ireland and the GB mainland has been the very significant increase in sea ferry transport directly between EIRE and the EU, cutting out the previously favoured route into the EU through GB. Couple this with the growing cacophony of traders on both sides of the BREXIT borders bitterly complaining about unwanted documentation and unnecessary bureaucratic interference and the immediate fall off in business is not a surprise. As in all new situations, over time, systems will develop to minimise the problems. However, in these early days, it is not unexpected to see people voting with their feet to circumvent what they view as obstacles.

Act Five: Fasteners – a future! So, into this apparent maelstrom of claim and counter claim often stirred by the political spin of hubris or predicted calamity, we have the real world of Fasteners. As a move toward independence from the EU, the UK stated its intention to replace the EU, CE certification mark with its own UKCA mark. So, from 1 January 2021 the UKCA mark needs to be applied to goods being sold in the UK although a period of one year of grace has been extended before the CE mark is no longer valid. By a similar argument, the new UKCA mark will not be recognised within the EU. However, according to the BREXIT agreement, in Northern Ireland, products sold there must carry only the CE mark. Or, in other words, the UKCA mark is only accepted in GB not the whole of the UK! At another level, UKCA and CE marks are obtained from Market Conformity Assessment Bodies. Those operating in the UK which for many years will also have served the whole of the EU, now find they are blocked from supplying the CE conformity marks they did before. In the same tit-for-tat manner, those companies working in Continental Europe which facilitate the CE mark are excluded from providing UKCA conformity.

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The same situation also applies to Technical Approval Bodies which manufacturers use. A UK position is being considered by Government but has not yet been determined. For goods made in Northern Ireland, they can be sold within GB carrying a CE, UKCA or a CEUKNI mark which can be used when an approved body gives a certificate based on EU rules. As the reader will have gathered at this stage, the whole area is like a new website displaying the sign, “under construction”. This author will make no attempt to enter this minefield. However, the following may be of help to those who need to? First, determine if the product being ‘placed on the market’ requires a mark. This may relate to the manufacturer or a distributor selling further down the market.

Industry Focus Next, since the EU has spent years developing its regulations, begin with its Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP) documentation. This includes, the Declaration of Performance (DoP) and the methodology required to obtain a CE mark. It follows, that until it gets its own act together, the UK will utilise the EU documentation it is familiar with until it is able to produce its own.

Intermission: Shall we stay for the next Act? The reality of BREXIT is that in 1973 the UK needed the EEC more than the EEC needed the UK. For almost fifty years as a participating partner, the UK provided significant benefits to EU development. Not least of these were the mountains of documentation covering virtually all aspects of life. As every business knows, you increase efficiency by sharing back office tasks. For a nation of ~65 million people, not all of whom agree with the national policy, to decide to rewrite, abbreviate, condense the documentation concerning how they should live simply to be seen to be different makes little apparent sense. For goods manufactured in the UK and carrying a UKCA mark, the question to be asked is, will that provide a better marketing edge than they had before? For the placement of goods into the UK requiring a UKCA mark, will that do more than increase cost? And for the good folks who live in the no-mans-land of Northern Ireland, will they see more benefit in voting to join the south and remain in the EU as they voted to do during the BREXIT election?

The Covid Pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the UK economy not experienced since the 1940’s. However, in reducing demand, it has also decreased the possible strains which massive change always brings. What will follow is at the time of writing, anyone’s guess. For those whose daily activities rely on stability, organisation and planning (particularly supply chain managers), it would appear that BREXIT has brought little to look forward to inside the UK. Change does bring opportunities but these always need to be identified and taken advantage of. Given the UK back office has yet to finish the selection/installation of much of its software programs, it would appear to be unlikely to hit the road running when the global economic recovery kicks in. For those unable to wait, the setting up of better supply chains inside GB may be the urgent answer? Unfortunately, a better crystal ball may provide a clearer picture but it can’t change what is in it!

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FINdex Maintains Growth Despite Supply Disruptions Supply chain disruptions did not derail the FIN Fastener Stock Index in the opening quarter of 2021. The FINdex maintained its brisk pace during the quarter, climbing 9.6% compared to a 6.5% gain by an index of related industrial stocks. Tree Island Steel achieved the highest stock gain during Q1, rising 72.4%. During 2020, Tree Island revenues increased 7.7% to $215.9 million due to higher shipped volumes. Gross profit increased to $25.9 million, and gross margin climbed to 12% from 8.9% in 2019. Other fastener companies with rising share value during Q1 included Carpenter Technology (up 41.3%); Chicago Rivet (up 11.5%); Dorman Products (up 18.2%); Fastenal (up 2.9%); ITW (up 8.6%); Howmet Aerospace (up 12.6%); Lawson Products (up 1.9%); MSC Industrial (up 6.9%); Nucor (up 50%); Park Ohio (up 1.9%); Simpson Mfg. (up 11%); and Stanley Black & Decker (up 11.8%). Fastener stocks losing value during the first quarter: EACO - Bisco Industries (down 4.5%); Grainger (down 1.8%); and TriMas (down 4.2%). During 2020, the FINdex increased 10% during the year, lower than the 12.8% rise in stock value by an index of related industrial stocks.

REPORT: Industrial Fastener Demand to Grow 4% CAGR The global industrial fasteners market is predicted to expand at over 4% CAGR through 2031, while the demand graph for threaded and plastic industrial fasteners is set to climb among diverse end-use sectors, according to a new report by Fact.MR. “While the outbreak of COVID-19 affected industry growth temporarily in 2020, with the commencement of vaccinations and adoption of the new normal, the automotive, building & construction, and other key end-user sectors have started getting back on their feet since the last quarter of the year,” the report found. “As such, overall industry outlook has remained positive during the last 5 years from 2016 to 2020.” With manufacturers of industrial fasteners incorporating advanced technologies and making heavy investments in various research & development (R&D) activities, the industry is projected to expand further over the coming years. Fast and steady recovery of the automotive industry and growing adoption of industrial fasteners in commercial & residential construction projects are anticipated to increase supplier revenue in the U.S. Germany’s advanced automotive sector and rise in the number of construction & building projects after overcoming hurdles due to the pandemic position that country for strong growth as well, according to the report. Likewise, China is expected to register substantial growth in the coming years, with demand from the construction, automotive, and home appliance sectors boosting sales of industrial fasteners in that Asian country. As the world’s largest vehicle market, China expects automobile output will reach 35 million by 2025. India has emerged as a lucrative country in terms of demand, sales, and production of industrial fasteners, and is expected to grow further through 2031. Abundance of raw materials and labor, and high demand from the construction sector are fueling sales in India. Presently, plastic is gaining traction in terms of material for industrial fasteners. According to Fact.MR, this segment will gain further popularity owing to such advantages as: • Lightweight

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• Cost-effective

• Flexible in terms of usage

• Free from the drawbacks due to rusting

American News Non-threaded and aerospace grade industrial fasteners are expected to further fuel the sales of suppliers through 2031. The automotive and construction industries have high demand for industrial fasteners. Other key end-use segments are aerospace and home appliances.

WINA Forms Würth Additive Group Würth Industry North America (WINA) formed Würth Additive Group, a new U.S. company incorporated in Delaware and based in Indianapolis to provide expanded 3D printing products and services, including financing and rental options on equipment. WINA began providing additive products and services in 2017 with rapid prototyping and printing production tools. It now offers full digital Kanban solutions by integrating 3D printing technology in its existing vendor managed inventory programs. “We are thrilled to bring innovative digital supply chain solutions to our customers,” stated WINA CEO Dan Hill. “By integrating industrial 3D printing technology with our existing inventory programs, we can offer faster time to market, lower inventory costs, and improved environmental sustainability practices. We’re able to cut out the sourcing, purchasing, and transportation costs and deliver the value directly to the customer.” “We’re excited to offer rental and financing options and provide additive manufacturing solutions to a wider market,” said AJ Strandquist, newly appointed CEO of Würth Additive Group, said Würth can now provide additive manufacturing solutions to a wider market. “Our mission is to enable, implement, and support a digital supply chain solution that is dependable and beneficial for our customers to operate,” Strandquist explained. “We do this by offering a clear implementation process, cost-saving options, ongoing support, a strategic supplier portfolio, and financial services for instant return on investment.” Strandquist joined Würth in 2014 and most recently served as director of 3D product solutions for WINA before his promotion. He is the son of Optimas Solutions CEO Marc Strandquist. WINA signed a global distribution agreement with industrial metal and carbon fiber 3D printer provider Markforged in March 2020. Würth has added several strategic suppliers to its portfolio of additive solutions, offering a wide range of printers and materials for industrial applications. Its digital supply chain strategy includes additive manufacturing/3D printing, digital part files, and inventory assessment software that help customers cut costs and reduce operational risk. WINA is a $1 billion division of the Würth Group, with 110 locations providing 420,000 fasteners and C-parts plus services.

The Changing Face of Fastener Plating and Coating It’s easy to assume that plating and coating options for fasteners are “set in stone.” But changes in regulations and standards require ongoing attention, according to Laurence Claus, founder of NNi Training and Consulting. “You need to make sure that something doesn’t get dropped in on you that causes surprise,” stated Claus, who has almost 25 years of experience working in the fastener and automotive part supplier industries. For example, cadmium has been gone for 30 years and it’s never coming back, but cadmium replacement remains a hot topic, especially in the Defense industry. Likewise, hex chrome was severely limited 15 years ago. “It’s been proven to be dangerous to people and the environment,” Claus explained. EU efforts to ban hex chrome in cars forced the U.S. to follow suit. And it’s possible that a future initiative while ban hex chrome use altogether, he explained. “We continue to see improvements in chromates and other plating alternatives to address the loss.” In general, no regulatory changes are imminent, Claus noted. “Nothing really new to report, but none of these regulations are going away. They evolve over time.” For example, RoHS - the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC - has had several revisions since it was adopted in 2003.

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American News “Keep these topics on your radar because things change. Every finish being applied to fasteners is a result of some standard, which can get revised.” By design, industry standards are reviewed and often updated at least every five years. Examples include ASTM F1941/F1941M and ISO 4002, which have undergone significant changes in recent years. “We will see a rebirth of the discussion about updating hydrogen embrittlement requirements,” Claus predicted. There are also customer requirements that change, including accelerated corrosion testing, elimination of chrome products and the addition of new plating and coating standards or options. “It’s really important that we chose platings and coatings based on solutions to the customer’s needs.”

Fastener Companies Face Supply Challenges Shipping logistics and other supply chain challenges are dominating the focus of fastener distributors and manufacturers, panelists of a National Fastener Distributor Association presentation stated. Product availability is affected by raw material demand in Taiwan, which is causing delays as long as six weeks, according to Melissa Patel, supply chain director at Field Fastener. Likewise, lack of shipping availability, coupled with domestic rail delays, have added weeks to deliveries, Patel noted. And exchange rates have compounded the problems fastener companies face. “I don’t recall another time when exchange rates have been so prominent in management discussions,” explained Patel, who has worked for Field for 18 years. Optimas Solutions CEO Marc Strandquist echoed those concerns. “Covid is an issue that makes it so difficult to run a business, both in terms of supply side and internally,” Strandquist stated. “Import orders are big right now. Everybody is ordering extra, creating a false demand.” One manufacturer told Strandquist that one customer who generally orders 100,000 pieces just ordered 15 million. “Some manufacturers domestically are in heaven.” In response, steel prices are rising and there is speculation about allocations. In addition to rising costs, there are quality issues as an uptick in business has led to less experienced workers producing questionable products, Patel said. Factoring in 301 tariffs that the Trump administration placed on Chinese fasteners and other products, Field constantly evaluates reshoring products, Patel noted. “We are always looking to make sure we have the best total cost for any item we produce.” While Optimas Solutions has a strong percentage of domestic products, global supply side issues have placed added pressure on reshoring. “Customers are challenging us to reshore more because they’re worried about the length and financial stability of the supply chain,” Strandquist said. There are two components of steel price: base price and surcharge, Strandquist pointed out. “The surcharge is going up and down right now,” he said. Despite all the uncertainty in the supply chain, OEM planning is not getting more accurate. “I don’t anticipate that changing or improving,” Patel explained. “They’re paying us to manage this for them.” Strandquist echoed that sentiment. “There’s no appreciation. As far as customers are concerned, it’s just a bolt. You can go down to K-Mart for that.” In response, fastener suppliers have been forced to use air freight to meet customer demands, Strandquist said. But that option is “cost prohibitive” because fasteners are lower value and quite heavy compared to computer chips. “There is madness in the supply chain. Everybody is killing themselves to keep up with it.”

Semblex Announces Changes to Senior Management Semblex Corporation, Elmhurst, IL, USA, and parent company, Jinhap Company, Ltd., announce the following management changes effective on May 1, 2021. Jinsoo Kim, current President, has been promoted to lead the international businesses of Jinhap and oversee operations outside of Korea, which include Jinhap firms in China and Semblex in the USA. He will be relocating to Korea later this year. Kim has been at Semblex since it was acquired by Jinhap in 2014 and has served Semblex as Chief Operating

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American News Officer and, most recently, as CEO and company president since March 2019. Gene Simpson, former Semblex’s Chief Operating Officer, has been promoted to replace Kim as CEO and company President. Prior to his COO role, Simpson served in several key management positions at Semblex over the last 29 years including Vice President of Quality & Engineering and Director of Engineering Services. Semblex Corporation, which was established in 1968, is a premier supplier of innovative cold-formed product solutions to the world’s leading manufacturers. These manufacturers look to significantly reduce their assembly-related costs or are challenged to find the best way to fasten new materials which are emerging in their industries. Semblex Corporation provides its customers with the latest fastening products and technologies, along with precision cold-formed and machined components, and special assemblies.

Optimas Adds Larger Diameters to Existing Fastener Production Optimas Solutions, Glenview, IL, USA, a global industrial manufacturer/distributor and service provider, announced it has added larger diameter (M12-M18) fastener production of the industry standard MATHread® and Taptite 2000® licensed products. The larger M12-M18 MATHread and Taptite 2000 diameters enhance Optimas’ licensed products manufacturing capabilities that already included smaller diameters of MATHread, Mortorq®, Phillips Square-Driv®, Remform® and Taptite 2000® brands. These enhanced, larger diameter capabilities complement existing smaller diameter offerings, and further support Optimas’ continued quest to deliver industry leading manufacturing solutions to distributors and OEMs directly. “We’ve been manufacturing licensed fasteners for smaller diameters for a number of years,” said Marc Strandquist, CEO of Optimas. “Now with technological upgrades made at our Wood Dale, IL, USA and Droitwich, UK manufacturing facilities, we can produce larger diameters of licensed products to make us more competitive in a variety of industries that require larger fasteners, such as automotive, heavy duty trucks, construction machinery and agricultural equipment.” By adding these larger diameter capabilities, Optimas can build on partnerships with reputable OEM brands wanting to onshore more manufacturing with licenses especially beneficial to industrial applications. These licenses allow Optimas to supply its customers next generation fastening solutions which guarantee measurable advantages, including improved performance, reduced installation times, and weight savings and cost savings. Optimas offers cold-forming manufacturing for a variety of fasteners at its Wood Dale and Droitwich facilities including self-threading designs for metals and a roll-forming design for plastics. “We continue to improve our manufacturing capabilities by working with high-quality, well-respected fastener licensers, such as MATHread, Phillips and Taptite,” said Strandquist. “As we continue to roll out our Manufacturing Solutions strategy that we announced in the third-quarter of 2020, it was a natural progression to add larger diameter licensed product capabilities for existing and new customer applications.”

Tanner Bolt & Nut & Parker Fasteners Distribution Agreement Tanner Bolt & Nut Inc., Brooklyn, NY, USA is pleased to announce an agreement has been reached with Parker Fasteners, Buckeye, AZ, USA, to become the exclusive master distributor in the United States for its Lock-Out® maximum security screw. Lock-Out is a new and innovative security fastener featuring a unique patented drive that is engineered to perform in high torque applications. The distinctive oval center pin and multiple drive/key combinations give customers the option to select higher levels of security in a tamper-proof fastener. Installation bits are not sold commercially. Installation bits will only be sold through Tanner. Lock-Out is available in a multitude of head styles, threads, diameters, lengths, materials and finishes. Diameters range from 1/4" to 5/8", M1.4 to M16, and #0 to #10, with lengths up to 12" for certain diameters. Materials available include carbon steel, stainless steel 302HQ, 304, 316, A286 and brass alloy steel 4037, 8740. For absolute maximum protection of the customer’s property or product, Lock-Out can be manufactured with a one-of-a-kind, drive pattern that is exclusive to the customer’s company. Tanner received its initial stock order in early March 2021 and will continue to bolster its inventory throughout the year. Made-to-order product typically will ship in eight to ten weeks. Tanner Bolt & Nut Inc. is a nationwide distributor of premium industrial and security fasteners, code compliant anchors, safety, and products as well as power tool accessories. For more than 40 years, Tanner’s knowledgeable sales and support staff has committed to a customer first approach, delivering innovative quality products. Tanner partners with over 50 well known quality brands that provide our customers with industry leading experience, innovation, and quality control. Parker Fasteners is a premier ISO & AS9100 Rev D-registered cold heading manufacturer, which sources all raw materials from American sources including DFARS compliance. Parker Fasteners takes great pride in manufacturing quality fasteners, engineered to meet customer product specifications and delivering on or before the promised due dates.

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American News Greenkote Sees More Anti-Corrosion Coating Orders for Metal Fasteners Greenkote, a global provider of advanced anticorrosion metal coatings, has announced a major expansion of production capacity at its headquarters facility in Brook Park, OH, USA. The expansion comes in response to an upsurge in demand for corrosion protection on environmentally exposed metal fasteners and hardware in several different industries. “I don’t know if climate change may be a part of it, but we’re seeing notable increases in anticorrosion coating orders for all kinds of different metal parts that are exposed to the elements,” said Greenkote CEO, Mark Gore. “The orders are coming from a range of sectors, including automotive, rail, electric power distribution, wind power generation and others. These are all applications that have fasteners, fixtures and other metal hardware exposed to long-term outdoor atmospheric corrosion.” “It’s also possible that we’re getting more than our share of this business because of a couple of other factors,” added Gore. “Number one, Greenkote coatings are actually diffused into the metal surface, making them damage resistant, longer-lasting and betterperforming than older treatments such as galvanizing and paints. Another factor is eco-friendliness. Many other coating processes involve acids and other polluting chemicals, so their use is increasingly restricted by environmental regulation. But, as the name implies, Greenkote is uniquely benign to the environment.” Gore stated that installation of the additional Greenkote coating equipment in Brook Park has been completed and the facility is now fully operational with significantly expanded capacity. Greenkote provides anticorrosion coating services for construction, automotive, rail, utilities and many other industries in which parts are exposed to weather or harsh and corrosive environments. Greenkote can be applied to a broad range of metal parts, from threaded fasteners to stamped and cast pieces, in sizes from 0.2" to 78". Proprietary Greenkote coatings have been replacing several older anticorrosion processes such as galvanizing, hot-dip, sherardizing and metal flake. In addition to increased corrosion protection, Greenkote technology provides superior adhesion, longer wear and more conformal coverage, which allows its use on complex geometries such as small threaded parts. Greenkote also eliminates metal failures that are caused by hydrogen embrittlement, an intrinsic problem with many traditional coatings. Greenkote is applied by a patented zinc-based dry thermal diffusion process that requires no hazardous chemicals and produces no toxic by-products. Consequently, it is uniquely friendly to humans and to the environment.

John Wolz, Editor of FIN (globalfastenernews.com) Mike McNulty, FTI VP & Editor (www.fastenertech.com)

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The Salvation of the Automotive Industry is by the Work of the Automotive Industry Itself The Russian automotive industry needs to restore the domestic production of components, in fact - to revive the

whole industry of auto components.

