39 minute read
FASTENER DISTRIBUTION SPECIAL
pgb-Europe drives ahead with
DIGITISATION AND AUTOMATION
It is said that an efficient supply chain can become a sales argument in itself. Fastener and tool specialist pgb-Europe is arming itself for the future with a robotised pallet warehouse and new ERP and WMS system.
âWe have gained in efficiency, offer an answer to the demand for traceability and optimise our delivâery times,â explains Logistics Manager Vincent Pennoit. âThese are assets that our customers appreciate.â Since 1956, pgbâEurope (PennoitâGrootaert Bolt Trade) has developed from a oneâman business to a reputable internaâtional player. The head office in Melle, near Ghent, functions as a logistics centre for the storage and delivery of fasteners and tools. The companyâs own production units are located in Poland (anchors) and Vietnam (wood screws). The sales market from Melle is mainly located in Belgium and the surrounding countries. With Frederik and Vincent Pennoit and Johannes Heye, the third generation is active in the company. pgbâEurope moved to Melle in 1997. Due to the rapid growth of the company, the storage space of 10,000 square metres soon reached its limits. âWe then turned to external warehouses,â says Pennoit. âThat turned out not to be the ideal solution, as we lost efficiency when grouping our orders.â An initial expansion of the existing facility provided the solution. With an automated miniload picking system, capable of handling 10,000 order lines per day, pgbâEurope emerged ânot for the last time â as a pioneer in its sector. The next phase of expansion was preceded by a software tranâsition. âFor a long time, we relied on a selfâbuilt AS/400 system, of which we could do very little to change the core,â explains Vincent Pennoit. âIt cost us too much effort and time to link product certificates to specific batch numbers. We therefore made the switch from AS/400 to SAP for ERP. Almost simultaâneously, we implemented a new WMS system with Dynaman.â Meanwhile, the opportunity presented itself to buy the adjaâcent company site. This paved the way for a robotâcontrolled high bay warehouse of 5,000 metres², with space for an addiâtional 13,000 pallet locations. This expansion brought the total to 28,000 pallet locations over the past three years. Pennoit adds: âThe total layout is now split into three major parts. The high bay warehouse acts as a reserve buffer stock. The miniload section centralises singleâbox picking and there is a warehouse for manual overload picking. Three AGVs ensure the pallet replenishment between the high bay and overflow warehouse. The WMS system estimates the quantities to be picked, so our warehouse employees never run out of stock.â The high bay warehouse and the software implementations improve shipping speed and accuracy. âThis is a must, given the high market expectations,â explains the Logistics Manager. âWe deliver mainly to retailers, mainly in the professional segment. A fast execution speed is an important objective there. EDI connections now allow our customers to reduce their stocks. On the other hand, our customers expect us to deliver within 24 hours. If an order reaches us before 3pm, we will handle it before 6pm. Depending on the size of the order and the locaâtion, we therefore meet the intended market demand.â To estimate this market demand, pgbâEurope relies on the foreâcasting module of the SAP package. âIt determines on the basis of history and calculated growth factors which goods â and in which quantities â we should order. Thanks to the close cooperation with our production companies in Poland and Vietnam and, of course, our suppliers in the Far East and Europe, appropriate purchasing management ensures a delivery rate of 97%,â says Pennoit. The pgbâEurope ScanApp ultimately makes the link between logistics and customer service. âConsumers call up technical data sheets with it via their smartphones. The professional user in turn scans the barcode in his warehouse or shop shelf, after which he automatically reaches our order module. All he has to do is click on the number of copies he wants to order.â In recent years, pgbâEurope has invested heavily in eâcommerce. Customers can not only track their deliveries, but also keep track of whether their order has been picked or dispatched.
www.pgb-europe.com
// The forecasting module of the SAP package determines which goods âand in what quantities âwe should order. //
The green green grass of Hamburg
Improving the sustainability of a fastener distribution business can encompass virtually every aspect of operation. Hamburgâs Reyher has recently turned to a clever corrugated cardboard brand which uses locally-grown grass in manufactureâŚ
Every year hundreds of thousands of pallets leave REYHERâs logistics centre heading across the whole world âsome 70,000 of them have pallet covers to protect the goods. To save on valuable resources, the Hamburg trading company for fasteners and fixing technology now uses GreenCorÂŽcorrugated cardboard made with grass paper. The corrugated cardboard from GreenCor is an innovative resourceâconserving development by packaging producer CARTOFLEX, based in LĂźneburg, Germany. The special feature of the packaging material is that it consists of around one third grass. The remaining 70% of the corrugated cardboard is made up of recycled material.