In theory, requirements for the level of localization are constantly increasing in Russia. But no real incentives have emerged to create new component industries on the scale the industry needs. Experts estimate the losses from the loss of the auto component industry by the country, expressed in the cost of purchasing components abroad, at 1 trillion rubles a year. “In most developed countries, the automotive industry is one of the main locomotives of the economy. Because the production of vehicles is an excellent generator of both budget revenues and jobs. But this is only if the national auto industry is an unified complex of assembly plants and factories for the production of components. In this case, the industry is confidently standing on two legs", - comments on the situation the Deputy General Director of “ASM-Holding”, and Honored Economist of Russia Alexander Kovrigin. Car manufacturers and, in particular, “GAZ”, concerned about the fate of the industry, have developed their own plan not only to support, but to create a new industrial model that is sustainable in the face of global disasters and based on the creation of value chains within the country. The plan envisages, in particular, investing 240 billion rubles in auto component production for five years, while half of these funds are producers' own investments, and the other half is financed by the state, which then receives powerful returns in the form of increased tax revenues and the creation of new jobs. Many countries have followed a similar path. At the same time, experts suggest giving an advantage to projects for creating critical components, and making targeted programs for creating such ones as a priority.

Largest Marketplaces Doubled DIY Sales Leaders of the Russian online retail are becoming active players in the DIY & Household market. “Wildberries” and “AliExpress Russia” marketplaces reported more than two-fold growth in sales of household goods and repairs. New formats of interaction with suppliers helped them to attract new buyers to their sites. "This winter the most popular categories of tools for repair and gardening on the local marketplace were sets of working tools, power tools for the garden, welding machines, electric drills and electric saws”, - clarified in "AliExpress Russia". In the fall of 2020, “AliExpress” launched a new format of superstores, the first of which was “Big Home” - a hypermarket of local household goods. The new sales scheme was also tested in “Wildberries” last year. The company began working on the FBS model, in which the seller is directly involved in storing, processing and packing orders.

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Fasteners from the Oryol Steel Rolling Plant (part of Severstal-Metiz, the Severstal hardware group) were used in the construction of a new railway bridge across the Akhtuba River in the Astrakhan Region. Oil, sulfur, salt, metal, timber, building materials, grain and vegetables are transported along this section of the route. The new engineering structure will become an international transport corridor and will connect Siberia and Moscow with the ports of the Caspian, Azov and Black Seas. The old bridge was built 85 years ago and was single-track. Up to 20 million tons of cargo will be transported over the new bridge per year. Fastener World no.188/2021

Russia News

Severstal-metiz Invests in Oryol This year the company will make a record investment of one billion rubles to the development of the Oryol Steel Rolling Plant (part of Severstal-Metiz, the Severstal hardware group), which is 11 times more than last year. The company will modernize production. Cold heading and thread rolling machines, drawing lines and load-lifting cranes - more than 20 units of main equipment will be renewed to the maximum. All units will be equipped with modern electronic equipment: numerical software, LCD displays and control joysticks. At the same time, the workspace will be organized according to the highest international safety standards. Thanks to the investment program, 56 new jobs will be created. The company's investment plans confirm the stable development of Oryol hardware production. Despite the pandemic, Oryol Steel Rolling Plant ended the year with growth. Shipments of finished goods rose 4 percent to nearly 69,000 tonnes, breaking a five-year record. More than a hundred new products were mastered. “This is the first time we have received such a significant investment. All projects are quite large-scale, but we plan to complete most of them this year. The modernization of production is planned both for current tasks and for the implementation of projects for the development of new products”, - comments Alexey Erenichev, director of the Oryol Steel Rolling Plant.

Alexander Ostashov, editor of "Fasteners, Adhesives, Tools and..." Magazine Mariya Valiakhmetova, editor of "Metiz" Magazine

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n a e p o r Eu News

Expander Evolves from Supplier to Global Expert Nord-Lock Group has made a large investment in its pivot business, Expander, to better serve the needs of its global customer base. The newly expanded facility in Åtvidaberg, Sweden, has increased by 130 percent to 3,500m² - making room for modern manufacturing, a premium technical centre, as well as high-volume order handling. Expander is the original solution for expanding pivot axles – supplying the aftermarket. The innovative pivot solutions are installed directly into the existing machine mounting without the need for welding or line boring, providing a permanent solution to lug wear. The company’s production flow is completely digitised, enabling high quantities of customer-unique orders to leave the factory within 48 hours. Expander System has over 35 years of knowledge and experience as the original inventor of pivot pins with expanded sleeves. These pivot pioneers have now delivered over 1.5 million Expander Systems worldwide. The factory expansion will allow Expander to increase its order volume by eight and the new Pivot Performance Technical Centre will further accelerate product development and support customer needs. The site will also become more sustainable due to the factory’s reduced energy consumption, improved worker environment and lower carbon footprint.

In-house Wood Construction Screws by Eurotec Eurotec GmbH is able to supply a wide range of wood construction screws that can be used for a number of different applications including load-bearing timber frame joints, timber engineering, multiple hall constructions or renovation of ceilings. The company points out its range of wood construction screws feature high corrosion resistance; applicability in service classes 1 to 3; as well as a good resistance to mechanical loading. The screws can also be utilised for carpentry work. Eurotec’s range of wood construction screws includes the Paneltwistec range, which Eurotec mentions is known for being an ‘all rounder’ among screws. It is available in different steel grades, head shapes, and screw tips, and each screw has special properties that are suitable and necessary according to the application. In load-bearing timber constructions, for connecting timber wood or steel wood joints, Eurotec offers its KonstruX screws. They are characterised by a full thread that increases thread extraction resistance in the components.

Snap Instead of Screw The patented DIRAK-SNAP-Technology (DST) creates high strength connections that are absolutely equal to screwbased solutions, but achieved with no tools at all, with installation in just seconds. The idea behind DIRAK-SNAP-Technology is incredibly simple. It uses the operating principle of a slam-latch, which is commonly found in doors for houses or rooms. It is based on a guide with tapered clamping jaws and a spring positioned in a window inside the guide. If this fastener is then pressed through a cutout, the angled insert of the clamping jaws pushes the SNAP element back like a latch bolt in the guide channel and the spring is tensioned. As soon as the height of the clamping jaws is surpassed during the insertion process, the tensioned spring presses the SNAP elements back out of the guide channel. A distinctive SNAP sound can be heard as this happens. The result is a fastener now wedged in the cutout and holds the elements to be joined together with great strength. DST withstands high strains and guarantees high strength and pull forces equal to screw connections in every regard. In addition, DST products are rattle, vibration and shock-proof. Numerous DST solutions have been tested for vibration and shock (DIN EN 61373) as well as earthquakes (GR-63-CORE, Issue 4).

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European News Howmet’s Huck® Range Force™ Battery Tool Howmet Fastening Systems has developed the Huck® Range Force™ battery Tool, which it states is a portable powerhouse for multiple applications and industries including aerospace, solar, transportation, and construction. The Huck® Range Force™ battery tool has an electronically adjustable pull force and long stroke of 1.18 inch (30mm) to enable installation of structural and non-structural blind rivets, as well as two piece lockbolts up to ¼ inch (6.4mm) in diameter. With a quick nosepiece change and a simple one finger pull force adjustment, the tool is ready for the next style of fastener. Using a 18V lithium-ion 5.0Ah battery, the Huck Range Force industrial strength tool is highly portable, reliable and versatile. The tool is also lightweight weighing between 4.8lbs - 5.5lbs depending on battery used, as well as being ergonomic. Battery recharge time is approximately 45 minutes.

SFS Shows a Distinct Recovery in the Second Half Year SFS Group achieved organic growth of 3.7% in the second half of 2020, driven by a distinct recovery in demand and seasonal effects. Sales for the 2020 financial year amounted to CHF 1.705 billion (€1.57 billion). SFS reports that higher production capacity utilisation and strict cost management as well as mixed effects supported profitability in the second half of the year. For the 2020 financial year an operating profit of approximately CHF 227 million was realised, which corresponds to an EBIT margin of 13.3%. While demand in the first half of the year fell sharply in some areas due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a clear and sustained recovery in demand in various end markets and regions from the summer months onward. For instance, the automotive-related business areas, which had been heavily impacted by the collapse in demand and factory shutdowns at key customers during the first half of the year, showed a strong recovery. In the second half of the year, sales momentum also profited from successful product launches with customers from the electronics industry. Sales grew organically by 3.7% in the second half of the year compared to the previous year period. In the first half of the year, sales showed a decline of –10.4% in organic terms. For the full year, organic sales growth was -3.2%. Gross sales for the 2020 financial year amounted to CHF 1.7 billion. Sales in the Fastening Systems segment for the period under review amounted to CHF 489.7 million, which corresponds to a decline of -1.7% compared to 2019. Despite signs of a recovery, Hilti Group’s 2020 sales of CHF5.3 billion were 9.6% below the level of the previous year. In local currencies the decline amounted to 4.3%. CEO Christoph Loos commented: “The signs of recovery further solidified over the last four months of 2020 and our sales figures have stabilised. Total sales are below the previous year's level, to the extent expected, which means that the downturn has been less severe than initially feared.” Developments in the regions varied greatly, strongly influenced by the duration and extent of local lockdowns. In local currencies this resulted in only a slight overall decline in sales of 2.7% in Europe. There was a clear north-south divide, with growth in Scandinavia and Central Europe and upper single-digit declines in Southern Europe. North America was also pleasingly robust, with a local decrease of only 4.3%. Significant reductions were recorded in the Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa region (-8.2%), Latin America (-8.1%) and Asia/Pacific (-7%), with major differences from country to country. For example, while encouraging growth was achieved in China and Russia, there was a larger slump in Southeast Asia and the Gulf States in particular. The Hilti Group expects a moderate economic recovery for the current year which will vary from region to region and depend heavily on the course of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming months.

News provided by: Fastener + Fixing Magazine www.fastenerandﬁxing.com

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Industry Focus

Analysis of the

Industrial Production Index (IPI) of the EU in 2020 by Shervin Shahidi Hamedani

Introduction The industrial production index (IPI) which is sometimes called industrial output or volume index is a business cycle indicator (the ups and downs of economic growth over time) which measures monthly changes in the price-adjusted output of industry. In this article we will go through the industrial production index measured in the European Union (EU) last year. In simple words, countries in order to analyse their IPI must have the details of their industry's gross output as well as the inputs used in the production of those outputs. For some countries those data may not be available on a monthly or even quarterly basis, and therefore, in practice, suitable alternative values for the measurement of the production index are used. Additionally, there are multiple industrial factors whose changes considerably impact the calculation of the industrial production index which should be taken into consideration. These factors include changes in type and quality of commodities, changes in materials of inputs, changes in stocks of finished goods and services, and work in progress, changes in processing tech, the technical relationships between inputs and outputs, and last but not least, services including assembly of production units, repairs and planning. Within the industry, these factors consist of gross production values, production quantities data, turnover, work, raw material and energy input. These data can be different in sectors and verticals. For instance, in construction those data can be consumption of typical raw materials, energy and labour as inputs and production quantities, production values and sales values as outputs. It is notable that, all of these values must be deflated values.

EU Industrial Production Index Overview In the last two decades, the total industrial output has been on a reasonably steady growth path. Before the financial and economic crisis, the average annual growth of the industrial production index between 2000 and 2007 in the EU-28 had been about 1.7%. The production level reached its highest value in April 2008 and then for one year it continuously went down by more than 22 percent points until April 2009. In Spain, for instance, the IPI dropped by nearly 27 percent point. Afterwards, a moderate dynamic recovery was placed only for about two years, but again in May 2011, IPI collapsed. The EU's average IPI for 2013 was almost equivalent to its level in 2003. Afterwards, the IPI had a slight but stable increment until the index value nearly reclaimed its pre-crisis position by the end of year 2017. The IPI has been stagnated for two years within year 2018 and 2019 until last year when the whole world faced the pandemic crisis.

Covid-19 Crisis and Industrial Production Index The Covid-19 crisis in 2020 hit the whole world and caused an enormous fall in industrial production, globally and regionally especially for durable consumer goods and capital goods such as machinery and tools. Although in the subsequent months the industrial production index moderately recovered, in the first half of 2020, the production of durable consumer goods reduced by more than a quarter between February and April. The private sector economy fell in April where the region's four largest powers recorded depression extremely worse than those seen during the 2008 financial crisis. The EU's Industrial Production Index (IPI) for the last 2 years has been illustrated in the chart on the next page. This chart exhibits how Covid-19 crisis has drastically reduced the IPI value in March, April, and the following months. In terms of the industrial groups, if we compare the 3 major industrial categories’ IPI during the Covid-19 crisis, the production of non-durable goods was slightly more stable than other groups. The production of capital and intermediate goods decreased tremendously in March and April but then recovered in the subsequent months. The third major industrial group, energy products, faced the recession but not to the same extent as other product groups did. However, the recovery of this group was comparatively slow.

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sales@amproducts.com.tw www.fastener-world.com/en/supplier/a&m

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Industry Focus 2019-2020 EU's Industrial Production Index (IPI) 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31 31 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2019 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021

Index 105.2 105.1 105.2 104.4 105.2 103.8 103.7 103.8 103.9 103.3 102.8 101.4 103 102.9 91.5 74.6

91.8 96.2 97.1 97.2 99.6 101.8 101.7 102.5

Industrial Production Index Development by Country Since the Covid-19 control orders varied among countries in the region in respect of timing and severity, it was to be estimated that the effects on industrial production would also differ. During the peak months of the crisis, Italy, Slovakia, Cyprus, and Hungary faced enormously high negative rates of change. Subsequently these countries indicated high rates during the recovery months since May. Last year, the general growth since May 2020 was largely adequate to recover most losses during the most serious stage of the crisis. Accordingly, ten countries consisting of Ireland, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Denmark, and Sweden have regained and surpassed the production level before the crisis. Industrial production in Ireland was even one third higher than the pre-crisis. Several other countries were almost close to the 100% while countries like Malta, Bulgaria and Germany were still more than 5% away from the production level before the crisis. Overall, as stated earlier the recovery has been quite robust for durable consumer goods (103.3 %) and for intermediate goods (100.1 %) and capital goods (100.1 %). The production level for energy was close to recovery (99.2 %) while the level for non-durable consumer goods was still relatively low (96.3 %).

German Industrial Production Index and the Fastener Industry To wrap up this article, the Industrial Production Index of the world's fourth largest and the EU’s largest economy, Germany, has been studied. As a result of the Covid-19 crisis the country’s Industrial production fell by 3.8 % YoY in Jan 2021, following a rise of 1.2% YoY in Feb this year and similar to almost every other country in the EU, German Industrial Production Index (IPI) nosedived dreadfully in April last year, by 24.416% YoY, as explained in the previous section. The IPI collapse can be translated into poor performance of overall industrial sectors in Germany such as fasteners, machinery, tools, etc. For a better illustration, the data from German fastener exports in year 2020 have been compared with the country’s IPI within the same year. The right figure contains a bar chart which shows the values of fastener exports from Germany to the global market (in million USD) and a line graph which exhibits German Industrial Production Index in 2020. As expected, the bar chart and the line graph follow a similar trend and both have their minimum values in April while facing steady growth between May and July.

120

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500.0

400.0

300.0

200.0

100.0 0.0

Eurostat database and publications

700.0 600.0

100

As stated, the IPI is an important indicator of performance of the industrial sector and the economy as a whole. The above figures simply show how industrial performance in various sectors and the Industrial Production Index are inter-related.

Sources: 1.

Fastener Export vs IPI

Fastener Export

IPI

(IPI Base year: 2015, Unit of Fastener Export: Million USD)

2. Trade Map, Trade statistics for international business development

World Fastener y b d e il p com

n a i l i z a Br News

Brazilian Automotive Production Dropped by 32% Originally expected to reach the production mark of over 3 million units in 2020, Brazil actually finished the year of 2020 with the 3rd worst decline margin on the top 20 global automotive producers list. After the recession in 2015-2016, an economic recovery in Brazil appeared and lasted for 3 years. Unfortunately, the Covid came later. However, the pandemic did not just affect Brazil. To analyze the automotive sector, one of the main boosters for fastener manufacture, Brazil once had a better economic moment in 2019. During the year of 2019, the production of Brazil reached 2,984,988 units of motor vehicles, a rise of 2.2% from 2018. To view by percentage, its result was the biggest among the top 20 countries, while the other 17 countries respectively produced more than one million units in 2019. To Brazilians, all perspectives were to finally break the “3 million units” barrier and get closer or break the 2014 result (which recorded the production of 3,146,386 units of vehicles).

World Automotive Production - Top 20 2019

2020

1° China

Countries

25,720,665

25,225,242

Variation -2.00%

2° USA

10,880,019

8,822,399

-19.00%

3° Japan

9,684,298

8,067,557

-17.00%

4° Germany

4,661,328

3,742,454

-24.00%

5° India

4,516,017

3,394,446

-25.00%

6° S. Korea

3,950,617

3,506,774

-11.00%

7° Mexico

3,986,794

3,176,600

-21.00%

8° Spain

2,822,355

2,268,185

-20.00%

9° Brazil

2,944,988

2,014,055

-32.00%

10° Russia

1,719,784

1,435,335

-17.00%

11° Thailand

2,013,710

1,427,074

-29.00%

12° Canada

1,916,585

1,376,623

-28.00%

13° France

2,202,460

1,316,371

-39.00%

14° Turkey

1,461,244

1,297,878

-11.00%

15° Czech

1,433,963

1,159,151

-19.00%

16° UK

1,381,405

987,044

-29.00%

17° Slovakia

1,100,000

985,000

-11.00%

821,060

880,997

7.00%

18° Iran 19° Italy 20° Indonesia

915,305

777,165

-15.00%

1,286,848

691,286

-46.00%

Sources: www.oica.net / www.anfavea.com.br

Last year, China (top 1 among the top 20) also got a negative result in automotive production, but just down 2% to 25,225,242 units, while Iran (top 18) showed the highest growth of 7% to 880,997 units. However, Brazil (top 9) showed a decline of -32%, one of the worst. Also, Indonesia showed a fall of -46% to 691,286 units. At the writing of this article, the local automotive production of Brazil in Q1 2021 closed with 597,700 units, up 1.99% compared to Q1 2020 (recording at 585,900 units) but down 13.35% compared to Q1 2019 (recording at 697,800 units) and down 14.64% compared to Q1 2018 (recording at 700,200 units).

Inox-Par Reported 11% Average Growth and is Searching for Partners Outside Brazil W i t h m o r e 35 ye a r s o f activities, t he compa ny has become a stainless steel fasteners expert. In Portuguese, “stainless steel” means “aço inoxidável”, however, it is quite common to

Eduardo Lopes, in front of Inox-Par Company Fastener World no.188/2021

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Brazilian News hear Brazilians pronouncing these two words simply as "inox". Normally, when someone refers to fasteners, it is quite common for Brazilians to use the word “parafuso”. Combining some of these words, in 1986 the Inox-Par Industry and Commerce Ltd. was founded. Currently, the InoxPar hires more than 70 direct employees and 30 indirect ones. Its operation (incl. industrial and storage units) measures more than 5,000m² in total and is only a 10-minute drive from the International Airport São Paulo, Brazil. Co-founder and Commercial Operations Director Inox-Par, Eduardo Lopes told that the company handles a mix of activities and is acting as a manufacturer and importer of fasteners, mainly made in stainless steel. Inox-Par executives participated in many most important fastener shows around the world to search for good supplier partners for increasing the distribution of its operation through the Inox-Par efficient system on the big and diversified markets in Brazil, mainly energy, window frames, food & beverage, and pharmaceutical sectors. Solar energy, in particular, has recently represented the share of more than 35% in all Inox-Par businesses. "We’ve got an average growth of 11% since last year. However, as the Inox-Par can still go further, the way for us can be to get some international companies from Asia, Europe, or North America to form alliances to let us achieve a rise in operations and good results, not just in Brazil, but also in our South American neighbours,” told Lopes.