Reducing energy, water and chemicals in production
The production of grass paper differs in practice only a little from conventional paper production. In addition to used paper, grass fibres are pulped with water. Next, water is removed from the suspension and the fibres build a fleece. In contrast to fresh fibre or recycled fibre processes, grass fibre can be produced purely mechanically. This considerably reduces the use of water and energy during the process. The use of chemâicals can also be radically reduced. The danger of allergies is removed due to the special production process using both high pressure and high temperatures.
Locally sourced raw materials
The grass used for the pallets required comes from SchleswigâHolstein, a region of north Germany, from local farmers and their grass compensation areas. These areas must be created because of increasing soil sealing. The managed grasslands have to be mowed twice a year. Because of the length and strength of the woody grass it is not suitable for animal fodder and so there is no competition with fodder production. âCartoflex has supplied us reliably with quality highâvalue packaging materials for many years,â reports REYHER CEO, KlausâDieter Schmidt. âWe are very pleased that thanks to this innovative development we can make an extra contriâbution towards saving valuable resources and reducing the use of chemicals.â
www.reyher.de
Reyher CEO Klaus-Dieter Schmidt (left) and Matthias Hebrok, Managing Director of CARTOFLEX
Powerfast II leaps into action
Parkour power > fischer has an action-packed marketing push to promote the PowerFast II screw for its distribution partnersâŚ
Fischer is launching a new campaign for its awardâwinning PowerFast II screw this month, centred on an actionâpacked video of a thrilling timber parkour which a tradesâman successfully masters with the help of the new chipboard screw. By placing the spectacular images on its social media and online channels, fischer is targeting carpenters, joiners, timber construction specialists and other users. The audience is directed to the retail partner who is actively supported by fischer through the point of sale â both online and inâstore. âOur retail partnersâ stores and online platforms give us the opportunity to convince customers with innovations such as our PowerFast II on a daily basis,â says Armin HeĂ, Speaker of the Board of Directors and Managing Director Sales and Marketing at the fischer Group of Companies. âWe support our retail partners with attentionâgrabbing sales promotions for the digital and physical point of sale, thereby increasing our mutual commercial success.â The video features lively scenes that show how users can achieve top results within a short space of time even under difficult circumstances thanks to the PowerFast II. The premium screw provides high retention forces and is easy to screw in â advantages that are demonstrated in the video, from fastening ladder spokes without any splitting, or neatly counâtersinking protruding screws in narrow tunnels. Its fast bite and short screwâin time allow the PowerFast II to be screwed in midâjump off a trampoline, so says fischer (though we havenât tried it). Thanks to its wide range of applications, the screw can also be used to fasten metal handles to the climbing wall. The final scene shows a roof truss being set up in record time. The PowerâFast II is suitable for any wood on wood, or wood on metal connections and can be used in fischerâs plastic plugs with verified loads. All of the screwâs technical features are compiled in a consistent overall design which won the 2020 German Design Award and a Red Dot 2020. fischer is providing participating retailers with a test station for their stores from April onwards to allow viewers to expeârience the video in person. Each customer can try out the PowerFast II themselves in different wood materials and under various conditions. Retailers will also have a choice of offers available for an atmospheric store design. Whether that be POS screens showing the film, test stations or many addiâtional point of sale design features â the sales promotion rounds out the âPowerFast II Experienceâ that began online. The customer journey starts on fischerâs social media chanânels such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, where the video and its captions are displayed in the respective formats and versions. The audience is directed to a dedicated website with its own campaign landing page through many different touchpoints and channels, which ultimately lead to the retail partnerâs online store via Retail Connect. The fixings specialist thereby directs customers who are willing to buy to the retailâers, providing support across every channel.
www.fischer.group
Donât try this at home: fischerâs ad campaign features tricksy parkour stunts
Smoothing out demand spikes IN EXCEPTIONAL TIMES
Itâs been quite the 12 months for the fastener supply chain. For those trading between the UK and EU thereâs been Brexit to contend with, as well as the small matter of Covid and its gamechanging effects on the supply chain. Torque Magazine speaks with Ian Doherty, CEO of the UKâs largest fixing and fastener wholesaler, Owlett-Jaton, to assess the state of the marketâŚ
It has been a hugely disrupted 12 months for fastener distribution and beyond. Do you think that it has highlighted the value of wholesalers and importers in the fastener supply chain? For example in terms of maintaining a consistent supply in a highly disruptive period?
I think it has. We have the ability to smooth out demand spikes in the broader supply chain, largely because of the levels of stock that we carry. Industry would have struggled without the wholesalers and our ability to hold broad, deep stocks. There were a whole bunch of factors in the last 12 months, many of which you can lay at the door of Covid. You could argue port congestion was largely a Covid creation; It reduced capacity and then we had all this PPE coming in, although we know there were some other factors, including Felixstowe Port implementing a new IT system. There were massive swings in demand last year. After the Prime Minister made his announcement of lockdown on 23 March last year, the UK completely shut down, but by July in our sector we found that demand had largely come back to normal. And then there were people frantically trying to refill supply chains. Undoubtedly, we were able to meet some of that exceptional demand and I like to think we added value. If everyone had been relying on their own stocks then I think it would have been much worse. Any small importers reacting to the lockdown by cancelling orders found it very difficult to refill the supply chain.
Product availability seems to be the greatest challenge right now, is that fair to say?
Yes, it is. That is very firmly a Covid impact. I donât think we were unusual in that we spent 24 March looking at strategic scenarios; We questioned how long will this downturn go on? What happens if business only recovers to 80% or 90%? The first lockdown and subsequent lockdowns have been quite different. That first lockdown saw everyone trying to work out how to run a business with this new set of constraints. Construction sites virtually shut, we saw the major national buildersâ merchants shut and we saw sales fall off a cliff at the end of March. They recovered. If, on 24 March, we had said things will be back to normal by summer then we would have been advised to have a lie down in a dark room! Orders were cut and people eventually tried to replace them and we were reasonably successful in replacing orders as demand surged. On top of that there are the port congestion issues and these have been running almost eight months. Then we had the shipping issues towards the end of Q4, which are still an issue. We have had many incidents of goods waiting for six weeks to be shipped thanks to container availability and shipping availability. Things were improving, and even allowing for the hiatus caused by Lunar New Year we were seeing stock and availabilâity reâbuilding. Then the Ever Given decided to park sideways in the Suez Canal! This has really thrown a spanner in the works. There is the immediate impact of ships being delayed whilst the Ever Given was freed and the backlog cleared, this then knocks on into port capacity as a surge of boats arrive âmore congestion, more delays. At the same time ships returnâing to the Far East were also held up, so we are seeing return sailings from the Far East cancelled. We have a great deal of product which has been produced, container availability has improved, but now there is a shipping capacity shortage and with that price increases for freight. Before the Ever Given fiasco I would have said I was reasonâably confident that availability would continue to improve and by Q3 might even have returned to normal levels. However, this latest disruption will take many months to work its way out of the system and I now believe we will see availability as a challenge for most of 2021.
A lack of HGV drivers has been an issue, but maybe not significant in the grand scheme of things?
There is a driver shortage and you need to book transport well in advance. This becomes complex when you get a boat that has changed its schedule and you then have to try and get a driver for the new date⌠It is all part of the same mix of disruption in the supply chain. That is one factor I lay at the door of Brexit rather than Covid, due largely to reduced drivers from Europe. There was a shortage before and this really hasnât helped.
We finally âgot Brexit doneâ. However, the deal was fairly last minute, with much uncertainty until quite recently. Presumably now there is clarity for importers?
Not everything is finalised! You said there was a lack of clarity, but we had assumed that we would have third country status, so we prepared for that regarding imports from Europe. A lot of the product we might have been bringing in from Europe wasnât necessarily manufactured there, so country of origin has been an important consideration. We prepared for full customs declarations and when the deal came out, it was as we thought. We assumed there would be additional administration required and there would be delays and that is very much what we saw. We assumed the worst case and then it came along!
Owlett-Jaton set up a subsidiary in Ireland to mitigate the possible problems around Brexit for your Irish customers. Has that decision proved worthwhile already, or will it be a longer-term success?
We havenât actually used our Irish subsidiary. Weâve always been focused on making it as easy for our Irish customers to buy from us as it was preâBrexit. We found a way where we could offer that level of customer service, which has been a lot of work at our end, but has proven for our customers to be a much simpler answer. Lead times to Ireland are now longer as the extra adminisâtration takes time. Historically we could deliver in as little as 24 hours, now it is at least 48 or 72. Beforehand, you could drive a truck up to the border. Now you have to get a preâboarding notification and a whole bunch of administration done before the truck gets to the port. It works, but it adds time and that is slightly frustrating.