Fastener Press Machines Now Subject to 0% Import Taxes in Brazil According to the news of Brazilian Official Diary (Diário Oficial da União) published on 02/17/2021, the press machines for manufacturing fasteners and special parts are also included in the most recent import taxes reduction of Brazilian Government. The current Brazilian economy officials have been more willing to lift barriers against certain product imports, such as machinery used by local fastener industries, mainly because of almost non-existence of similar machines directly manufactured in Brazil.

achiner y, Yih Tieng M razil ow room, B sh x fi ra pi S om model fr

Fastener Export & Import of Brazil in Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 The Brazilian currency depreciation could have been the cause of the export rise in volume and a drop in revenue; however, the import was also on the rise. In the first month of 2021, Brazilian fastener import reached US$52.27 million in value or 12,293.09 tons in volume. In February, the figure was US$ 54.31 million or 12,638.75 tons. Closing the Q1, the import in March reached US$ 121.28 million or 25,624.64 tons. The total import in Q1 2021 reached US$ 227.86 million (53.81% higher than the US$ 148.14 million record in the same period of 2020) and 50,556.48 tons, 60.66% higher than the 31,467.34 tons of import last year.

IMPORTS

Value (million)

Volume (tons)

Q1 2020

148.14

31,467.34

Q1 2021

227.86

50,556.48

Variation

53.81%

60.66%

EXPORTS

Value (million)

Volume (tons)

Q1 2020

32.54

5,267.47

Q1 2021

31.07

8,211.08

Variation

-4.7%

55.88%

The fastener export of Brazil in January 2021 was US$ 8.74 million, with the total volume at 2,258.77 tons; the fastener export in February was US$ 9.19 million, with the total volume at 2,202.12 tons; the fastener export in March was US$ 4.4 million, with the total volume at 1,491.42 tons. The total export in Q1 2021 reached US$ 31.07 million (4.5% less than the US$ 32.54 million export recorded in Q1 2020) and 8,211.08 tons (56% higher than the 5,267.47 tons of export recorded in Q1 2020), which both resulted from the severe depreciation of ‘real’, the Brazilian currency.

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Exhibition

MTA VIETNAM 2021 EMBRACES THE FUTURE OF VIETNAMESE MANUFACTURING 2021越南胡志明市國際工具機暨金屬加工設備展 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Informa Markets Vietnam, the Organiser of MTA Vietnam, has introduced countermeasures to ensure business continuity in our marketplaces – allowing and assuring our buyers and sellers their ability to connect not only when trade exhibitions are permitted, but also when communication and commerce move online and when health and safety measures require social distancing. Wherever buyers and sellers may be located, using our online solutions, we ensure our trade events remain effective with extended reach via the internet. The Machine Tool. Precision Engineering, Metal Working exhibition (MTA Vietnam 2021) is at the heart of introducing the advanced technology and modern machinery for Vietnam’s manufacturing enterprises. Not only serving as a national forum for manufacturers and operators to connect, network and go deep into the latest solutions, MTA Vietnam 2021 will be a one-stop platform of knowledge, insight, market trends and new opportunities for both local and international manufacturing players in the new era. 2021 is expected to be a great start for businesses after a tough year and we hope to support Vietnam’s manufacturers to withstand the impact of COVID-19 and encourage the recovery into the future. MTA Vietnam 2021 which takes place from 7-10/7/2021 at Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC), Ho Chi Minh City will be organized by combining in-person and virtual elements (hybrid event). Technology has completely eliminated distance barriers that aims to facilitate the interaction of event participants and to minimize the impact of travel restrictions due to pandemic. By choosing “Lean 4.0” as the theme of the event this year, we tend to emphasize the importance of the capability improvement for the recovery period. The pandemic has even accelerated trend to move supply chains away from China. Embracing the opportunities of factory move to Vietnam after the pandemic period, local enterprises need to be best prepared for changes by investing in high-quality equipment, improving the production line and enhancing workforce skills. Lean production is a well–known concept that must have been heard before but is continuing to be relevant at the heart of most manufacturing operations worldwide, especially in Vietnam, where its enterprises are still unfamiliar with the concept. The interrelation between the implementation of lean manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies will allow the Vietnamese enterprises to be enabled to improve flexibility and increase competitiveness. With a packed programme line-up that includes fringe events, webinars, TechTalk, a diverse range of products, MTA Vietnam 2021 will bring together industry experts, investors, leading researchers and practitioners to exchange and share their experiences, their research results on all aspects of Lean Manufacturing in Industry 4.0. These series of events will play as the interdisciplinary platform for policy makers, top managers, manufacturers to present and discuss the most recent market trends, innovations, perspective as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the new normal of Vietnam’s manufacturing industry. MTA VIETNAM 2021 will kick off with the webina r on “Vietnam’s Manufacturing: Mapping the road to recovery” that will be held on 11/5, giving an overview of Vietnamese manufacturing industry in the current economy context, analyze opportunities and challenges that businesses will face when entering the restart phase as well as providing knowledge and trends to help them gain the momentum needed in the coming time. Please register through this link: https://bit.ly/MW21Me For more details, please visit our website: http://mtavietnam.com/

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- Industry Update -

Fastener World

News compiled by Fastener World

World Steel Association Predicts Global Steel Demand to Grow 5.8% World Steel Association (WSA) predicts that the global steel demand will increase by 5.8% to 1.874 billion tons in 2021 and go up 2.7% to 1.924 billion tons in 2022. Vaccinations in many countries worldwide have helped slow down the pandemic. Although some economic measures imposed by certain countries have taken effect, advanced countries are still expected to spend several years to recover to the pre-pandemic level. On China alone, its local steel demand is expected to increase by 3% to 1.024 billion tons in 2021 and go up 1% to 1.035 billion tons in 2022. The effect of local market stimulus is waning, so the growth margin is on a downward trend. On the other hand, the steel demand in advanced countries is expected to increase by 8.2% to 371 million tons in 2021 and go up 4.2% to 386 million tons in 2022.

Indonesia Seeks Collaboration with Foreign Investors to Establish Its Own EV Supply Chain Indonesia has been devoted to developing a complete EV supply chain these years. The country seeks to collaborate with American, Japanese, South Korean and Chinese investors and sets goals to make 20% of cars produced in Indonesia be electric by 2025 and become a global EV and EV battery manufacturing hub. Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board announced LG Energy Solution will invest USD 9.8 billion to work with an EV battery group of 4 Indonesian companies (PLN, Pertamina, Aneka Tambang and MIND ID) to form a complete EV battery supply chain. Battery production is the key to EV industrial development. Indonesia is rich in materials including cobalt, nickel, manganese and other rare metals that allow for establishing a price-competitive EV industry. Joko Widodo (President of Indonesia) has set goals for the nation to start producing EVs in 2022, make the proportion of components used in any EV produced in Indonesia reach at least 35% by 2023, and make EV account for 20% of all Indonesian car production by 2025.

Taiwan CSC Announced Q2 Domestic Sales Prices with an Average Increase of 8.3% Taiwan CSC held a meeting on March 12th to discuss the domestic sales prices of steel products for the 2nd quarter of 2021. The meeting closed with the decision to increase the price of wire rods by NTD 2,000 per ton and increase the price of automotive materials by NTD 2,800 per ton. According to Taiwan CSC, considering the price adjustment for Q1 this year, which was not sufficient enough to cover their raw material costs, the significant difference between thei r prices a nd thei r c omp et it or s’, a n d t he cost fluctuations in Q2, t h ey h ave d e c i d e d t o i ncrease t he pr ices of relevant steel products for Q2 with an average price increase of 8.3%.

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- Companies Development Tong Ming to Achieve "10,000 Clients" and Alltime Shipment Record This Year Chi nese stai n less steel fastener distributor Tong Ming Enterprise said on April 14 that its number of clients will increase by more than 25% to over 10 thousand companies. The monthly shipment is expected to keep at around 10 thousand tons and the annual shipment at an all-time high of 100-200 thousand tons. Despite the pandemic last year, the company benefits from increased demand in infrastructure, railway transportation, and automated equipment for intelligent manufacturing, and sees its Q1 shipment at above 10 thousand tons. Tong Ming's clients increased from 5,000 to 8,000 companies and could continue this growth to breach 10 thousand companies. The company does not have enough capacity now as a result of a growing number of clients and stainless steel fastener applications. It expects to add 100 thousand tons to its capacity within 3 to 5 years.

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Fastener World News The LISI Group Achieved Sales of € 309.4 Million in Q1 2021 Sales for Q1 2021 are down 22.2 % compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further weighed on the Group's activity in varying proportions depending on the divisions: • LISI AEROSPACE : - 38.5 %, the "Fasteners" business, which had benefited from a good level of sales in Q1 2020, is the most severely affected • LISI AUTOMOTIVE : + 2.9 %, in line with the positive trend observed since the second half of 2020 • LISI MEDICAL : - 15.1 %, although sales are down, the outlook benefited from well oriented business

LISI Aerospace Signs an Extension of Contract with the Boeing Company LISI AEROSPACE, a division of the LISI Group, has entered into an agreement with the Boeing company to extend its current contract. LISI AEROSPACE is delighted with this contract extension so that the aerospace market is preparing for a return to growth after the market downturn in 2020. Within the framework of this contract, LISI AEROSPACE will continue to supply in support of all Boeing commercial programs (737, 747, 767, 777 and 787). LISI AEROSPACE is a global supplier of assembly solutions, as well as engine components and structure for aircraft.

Airbus and Malaysia Airlines Extend Widebody FHS Contract Airbus and Malaysia Airlines have signed an extension of their Flight Hour Services Components (FHS-C) contract for the carrier's A330 and A350 fleets, as an outcome from Malaysia Airlines' recently completed restructuring exercise. The agreement was signed in Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia Airlines Chief Operations Officer Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi and Airbus President Asia-Pacific Anand Stanley. The multi-year extension covers technical support by Airbus for the airline’s existing widebody fleet of A350s, A330s, as well as A330-200Fs operated by MASKargo. FHS-C provides component services including spare pool access, on-site-stock at the main base as well as components engineering and repairs. Through FHS-C, Airbus guarantees parts availability and secure aircraft technical performance thanks to high quality standards and component engineering. “We are pleased to extend our partnership with Airbus and trust the brand to provide the vital technical support for our widebody fleet. As we move forward as an airline and share our Malaysian Hospitality worldwide, the Airbus aircraft we fly will become a symbol of reliability and consistency,” said Malaysia Airlines Chief Operations Officer Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi. “We are pleased to continue our close relationship with Malaysia Airlines with the extension of this FHS agreement. Especially in these challenging times, Airbus strives to provide the highest quality, value-adds and tailormade solutions to our airline partners to support them and enhance the daily operations of their fleet,” added Anand Stanley, President Airbus Asia-Pacific.

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Fastener World News Chun Yu and QST Mark Double-digit Growth in March 2021 The wire rod giant Chun Yu reports its March unaudited revenue at NTD 912 million (up 20.89%) which is slightly lower than the highest record of NTD 915 million last December. The consolidated Q1 revenue is NTD 2.317 billion, up 19.63%. Chun Yu says vibrant fastener demand is driving the momentum for the domestic construction fastener market. Thanks to better epidemic control in Taiwan and undisrupted domestic production and transport, overseas clients are willing to place orders for fasteners as well as wire rods to Chun Yu, thereby increasing shipment and unit price. Automotive fastener company QST International reports its March revenue at NTD 910 million, the highest record over the last 5 months, up 42.16% from NTD 640 million last March. This indicates post-pandemic recovery of global automakers are driving a steady increase in orders to QST and that the company is walking out of depression. The positive outlook is expected to remain throughout this year.

Italian Growermetal Receives Quality Certification EN 9100

Jay-Cee Sales and Rivet Inc. Achieves Coveted ISO 9001:2015

Italian Growermetal is very pleased to announce that it has also achieved quality system certification according to the EN 910 0:2018 standard for the aerospace industry. EN 9100 has been developed by the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG), which established a quality management system controlled directly by the aerospace industry itself. Growermetal, thanks to the achievement of this certification has the great opportunity to be included in the Online Aerospace Supplier Information System (OASIS) database, from which the most important players of this industry can select their suppliers.

China Spacesat Provides Titanium Alloy Fasteners for Spacecraft China Spacesat released a financial report for 2020 which shows the operating income at RMB 7.007 billion (up 8.42%), total profit at RMB 477 million (up 14.92%), net profit attributable to shareholders at RMB 354 million (up 5.34%), and EPS at RMB 0.3.

Jay- Ce e Sa les a nd R ivet I nc., a Master Distributor of Rivets and other threaded fasteners, announced that it has been approved for and issued a Certificate of Registration for ISO 9001:2015. T he I nter national O rga n ization for St a nda rdization (ISO) maintains the ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality management and quality assurance. To achieve the certification, an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable statutor y a nd regulator y requi rements. T he cer tification aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. “We are very proud of this achievement,” says Greg Weitzman, Vice President of Jay-Cee Sales & Rivet, Inc. “The certification verifies the quality of our products and shows our dedication and commitment to our customers.” Jay-Cee Sales and Rivet Inc. a family owned business since 1948 is a Master Distributor of Rivets and other threaded fasteners to many different industries including automotive, medical, and aerospace just to name a few.

The company specializes in aerospace manufacturing and satellite applications. It has R&D and manufacturing bases in Beijing, Shenzhen, Xi'an and other places, and is capable of developing critical systems and core components. In aerospace manufacturing, it provides navigation receivers and fasteners for spacecraft, including aerospace fasteners made of titanium alloy, high-temperature alloy, aluminum alloy and steel. It can also provide inspection, heat treatment and surface treatment. In satellite applications, the company focuses on satellite communication, navigation and remote sensing. The company has had 263 patents and has 2,983 people in charge of R&D and technology management who account for 73.17% of all employees.

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Fastener World News ®

Taiwanese NAFCO Expects an Upturn in H2 as the Pandemic Slows

Taiwanese aerospace fastener manufacturer NAFCO took a big blow from the COVID pandemic and lost 80% of its profit last year. Looking ahead, NAFCO says as its aerospace clients still have some inventory to be consumed and the demand for automotive fasteners continues to rise, the whole business is still working hard on laying its foundation. However, the company expects vaccine passports and travel bubbles to be gradually in place to rejuvenate sales in the second quarter. NAFCO's net profit last year was NTD 60 million, down 82.9% with the EPS at NTD1.14. As countries embark on massive vaccination and are successively pushing for vaccine passports and travel bubbles, the market is on the lookout for aerospace recovery. NAFCO mainly supplies engine fasteners and other machined parts to primary clients such as GE and Rolls-Royce. The company says it doesn't sense an apparent upturn in purchase orders. The market situation may not be clear until mid-2021. Despite a far cry from aerospace recovery, it is worth noting that NAFCO's industrial business segment sees an increase in demand. The company supplies fasteners mainly for the American and European automakers, but it also taps into lightweight fasteners for new energy vehicles. Thanks to the upturn in the American and European car markets and increased demand, the business segment's revenue proportion has risen to 20%-30% from the pre-pandemic 10%.

BYD Auto into the Top 3 of 2020 Global EV Sales 2020 kicked off a global race of electric vehicle (EVs) sales. Statistics by EVvolumes, a Sweden EV research institute, show a total global sales of 3.24 million EVs for 2020, up a whopping 43% from 2.26 million EVs recorded in 2019. In brand ranking, Tesla topped the chart at 499.6 thousand EVs and Volkswagen came in second at 220.2 thousand EVs, followed by Chinese EV giant BYD Auto at 179.2 thousand EVs. In country ranking, China topped the chart at 1.3 million EVs, followed by Germany at 400 thousand EVs and the U.S. at 300 thousand EVs. France and UK both ranked 4th at 200 thousand EVs.

KPF Acquires Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Ministerial Certification K PF a n nou nced on Febr ua r y 23rd, 2021 t hat it has completed the final acquisition of the ministerial certification for its high-power bolts from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of Japan. KPF has proven expertise for fasteners and parts for construction, heavy equipment, and petrochemical plant since 1963. With advanced technology and experiences for forging, K PF entered t he automotive pa r t ma rket. K PF a lso operates global affiliates in Vietnam and China.

- Acquisitions Novaria Group Announces Acquisition of the Young Engineers, Inc. Novaria is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Young Engineers, Inc. (TYE). TYE is an expert in the design and manufacturing of aircraft and aerospace hardware, with a primary focus on fasteners and inserts. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. This acquisition continues Novaria’s expansion into aerospace fasteners. “We have made several acquisitions since April 2020, all of which are unique contributors to our evolving business model,” said Novaria CEO Bryan Perkins. “The acquisition of TYE is an integral part of our strategy to expand our portfolio of proprietary and qualified products we offer customers.” TYE operations will continue at its Southern California facility with its tenured, skilled employees, including former owner and president Pat Wells.

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Fastener World News - Associations BIAFD: No Let-up in Freight and Steel Cost Pressures “ It’s ever y bit a s ba d a s it wa s”. G r i m ly taciturn but typifying responses to the BIAFD’s latest check with members on fastener cost and availability pressures, emanating from the ongoing sea freight crisis and escalating metals costs. The common theme running through global Purchasing Managers Index reports for February was the sledgehammer impact on manufacturing of rising costs driven by supply chain disruption and raw material shortages. As a vital supply-chain to UK and Irish manufacturing and construction industries, members of the British & Irish Association of Fastener Distributors confirm these pressures are at unprecedented levels - and that they show no signs of easing in the foreseeable future. Any hope of improvement in sea-container freight rates and availability, once the Chinese New Year holidays were behind us, has rapidly been dashed, according to BIAFD members. As February closed, the hope was the holiday respite in Asian shipments might allow recovery of containers to key export ports. However, there is no evidence of improvement on the ground. Cargo is piling up in Asian ports and any capacity gains will be rapidly eroded as global demand continues to surge. One thing is sure, there is no let-up in container freight rates, which BIAFD members continue to report as five to six times higher than a year ago. Importers are facing ‘all up’ costs of up to £6000 for a 20DC container shipped from Asia to the UK. Depending on the product involved that can equate to as much as a third of the value of the box contents. If anything, rates look set to harden as shipping lines apply $500 seasonal surcharges early and seek to recover increasing fuel costs. Wit h replacement i nventor y u rgently needed to meet buoyant demand across many sectors, plus freight industry warnings of little better than 50/50 chances of containers sailing on schedule, importers are having to ‘bite the bullet’ and pay exorbitant rates to try to ensure earliest possible arrival. While Mainland China is at centre of shipment unreliability and escalating costs, BIAFD members report Taiwan being little better and arranging bookings from Vietnam ‘extremely difficult'.

The outlook? With a massive backlog of all types of sea-going cargo, continued major congestion in global ports, and surging demand as economies recover from Covid-19, freight agents are warning importers not to expect any improvements until at least June and most likely well into Quarter Three. BI A F D m e mb e r s h ave a lways i nve st e d h e av i ly i n inventory to smooth out the impact of the inevitable headwinds t h at b eset long-r a nge i mp or t i ng. However, t hese a r e not headwinds: overworked as the expression often is, ‘perfect storm’ really is an apt description right now. There are unavoidable realities for fastener consumers in all sectors. Shortages are now appearing for particular, in some cases high demand, sizes of nuts, bolts or screws. The levels of freight cost inflation simply cannot be absorbed and is now having to be passed on as substantial cost increases, with more inevitably to follow. T he i n f lationa r y pressu re from freight is f u r t her compounded by radical cost increases in steel and other key fastener manufacturing materials, including nickel, a major value element in stainless-steel fasteners. Carbon steel wire costs have escalated by more than twenty percent, with increases of ten percent or more already notified for Quarter Two. The picture is not unique to fasteners, as any steel buyer knows right now. Capacity is constrained and steel inputs, such as iron ore, are holding at historically high cost levels. Nickel market prices have escalated by more than forty percent year on year - driving sharp cost increases in wire for stainless steel fastener manufacturers. Equally concerning, wire lead-times are continuing to extend, with factories reporting real difficulty in sourcing all the material they need. W hatever a nd whenever t he event ual improvement i n container availability, freight rates and material costs, it is clear they will not subside to anywhere near the levels enjoyed in previous years. Fastener importers and distributors have no choice to commit to the current extraordinary cost levels if they are to stand any chance of fulfilling their core role of providing supply continuity for industry and construction. With lead times upwards - in some cases beyond 30 weeks - those commitments are set to impact fastener costs in the UK and Irish fastener markets, indeed fastener markets throughout Europe, for the rest of 2021.

HAI Welcomes New President HAI is pleased to welcome Michael O’Donohoe, Country Director at Wavin Ireland, as its new President for 2021-2022. Well-known and respected in the industry, Michael has been on the board of HAI since early 2017 and he has been Country Director of Wavin for the last six years. Prior to joining Wavin, Michael worked for nearly 20 years in various sales and marketing roles in various sectors. Aside from his role in HAI, Michael has other links to the construction sector through his chair of both the Building Materials Federation and the Irish Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association, as well as membership of the Construction Industry Council. Michael has a B.Sc. in Applied Sciences from Trinity College, an M.Sc. in Executive Leadership from the University of Ulster and is also a member of both the Marketing Institute of Ireland and the Institute of Directors.

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Dr. Fastener

Common Problems Faced by Manufacturing in

Nut Processing by Laurence Claus

Nuts, bolts, and screws, are usually manufactured in high volumes, which necessitate high speed manufacturing processes. When these processes are working correctly everyone is happy, but they are complicated and subject to occasional problems and glitches. This month Dr. Fastener is going to answer some questions related to common manufacturing problems and concerns in nut processing.

What is unique or different about nut manufacturing?

uts, like screws and bolts, are, generally, a high volume commodity. As such, the most predominant method of manufacturing them starts with cold forming a blank. However, lower volume or large size nuts more often use hot forging or screw machining techniques. For the purposes of this article, we will limit our discussion to the cold forming manufacturing method.

Therefore, when comparing nut products to screw and bolt products, a couple of significant differences immediately present themselves. First, the Aspect Ratio (or relationship between height and thickness) of nuts is almost always very “short and squat”. This geometry is uniquely different than the “long and skinny” geometry of screws and bolts, and means that we are unable to use the same cold forming machines. Nut Formers are usually faster, more nimble, multi-station formers. They will almost always be designed with a short stroke, since they do not need to push long parts out of the dies. Secondly, nuts have either hollow blind or through-hole features. Although nut designs may incorporate all of the cold heading capabilities; upsetting, forward extrusion, reverse extrusion, and shearing, most standard nuts rely heavily or exclusively on reverse extrusion processes. This results in a very different engineering and progression process than utilized in making

screws and bolts. Thirdly, for ease of manufacturing, the reliance on reverse extrusion and hollow or through-hole features necessitate the ability to flip the part over to work each end from either the die or punch side of the machine. To facilitate this, nut formers are usually equipped with Universal Transfer Mechanisms rather than a straight across Bolt Maker Transfer. The Universal Transfer allows the part to be flipped between stations so that both ends can be alternatively presented to the punch and die. Lastly, with through-hole nuts a thin web of material must be pierced to achieve the through hole. Whereas with bolts that receive a trimmed head and pushed through the die, nut piercing involves shooting a pin through the part to pierce the web. The nut is carried back towards the punch on that pin, where it is stripped off and exits the machine. Getting threads into nuts is also uniquely different than on screws and bolts. Nut threads are tapped by either plunging a tool in and out of the nut blank or by through-feeding the nut blank across the tap. Tapping can be either a cutting or forming process. Nuts that are to function as “Lock Nuts” must have the locking feature incorporated. Most lock nuts utilize one of three different methods; Side Locking, Top Locking, or Top Locking Insert. Although there are some analogous locking mechanisms for externally threaded fasteners, they are fundamentally different than those used in nuts, making the manufacturing methods for nuts unique. Fastener World no.188/2021

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Dr. Fastener What are some common problems experienced in forming nuts?

ikely the number one problem experienced in forming by nut manufacturers is set-up. The Operator just can’t seem to get the machine set-up correctly to successfully make the part. These problems can stem from a number of potential issues including engineering, operator error, tooling, and tool materials.

1. Engineering: Nuts are made in multiple, incremental steps. When the process is “engineered” the Process Engineer must figure out what he/she wants to accomplish with each step. These are called the “Progressions”. If the order isn’t correct or he/she is trying to do more than the operation is capable of producing, problems may ensue. Normally these issues are discovered during the PPAP or ISIR run and fixed then. However, it is possible that progressions which initially work or have worked for many production runs suddenly do not work on a particular run because some other variable has changed, exposing that one or more of the progression steps has exceeded an important boundary because it was designed near a functional limit.

2. Operator Error: There are many different possibilities for operator error. An operator may be inexperienced or simply having a bad day. One method that is helpful to address this, and often required by many customers, is to have a Process Control Plan for each operation. If these, and perhaps augmenting Work Instructions, are detailed enough, they can provide a powerful tool for operators to use to help get set-up right the first time.

3. Tooling: Tools are not always made correctly or operators have “tweaked” them to a point where they are no longer capable of producing the part to specification. For new tools, having some system of incoming certification or developing suppliers can often prove helpful in solving chronic problems. Everyone likes to get a bargain, but working with a tool supplier that chronically supplies substandard tooling is no bargain at all. Therefore, developing and maintaining good tool suppliers is critical to problem free manufacturing. Additionally, tools are often “tweaked” to get them to work the way an operators wants them to. That “tweaked” tool which worked with one coil of wire may not work for the next one. Operators or Tool Room personnel should have some way to record changes that have been made to tooling, so that these they can be easily and quickly ruled out during troubleshooting.

4. Materials: Manufacturers find that different tool materials work better for some parts or in specific progressions than other materials. When the optimal material is performing sub standardly or is substituted with a different material,

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problems often occur. With shortages due to the COVID pandemic, some manufacturers have been forced to substitute optimal tool materials with the next best alternative. This has created some industry problems.

The Universal Transfer sounds complicated, does it exhibit unique problems?

ransfer Mechanisms on all cold heading machines preform a critical but intricate function. Universal Transfers are not any more prone to problems than other styles of transfer mechanisms. Once the mechanism is properly “dialed in” and working correctly, they are pretty problem free. This is not to suggest that an operator can get it working and just walk away from the machine, like all the moving parts of the machine, they must always be vigilant for brewing problems. Like any transfer, the operator must get the Universal Transfer properly timed. The transfer mechanism must grab and hold the part at just the right moment, transfer without dropping the part, and release it at just the right moment. That can be an intricate “dance” and requires some experience by the operator or setup person to get right. However, once all of these variables are properly set, the transfer mechanism should run without many problems or glitches.

Does having a wide selection of machine brands cause problems?

he best answer here is probably yes and no. There is no doubt that having multiple different equipment brands may mean having separate tooling and spare maintenance parts. It also requires more rigorous education needs as engineers, operators, and maintenance personnel all have to be trained and skilled in multiple machine formats and operation.

Therefore, the answer to this question strikes at the heart of a manufacturer’s personal philosophy or need. In other words, the manufacturer may adopt a philosophy that having all one brand of equipment is advantageous. Perhaps one of the best examples of this philosophy in practice is the U.S. regional air carrier Southwest Airlines. Not only do they only purchase aircraft from Boeing, but all aircraft are the same model, the Boeing 737. In setting up their operation this way, they significantly simplify training of personnel and maintenance of their fleet. However, a similar strategy may not prove feasible for all nut manufacturers, as they may need a machine to provide a specific capability that is not available with their preferred brand or model of machine. Therefore, it is probably fair to say that having a wide selection of machine brands complicates the overall manufacturing operation, but, when properly managed is not a problem.

Dr. Fastener What are some of the common problems experienced in tapping? Perhaps the four most common tapping problems are: 1. Slivers and Debris in the threads

What are some common problems associated with Lock Nuts?

2. Broken Taps (Especially in blind hole nuts) 3. Worn-out Taps which result in rounded, chipped out, and undersized threads 4. Improper Feeding Like all manufacturing problems, these all have solutions. If any of these are chronic problems to a manufacturer, they should engage in continuous improvement and problem solving activities to determine ways to reduce or entirely eliminate the problem.

t should first be understood that these products which we refer to as “Lock Nuts” usually do not act ually permanently “Lock” the nut in-place on the screw or bolt. T he s e p r o duct s a r e mor e appropr iately categor ized as Prevailing Torque nuts. This means that they generate some additional interference or friction which places an added torque in the system that makes it more difficult for the nut to spin off. There are three primary styles of these types of nuts: Side Locking, Top Locking, and Top Locking Insert. All three categories depend on a mechanical feature or component to provide the desired added interference. Most problems arise from variation in this desired interference spanning a range of little or no added prevailing torque, making it difficult to distinguish between a plain nut and a locking nut, and too much prevailing torque, making it difficult or sometimes even impossible to assemble. These application problems and variability stem from the manufacturing process. In both the side locking and top locking variants, if the impressions made in the nut are over or under deformed or located in the wrong place (such as near the corner of the nut rather than the center of the flat) they will either generate a lot of application variation or simply not work correctly. These errors usually are a result of improper feeding, insufficient air or mechanical pressure, or broken and worn tooling. In top locking insert nuts, problems can stem from the insert component not being properly produced to the insert retention feature in the nut not being formed or pressed down correctly, allowing the insert to fall out. Additionally, most of these insert nuts use a Nylon insert. Nylon is hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbs or releases moisture depending on the moisture content in the surrounding at mosphere. T he resu lti ng swelli ng or contraction can dramatically impact the manufacturing results. Fastener World no.188/2021

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Industry Focus

Global Car

Production & Sales in 2020

Many industries around the world have waved farewell to the year 2020 after a year-long depression. As a key factor that is able to impact on the supply and demand of the global relevant manufacturing, the automotive industry in many countries has also officially stepped into the year of 2021, accompanied by a series of news about production shutdown, lack of materials, and surging manufacturing costs. On the other hand, as the automotive industry has been gradually turning its focus from traditional fuel and hybrid powered vehicles to pure electric vehicles (EV) in recent 2 years, several car manufacturers have also begun to dedicate themselves to the R&D of EV, which means that the design of vehicle structure may appear a revolution in the next couple of years and is very likely to cause drastic impact on the supply chain of traditional automotive fasteners and components. However, as the technology of pure EV is still not fullyfledged, the supporting packages are not completely ready yet, and the public is still trying to adapt to the existence of EV, the fuel-powered vehicles won’t be completely replaced in the short term (at least in the next five years). To view objectively, although the production and sales did appear a short-term decline, with some positive developments such as market reopening, the lack of car chips being solved, and quick recovery of customer demand, there will be definitely another wave of prosperity for the traditional car manufacturers to enjoy.

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by Gang Hao Chang, Vice Editor-in-Chief of Fastener World

This article will analyze the global car production and sales in 2020 as well as the detailed data for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, and buses & coaches, for readers to get a clearer picture of the latest change in car production and change in certain countries.

Production (All Vehicles) According to the latest data released by OICA (Table 1), the global total car production in 2020 reached 77,621,582 units, a significant shrinkage of 15.8% from 92,175,805 units in 2019. To view by continent, in 2020, Europe (incl. the UK) produced nearly 17 million units, down 21.6% from 2019; America produced nearly 16 million units, down 22.1% from 2019; Asia produced more than 44 million units, down 10.2% from 2019; CIS/Turkey produced over 3 million units, down 11.7% from 2019; Africa produced 0.7 million units, down 35.3% from 2019. The production in each of the five continents all appeared a decline. Africa shows the most significant decline margin of -35.3%, while Asia shows the least significant decline margin of -10.2%. Asia, Europe and America remained the most important car manufacturing heartlands in the world, and over 50% of the global production was in Asia (with China alone representing over 25 million units). In terms of these 3 major manufacturing heartlands, the top 3 manufacturing countries in Europe were Germany, Spain, and France; the top 3 manufacturing countries of America were USA, Mexico, and Brazil; the top 3 manufacturing countries of Asia were China, Japan, S. Korea. If to view by country, only Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Iran and Egypt remained growth, while the others all appeared a decline.

Table 1. Global Car Production in 2019-2020 Units ALL VEHICLES EUROPE Germany, Cars and LCV Only Spain France, Cars and LCV Only Czech Republic United Kingdom Slovakia Italy Poland Romania Hungary Belgium Portugal Sweden Slovenia Netherlands, Cars Only Austria Finland, Cars Only Serbia CIS+TURKEY Russia Turkey Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Belarus Ukraine Azerbaijan AMERICA - NAFTA USA Mexico Canada - SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Argentina , Cars and LCV Only Colombia ASIA-OCEANIA China Japan South Korea India Thailand Iran Indonesia Malaysia Taiwan Vietnam Pakistan Philippines Myanmar Australia AFRICA South Africa Morocco Egypt Algeria TOTAL

YTD 2019 Q1-Q4 21,579,464 4,947,316 2,822,632 2,175,350 1,433,961 1,381,405 1,107,902 915,291 649,864 490,412 498,158 285,797 345,688 279,000 199,114 176,113 179,400 114,785 35,120 3,542,156 1,720,116 1,461,244 271,113 49,400 30,494 7,266 2,523 20,148,849 16,822,606 10,892,884 4,013,137 1,916,585 3,326,243 2,944,988 314,787 66,468 49,333,841 25,750,650 9,684,507 3,950,614 4,524,366 2,013,710 821,060 1,286,848 571,632 251,304 176,203 186,751 95,094 15,496 5,606 1,113,651 631,921 403,218 18,500 60,012 92,175,805

YTD 2020 Variation Q1-Q4 16,921,311 -21.6% 3,742,454 -24.4% 2,268,185 -19.6% 1,316,371 -39.5% 1,159,151 -19.2% 987,044 -28.5% 985,000 -11.1% 777,165 -15.1% 451,382 -30.5% 438,107 -10.7% 406,497 -18.4% 267,460 -6.4% 264,236 -23.6% 249,000 -10.8% 141,714 -28.8% 127,058 -27.9% 104,544 -41.7% 86,270 -24.8% 23,375 -33.4% 3,126,298 -11.7% 1,435,335 -16.6% 1,297,878 -11.2% 280,080 3.3% 74,831 51.5% 31,273 2.6% 4,952 -31.8% 1,949 -22.8% 15,690,215 -22.1% 13,375,622 -20.5% 8,822,399 -19.0% 3,176,600 -20.8% 1,376,623 -28.2% 2,314,593 -30.4% 2,014,055 -31.6% 257,187 -18.3% 43,351 -34.8% 44,289,900 -10.2% 25,225,242 -2.0% 8,067,557 -16.7% 3,506,774 -11.2% 3,394,446 -25.0% 1,427,074 -29.1% 880,997 7.3% 691,286 -46.3% 485,186 -15.1% 245,615 -2.3% 165,568 -6.0% 117,375 -37.1% 67,297 -29.2% 10,753 -30.6% 4,730 -15.6% 720,156 -35.3% 447,218 -29.2% 248,430 -38.4% 23,754 28.4% 754 -98.7% 77,621,582 -15.8%

Developed Countries = EU15 + NAFTA + Australia + Japan + South Korea Emerging Countries = All Others Cars: Audi, BMW, JLR, Mercedes Not Reported; Commercial Vehicles: Since 2015Q1: Scania, Daimler Trucks, Volvo Buses Not Reported

Estimate

N/A : Not Available

Industry Focus Table 2. Global Passenger Cars Production in 2019-2020 Units CARS EUROPE Germany Spain Czech Republic Slovakia France United Kingdom Italy Romania Hungary Poland Sweden Belgium Portugal Slovenia Netherlands Austria Finland Serbia CIS+TURKEY Russia Turkey Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Belarus Ukraine Azerbaijan AMERICA - NAFTA USA Mexico Canada - SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Argentina Colombia ASIA-OCEANIA Australia China Japan South Korea India Iran Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Taiwan Vietnam Pakistan Philippines Myanmar AFRICA South Africa Morocco Egypt Algeria TOTAL

YTD 2019 Q1-Q4 18,724,208 4,663,749 2,248,291 1,427,563 1,107,902 1,665,787 1,303,135 542,472 490,412 498,158 434,700 279,000 247,020 282,142 199,114 176,113 158,400 114,785 34,985 2,850,480 1,523,607 982,642 271,113 44,077 20,427 6,254 2,360 6,993,215 4,369,893 2,511,711 1,396,812 461,370 2,623,322 2,448,490 108,364 66,468 40,650,626

YTD 2020 Variation Q1-Q4 14,545,985 -22.3% 3,515,372 -24.6% 1,800,664 -19.9% 1,152,901 -19.2% 985,000 -11.1% 927,718 -44.3% 920,928 -29.3% 451,826 -16.7% 438,107 -10.7% 406,497 -18.4% 278,900 -35.8% 249,000 -10.8% 237,057 -4.0% 211,281 -25.1% 141,714 -28.8% 127,058 -27.9% 104,544 -34.0% 86,270 -24.8% 23,272 -33.5% 2,487,876 -12.7% 1,260,517 -17.3% 855,043 -13.0% 280,080 3.3% 64,790 47.0% 21,295 4.2% 4,202 -32.8% 1,949 -17.4% 4,967,177 -29.0% 3,221,955 -26.3% 1,926,795 -23.3% 967,479 -30.7% 327,681 -29.0% 1,745,222 -33.5% 1,608,870 -34.3% 93,001 -14.2% 43,351 -34.8% 35,837,271 -11.8%

Production Stopped End 2017

21,389,833 8,329,130 3,612,587 3,629,008 770,000 1,045,666 795,254 534,115 189,549 129,006 156,623 57,238 12,617 795,720 348,665 368,543 18,500 60,012 67,163,769

19,994,081 6,960,025 3,211,706 2,851,268 826,210 551,400 537,633 457,755 180,967 125,235 95,504 37,141 8,346 484,023 238,216 221,299 23,754 754 55,834,456

-6.5% -16.4% -11.1% -21.4% 7.3% -47.3% -32.4% -14.3% -4.5% -2.9% -39.0% -35.1% -33.9% -39.2% -31.7% -40.0% 28.4% -98.7% -16.9%

Audi, BMW, JLR, data not reported

Estimate N/A : Not Available

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Industry Focus Production (Passenger Cars) (See Table 2) The global passenger cars production in 2020 reached 55,834,456 units, down 16.9% from 2019. Passenger cars represented 72% of the global vehicles production and the production of passenger cars was highly concentrated on Europe and Asia (more than 90% of the global passenger cars production). What’s worth mentioning is that America was also one of the major three car manufacturing heartlands in the world, but the passenger cars production represented merely 30% of its total production (which is a little bit low). On the other hand, the top 3 passenger cars manufacturing countries of each continent are basically similar to the top 3 vehicles manufacturing countries.

Production (Light Commercial Vehicles) (See Table 3) The global light commercial vehicles production in 2020 reached around 17.2 million units, down 16.1% from 2019. Light commercial vehicles represented around 22% of the global vehicles production and nearly 87% of the light commercial vehicles production were in America and Asia. America, in particular, represented over 10 million units (mainly in USA. Mexico, and Canada). More than 65% of the car production in America were light commercial vehicles, quite different from Europe where over 86% of the car production were passenger cars. In terms of this vehicle type, top 3 manufacturing countries in Europe were Spain, France, and Italy; top 3 manufacturing countries in America were USA, Mexico, and Canada; top 3 manufacturing countries in Asia were China, Thailand, and Japan.

Production (Heavy Trucks) (See Table 4) The global heavy trucks production in 2020 reached 4.3 million units, up around 5.0% from the same period of 2019. Heavy trucks was also the only one vehicle type showing production growth. Heavy trucks represented around 5.6% of the global vehicles production. To view by continent, the production in the world’s largest two manufacturing regions (Europe and America) appeared a respective decline of -21.5% (landing at 0.225 million units) and -30.0% (landing at 0.473 million units). The production in Asia appeared a 15.2% rise against the tides and reached around 3.64 million units (China alone reached a 34.2% growth from 2019). Asia not only played an essential role in pushing the global heavy trucks production ahead, but also was the world’s largest heavy trucks manufacturing country (representing over 83% of the global production). Major manufacturing countries of this vehicle type were: China, Japan, USA, Mexico, and India.