So, is this another area where wholesalers and importers have stepped in to try and keep things consistent for customers?
I can tell you what we are doing, but I am not sure our competiâtors have done the same and offered a similar level of service. We wanted to make it simpler for our customers. We are better placed as an organisation to deal with revenue and customs, clearances and declarations than some of our smaller customers who only have half a dozen people and are not really in a position to become full blown importers.
Have any of these import tribulations tempted OwlettJaton to look towards UK manufacturing for certain lines?
Not really. The first place you get to is cost. We have reviewed European sourcing and UK sourcing and the cost benefit analâysis just isnât there. We havenât ruled it out indefinitely, but the market just wonât bear the prices and the capacity doesnât exist for a lot of the standard products. That reflects the whole arguâment that is going on in Europe over antiâdumping. The challenges the supply chain is seeing are global issues which will resolve themselves. It is about capacity and balance and that big spike caused by Covid, but it will return to normal. The supply chain actually had quite a lot of stock in it when the pandemic struck. You have to ask, has there really been a surge in demand from the end user? Or is it people predicting a shortage and trying to get some extra product on the shelf? I think there have been real shortages in things like wood screws, but there isnât the wood screw manufacturing capacity in the UK to go anywhere close
Ian Doherty, CEO of the UKâs largest fixing and fastener wholesaler, Owlett-Jaton
to filling that gap. Ultimately, for us it is about making the supply chain work.
What are some of the biggest challenges your customers, eg merchants, distributors, etc, are facing right now?
A number of the challenges are mainly to do with Covid; The first obvious one is running a secure workplace. We see many staff of customers still on furlough, so will that result in a longâterm change, working longer hours with fewer people? It has been hard for those more reliant on a trade counter or a physical environment to sell. While people are now pretty good in creating Covidâsecure spaces, are people browsing in quite the same way? Our customers have suffered in terms of stock availability, with many running relatively low stocks. Wood screw demand went bananas â you couldnât get a decking screw at one point in the summer for love nor money. Everyone had decided to get decking. Once again, in hindsight, if you take 8.5 million people and send them on furlough in the sunshine, what are they going to do? Maybe something in their gardensâŚ? I wish I had thought of that in April 2020! You understand that demand in hindsight. Some of those changes in demand profile were pretty challenging for our customers as well. What didnât materialise but we were concerned about was major credit issues and business failures and that hasnât happened. I donât know to what extent people have been reliant on loans or by using up their own resources. We are extremely fortunate as we are a wellâfunded business, it hasnât been a challenge for us. But payment issues were a concern but we havenât seen them.
Whatâs your view on the current anti-dumping investigation?
Iâm the Vice Chair of the British & Irish Association of Fastener Distributors (BIAFD) and I sit on some of the EFDA taskforces on this topic because BIAFD is still very engaged with it. We have Irish members and EFDA is a European association, not an EU association, and we have common interests. Back in 2007, when antiâdumping duty last came in, there was no investment to create capacity, all it did was add cost into the supply chain. I think that would happen again. Ultiâmately the capacity does not exist in manufacturing standard fasteners in Europe so we are against it. Even with massive duties on China, I donât think you are suddenly going to create a European manufacturing industry which would make up for that. Last time imports just moved out of China and into other Far East countries. From my point of view, I canât see that antiâdumping duties achieved anything other than add cost to European industry.
Can you give us an overview of where you get the majority of your customer orders? For example, do they mostly come over the phone as in the past, or is email or ERP or webshop orders becoming more prevalent?
OwlettâJaton offers everything from EDI to webshops and more, but there is still an awful lot of phone interaction in the UK and phone orders are still the norm. There has been a history of negotiating prices so some people think they need to phone to get the best deals. In 1990, I was implementing EDI with major grocery customers for Unilever so 30 years on I thought there would be a bit less phone ordering, but we meet our customer needs and that is the way our customers are most comfortable.
Are there any other trends in the fastener distribution business that stand out?