Production (Buses & Coaches) (See Table 5) The global buses & coaches production in 2020 reached around 0.22 million units, a significant decline of -36.8% from 2019. The production of this vehicle type represented only less than 0.3% of the global vehicle production and more than 70% of the buses & coaches production was in Asia. To view by continent, Europe, CIS and Turkey all kept their decline within -10%, but America, Asia, and Africa appeared a decline of -37.3%, -41.3%, and -25.4%, respectively. Major manufacturing countries of this vehicle type were China, India, Brazil, Russia, S. Korea, Turkey, Poland, and Czech Rep.

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Table 3. Global Light Commercial Vehicles Production in 2019-2020 Units LIGHT COMMERCIAL VEHICLES EUROPE Slovenia Finland Netherlands Sweden Hungary Spain France Italy Germany Poland United Kingdom Portugal Serbia Austria Belgium Czech Republic Romania Slovakia CIS+TURKEY Turkey Russia Ukraine Azerbaijan Belarus Kazakhstan Uzbekistan AMERICA - NAFTA USA Mexico Canada - SOUTH AMERICA Colombia Brazil Argentina ASIA-OCEANIA China Thailand Japan India South Korea Indonesia Taiwan Iran Vietnam *** All CVS Philippines *** All CVS Malaysia Pakistan Myanmar *** All CVS Australia AFRICA Algeria South Africa Morocco Egypt TOTAL

YTD 2019 Q1-Q4 2,524,281 N/A

YTD 2020 Q1-Q4 2,109,940 N/A

Confidential Confidential Confidential Confidential

524,504 509,563 312,377 283,567 207,802 57,442 58,141 126 0 0 0 0 0 570,759 447,874 122,749 136 0 0 0 0 12,444,040 11,882,266 8,036,106 2,414,256 1,431,904 561,774 N/A 355,351 206,423 5,255,384 2,002,284 1,218,456 839,582 542,860 258,534 146,150 55,896 40,800 47,197 37,856 37,517 25,373 2,879 0 289,092 N/A 254,417 34,675 0 20,512,797

430,616 388,653 277,067 227,082 166,445 51,244 49,855 93 0 0 0 0 0 518,885 409,646 109,188 51 0 0 0 0 10,227,545 9,767,515 6,660,593 2,072,699 1,034,223 460,030 N/A 295,844 164,186 4,656,131 2,151,347 889,441 697,423 384,017 229,040 84,767 57,362 43,778 40,333 30,156 27,431 18,629 2,407 0 212,822 N/A 185,691 27,131 0 17,206,438

Variation

Audi, BMW, JLR, data not reported

Estimate

N/A : Not Available

-16.4%

-17.9% -23.7% -11.3% -19.9% -19.9% -10.8% -14.3% -26.2%

-9.1% -8.5% -11.0% -62.5%

-17.8% -17.8% -17.1% -14.1% -27.8% -18.1% -16.7% -20.5% -11.4% 7.4% -27.0% -16.9% -29.3% -11.4% -42.0% 2.6% 7.3% -14.5% -20.3% -26.9% -26.6% -16.4% -26.4% -27.0% -21.8% -16.1%

Industry Focus Table 4. Global Heavy Trucks Production in 2019-2020 Units HEAVY TRUCKS EUROPE Slovenia Finland France Germany Netherlands Sweden Italy Spain Belgium United Kingdom Portugal Czech Republic Serbia Austria Hungary Poland Romania Slovakia CIS+TURKEY Azerbaijan Ukraine Russia Turkey Belarus Kazakhstan Uzbekistan AMERICA - NAFTA USA Mexico Canada - SOUTH AMERICA Argentina Brazil Colombia ASIA-OCEANIA Philippines Thailand Vietnam China Japan India South Korea Indonesia Iran Taiwan Australia Pakistan Malaysia Myanmar AFRICA Algeria Morocco South Africa Egypt TOTAL

YTD 2019 Q1-Q4 287,129 N/A

YTD 2020 Q1-Q4 225,470 N/A

Confidential Confidential Confidential Confidential Confidential

60,294 49,837 38,434 18,883 5,389 1,181 9 21,000 0 0 0 0 92,102 163 Confidential

59,891 19,003 8,798 4,247 0 677,275 563,799 345,067 195,421 23,311 113,476

47,937 36,905 30,070 13,931 3,039 1,180 10 0 0 0 0 0 92,398 N/A

Variation -21.5%

-20.5% -25.9% -21.8% -26.2% -43.6% -0.1% 11.1%

0.3%

Confidential

52,279 23,250 8,629 8,240 0 473,980 383,044 235,011 133,314 14,719 90,936

Confidential

113,476 N/A 3,160,164 N/A N/A N/A 2,217,847 506,541 254,165 64,758 91,757 9,600 5,859 5,606 4,031 0 0 27,840 N/A N/A 27,872 0 4,152,408

90,936 N/A 3,639,405 N/A N/A N/A 2,976,459 405,451 123,621 55,583 53,219 10,301 7,286 4,730 2,755 0 0 22,566 N/A N/A 22,567 0 4,361,421

-12.7% 22.3% -1.9% 94.0% -30.0% -32.1% -31.9% -31.8% -36.9% -19.9% -19.9% 15.2%

34.2% -20.0% -51.4% -14.2% -42.0% 7.3% 24.4% -15.6% -31.7%

-18.9%

-19.0% 5.0%

Audi, BMW, JLR, data not reported

Estimate

N/A : Not Available

Table 5. Global Buses & Coaches Production in 2019-2020 Units HEAVY BUSES EUROPE Austria Finland Hungary Slovenia France Germany Netherlands Sweden Poland Czech Republic United Kingdom Italy Belgium Portugal Spain Romania Slovakia Serbia CIS+TURKEY Russia Turkey Kazakhstan Belarus Ukraine Azerbaijan Uzbekistan AMERICA - NAFTA Canada Mexico USA - SOUTH AMERICA Argentina Colombia Brazil ASIA-OCEANIA Malaysia Thailand Vietnam China India South Korea Japan Indonesia Iran Pakistan Australia Myanmar Philippines Taiwan AFRICA Algeria South Africa Egypt Morocco TOTAL

YTD 2019 Q1-Q4 43,846 N/A N/A N/A N/A

YTD 2020 Q1-Q4 39,916 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Confidential Confidential Confidential Confidential

7,362 5,217 1,945 148 343 16 0 0 0 0 28,815 13,869 11,725 1,076 1,269 876 0 0 34,319 6,648 N/A 6,648 0 27,671

6,037 5,070 941 335 333 61 0 0 0 0 27,139 13,351 9,939 1,801 1,349 699 0 0 21,513 3,108 N/A 3,108 0 18,405

Confidential

N/A 27,671 267,667 N/A N/A N/A 140,686 98,333 14,735 9,254 3,275 660 724 0 0 0 0 999 N/A 999 0 0 346,831

N/A 18,405 157,093 N/A N/A N/A 103,355 35,540 10,445 4,658 1,900 708 487 0 0 0 0 745 N/A 745 0 0 219,267

Variation -9.0%

-18.0% -2.8% -51.6% 126.4% -2.9% 281.3%

-5.8% -3.7% -15.2% 67.4% 6.3% -20.2%

-37.3% -53.2% -53.2% -33.5%

-33.5% -41.3%

-26.5% -63.9% -29.1% -49.7% -42.0% 7.3% -32.7%

-25.4% -25.4%

-36.8%

Audi, BMW, JLR, data not reported

Estimate

N/A : Not Available

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Industry Focus Pie charts below demonstrate the global production of certain vehicle types in certain continents in 2020 in percentage terms:

Production of Passengersrs Africa 1%

CIS+ Turkey 4%

Production of Heavy Trucks

Production of Buses & Coaches

Africa Europe 0% 5% CIS+Turkey 2%

Africa 0%

Europe 16%

America 11%

CIS+Turkey 11% Asia-Oceania 64%

Asia-Oceania 82%

Sales (All Vehicles) The global vehicles sales in 2020 reached 77,698 ,041 units, down 14.1% from 2019’s 90,423,474 units, a decline margin similar to the drop in production in the same year (see Table 6). To view by continent, in 2020, sales in Europe (incl. the UK) were around 16.7 million units, down 20.2% from 2019; sales in America were nearly 20 million units, down 19.6% from 2019; sales in Asia exceeded 40 million units, down 7.8% from 2019; sales in Russia/Turkey/Other Europe were around 2.6 million units, up 5.1% from 2019; sales in Africa were around 0.9 million units, down 22.6% from 2019. Except for Russia/Turkey/Other Europe, other continents all appeared a decline in sales and the most significant sales decline was in Africa (reaching -22.6%). Most sales were in Asia, America, and Europe. Asia alone represented more than 50% of the global sales. In terms of these three major sales hotspots, countries with the top 3 sales in Europe were Germany, France, and the UK; countries with the top 3 sales in America were USA, Brazil, and Canada; countries with the top 3 sales in Asia were China, Japan, and India. Compared to 2019, Almost all countries reported a decline in car sales except for a few countries which even reported higher sales records (such as Turkey, Puerto Rico, S. Korea, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, and Egypt). Turkey was the one among these countries that reported the highest growth rate of 61.8%.

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CIS+Turkey 3%

America 58%

America 9%

Africa 1%

America 19%

Asia-Oceania 26%

CIS+ Turkey 4%

Production of All Vehicles

Asia-Oceania 55%

Africa Europe 1% 12%

Europe 25%

Asia-Oceania 61%

Europe 21%

Production of LCV

America 9%

Table 6. Global Sales (All Vehicles) Units EUROPE Germany France United Kingdom Italy Spain Poland Belgium Netherlands Sweden Austria Switzerland (+FL) Denmark Other Countries/Regions Czech Republic Portugal Norway Hungary Romania Finland Ireland Greece Slovakia Croatia Bulgaria RUSSIA, TURKEY & OTHER EUROPE Russia Turkey Other Countries/Regions Ukraine

2019 20,928,769 4,017,059 2,755,728 2,736,918 2,132,630 1,501,103 656,258 644,074 538,739 418,478 371,934 356,038 264,244 298,255 281,423 267,827 178,830 190,084 186,933 133,519 145,104 122,873 113,863 73,862 44,977 2,498,016 1,778,901 491,947 124,626 102,542

2020 16,705,645 3,268,222 2,100,058 1,964,772 1,564,670 1,030,470 510,153 504,110 430,211 330,215 301,723 275,366 233,248 229,119 228,834 176,992 160,563 153,968 145,012 112,947 112,122 88,710 84,909 44,082 29,663 2,625,506 1,631,163 796,200 99,157 98,986

Variation -20.2% -18.6% -23.8% -28.2% -26.6% -31.4% -22.3% -21.7% -20.1% -21.1% -18.9% -22.7% -11.7% -23.2% -18.7% -33.9% -10.2% -19.0% -22.4% -15.4% -22.7% -27.8% -25.4% -40.3% -34.0% 5.1% -8.3% 61.8% -20.4% -3.5%

Industry Focus

(a part of Table 6)

Units AMERICA NAFTA USA Canada Mexico CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Argentina Chile Other Countries/Regions Peru Colombia Puerto Rico Ecuador ASIA/OCEANIA/MIDDLE EAST ASEAN China Japan India South Korea Australia Thailand Indonesia Malaysia Saudi Arabia Other Countries/Regions Vietnam Philippines Taiwan Israel Uzbekistan United Arab Emirates Pakistan New Zealand Kazakhstan* Kuwait AFRICA South Africa Egypt Other Countries/Regions Morocco All Countries/Regions

2019 24,831,503 20,333,977 17,037,088 1,937,218 1,359,671 4,497,526 2,787,850 408,826 348,575 326,952 155,507 248,689 101,930 119,197 43,483,277 3,470,608 25,796,931 5,195,216 3,816,858 1,795,134 1,062,867 1,007,552 1,030,486 604,287 533,904 522,664 277,019 410,406 204,493 268,220 197,103 232,305 187,714 149,293 78,192 112,633 1,179,925 536,611 170,568 306,830 165,916 90,423,474

2020 19,972,273 16,683,652 14,452,892 1,527,580 703,180 3,288,621 2,058,437 333,845 258,835 240,186 108,999 106,645 103,487 78,187 40,107,260 2,456,051 25,311,069 4,598,611 2,938,653 1,905,972 916,968 792,146 532,077 529,434 452,544 390,558 261,538 244,178 226,870 226,117 195,000 158,711 124,429 115,435 101,663 85,287 912,863 377,932 219,732 181,891 133,308 77,698,041

Variation -19.6% -18.0% -15.2% -21.1% -48.3% -26.9% -26.2% -18.3% -25.7% -26.5% -29.9% -57.1% 1.5% -34.4% -7.8% -29.2% -1.9% -11.5% -23.0% 6.2% -13.7% -21.4% -48.4% -12.4% -15.2% -25.3% -5.6% -40.5% 10.9% -15.7% -1.1% -31.7% -33.7% -22.7% 30.0% -24.3% -22.6% -29.6% 28.8% -40.7% -19.7% -14.1%

(Units) 95,423,474

77,698,041

Sales (Passenger Cars) (See Table 7) The global passenger cars sales in 2020 reached 53,594,372 units, down 15.9% from 2019. Passenger cars represented around nearly 70% of the global vehicles sales and sales of this vehicle type were mainly in Asia, Europe and America (more than 98% of the global passenger cars sales). What’s worth mentioning is that America was also one of the top 3 sales hotspots in the world, but its passenger cars sales only represented around 34% of its total car sales. In addition, countries with the top 3 passenger cars sales in each continent were almost the same as those with the top 3 cars sales. Table 7. Global Sales (Passenger Cars) Units EUROPE Germany France United Kingdom Italy Spain Poland Belgium Netherlands Sweden Austria Switzerland (+FL) Czech Republic Denmark Other Countries/Regions Portugal Hungary Romania Norway Finland Ireland Greece Slovakia Croatia Bulgaria RUSSIA, TURKEY & OTHER EUROPE Russia Turkey Other Countries/Regions Ukraine AMERICA NAFTA USA Mexico Canada CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Argentina Chile Other Countries/Regions Colombia Puerto Rico Peru Ecuador

2019 17,950,670 3,607,258 2,214,280 2,311,140 1,916,949 1,258,249 555,598 550,008 446,057 356,036 320,381 311,466 249,915 225,581 251,246 223,799 157,900 161,562 133,964 114,202 117,109 114,109 101,568 62,977 35,371

2020 14,165,975 2,917,678 1,650,126 1,631,064 1,381,496 851,213 428,347 424,492 357,996 292,024 257,721 236,828 202,971 198,130 195,986 145,417 128,021 126,351 124,424 96,392 88,324 80,977 76,305 36,057 22,368

Variation -21.1% -19.1% -25.5% -29.4% -27.9% -32.3% -22.9% -22.8% -19.7% -18.0% -19.6% -24.0% -18.8% -12.2% -22.0% -35.0% -18.9% -21.8% -7.1% -15.6% -24.6% -29.0% -24.9% -42.7% -36.8%

2,153,945

2,215,267

2.8%

1,567,809 387,256 110,443 88,437 9,543,309 5,978,276 4,719,710 761,720 496,846 3,565,033 2,262,069 282,299 260,683 243,981 220,581 82,607 115,241 97,572

1,433,956 610,109 85,752 85,450 6,770,118 4,248,211 3,401,838 527,623 318,750 2,521,907 1,615,942 223,438 194,128 175,842 85,282 84,033 81,496 61,746

-8.5% 57.5% -22.4% -3.4% -29.1% -28.9% -27.9% -30.7% -35.8% -29.3% -28.6% -20.9% -25.5% -27.9% -61.3% 1.7% -29.3% -36.7%

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Industry Focus

(a part of Table 7)

Units

2019

2020

ASIA/OCEANIA/MIDDLE EAST

35,361,400

32,000,881

-9.5%

ASEAN

2,391,756

1,649,177

-31.0%

China

21,472,092

20,177,731

-6.0%

Japan

4,301,091

3,809,977

-11.4%

India

2,962,115

2,433,464

-17.8%

South Korea

1,497,035

1,618,333

8.1%

799,263

676,804

-15.3%

Malaysia

550,182

480,965

-12.6%

Indonesia

785,539

388,925

-50.5%

Australia

Variation

Saudi Arabia

460,373

387,709

-15.8%

Thailand

468,638

343,494

Other Countries/Regions Vietnam

389,391 229,539

285,821 215,908

-26.7% -26.6%

Israel

239,671

202,366

-5.9% -15.6%

Taiwan

159,492

191,337

20.0%

Philippines

258,555

153,833

-40.5%

Uzbekistan United Arab Emirates

147,827 198,520

146,250 129,901

-1.1% -34.6%

Pakistan Kazakhstan*

162,689 77,324

104,387 100,595

-35.8% 30.1%

New Zealand

103,610

80,433

-22.4%

Kuwait

98,454

72,648

-26.2%

AFRICA

872,553

657,398

-24.7%

South Africa

355,378

247,571

-30.3%

Egypt

127,443 241,378

167,792 124,989

31.7% -48.2%

Other Countries/Regions Morocco All Countries/Regions

148,354

117,046

-21.1%

63,727,932

53,594,372

-15.9%

(Units) 63,727,932

53,594,372

Sales (Commercial Vehicles) (See Table 8) The global commercial vehicles sales in 2020 were around 24 million units, down 9.7% from 2019. Commercial vehicles represented around 30% of the global sales and nearly 88% of the commercial vehicles sales were in America and Asia. America alone represented more than 10 million units (mainly in USA, Canada, and Mexico). Over 66% of the vehicles sold in America were commercial vehicles, while more than 85% of the vehicles sold in Europe were passenger cars. In terms of this vehicle type, countries with the top 3 sales in Europe were France, Germany, and the UK; countries with the top 3 sales in America were USA, Canada, and Brazil; countries with the top 3 sales in Asia were China, Japan, and India.