In the past Iâve talked about consolidation in the marketplace, I think we will still see that. The distributor market in the UK is still pretty fragmented. I thought that Covid might accelerate acquisitions and rollâups, but I havenât really seen that. That might be because it has become more difficult to execute those deals in Covid conditions and maybe weâll see a surge afterward. I think we will continue to see a trend towards electronic orderâing and more system integration. People wondering if someone at their end placing an order is really the right thing to do. I think the industry has proven historically it moves slowly. We are seeing a lot of cost price upwards trends in the Far East. Steel prices, energy prices, shipping costs⌠all those are feeding through. There is undoubtedly cost pressure coming to the industry. In the Far East, environmental standards are tightening and that feeds through into costs too. Less efficient factories are pushed out and they have to invest to make improvements in factories. So I think the upwards costs trends will continue.
www.owlett-jaton.com
Accu > THE NEED FOR SPEED
Supplier reinvests and launches AccuPro for pacier deliveries to help engineers bring innovations to market more quickly⌠all while improving sustainabilityâŚ
Accu, among the UKâs fastestâgrowing component suppliers, has reinvested a significant proportion of its 2020 profits into a new logistics system, to help customers bring innovations to market faster. Having increased sales by 60% to ÂŁ6â7m during the pandemic, the company is now offering a premier next day delivery service â named AccuPro â for orders made before 7.15pm. Simultaneously, Accu has reassigned its delivery service from DHL to DPD, to improve reliability of delivery and as part of plans to create a more sustainable supply network. Martin Ackroyd, CoâFounder of Accu, says: âDuring the pandemic, many manufacturers around the world âpivotedâ, which led to an exponential increase in innovation. Engineers were able to cut through needless red tape and move much more quickly than they ever had before. âNow, manufacturers appreciate that such speed is key to embracing new opportunities and bringing things to market profitably. Rapid prototyping is therefore crucial to the develâopment process of new products â which is why weâve invested in our shipping service. We aid manufacturers in bringing new innovations to market quickly. During prototype phases, clients lean on our inventory of 500,000 specialist parts, which can be shipped by the next day, ready to be engineerâtested.â The move from DHL to DPD as a delivery provider was a decision based on customer feedback during the first few months of the pandemic. âHaving previously dealt with other precision component suppliers that had used DHL, weâd previously been impressed with their service level, which is why we initially trusted them with our customersâ orders,â Ackroyd explains. âBut when the pandemic hit, and online orders soared, their network could not keep apace with the surge in demand, which meant that deliveries were not being distributed as fast as we wanted them to be â nor as our customers needed them to be. âRather than bury our heads in the sand, we did something about it. Our business is built on supporting the productivity and agility of the engineering sector, so we swiftly assessed the options and, following a rigorous process, we chose DPD. Our worldâclass service has resumed, and now we are offering a premier next day delivery too for just ÂŁ30 per year â similar to the model seen in consumer markets. âChoosing DPD also aligns with our aim to be the greenest component supplier in the market â they have the largest allâelectric fleet of vehicles in the UK.â
www.accu.co.uk
BĂźlte > Always on the move
With fresh innovations to overcome technical challenges and a new website on its way, BĂźlte continues to push forward in its 65th year of business, while keeping the customer front and centreâŚ
Founded in 1956, BĂźlte supplies a huge range of plastic & plastometal fasteners all over the world. 2021 is a significant year for the business: âWe are celeâbrating our 65th Anniversary and we are delighted that our customers are loyal to us, we thank them for this. With 65 years of experience, our family business continues to evolve with its third generation as the founderâs granddaughter is working in the Company.â BĂźlte continues to build on that tradition with innovation (see below) and range expansion â there are now more than 30,000 references available in the BĂźlte catalogue, covering a wide range of plastic fasteners and fixings, and also protection parts being manufactured in Europe and mostly in Germany. BĂźlte is committed to being at the forefront of customer focus with a wide choice of materials and colours (RAL colour chart) available, with standards similar to the French and European ISO, NFE and DIN Standards. The production of customised parts is also at the heart of the BĂźlte offer. There is a particular focus on this service to tailor product according to the customerâs specifications and whatever the manufacturâing process (injection moulding, extrusion, water jet cutting, etc); BĂźlte produces parts on demand, respecting the financial and technical constraints of its customers, even in small series. Present in France, the United Kingdom and Germany, BĂźlte delivers its products all over the world for a wide range of industries, including food processing, furniture, medical and aerospace. With a followâup and personalised service, BĂźlte strongly favours human contact. Before placing an order, design offices and distributors can contact the sales team. BĂźlte's technical sales staff ensure a rigorous and personalised followâup, from the development of a product to its invoicing, with worldwide delivery. Adding quality of service to "made in Europe" reliability, BĂźlte has a tool that is particularly releâvant for export and adapted to physical distance imposed by the current global health crisis: its online 3D database. It allows engineers and product designers to implement the part they are considering, as early as the design stage, wherever they are located in the world.