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Table 8. Global Sales (Commercial Vehicles) Units 2019 2020 Variation EUROPE 2,978,099 2,539,670 -14.7% France 541,448 449,932 -16.9% Germany 409,801 350,544 -14.5% United Kingdom 425,778 333,708 -21.6% Italy 215,681 183,174 -15.1% Spain 242,854 179,257 -26.2% Poland 100,660 81,806 -18.7% Belgium 94,066 79,618 -15.4% Netherlands 92,682 72,215 -22.1% Austria 51,553 44,002 -14.6% Switzerland (+Fl) 44,572 38,538 -13.5% Sweden 62,442 38,191 -38.8% Norway 44,866 36,139 -19.5% Denmark 38,663 35,118 -9.2% Other Countries/Regions 47,009 33,133 -29.5% Portugal 44,028 31,575 -28.3% Hungary 32,184 25,947 -19.4% Czech Republic 31,508 25,863 -17.9% Ireland 27,995 23,798 -15.0% Romania 25,371 18,661 -26.4% Finland 19,317 16,555 -14.3% Slovakia 12,295 8,604 -30.0% Croatia 10,885 8,025 -26.3% Greece 8,764 7,733 -11.8% Bulgaria 9,606 7,295 -24.1% RUSSIA, TURKEY & OTHER EUROPE 344,071 410,239 19.2% Russia 211,092 197,207 -6.6% Turkey 104,691 186,091 77.8% Ukraine 14,105 13,536 -4.0% Other Countries/Regions 14,183 13,405 -5.5% AMERICA 15,288,194 13,202,155 -13.6% NAFTA 14,355,701 12,435,441 -13.4% USA 12,317,378 11,051,054 -10.3% Canada 1,440,372 1,208,830 -16.1% Mexico 597,951 175,557 -70.6% CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA 932,493 766,714 -17.8% Brazil 525,781 442,495 -15.8% Argentina 126,527 110,407 -12.7% Chile 87,892 64,707 -26.4% 82,971 64,344 -22.5% Other Countries/Regions Peru 40,266 27,503 -31.7% Colombia 28,108 21,363 -24.0% Puerto Rico 19,323 19,454 0.7% Ecuador 21,625 16,441 -24.0% ASIA/OCEANIA/MIDDLE EAST 8,121,877 8,106,379 -0.2% Asean 1,078,852 806,874 -25.2% China 4,324,839 5,133,338 18.7% Japan 894,125 788,634 -11.8% India 854,743 505,189 -40.9% Thailand 538,914 448,652 -16.7% South Korea 298,099 287,639 -3.5% Australia 263,604 240,164 -8.9% Indonesia 244,947 143,152 -41.6% 133,273 104,737 -21.4% Other Countries/Regions Philippines 151,851 90,345 -40.5%

(Units) 26,695,542 24,103,669

Recap＞＞

Industry Focus

(a part of Table 8)

Units Saudi Arabia Uzbekistan Malaysia Vietnam Taiwan New Zealand United Arab Emirates Israel Pakistan Kuwait Kazakhstan* AFRICA South Africa Other Countries/Regions Egypt Morocco All Countries/Regions

2019 73,531 49,276 54,105 47,480 45,001 45,683 33,785 28,549 25,025 14,179 868 307,372 181,233 65,452 43,125 17,562 26,695,542

2020 Variation 64,835 -11.8% 48,750 -1.1% 48,469 -10.4% 45,630 -3.9% 35,533 -21.0% 35,002 -23.4% 28,810 -14.7% 23,751 -16.8% 20,042 -19.9% 12,639 -10.9% 1,068 23.0% 255,465 -16.9% 130,361 -28.1% 56,902 -13.1% 51,940 20.4% 16,262 -7.4% 24,103,669 -9.7%

In 2020 we saw that the production and sales in various markets around the world roughly appeared a decline of -15-30%, but both still remained above the level of nearly 80 million units, which reveals that although the global automotive market was severely impacted, a certain level of capacity and demand were still there. However, it is still difficult for the global market to recover to the production and sales level in 2019 in the short term, as many external market factors (such as the progress of vaccination, when the borders will reopen, supply chain change, and customers’ demands) may continue to cause some impact on the market. Taking sales data into account to forecast the future possible automotive market momentum, we could see that sales in major markets like China, Japan, India, S. Korea, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and W. Europe continued to be strong, but also see that the potential Turkish market also appeared a marveling growth margin in sales. However, as the global car production lines are still facing problems like insufficient materials and chips supply, governments of certain countries should accelerate their steps to figure out solutions and help manufacturers weather these challenges, otherwise, not only car manufacturers will be impacted seriously, but also other relevant industries in close collaboration with car manufacturers will be mired in difficulties, too.

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Industry Focus by Dean Tseng, Fastener World

Do You Take GDP as a Window to Foresee Fastener Demand in Nations?

In addition to pointing out the economic status of a nation, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) provides us with a gateway to get a grasp of fastener market demand. GDP has become an important indicator for Taiwanese fastener business owners to measure market performance. Do you use GDP to evaluate each nation’s fastener demand? Fastener World Magazine has data from IMF and StatisticsTimes compiled into a chart of global top 100 GDP performers for a duration of 2018 to 2021 (projection), from which we picked up several signs of the economy briefly listed in the following table.

★★Highlights★★ 》》》 Listed in order based on GDP ranking in 2021. 》》》 Taiwan and China marked with asterisks are the least affected GDP performers by the COVID pandemic. China’s projected GDP growth is several times higher than Taiwan’s. 》》》 Other nations (mostly emerging nations) marked with asterisks have continual positive growth rates during the pandemic with no visible signs of impact on them. 》》》 Other nations without an asterisk are affected and mostly had GDP decline in 2020, but their projected GDP for 2021 rebound to the pre-pandemic level of 2019 and/or even surpass it. 》》》 The global total GDP dropped by around 4% in 2020 during the pandemic. However, it is projected to grow 5% to USD 91 trillion in 2021, even higher than the pre-pandemic USD 86 trillion.

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Industry Focus 《Top 100 GDP Nations Ranking》 GDP Per Capita (USD Dollars)

GDP (USD Billions) Country

2018 Value

2019 Value

2020

2021

2020

Rank

Value

Rank

Value

Rank

Value

GDP Growth (%)

2021

2020

Rank

Value

Rank

Rate

2021

Rank

Rate

Rank

United States

20,580.20 21,427.70

20,807.27

21,921.59

63,051

66,144

-4.27

3.08

136

★ China ★

13,894.80 14,342.90

15,222.16

16,834.59

10,839

11,956

1.85

8.24

Japan

4,954.81

5,081.77

4,910.58

5,103.18

39,048

40,733

-5.27

2.32

160

Germany

3,949.55

3,845.63

3,780.55

4,318.49

45,466

51,967

-5.98

111

4.18

France

2,787.86

2,715.52

2,551.45

2,917.67

39,257

44,770

-9.76 160

6.03

U.K.

2,860.67

2,827.11

2,638.30

2,855.67

39,229

42,236

-9.76

161

5.92

India

2,713.17

2,875.14

2,592.58

2,833.87

1,877 148

2,031

147

-10.29 164

8.80

Italy

2,085.76

2,001.24

1,848.22

2,111.65

30,657

35,062

-10.65 166

5.24

Canada

1,716.26

1,736.43

1,600.26

1,763.05

42,080

45,871

-7.14 135

5.18

S. Korea

1,720.58

1,642.38

1,586.79

1,674.11

30,644

32,305

-1.88

2.87

150

Russia

1,669.58

1,699.88

1,464.08

1,584.22

9,972

10,792

-4.12

2.82

152

Australia

1,433.90

1,392.68

1,334.69

1,480.36

51,885

57,211

-4.16

2.95

147

Spain

1,419.74

1,394.12

1,247.46

1,450.88

26,832

31,178

-12.83 177

7.15

Brazil

1,885.48

1,839.76

1,363.77

1,431.62

6,450

6,728

-5.80 108

2.83

151

Indonesia

1,042.24

1,119.19

1,088.77

1,167.18

4,038 114

4,287

113

-1.50

6.11

Mexico

1,220.70

1,258.29

1,040.37

1,094.53

8,069

8,402

-8.95 154

3.53

120

Netherlands

914.105

909.070

886.339

1,005.71

51,290

58,029

-5.40 100

4.05

Switzerland

705.141

703.082

707.868

790.655

81,867

90,358

-5.30

3.58

116

Saudi Arabia

786.522

792.967

680.897

735.483

19,587

20,742

-5.44

102

3.10

135

★ Taiwan ★

589.906

586.104

635.547

682.702

26,910

28,889

0.05

3.22

130

Turkey

771.350

754.412

649.436

652.408

7,715

7,659

-4.99

5.00

Iran

446.105

458.500

610.662

651.707

7,257

7,668

-4.99

3.16

133

Poland

587.114

592.164

580.894

634.899

15,304

16,740

-3.56

4.60

Sweden

555.455

530.833

529.054

611.97

50,339

57,660

-4.72

3.47

122

Belgium

542.686

529.607

503.416

576.768

43,814

50,051

-8.26 149

5.35

Thailand

506.514

543.650

509.200

536.841

7,295

7,675

-7.15 136

4.00

100

Austria

455.508

446.315

432.894

490.395

48,634

54,820

-6.72 127

4.65

Nigeria

398.160

448.120

442.976

466.879

2,149 142

2,209

143

-4.28

1.70

169

Ireland

382.674

388.699

399.064

457.515

79,669

90,478

-3.00

4.94

Argentina

519.872

449.663

382.760

416.938

8,433

9,095

-11.78 172

4.89

Norway

434.167

403.336

366.386

414.228

67,989

76,408

-2.83

3.56

118

Israel

370.588

395.099

383.425

408.513

41,560

43,439

-5.89

110

4.87

Philippines

346.842

376.796

367.362

398.332

3,373 125

3,602

127

-8.26 148

7.41

Fastener World no.188/2021

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Industry Focus GDP Per Capita (USD Dollars)

GDP (USD Billions) Country

2018

2019

2020

Value

Rank

Value

Rank

Value

Malaysia

358.582

364.702

336.330

380.261

★ Egypt ★

250.895

303.175

361.875

374.892

U.A.E.

422.215

421.142

353.899

373.145

31,948

Denmark

355.675

348.078

339.626

370.592

58,439

★ Vietnam ★

245.214

261.921

340.602

369.494

Hong Kong

361.693

366.030

341.319

364.682

45,176

Singapore

373.217

372.063

337.451

362.524

58,484

★ Bangladesh ★

274.039

302.571

317.768

338.385

South Africa

368.289

351.432

282.588

317.191

Finland

275.894

268.761

267.856

Romania

241.627

250.077

248.624

Colombia

333.569

323.803

Chile

298.258

282.318

Czech

244.987

Pakistan

2021

2020

Value

Rank

11,378

-6.00

113

7.80

3,561 120

3,606

126

3.55

2.76

153

32,686

-6.57 125

1.35

173

63,645

-4.50

3.50

121

3,759

121

1.60

6.70

47,990

-7.47 139

3.67

112

62,113

-6.00

115

4.98

1,888 147

1,990

148

3.80

4.40

4,736

5,236

-8.00 145

3.00

141

303.278

48,461

54,817

-3.98

3.57

117

289.408

12,813

14,916

-4.80

4.57

264.933

280.401

5,207

5,457

-8.18 147

4.04

245.414

280.167

12,612

14,209

-6.00

116

4.50

246.489

241.975

278.889

22,627

25,991

-6.50

121

5.12

314.568

278.222

262.793

277.83

1,260 160

1,308

160

-0.39

1.02

178

Portugal

241.275

237.686

221.716

257.055

21,608

25,097

-10.00 162

6.50

Greece

218.138

209.853

194.376

219.012

18,168

20,521

-9.50 158

4.12

New Zealand

207.921

206.929

193.545

211.653

38,675

41,793

-6.07

118

4.36

Peru

222.045

226.848

195.761

210.733

5,845

6,229

-13.94 180

7.29

Iraq

224.228

234.094

178.112

196.269

4,438 100

4,767

102

-12.06 176

2.53

156

Kazakhstan

179.340

180.162

165.730

180.716

8,782

9,454

-2.69

3.03

138

Hungary

157.883

160.967

149.939

171.751

15,373

17,645

-6.10

119

3.90

108

Qatar

191.362

183.466

147.791

155.571

52,751

55,417

-4.48

2.52

157

Algeria

173.758

169.988

147.323

155.306

3,331 127

3,449

128

-5.46 103

3.16

131

Ukraine

130.902

153.781

142.250

149.537

3,425 123

3,615

125

-7.20 138

3.00

143

Morocco

117.921

118.725

112.220

123.776

3,121 131

3,409

130

-6.97 130

4.92

Slovak

105.820

105.422

101.892

118.079

18,669

21,606

-7.09 134

6.90

Kuwait

140.645

134.761

108.656

116.13

22,252

23,138

-8.08 146

0.65

180

★ Kenya ★

87.779

95.503

101.048

105.681

2,075 144

2,122

146

4.67

Ecuador

107.562

107.436

93.078

99.247

5,316

5,589

-11.00 168

4.76

Puerto Rico

100.980

104.989

93.968

95.913

30,113

31,207

-7.50 140

1.50

170

Ethiopia

84.269

96.108

95.588

91.514

974 167

918

170

1.95

-0.02

183

Sri Lanka

88.426

84.009

81.120

86.686

3,698 119

3,928

120

-4.55

5.27

Dominican

85.555

88.941

77.883

81.782

7,445

7,740

-5.99

112

4.00

105

10,192

3,498 121

Rate

2021

Rank

Fastener World no.188/2021

Value

2020

Value

196

Rank

2021

GDP Growth (%)

1.05

Rank

Rate

Rank

Industry Focus GDP Per Capita (USD Dollars)

GDP (USD Billions) Country

2018 Value

2019 Value

2020 Rank

Value

2021 Rank

Value

2020 Rank

Value

GDP Growth (%)

2021

Rank

Guatemala

73.118

76.710

76.191

80.402

Luxembourg

70.920

71.105

68.613

80.387

109,602

125,923

Bulgaria

66.201

67.927

67.917

77.971

9,826

Myanmar

76.168

76.086

70.890

77.172

★ Ghana ★

65.556

66.984

67.337

71.946

★ Côte d'Ivoire ★

57.725

58.792

61.502

Angola

101.353

94.635

62.724

★ Tanzania ★

58.001

63.177

Croatia

60.991

60.416

Oman

79.275

★ Uzbekistan ★

Rate

Rank

-5.80 107

5.86

11,349

-4.00

4.10

1,333 159

1,441

157

1.99

5.65

2,188 141

2,300

141

0.93

4.20

71.104

2,281 140

2,571

139

1.80

6.20

68.072

2,021 145

2,130

145

-4.01

3.23

129

64.123

67.622

1,106 164

1,132

164

1.90

3.60

114

56.768

65.839

14,033

16,401

-9.00 157

6.00

76.983

62.305

65.303

14,423

14,675

-10.00 163

-0.55

186

50.393

57.921

59.771

63.303

1,763 151

1,836

149

5.00

Panama

65.128

66.801

60.286

62.799

14,090

14,390

-9.00 156

4.00

102

Lithuania

53.455

54.219

55.064

62.662

19,883

22,752

-1.84

4.06

Costa Rica

60.554

61.774

59.645

61.186

11,629

11,805

-5.50 104

2.30

161

Belarus

60.031

63.080

57.708

60.969

6,134

6,513

-2.99

2.21

163

Slovenia

54.034

53.742

51.802

59.475

25,039

28,734

-6.70 126

5.20

Serbia

50.597

51.409

51.999

58.333

7,497

8,444

-2.47

5.48

Uruguay

59.597

56.046

54.135

57.742

15,332

16,297

-4.50

4.30

★ Turkmenistan ★

40.761

46.674

47.986

53.269

8,074

8,874

1.78

4.65

Congo

46.831

47.320

46.062

49.624

457 189

478

188

-2.15

3.58

115

Azerbaijan

47.113

48.048

41.666

45.018

4,125 109

4,404

109

-4.03

1.97

168

Jordan

42.231

43.744

42.609

44.863

4,174 107

4,347

111

-5.00

3.40

125

Cameroon

38.694

38.760

39.036

44.406

1,493 155

1,657

154

-2.77

3.44

123

Venezuela

98.437

70.140

48.610

43.749

1,739 152

1,586

156

-25.00 190

-10.00

193

Bolivia

40.288

40.895

38.938

43.039

3,322 128

3,618

124

-7.90 143

5.60

Uganda

32.773

34.387

37.733

41.241

915 170

971

169

-0.29

4.93

Tunisia

39.770

38.798

39.226

40.624

3,295 129

3,380

131

-7.04 133

3.95

106

Paraguay

40.385

38.145

35.606

38.287

4,909

5,207

-4.00

5.50

Latvia

34.314

34.117 100

33.015

38.119

17,230

19,934

-6.00

114

5.20

Bahrain

37.653

38.574

34.624

36.602

22,878

23,710

-4.91

2.25

162

Estonia

30.747

31.387 101

30.468 100

34.973

22,986

26,378

-5.20

4.50

★ Nepal ★

29.174

30.641 102

32.158

34.046

1,116 163

1,166

163

0.02

2.49

159

Macao SAR

55.084

53.859

26.348 101

-52.28 192

23.86

86,409.00 87,751.50

5.15

World

83,844.99

91,031.17

38,769

48,207

10,954

11,892

-2.00

Rank

107

33.024 100

110

Rate

3.95

4,385

Rank

2021

4,240 105

Value

2020

0.70

-4.36

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Technology

Overloaded Underloaded

by Guy Avellon

o This could mean that no measuring method was used and/or a lubricant was present. o This could also mean that the proper torque was not applied for the conditions of the application; environmental, temperature, surface finish, lubricants, etc.

Fasteners

• Lubrication o All torque charts cite values for ‘as received’ product, which is mostly ‘dry’.

There are many ways a fastener can fail but the majority of failures investigated have been due to installation or application errors. Less than 1% was the cause of a material defect. Therefore, it is imperative that a dialogue begins with the customer to determine the conditions of how the fasteners were used. The following outlines the causes and effects of various installation errors. The most common failures come from fasteners being overloaded or underloaded but there are many ways to get there.

OVERLOADED: The term ‘overloaded’ means that the bolt or cap screw has been stretched past its yield strength. This type of failure can be identified visually by a ‘dog bone’ appearance of the threaded portion, much like taffy when pulled (Photo 1).

Photo 1

An overloaded fastener will also cause a loose connection. If the service loads exceed the proof load or yield strength, the fastener does become slightly longer, but remains in the connection. When the external service loads are removed, the joint returns to a relaxed condition but the bolt remains slightly longer and appears to be loose. The bolt may not have a ‘dog bone’ appearance but will have a change in thread pitch. It is always best to check the thread pitch of the fasteners as the thread deformation may not always be visually apparent. Checking the thread pitch of a questionable fastener is done with a thread pitch gauge. However, when one is not readily available, the thread pitch may always be compared using a new bolt of the same diameter and thread pitch. Simply place the entire length of the new bolt on top of the entire length of the questionable bolt.

o There are numerous lubricants on the market of which some are more efficient than others. Therefore, torque values must be adjusted for each type of lubricant. o Lubricants reduce the friction between the mating threads as the bolt is torsionally tightened. Therefore, torque values a re generally reduced to much lower values than on torque charts. o Using a ‘dry’ torque value, or no torque at all, with a lubricated fastener will generally cause the fastener to be stretched into its plastic region well past its yield point. • Power Wrenches o Pneumatic or hydraulic power all rely on pressu re. Un less regulated, t here is no accurate method of applying torque. o Air wrenches are much faster than hydraulic wrenches, but all seek friction to cause the wrench to stall. If a lubricant is present, there is little friction present to cause the wrench to stall. Therefore, the wrench continues to impact or turn until the fastener is beyond its yield point. o A s a n ex a m ple , a n o r d i n a r y s h o p ½” unregulated impact gun has an initial impact of 425 lb-ft of torque. This will cause a ¾”-7/8” Grade 8 lubricated bolt to yield. o Impact wrench abuse can be noted by the damage to the hex corners of the nut as the socket slams repeatedly into the nut corners causing visible deformation (Photo 2).

It is very important to check the entire length of the threads because there will be no thread pitch change of the threads where the nut held the bolt or the first five or so threads of a cap screw in a tapped hole. This is because all of the stretching in tension and thread deformation occurs between the nut and bolt head. Photo 2

Causes: • Improper Fastener Grades o Here, the bolt is not strong enough for the applied loads and will yield. o The bolt may fail or be loose when the external loads are removed. o If the nut does not match the grade of the bolt, the nut will fail. • Incorrect Torque

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• Speed of Applied Torque o Even a matching strength grade nut will strip its threads in the presence of intentional or accidental lubricant if the applied torque is too fast.

Technology o The bolt is more likely to be stretched into yield, or fractured, if the speed of assembly is high as the speed also reduces friction until contact with the surface. o Speed also causes an elastic rebound effect, which in some circumstances could cause the fastener to be stretched into yield as the joint material regains its shape from compression. • Elevated Temperatures

Typically, fatigue stress raisers develop at the last thread runout or at the first unengaged thread outside the nut. If the fillet radius under the bolt head becomes scratched or damaged, stress raisers develop and the bolt head separates in a dramatic manner. A metal fatigue pattern consists of conchoidal markings or ‘beach marks’ as seen in Photo 3.

o I f t he fa st ener wa s tig ht ene d ver y tig ht i n t he connection, the joint expansion could cause the fastener to be stretched into yield.