// The prodution of customised parts is at the heart of the BĂźlte offer. //
Latest development > aesthetic and functional lacquer
The application of a lacquer on a polyamide product is a real challenge. This technically challenging new BĂźlte innovation meets many aesthetic and functional requirements. This is why BĂźlte has recently introduced lacquered nylon knobs into its catalogue. In practice, for a knob, it is important to retain the qualities of the plastic (ergonomic and nonâslip grip, vibraâtion absorption, resistance to deformation under impact, absence of magnetism and electrical conductivity) while beneâfiting from a metallic appearance. Gold, silver or in a bright, shiny colour, a button will be more visible and therefore more practical for the machine operator. In design too, for a piece of furniture, for example, a lacquered clamping tool adds to the elegance of a finish.
What 2021 will bring
In a spirit of continued evolution, in order to improve access to the catalogue and the understanding of its business, BĂźlte is renewing its website this year. The aim is to make it an advanced digital communication tool adapted to the technical, social and economic challenges of the modern world. As always, BĂźlte strives to offer the best knowâhow with a focus on quality, flexibility and adaptability, while remaining faithful to its values.
www.bulte.com
AUTOMATIC SHIPMENT TRACKING
Knowing exactly where your shipment is at any given point is becoming ever more important for the supply chain. Lederer has recently implemented a service that will cleverly give its customers up-to-the-minute shipment information at a glance...
Stainless steel fasteners specialist Lederer GmbH has announced that it has taken another step towards the digitalization of the company with a new digital shipâment tracking service available to customers. The new component means that Lederer customers will benefit from an automatic shipment notification on the day of dispatch plus a tracking link to the logistics partner. All releâvant data is available at a glance. Markus Gebehenne, Head of Marketing/eBusiness, said: âWeâve put a lot of effort into developing and implementing this new service for our customers. We are sure that this offer will benefit everyone and that it will put us ahead in the industry.â After activation, customers receive all relevant data for the order by eâmail: package type and weight, number of items contained, order and item numbers, item quantities and the shipping agent / deliverer. The tracking link of the respective logistic partner is also included, so the shipment status of the expected or already completed delivery can be checked live at any time. Lederer customers can also choose between two options: a message sent only to the individual who ordered the items about the items being shipped. Or a message about all shipped items of the company to a freely selectable email address. Lederer GmbH specialises in highâquality connecting elements made of stainless steel, individual special and drawâing parts as well as efficient Câparts management. The Ennepetal company has around 200 employees and was founded in 1970 by Rainer Lederer. The family business is run in the second generation by Dr Volker Lederer and annual turnover is around âŹ66 million euros. The company delivers almost 5.5 million parts around the world every day.
www.lederer-tracking.com
Brush up your fastener knowledge by quizzing
One of the major goals of worldwidefastenersources.com is a comprehensive fastener training programme where the fastener specialist works at his or her own pace and there is no fee. The Fastener Quiz presently has over 950 true/false or multiple choice questions with explanation for each answer. The second part is the most complete and compreâhensive Fastener Glossary ever assembled, Torque Magazineis told. One of the strengths of the Glossary is not only fastener terms, but terms from supporting industries such as heat treaters, industrial platers, and the screw machine industry, among others. Both features or Tabs are located on all three of the geographâical websites (US, Eurasia and Asian) which make up the Worldâwide Fastener Sources.com family. Both tabs are expanded and updated on a constant basis. The material for the fastener quiz comes from the website developer Mike McGuire and his nearly 60 yearsâ experience in the fastener industry, the Fastener Library of Technical Articles, and numerous suppliersâ product and technical catalogues. Both the Fastener Quiz and the Fastener Glossary used together for the newcomer to the fastener industry, or the veteran are excellent tools for developing further knowledge about fasteners and engineered fastening applications. Mr. McGuire states for the âStudentâ if you will, work at a comfortâable pace, be it 10â25 questions a day or a week or even a hundred. Use the Glossary for further expanding oneâs technical knowledge and support to understanding some of the answers. McGuire also comments that if one completes the Fastener Quiz and has used the Glossary to better understand the fastener terms, they will have more knowledge about fasteners and engineered fastening applications than a current graduate of a Mechanical Engineering School because they (sadly) do not teach fasteners and fastening in engineering schools.
McGuire believes in being a lifelong learner and it is valuable to attend either the courses offered by Bolt Science in Europe or the Fastener Training Institute in the United States for further fastener technology training. Read the fastener trade magazines for technical articles and suppliers catalogues whenever made available for the latest in new innovative fasteners, he advises. In the future, Worldwide Fastener Sources.com will be introâducing a fastener slide training programme which will detail approximately 250 different types of fasteners and their most common uses in application.
Up to 34 million special screws directly from stock!
www.pasvahl.de
Fit bolts, plugs, knurled thumb screws, square head bolts, flat headed screws, hexagon set screws, brass screws and specials.
PLUGS according to DIN, 906, 907, 908, 909, 910, 5586, 7604
Fon +49 (0) 40 532 852-0 Fax +49 (0) 40 532 852-52 info@pasvahl.de
Challenging supply chain obstacles for fastener businesses in Europe
Increased demand for short lead times and Brexit are a few of the more recent challenges tackled by fastener distributors in Europe. Hoenderdaalâs experience, coupled with savvy investments in the likes of inventory management software, have helped the fastening technology importer neutralise obstacles to efficient logisticsâŚ
As one of the leading importers of fastening technology in Holland, Hoenderdaal Fasteners BV faces both difficulties and opportunities in the distribution of fasteners every day. Hoenderdaal buys 95% of its products from Asia and distributes a wide range of fasteners throughout the whole of Europe. The expert fastener distributor is also an expert in premium quality wood screw brand DynaplusÂŽ.
SMART INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
The demand for short delivery times has been increasing over recent years. The stock in shops is minimalised in an attempt to organise the supply chain as optimally as possible. So, the reliaâbility of the stock level Hoenderdaal in Veenendaal has become more important. To forecast its stock levels, the business impleâmented an inventory management software from Slimstock last year, to attain operational excellence. With several containers arriving every week from the nearby port of Rotterdam, it is of utmost importance that the logistic flow runs smoothly and customers can rely on the stock of fasteners in Veenendaal.
NO OBSTACLES
Brexit is not an obstacle for Hoenderdaal Fasteners whatsoever, the firm tells Torque Magazine. For several years, Hoenderdaal has been exporting to Switzerland, Norway and Iceland and is aware of the rules and obligations of shipping fasteners to customers in countries outside the European Union. There is flexibility and custom service possible; Hoenderdaal works intensively together with 15 different workshops to pack and repack products in their own brands and in private label brands from customers.
HEAVY WEIGHTED AND LOW-COST
The warehouse is over 9,500 metre² and contains space for over 15,000 pallets. Thousands of order lines per day are being picked by order pickers with voiceâpicking headsets and a new smart Warehouse Management System. Hoenderdaal ships daily DDP by carriers to other wholesales, hardware shops and DIYâcustomers throughout whole Europe. Fasteners are relatively heavy weighted and lowâcost; so a lot of the product costs are made in the logistics; so it is Hoenâderdaalâs biggest goal to pass on products as efficiently as possible in the total supply chain. Hoenderdaal is able to supply Dynaplus screws and a wide range of other fasteners with short delivery times, in the most costâefficient way to customers around Europe. âThe logistic and the export sales team of Hoenderdaal Fasteners is ready for Europe! Are you ready for Hoenderdaal?â
Contact sales@hoenderdaal-fasteners.nl or visit www.hoenderdaal-fasteners.com
Optimas Service Provides
Total Workplace Safety and Efficiency
Optimas OE Solutions has introduced a new contactâless managed inventory system to its growing line of valueâadded services. The manufacturer and distributor of precisionâmade fasteners and supply chain solutions said that the ongoing global pandemic has given rise to an increased focus on safety within the workplace and renewed efforts, industryâwide, to seek out new and improved methods of productivity. The contactless replenishment system, available now from Optimas, and part of the companyâs range of manufacturing solutions, aims to meet this demand by offering customers a new way to keep valued team members safe from challenges posed by Covidâ19, whilst dramatically reducing the time and cost required to reorder components. Using a turnkey, fully delivered and installed rack and bin system, coupled with an advanced handâheld scanner, staff can scan a barcode to consolidate and reorder the parts required. This smart technology also ensures there is no requirement for dedicated onâsite staffing and elimiânates the need for direct contact with the shelved items. Additionally, Optimas can provide all the necessary staff training virtually, covering all aspects of the replenishment process and best practices. âAt Optimas we are continually looking to offer the right services at the right time to our customers in an everâchanging environment. We are really excited about this latest valueâadded service in our programme that facilitates a secure way of providing a managed inventory service whilst keeping the workplace safe,â says Justin Parker, Senior Director, Business Development & Commercial. With many of the companyâs fasteners manufactured in the UK, bolstered by an increased onshore stockholding, Optimas have taken the necessary steps to mitigate imporâtation delays and offset tariff uncertainty as a result of Brexit, the firm said, adding that continuity of supply safeguards customers from unexpected lead times and additional costs.