The fracture in Photo 3 initiated at the 7 o’clock position and continued through the body of the bolt until final fracture occurred at the heavy darkened area. The variance in dark to light bands indicate the frequency and intensity of the service loads.

o This will cause a loose bolt in the joint when it cools. Again, check the thread pitch.

Some fractures may have multiple stress initiation points as seen in Photo 4.

o Joint materials expand with heat.

UNDERLOADED: If the cap screw is not tightened sufficiently to produce a clamping force greater than the load that will be applied to it, the fastener will fail from a phenomenon known as metal fatigue. Fatigue failure occurs in heat treated metals and is most frequently encountered in heavy dynamic and fluctuating load assemblies where maximum loading does not occur during installation but later, when the equipment has been placed into service and when a heavy initial load impacts the joint. In this case, a cap screw may fail even though its tensile strength is much greater than the service loads it experiences. The mechanism for this type of failure is similar to the repeated bending of a coat hanger wire. The metal becomes ‘tired’ or fatigues due to this repeated movement. A certain amount of ‘cold working’ occurs and the metal develops a stress rupture. This ruptured stress raiser continues to propagate through the grain boundaries of the metal until there is very little crosssectional area left to support the service load or next impact, and then it suddenly fractures. Such is the case when a cap screw is not tightened sufficiently to produce a clamp load greater than what it is being subjected to by the service loads. Stresses can also initiate at other points which are voids (abrupt changes in size or shape), imperfections, scratches or discontinuities elsewhere on the metal surface. Once a crack initiates, it propagates through the core of the bolt with every additional shock or impact load, until the area of metal which is left can no longer support the next impact, at which point total fracture occurs instantly.

Photo 4

Causes: • Non-Matching Fastener Components o Check the grade markings on the nut and bolt to determine compatibility. o A Grade 2 nut on a Grade 8 bolt only produces a Grade 2 connection. • Embedment o If the imprint of the bolt head and/or nut is visible in the joint surface or flat washer, clamp load has been lost. o It only takes 0.001” of bolt relaxation, per inch of loaded length, to lose 30,000 psi of clamp load. o Continued load impacts will cause further embedment and loss of clamp load. • Debris in Threads or Tapped Hole o Any amount of thread interference will increase thread friction, provide false torque readings and decrease clamp load. • Burrs o A burr is an uneven surface and may not allow the joint surfaces to lay flat and parallel. o The extra metal will compress further during service and cause joint relaxation.

Photo 3

o The edge of the burr can dig into the fillet radius at the head of the cap screw causing a stress raiser or notch effect for metal fatigue.

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Technology • Inadequate Torque o Too much torque will cause the fastener to yield. The fastener is now weakened and subject to higher service loads and increased thread stress. o Too little torque will cause immediate stress in the threads. o Heavy dyna mic loads requi re t he fasteners to be retorqued after experiencing the service loads. The service loads will settle the joint and cause some relaxation. • Incorrect Torque Pattern o Applying full torque to all fasteners, even in a criss-cross pattern, will cause some bolts to be tighter as well as loosen others. o Proper procedure is to tighten the fasteners in increments in a criss-cross pattern.

• Reusing the Nut o Nuts are softer than the bolts to which they mate so the threads can plastically flow to carry the load of the expanding threads of the bolt. This produces thread distortion and causes an increase in thread friction. o Torque is a function of friction. Therefore, any increase in thread friction will decrease the amount of applied torque to the nut and bolt. o The nut will continue to produce more thread friction and less clamp load each time it is reused, even when torqued at the same torque value. o The exception is with using lubrication. • Mixed Fastener Grades in the Same Connection o The joint will produce less clamping force than that of the lower bolt grade. o If the higher bolt grade is torqued the same as the lower bolt grade, the resultant clamp load will be less than that produced by the lower bolt grade. This is due to the strength of materials and torsion, not axial tension. • Joint Relaxation o All of the above. There are ‘other’ less common reasons for fastener failures but none the less cause of dramatic failures, which we will explain in the next issue.

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Fastener World no.188/2021

Industry Focus

Analysis of Industrial Production Index (IPI) of Indonesia in 2020 by Sharareh Shahidi Hamedani

Where is Indonesia?

The Situation of Indonesia’s IPI

T he la rgest economy i n Sout heast Asia, I ndonesia – a d iver se a rch ip elago n at ion of more than 300 ethnic groups – has charted impressive economic g row t h si nc e it overca me t he Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Today, Indonesia is the world’s fou r t h most p opu lous nation, the world’s 10th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, and a member of the G-20. Furthermore, Indonesia has made enormous gains in poverty reduction, cutti ng t he pover ty r a t e by m o r e t h a n h a l f si n c e 1999, to 9.78% in 2020. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, Indonesia was able to maintain a consistent e conom ic g row t h, re cently qualifying the country to reach the upper middle-income status.

Indonesia’s industrial production rose 2.0% year on year in 2020, following a drop of 0.8% year on year in 2019. Indonesia’s industrial production index has been growing with an average rate of 4.0% yearly from 1999 to 2020. The data reached an all-time high growth of 34.5% in Jan. 2001 and a record low decline of 18.6% in Jan. 1999. In Year 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has bogged the growth rate of IPI. To compound matters further, measures that Jakarta itself has taken to combat the virus—restricting the movement of people and temporarily shutting down businesses—have also devastated domestic demand. The pandemic will not cause problems for the Indonesian economy in the short term. The decline in domestic demand is expected to be offset by a decline in imported goods, and even if the rate of decline in imports is higher than the rate of decline in domestic demand, domestic production will grow to meet national demand. In the long-term Indonesia’s economy will suffer because of weak demands and poverty. The ease of restrictions at the beginning of the third quarter of 2020 has boosted manufacturing activities in Indonesia. But the return of restrictions has worsened the manufacturing numbers again after September. Exports of goods recovered in September but fell again in October 2020. Imports declined further in October to nearly 27% lower than a year earlier, bringing the January-October trade balance to a surplus of USD 17 billion (from a deficit of USD 2 billion in 2019). In year 2021-22, growth is projected to be driven by consumption as pent-up demand is met, but the level of GDP will remain far below its pre-pandemic trend, and therefore insufficient to prevent social distress.

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Industry Focus The projected recovery of exports will contribute to a further significant narrowing of the current account deficit. Inflation is set to edge up to 3%, the mid-range of the manufacturing target, by year 2022. Moreover, the fiscal deficit is expected to shrink but will still exceed 3% of IPI in 2022.

Indonesia’s IPI Structure Related to the Fastener Industry Note that the numbers in the following Tables are in thousand USD. 1- Transport Equipment and Other Manufactures The main export destinations for Indonesia's products in this sector are listed in Table 1.

Table1. Transportation Equipment

Export Destinatioins

2016

2017

Philippines

7,607,807

8,685,942

8,646,652

8,480,678

5,162,779

Thailand

806,356

892,009

1,030,449

1,222,981

674,439

Vietnam

121,529

159,813

433,177

579,153

1,112,026

Japan

499,465

537,339

562,003

531,515

474,507

Total

9,035,157

10,275,103

10,672,281

10,814,327

7,423,751

Growth

---

14%

2018

2019

2020

-31%

Table Highlights: • Year 2020 (we can call it as the year of pandemic) is a nightmare for Indonesian producers. A 31% decline in their export seems to be a tragedy. • Vietnam is the only country whose import from Indonesia has increased by two times.

2- Electrical and Electronic Productions In this sector, there are three countries with the import from Indonesia exceeding 1 billion USD as shown in Table 2:

Table Highlights:

Table 2. Electric and Electronic Devices

Export Destinatioins

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Singapore

2,013,685

2,251,083

2,655,289

2,744,684

2,856,226

Japan

1,298,833

1,467,421

1,648,355

1,690,857

1,477,483

USA

1,694,865

1,517,280

1,277,619

1,494,065

2,208,451

Total

5,007,383

5,235,784

5,581,263

5,929,606

6,542,160

Growth

---

10%

3- Furniture and other Wooden Products

• Pandemic could not stop the growth of Indonesia’s exports in this segment. • Indonesia has reached a 10% growth, which is the highest rate since 2016. • Japan is the only country whose import from Indonesia has reduced and the reduction margin is around 13%.

In this sector, it should be mentioned that China's value of import from Indonesia has not been clarified yet for year 2020; consequently, we assumed that the value of China's import might be the same as in year 2019. Nevertheless, if China's import changes by (+/-)20%, the total growth will also change by (+/-)4%.

Export Destinatioins

202

Table 3. Wooden Products (Furniture and so on) 2016

2017

Japan

868,618

875,270

China

935,681

USA S. Korea

2019

2020

1,025,432

916,507

789,836

865,582

732,527

556,089

388,403

416,251

633,430

473,092

597,355

327,488

362,237

458,360

421,526

420,339

Total

2,520,190

2,519,340

2,849,749

2,367,214

2,363,619

Growth

---

13%

-17%

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2018

0% (estimate)

Table Highlights: • The problem of this sector has appeared since year 2019, which means it is not caused by the pandemic period. • It is notable that the decline in Japan’s import has been offset by an increase in US import.

Industry Focus 4- Iron and Steel Productions It should be mentioned that in this sector the values for 2020 have not been updated yet for Indonesia; therefore, Table 4 merely reveals the market size before the pandemic period.

Export Destinatioins

Table 4. Iron and Steel Production 2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

China

297,075

938,438

2,111,271

2,929,454

3,158,975

Taiwan

89,682

55,212

123,982

948,007

1,029,491

Last Word To sum up, we suggest that it is vital to build manufacturing clusters with the capability to better position Indonesia’s manufacturing sector in global competition. Moreover, fostering local innovation in design, marketing, process, and services, i s c r u c i a l fo r ex t r a c t i n g h ig h e r added value along the spectrum of manufacturing processes. In other words, expanding the manufacturing i n f rast r uct u res for domestic a nd foreign customers would increase Indonesia’s resilience and strengthen its economic base. Besides, global demand for manufacturing goods and transforming a manufacturing sector to a service sector in developed countries are expected to grow Indonesia as a main player of this sector (especially Electric and Electronic Devices), but it will not happen before Indonesia improves its banking system. Finally, the inappropriate monetary policy response and handling of the banking sector exacerbated the crisis, leading to bank runs and capital outflows.

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Industry Focus

by Behrooz Lotﬁan

Overview of Malaysia’ Economy The manufacturing sector has played a key role in developing countries' efforts to grow and prosper. This has been the experience of Malaysian economy since the 1960s. However, since the late 1990s, the country's economy has become non-industrial. As most of Malaysia's production has been mainly export-oriented, the relative decline in the economy has also reduced its share in the global economy. Along with these developments, the service sector will increase. While the service sector has always been important to the manufacturing sector. 1 56.2 percent of Malaysia GDP comes through service, 36.8 percent (68% of this sector is manufacturing) of it comes through Industry and 7.0 percent of it comes through agriculture.

What is IPI? Why It is Important? Understanding the real size of manufacturing is a key point for understanding the economic situation of that country. Industrial Production Index (IPI) is a measure of the rate of change in the production of industrial commodities in real terms over time for manufacturing, mining and electricity sectors. It is measured based on volume changes in production.

Malaysia’s IPI Situation Malaysia is one of the few developing countries in the Asia Pacific region which has used its abundant natural resources to grow sustainably. From being a major exporter of raw materials the country has diversified into other aspects of the economy. Taking a major share in the export market is the manufacturing sector with 25% of its total GDP and almost 60% of its total exports. 2 Industrial Production Index in Malaysia grew 1.92 percent each year on average from 2007 to 2021. On a monthly basis, it reached an all-time high growth of 12.80 percent in March 2010 and a record low decline of -32 percent in April 2020.

Analysis of Industrial Production Index (IPI) of Malaysia in 2020 204

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Ba s e d on D e p a r t me nt of St a t i st ics , I n du st r i a l Production Index in Malaysia grew by 1.2 percent yearon-year in January 2021. This was the second straight month of increase in industrial output (1.7 percent growth in December 2020). As the economy recovered further from the coronavirus pandemic, factories resumed their operations. Manufacturing activity continued to grow 3.5 percent in Jan. 2021 versus the 4.1 percent growth in Dec. 2020.

1 https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/ISEAS%20EWP%20 2019-2%20Lee%20(003).pdf 2 https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/ analysis-of-key-sectors-of-malaysia

Industry Focus IPI of Certain Malaysia’s Sectors: 1-1 The Electrical & Electronic Products (E&E) Televisions, mobile devices and printed circuit boards are categorized as the electrical and electronics (E&E) products. The other products in this category are telecommunications, electronic components, appliances, industrial electronics and consumer electronics. The E&E industry is the main category in Malaysian economy, and it plays a vital role in Malaysia’s export sector. The main buyers of Malaysia’s E&E industry are China, the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. The most significant products in this sector are semiconductors, which are popular all over the globe. The growth of electrical & electronic products reached the highest point in January 2021, and it has grown 7.9 percent in comparison with the growth recorded in December 2020.

1-2 The Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber & Plastic Products The chemical & petrochemical sector is the second largest contributor to Malaysia’s total exports of manufactured goods. The industry is linked to almost every other sector of the economy such as automotive, electrical and electronics, pharmaceutical and construction. The industry is divided into three sub-sectors: • Chemicals and chemical products; • Petroleum products; and • Plastic products. Petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products grew 4.5 percent in January 2021 in comparison with December 2020.

1-3 The Wood Products, Furniture, Paper Products & Printing Malaysia is an important player in the international market for tropical wood and wood products, and is also the leading exporter of wooden furniture globally. For the past 20 years, Malaysia’s wood-based industry has become one of the major revenue contributors to the country’s economic growth, encompassing the production of sawn timber, veneer, panel products (plywood, particleboard, chipboard, and fibreboard), mouldings, and builder joinery and carpentry (BJC), as well as furniture and furniture components. The wood products, furniture, paper products & printing IPI grew 2.4 percent in January 2021 in comparison with December 2020.

1-4 Non-metallic Mineral Products, Basic Metal & Fabricated Metal Products In this sector, all industrial product like fasteners are included. This sector dropped by 3.9 percent in January 2021 in comparison with December 2020. However, COVID has effected this sector hard, but the problem of this sector is not a short-term one.

Risk-averseness is one of the main issues manufacturers in Malaysia have. The attitude and mind-set of manufacturers who are risk averse further impede innovation initiatives. Generally, manufacturers are reluctant to change their current operations due to fear of disruption on production and are comfortable with their current business operations. In addition, product innovation usually involves high risk, high cost and long duration, thus making it unaffordable and less attractive.

1-5 Other Items In addition, production of mining shrank by 4.5 percent in Jan. 2021, which is less than the decline of 5.4 percent in Dec. 2020, due to falls in crude oil & condensate index (-9.4%) and natural gas index (-0.5%). Meanwhile, electricity output contracted by 4.6 percent, after a 0.2 percent drop in December 2020.

ccording to the prediction of Trading Economics organization, the Industrial Production Index in Malaysia is expected to grow 5.20 percent in the 1st quarter of 2021 compared to the last quarter of 2020. Looking forward, they estimate that the growth of Industrial Production in Malaysia (compared to 2020) will stand at 5.00 percent in the whole year of 2021. In the long-term, the Malaysian Industrial Production Index is projected to trend around a 5.00 percent growth in 2022 (compared to 2021) and a 4.80 percent growth in 2023 (compared to 2022).

Last Words If Malaysia wants to see the stability in its economy, then the manufacturing sector should be expanded and needs a spur. The key point of manufacturing is innovation but the current market for innovative products in Malaysia is zero. Malaysian managers must have the courage to enter the markets with a demand of 0 and of course must have the skills to build and grow this market. According to the growth trend of Industry Production Index, it can be predicted that the domestic and foreign demand for Malaysian goods will grow in the coming years. In addition, with the growth in demand, the investment in production sector will increase and then by improving Malaysia's production capacity, they can respond to foreign demand with better conditions. Its consequence will be the boom in Malaysia's manufacturing sector and more stability in their economy after 2023.

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Industry Focus

2021 Looks Bright for Chinese

Automotive Fastener Market

In the world’s downstream industries, fasteners are mainly used in automobile, electronics, construction and maintenance. The automotive industry is the largest fastener user demanding 23.2% of global fasteners. The industrial maintenance market and construction industry follow and take up 20% of the total. The electronics industry comes in third and takes up 16.6%. Thanks to a strong manufacturing base and improved technical capability, nearly 60% of China’s products have increased capacity in a nationwide statistics of sizable industries. Better control of corporate costs and a reform in the supply chain have brought the benefit of increased income and lower costs.

Status of Chinese Automotive Market in 2020 1. Passenger Cars Continued Reduction and Commercial Cars Increased Against the Backdrop I n 2020 19.99 m illion passenger ca rs were manufactured and 20.17 million passenger cars were sold, down 6.5% and 6% respectively. The drop shrank 2.7 and 3.6 percentage points respectively over 2019. Passenger car production and sales respectively took up 79.3% and 79.7% of all car types, down 3.7 and 3.5 percentage points respectively over 2019. In all four types of cars, sedans production and sales dropped by 10% and 9.9% respectively; SUVs grew by 0.1% and

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by Chin Feng & Hsien Ming Chang

0.7% respectively, surpassing sedans for the first time; MPVs dropped by 26.8% and 23.8% respectively; crossover passenger cars dropped by 1.7% and 2.9% respectively. In 2020, replacement of cars pertaining to China’s Ⅲ Vehicle Emission Standards, government rectification on overloaded passenger cars, as well as the demand for infrastructure, boosted commercial car production and sales for the whole year. In 2020, 5.23 million commercial cars were manufactured and 5.13 million commercial cars were sold, up 20.0% and 18.7% respectively and setting a new record by breaching 5 million for the first time. Commercial car production increased by 18.1 percentage points, and sales growth turned from negative to positive. In all car types, trucks are the mainstay of commercial car growth. 4.77 million trucks were manufactured and 4.68 million trucks were sold, up 22.9% and 21.7% respectively. 453 thousand passenger cars were manufactured and 448 thousand passenger cars were sold, down 4.2% and 5.6% respectively.

2. Annual New Energy Car Sales Set a New Record With years of development in the supply chain of new energy cars, the industry has gradually grown mature in every aspect. Various and diversified new energy cars continue to satisfy market demand and useroriented environment is being optimized and improved. With theses

Industry Focus measures, new energy cars are gaining more recognition from consumers. In 2020, 1.366 million new energy cars were manufactured and 1.367 million new energy cars were sold, up 7.5% and 10.9% respectively, and sales growth turned from negative to positive. 1.10 million pure electric vehicles were manufactured and 1.11 million of them were sold, up 5.4% and 11.6% respectively. 260 thousand plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were manufactured and 251 thousand of them were sold, up 18.5% and 8.4% respectively. 1 thousand fuel cell vehicles were both manufactured and sold, down 57.5% and 56.8% respectively. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, new energy car sales took up 5.4% of the nation’s total car sales in 2020, up 4.7% (7 percentage points) from 2019. New energy cars are steadily gaining traction.

3. Decreased Annual Automotive Export Volume The COVID pandemic overseas resulted in decreased automotive export in 2020. The whole year saw 995 thousand vehicles exported from China’s automotive industry, down 2.9%. In car type, 760 thousand passenger cars were exported, up 4.8%; 235 thousand commercial cars were exported, down 21.4%.

4. Decreased Annual Market Shares of Branded Passenger Cars Accordi ng to Ch i na Association of Automobile Manufacturers, market shares of branded passenger cars had been declining since 2017 to 38.1% in 2020. The drop was 2.9% in 2019 and shrunk to 1.1% in 2020. In the Chinese automotive market in 2020, except for Japanese and American brands with increased market shares, brands from China, Germany, South Korea and France witnessed a certain degree of decline. Regarding their future development, Japanese brands have a chance to surpass German brands to be the second largest car brand in China.