VIEWPOINT
AD INVESTIGATION HITS FASTENER INDUSTRY IN TIMES OF EXCEPTIONALLY TURBULENT MARKET CONDITIONS
In an already highly disrupted market, the European fastener industry is undergoing an antidumping investigation into fastener imports from China. Writing for Torque Magazine, the European Fastener Distributors Association (EFDA) provides its view on the current inquiryâŚ
The reliable supply of steel fasteners to the European econâomy is indispensable for it to continue to play its role as a successful manufacturer in Europe and on international markets. Whether manufacturers of machines, components, solar systems or furniture: European industry is used to reliably obtain fasteners of the most diverse types at any time and in any place. The same applies to consumers who demand fasteners for doâitâyourself purposes. That this all runs smoothly is thanks to the professional support by fastener importers. But they see themselves less and less in a position to satisfy the customers' needs. The reasons are the Corona pandemic, the shipping crisis, raw material issues, exceptional demand, capacity constraints, etc. All this leads to enormous delays in the supply chain and considerable supply bottlenecks. The initiation of the antiâdumping investigation concerning the import of steel fasteners from the People's Republic of China into the European Union has led to massive uncertainty in the markets. This is because sources on alternative markets are limited. On the one hand, capacities in other countries have been exhausted as US importers switched to them when the Trump administration imposed antiâdumping duties on imports from China to the US. European Fastener distributors report delivery times of up to ten months or more for goods that are usually availâable within a few months. But on the European domestic market, too, it is impossible to source relevant quantities of standard fasteners as European manufacturers are focused on producing special parts for the automotive industry and other sectors. They have no intention whatsoever of meeting the demand for stanâdard parts, simply because it is not worth it. Even between 2009 and 2016, when AD duties were applicable, they showed no ambiâtion to seriously start producing standard parts. Accordingly, they reject delivery requests for standard fasteners. With their request for antiâdumping measures, the manufacâturers are not even concerned with protecting themselves from imports of standard parts from China. Rather, many are buying standard parts from China themselves. The background is rather the weakness of the automotive industry, which has led to declinâing orders in recent years. In order to ensure that the Commisâsion does not have to compare apples and oranges in the
investigation, EFDA therefore advocates a clear distinction between standard and special parts and has submitted proposals to the Commission for an appropriate definition. Should the European Commission decide to impose antiâdumping duties on steel fasteners from PR China, this would have disastrous consequences for the supply of the European economy and consumers. This is because in addition to the already limited capacities, the development of new sources of
// The development of new sources of supply [due to AD] poses a problem. Pandemic restrictions make it impossible to visit new producers and conduct quality audits. //
supply also poses a problem. For example, the pandemicârelated travel restrictions make it impossible to visit new producers and conduct audits. However, this is indispensable to verify that quality requirements are being met or to ensure that the provider in question is a manufacturer at all. Otherâwise, there is a risk of becoming a victim of circumvention traps, which neither the importers nor the European Commisâsion can want. In view of the difficult procurement situation, however, many importers will be dependent on sourcing from new suppliers in order to be able to serve their customers. The situation is particularly serious against the background that the Commission could already impose provisional duties during the investigation period, which could be the case within a few months. In view of the exceptional circumstances, it is virtually impossible for buyers of standard fasteners from China to prepare for this situation. EFDA is therefore urging the European Commission to refrain from imposing proviâsional duties and to communicate this as early as possible to avoid disruption to the supply chain. In a hearing specially convened on this topic, EFDA and more than 70 representaâtives of European fastener distribution companies were able to demonstrate to the Commission, with practical examples, the problems that provisional duties alone would cause for securing the supply chain and the security of supply of the European economy. Of course, this specific request for the nonâimposition of provisional measures in no way relativises EFDA's opposition to the imposition of definitive antidumping duties. It merely indicates the Commission's acute need for action. We sincerely hope that the Commission takes seriously the dangers associâated with antidumping measures and reacts accordingly. In any case, EFDA and its members are determined to do everyâthing possible to convince them of this.
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