5. Reduced Market Concentration of Top 10 Automakers In 2020, the top 10 automakers’ sales totaled 22.64 million vehicles, down 2.3%, taking up 89.65% of total vehicle sales, 0.4 percentage points lower than 2019. Of the 10 largest automakers, SAIC remained as the top player selling 5.53 million units of vehicles in 2020, down 11.5% from 2019. SAIC, Chang'an Automobile, Great Wall Motor and Brilliance Auto exhibited growth in contrast to other automakers with decreased sales.

Spacious Chinese Automotive Fastener Market in 2021 Highlight 1: A huge fastener market China kicked off 2021 with a good start in January this year where the main indicators such as new and second-hand car registration as well as scrapped car recollection rates Fastener World no.188/2021

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Industry Focus exhibited significant growth. The car production and sales of January 2021 increased around 30%. The total car production and sales in China were 2.38 million and 2.50 million vehicles respectively, up 34.6% and 29.5%. Among them, new energy cars stuck out with 194 thousand vehicles produced and 179 thousand vehicles sold, up 290% and 240%. Overall, the Chinese car production and sales were stable with a good start to kick off 2021 and huge growth in main indicators. In the automotive manufacturing market, automotive fasteners can be used on virtually every sub-system, including engines, suspensions, chassis, airbags, and ABS. In 2020, the COVID pandemic pressed the pause button on the automotive industry. All industries were on the same boat taking the challenge in the midst of the massive impact. China pushed for work/production resumption, sped up altering our marketing, and stimulated car purchase. The automotive market was on gradual recovery with steadily accelerated yet reduced annual sales, and was fundamentally free from the pandemic impact. The automotive industry on the whole exhibited robust endurance and inner momentum. In 2020, China manufactured 25.22 million units of cars and sold 25.31 million units of cars, down 2% and 1.9% respectively, and down 5.5 and 6.3 percentage points respectively over 2019. The vast automotive market provides huge potential for the development of automotive fasteners. Fasteners account for 40% of all components used on a car. A light passenger car or sedan roughly uses 5,000 pcs of fasteners (in 580 types, weighing 50 thousand grams) on average. A medium or heavy truck uses 5,710 pcs of assorted fasteners weighing 90 thousand grams. On the basis that a car weighs 75 kilograms, the automotive fastener scale should have reached 1.7 million tons by 2020. Furthermore, as Chinese automotive industry steps up the pace, the ever intensifying market coupled with elevated automotive requirements on fastener quality (lightweighting, environmental protection, longer service life) keeps automotive fastener companies on the track of upgrading and reinventing their equipment. As you see, automotive fasteners are a huge market.

Highlight 2: Fast Development of Specialized Companies Chinese automotive fastener companies can be roughly divided into two types: one being sizable with a unit dedicated to manufacturing, and the other being a specialized manufacturer of non-standard automotive fasteners. With a significant increase in demand, specialized companies are flourishing in China. This type of products have higher added values and have turned into a white hot territory of competition. Statistics show there are 100 or so Chinese automotive fastener companies, among which are over 30 joint ventures. These companies with the total assets of around RMB 12.5 billion employ a total of 60 thousand people, and 80 companies or so are certified to ISO/TS16949. Only a few are granted to manufacture automotive fasteners for overseas

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car brands, while most others are unable to tap into automotive fastener production, except for some who are OEMs. The main autotmotive fastener companies in China are Dongfeng Motor Fastener, Gem-Year Industrial, Fawer Automotive Parts (Fastener Division), Shann Xi Fang Yuan Auto Standard, Shanghai Teqiang Fastener Technology, Wenzhou Mingtai Si Standard Parts, Zhejiang Changhua Auto Parts, Shanghai Shangbiao Automobile Fasteners, Shanghai Autocraft, Hubei Youqian Auto Parts, Zhoushan7412factory, China Aviation Industry Standard Parts Manufacturing, Ying Ming (Fuzhou) Industrial, Zhejiang New Oriental Fastener Auto Parts, Chunyu (Dongguan) Hardware Products, Zhejiang Qiangli Fastener, etc.

Table 1. Characteristics of Chinese automotive fastener manufacturers Characteristics

Analysis

Costcompetitive

Among the automotive fastener companies in China, the domestic ones are cost-competitive in a portion of the engine market and most of the noncritical fastener market.

Ability to Provide Auxiliary Products

By optionally mimicking overseas products, Chinese companies take in the know-how to quickly gain the ability to provide auxiliary products for the domestic market.

Lack of Breakthrough in R&D

Chinese companies lack sufficient abilities to develop high-tech engine fasteners as these abilities are mostly controlled by foreign companes.

Technology from Overseas

Most of the Chinese products are those with lower values. The core technology of these products generally comes from overseas.

Highlight 3: Higher Requirements on Automotive Fasteners The competitiveness of Chinese automotive fasteners is largely attributed to the rise of domestic brands including BYD, Chery Automobile, China Young Man Automobile, Geely Auto, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile, as well as the novel development of PanAsia Technical Automotive Center, SAIC, Dongfeng Motor, Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile, Ford, Zotye Auto, and

Industry Focus Qoros. As the automotive industry develops, requirements are stricter on fasteners. Threaded fasteners, cold forging medium-carbon steel, low alloy steel and ordinary surface treatment are not qualified to meet the requirements. The current methods to control thread fastening are the Torque Method, the Torque-angle Method, Yield Point Method, and Bolt Elongation Method. The installation process must include a check of static torque or a torque recheck to ensure that the static torque meets the technical requirement. Anywhere below or far above the static torque range will be deemed as a quality issue pertaining to fastening control. Automotive bolt fastening is to control the preload for bolt connection. For assembly quality, the fastening state of engaged threads must be strictly controlled to avoid slipping or gaps which result from the connection between the bolt and the fastened object and which further causes the engagement of threads to fail.

Table 2. Trend Analysis of Chinese Automotive Fasteners Trend

Analysis

Stricter Steel Requirements

As an automotive fastening component, bolts must adapt to the designed high stress and be lightweight. To that end, new functions have been proposed for steel and special materials and technology continued to be introduced. This cannot reduce the cost of the components but may lower the total cost of the whole car or its components.

Stricter Quality Check

Many countries require that high-strength fasteners used on engines must be replaced after ten to twenty thousand hours of use, regardless of their quality. They cannot be shipped out of the factory if they don’ t meet that requirement. Elevating product level requires a great deal of calculation, analysis, tests and checks. Any flaws can lead to initial failure. Chinese companies are adding control methods for production lines and using dies to ensure precise sizes and shape tolerances in mass-production of highend fasteners.

Diversified Demand

Depending on the components selected and the environment, automotive fasteners are diversified in material and structure. Conventionally, low-alloy cold-forged steel is used to manufacture automotive fasteners, but heat-resistant steel and stainless steel are increasingly applied where the environment is extreme such as engine superchargers, 3-way catalytic converters, exhaust manifolds, and transmissions.

Transition to High Quality and Durability

Technical improvement is essential in the transition from conventional fasteners to high precision automotive components. The new era of electric vehicles requires economical, easy-to-use automotive fasteners that can replace mechanical fasteners and well connect with colored aluminum, magnesium alloy, carbon fiber composites, rubber and plastic components.

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Industry Focus Conclusion The heat-resistant fastener materials and operating temperature indicate that the operating temperature for heat-resistant steel is below 700°C, that the operating temperature for nickel-based alloy is up to 820°C but the cost is high, and that stainless steel has higher strength but features the lowest operating temperature and lower costs. Therefore, material selection requires consideration on both performance and costs. Table 2 lists the expected development of future automotive fasteners.

Chinese automotive fastener industry is a huge, multi-layer and complex industrial system with many unignorable problems. 1. A large number of companies, huge capacity, multiple economic factors in existence, inconsistent quality. 2. Due to rising material prices and costs, the fastener industry is facing challenges from Southeast Asia, India, Brazil and other countries and regions. 3. Foreign companies are digging deep in Chinese fastener market, limiting the development of domestic brands. 4. Lacking innovation and critical high-end technology such as engine bolts. Falling behind in high-end product technology and low/ medium-end quality. In the next couple of years, the c o n t i n u o u s d evelo p m e n t of c a r s and fasteners remains as one of the main pillars for national economic development. Since 2015, Chinese gover nment has been releasing its “Made in China” blueprint once every two years, elaborating on and analyzing the status of Chinese manufacturing. By 2025, China’s advanced railway transport systems, new energy powered cars, power generating infrastructure and construction are expected to be in line with the world’s top players. China is still way behind in operating systems, industrial software, and aerial engines. The next decade will be crucial for Chinese cars and fasteners to transform and upgrade, develop, and turn from a huge manufacturing country into a strong one. A ny way, t h e d eve l o p m e n t o f automotive fastener technology and equ ipment is t he cor ner stone for advanced automotive manufacture. T here is a lot of room for t he development of C h i nese fa st ener technology and equipment. It is still a long shot for China to narrow the gap with overseas top players. Despite that, the outlook is quite promising. It requires a mechanism for steady growth of va rious investment a nd R&D, increased financial support for innovating automotive manufacturing technology, and continuous investment in new products and technology for automotive companies.

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Industry Focus Data note: The data for this article is derived from Descartes™ Datamyne's US Census trade statistics. US Import and Export Census trade statistics is based on all modes of transportation. That value is calculated in USD by CIF (imports). In this article fasteners are defined as any product under HS Code 7318 (screws, bolts, nuts, coach screws, rivets, cotters, cotter pins, washers and similar articles or iron or steel), as well as the subcategories of 7318. Additionally, data is derived from the New Residential Construction statistics published by The U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

U.S. New Housing Start Statistics and Fastener Demand by Sabrina Rodriguez

While many Americans face economical hardships due to the global pandemic, is there a true demand for new housing? Did new Housing Start statistics increase in 2020 indicating even more growth in 2021? How will this influence the demand for fasteners?

The global pandemic has drastically impacted how we live our day-to-day routines. For example, a vast majority of us are adapting to working where we live and living where we work. For many, the thought of returning to an office setting seems unnecessary especially when you consider the number of hours per year wasted on commuting. Without the need to report to the once traditional office environment, families are exchanging their busy cities for less densely populated suburbs. Traditionally the cost of living is much more affordable for those that opt for more rural areas, however, living in these lesssuburban areas comes with a price tag. There is less availability of housing specifically single-family homes, and these areas offer less career opportunities. Large cities have always attracted the working-class population for the availability of jobs. With the decrease in commercial office settings, many companies have begun to offer their employees permanent remote work positions which is beginning to allow workers to move away from large, densely populated cities into less populated suburbs. Families are trading their small apartments and townhomes for larger single-family houses, many of which are larger in size allowing for designated office spaces and more amenities, like outdoor space for exercise and activities.

It is evident to understand how any new Housing Starts have already increased in 2021 to best predict whether there will be a high demand for fasteners in the coming months. The U.S. imports most fasteners from partner countries such as Taiwan, China, and Japan for the supply chain demands of the auto industry as well as the construction and manufacturing industries.

What Trends Can We See in U.S. Housing Start Statistics in 2020 and Early 2021? Ac cordi ng to t he U.S. Cen sus Bu reau a nd t he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, privatelyowned Housing Starts decreased by 9.3% in February 2021 when compared to February 2020. The February 2021 rate of 1,040,000 was also below the January 2021 rate of 1,136,000. When it comes to Building Permits, February 2021 rates were reported at 1,143,000 which is 10% lower than the January 2021 rate of 1,270,000. The high number of permits issued in January 2021 is promising since it ensures construction is either underway or about to begin. In February 2021 there Fastener World no.188/2021

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Industry Focus US Import from Top 10 Countries in Jan. Main Query Filters: Product Hs : 7318 - Screws, Bolts, Nuts, Coach Screws, Screw Hooks, Rivets, Cotters, Cotter

Pins, Washers and Similar Articles, of Iron or Steel

Country General of Origin Total Value CIF (USD)

2020 - JAN General % Quantity (KG)

General Total Value CIF (USD)

2021 - JAN General % Quantity (KG)

Volume Change General General Total Value % Quantity CIF (USD) (KG)

Taiwan

167,334,833

35.29

54,060,958

38.60 171,417,886

37.48

52,893,157

40.33

China

96,951,321

20.45

44,775,927

31.97

82,611,356

18.07

36,182,311

27.59 -14,339,965 -14.80 -8,593,616 -19.20

4,083,053

Japan

49,209,217

10.38

7,778,180

5.56

51,282,588

11.22

8,486,232

6.47

30,334,811

6.40

4,040,977

2.89

25,418,328

5.56

3,424,564

2.62

-4,916,483 -16.21

-616,413 -15.26

Canada

27,548,257

5.81

6,542,694

4.68

26,150,070

5.72

5,692,916

4.35

-1,398,187

-5.08

-849,778 -12.99

S. Korea

17,292,256

3.65

4,170,231

2.98

16,690,223

3.65

4,983,606

3.80

-602,033

-3.49

813,375

19.51

Italy

11,954,092

2.53

1,406,637

1.01

13,552,820

2.97

1,510,766

1.16

1,598,728

13.38

104,129

7.41

India

11,079,025

2.34

5,496,041

3.93

12,856,789

2.82

6,380,639

4.87

1,777,764

16.05

884,598

16.10

Mexico

10,322,884

2.18

972,758

0.70

10,079,183

2.21

1,187,041

0.91

-243,701

-2.37

214,283

22.03

U.K.

8,106,198

1.71

684,188

0.49

6,373,905

1.40

355,976

0.28

474,296,348 100.00 140,062,853 100.00 457,410,830

4.22

-1,732,293 -21.37

100.00 131,169,438 100.00 -16,885,518

708,052

-2.17

Germany

Total

2,073,371

2.45 -1,167,801

9.11

-328,212 -47.98

-3.57 -8,893,415

-6.35

Top Countries of Origin General Quantity (KG)

2021 - JAN General % Total Value CIF (USD)

56,258,831

42.90 181,887,718

39.77

35,433,148

27.02

97,662,356

21.36

22,353,490

17.05

97,730,018

21.37

6,995,905

5.34

21,356,695

4.67

3,532,314

2.70

27,789,108

6.08

731811 - Coach Screws, Threaded, of Iron or Steel

1,426,524

1.09

1,975,694

0.44

731823 - Rivets of Iron or Steel 731812 - Wood Screws Other Than Coach Screws, Threaded, of Iron or Steel 731819 - Threaded Articles of Iron or Steel Others 731813 - Screw Hooks And Screw Rings, Threaded, of Iron or Steel

1,035,469

0.79

6,001,591

1.32

1,014,442

0.78

2,590,981

0.57

991,255

0.76

7,813,298

1.71

906,649

0.70

1,995,942

0.44

Product HS (6) 731815 - Threaded Screws and Bolts Others, With or Without Their Nuts or Washers, of Iron or Steel 731814 - Self-Tapping Screws, Threaded, of Iron or Steel 731816 - Nuts, Threaded, of Iron or Steel

was an increase of 2.8% in Housing Completions when compared to January 2021. However, the February 2021 rate of 1,042,000 decreased from the February 2020 rate of 1,297,000. In December 2020, housing starts were the highest reported rate in fourteen years increasing an entire 12% to the rate of 1,560,000 units. Homebuilding also increased in December 2020 by 5.2%. In general, Housing Starts had a total of 1,380,000 in 2020 which represented an increase of 7% from 2019. Overall, there was an increase in construction of single-family homes and a decrease in multifamily homes. T he end of 2020 wa s a pivot a l poi nt for a spi r i ng homeowners as mortgage rates decreased. According to sources such as Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed mortgage rates were being offered with an average percentage rate (APR) of 2.79%. For many, home owning would have not been possible had the mortgage interest rates remained at upwards of 4% especially considering the high prices of single-family homes

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731822 - Washers, Other Than Lock Washers, of Iron or Steel 731829 - Nonthreaded Articles (Fasteners) Others, of Iron or Steel

Total

131,169,438 100.00 457,410,830 100.00

in large cities which often include high property tax rates. Less suburban communities offering newer constructed home are extremely attractive to young families fleeing large cities, especially those looking for affordability and an improvement in their quality of life.

Industry Focus

Top 10 Fastener Products of Import in Jan.

10,000,000

(kg)

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

the increase in Housing Permits during the months of January, February and March 2021's demand for fasteners will likely increase to keep up with the new construction of homes.

Are Fasteners in Higher Demand Due to the Increase in U.S. Housing Start? During the last quarter of 2020, the quantity of U.S. imports of fasteners was stable and growing, especially between the months of November and December. In December, the quantity of fasteners increased to nearly 134,000,000 USD from 122,705,000 USD in November. Taiwan and China increased their exports of fasteners to the U.S. in December which explains the increase in both the quantity and value. Even though much of the trade world was impacted in 2020 due to COVID-19, fastener imports in December 2020 increased by 9.4% in quantity and 4.6% in value when compared to December 2019. Quantity of fasteners dropped by 6.3% in January 2021 when compared to January 2020, resulting in a cumulative value decrease of nearly 17 million USD. The demand for fasteners from countries such as China, Germany and Canada decreased significantly in January 2021. The top fasteners that were imported during January 2021 were 731815 (43% of the total), 731814 (27% of the total) and 731816 (17% of the total). As seen from

What Should We Expect to Happen in the Future? A c c o r d i n g t o t h e 2 010 U S C e n s u s report when a reported 310 million people were accounted for, 47% of the U.S. land is unoccupied. Of that unoccupied land, about 538 million acres are forests and 391 million acres are devoted to cropland. Only a mere 69 million acres are devoted to urban development. Of those developed urban acres are the 10 most populated metropolitan areas which contribute 40% of the total GDP in the U.S.

US Import from Top 10 Countries in Q4 2020 Product Hs : 7318 - Screws, Bolts, Nuts, Coach Screws, Screw Hooks, Rivets, Cotters, Cotter Pins,

Washers and Similar Articles, of Iron or Steel

Country of Origin

2020 - OCT General Quantity (KG)

Taiwan

53,259,611

China

2020 - NOV %

41.36 167,605,781

37.35

51,213,562

41.74 156,095,139

36.72

55,938,987

41.76 173,442,169

38.30

33,458,200

25.99

73,597,320

16.40

30,036,625

24.48

68,190,981

16.04

37,754,857

28.19

83,245,406

18.39

Japan

8,805,894

6.84

49,578,198

11.05

9,145,593

7.46

56,372,683

13.26

7,490,033

5.60

46,907,875

10.36

India

5,610,418

4.36

11,317,764

2.53

4,698,998

3.83

10,265,792

2.42

5,692,647

4.25

12,368,021

2.74

S. Korea

5,233,030

4.07

19,133,345

4.27

7,880,279

6.43

15,935,817

3.75

6,160,095

4.60

18,796,270

4.16

Canada

4,926,135

3.83

25,503,280

5.69

4,696,151

3.83

24,491,782

5.77

4,594,435

3.43

22,053,169

4.87

Vietnam

4,013,828

3.12

7,879,564

1.76

3,152,093

2.57

5,801,524

1.37

4,264,818

3.19

8,054,033

1.78

Germany

3,415,536

2.66

26,664,212

5.95

3,264,614

2.67

27,377,379

6.44

3,040,785

2.27

25,096,691

5.55

Thailand

2,287,019

1.78

6,154,312

1.38

1,945,353

1.59

5,047,035

1.19

2,385,651

1.79

6,158,853

1.36

Mexico

1,546,148

1.21

10,432,538

2.33

1,194,668

0.98

10,114,888

2.38

894,569

0.67

8,375,347

1.85

128,771,450 100.00 448,792,905 100.00 122,705,401

General Total Value CIF (USD)

2020 - DEC

General Quantity (KG)

Total

General Total Value CIF (USD)

General Quantity (KG)

General Total Value CIF (USD)

100.00 425,154,663 100.00 133,975,703 100.00 452,907,739 100.00 Fastener World no.188/2021

217

Industry Focus

US Import from Top 10 Countries in Dec.

Product Hs : 7318 - Screws, Bolts, Nuts, Coach Screws, Screw Hooks, Rivets, Cotters, Cotter Pins, Washers and