14 minute read
WOMEN IN FASTENERS NORTH AMERICA >
PAM BERRY ADVANCE COMPONENTS
Pam Berry, Co-Owner, VP Advance Components and Founder of the Women in the Fastener Industry (WIFI), leads our North American special feature, where she discusses the founding of WIFI and milestones within her career at Advance Components…
How did you get into the industry?
In 2006, my father Doug Berry – who started Advance Compo‐nents in 1972 – passed away, leaving Advance to my sister Suzy Cravens and I. We had other careers going – Suzy in corporate at Michael’s craft stores, and I as a photojournalist at The Boston Globe. But we accepted the challenge to join the company and are so happy that we did.
What does your day-to-day job involve?
Keeping up with industry news and trends; working with the sales and marketing teams to implement product and services campaigns on social media platforms and our monthly newsletter;
working with our web and graphics teams on relevant and dynamic content for our website; co‐branding with our suppli‐ers to promote products to new and existing customers.
What are the biggest changes you have seen in the industry and/or the company since you started?
The amount of consolidation through acquisition that has taken place in the industry is staggering. Many of our best customers have been acquired by some of our larger customers. While this has been helpful in many circumstances, it’s presented some challenges in others. The speed at which innovation is taking place is very rapid, but we’ve built our company to deal with these changes. By hiring great people, providing lots of hands‐on training, and investing in state‐of‐the‐art facilities, equip‐ment and technology, we continue to stay on top of things.
Can you share some of your career highlights and milestones so far?
I’m lucky to have had two distinctly different careers – so far! In my fastener career I’d say collaborating with a team of knowledgeable professionals is a daily highlight. Every day is different and I never stop learning. The connections that I’ve made with the women of WIFI are very rewarding and defi‐nitely a highlight.
What is your favourite thing about the fastener industry? Hands down – the Advance Team! Being a part of a group that has a passion for doing their best every day makes me proud and happy. Also, the pros in the industry who have always been welcoming and full of great advice. It’s challenging finding ways to sell something as simple, and complicated, as industrial fasteners.
What do you think needs to be done to encourage more women to get involved in the fastener industry?
Women continue to join the industry, but retaining them remains an issue according to a recent study about women in the supply chain field. There needs to be increased opportunities in advance‐ment and development for women to stay in this industry.
What inspired the launch of WIFI?
Attending my first fastener Expo in Las Vegas, where I found myself wondering how can I connect to other women here, as we were (and are) clearly the minority in the field. I wanted to have a sisterhood of like‐minded women who I could connect with at other shows, share industry insights and support one another with the constant demands between work and home.
What is your ambition for WIFI?
That the opportunities for women to advance in the industry will increase through supporting one another, sharing informa‐tion, promoting scholarships and education, and connecting with one another for the common good of the industry.
Can you give us a timeline of Advance Components?
Advance was started in 1972, so we will celebrate our 50th anniversary next year! During this time, we’ve relocated twice, added substantially to our product offering of domestically manufactured products, and have hired a lot of great people who are passionate about the industry.
How has Advance Components managed through the coronavirus pandemic?
We had been preparing for remote work for a while, so everyone in sales was ready for the challenge of working from home, but the warehouse had to keep moving. Safety measures were put into place to keep our distribution team safe – so we were able to keep our suppliers and customers happy with a continued flow of stock. We are lucky, as most of our inventory is domes‐tically manufactured, so the supply chain delays on imports has not affected us too much. Having strong strategic partnerships with our suppliers is key to our business and to our customers.
Advance Components recently added IFE and Caillau clamps to its offerings
Did the coronavirus pandemic bring about or speed up any infrastructure changes at Advance Components?
We were prepared to work remotely, but the pandemic did accelerate everyone working from home.
What is the business planning for the next 12 months?
We are partnering with manufacturers and distributors who need support with distribution, sales and inventory manage‐ment. We are working to streamline and improve our fulfilment processes, and focused on adding new products to our inven‐tory. We recently invested in our pick and pack operation with a new bin system, as well as some new bagging equipment.
Are there any new products being launched?
We always have new products being launched! We recently added IFE and Caillau clamps to our offerings, and just started stocking Gage Bilt rivet and lockbolt installation tools and components. For next year, we have several exciting product additions in the works.
What kind of trends are you seeing in the North America fastener market?
The supply chain disruptions in 2020 have had a huge effect on how we see some of our larger customers buying. To prevent line shutdowns and build more resilient operations, customers need to seek out domestic suppliers and secure long‐term contracts.
The North America fastener market seems keen to go digital, webshops, online meetings, etc. Do you think that’s fair to say? Yes, the move to digital –whether Zoom meetings or online stores – is here to stay, but nothing beats in‐person meetings. It may change the landscape of the sales model, but I think the regional and national shows will still be popular for the indus‐try. I do think the market lags behind many others in terms of its digital transformation. There are still quite a few large fastener companies that have no significant web presence.
www.advancecomponents.com
CHRISTIE JONES SPIROL
Christie Jones, Director of Marketing & Vice President of SPIROL details her career milestones, her typical day working across several time zones and departments, and the importance of loving what you do…
How did you get into the industry?
I started working for SPIROL right after I graduated from College in 1994, I studied mechanical engineering and I wanted to work for a company that manufactured technical products. SPIROL was looking for engineers at the time, so I applied, and I was lucky enough to be hired by SPIROL and twenty‐seven years later I’m still here.
What does your day-to-day job involve?
I would say that there is no typical day, I have an agenda that I would like to complete but there are a lot of things that are inter‐jected during the day. In my role as the Director of Marketing, my
day could start off in the morning with my colleagues in Europe. I could spend the day working on new initiatives as we’re in the process of expanding our e‐commerce website and creating our new spriol.com corporate website. I could then end my night working with our Asia facility because of the time difference.
What are the biggest changes you have seen in the industry and/or the company since you started?
So, when I first started working for SPIROL the internet wasn’t really used on a day‐to‐day basis. It was really difficult, and things took a lot longer than they needed to, so I would say that obviously the change in technology has been transformational. The internet being used for marketing our product, for finding suppliers, for people finding us, has been a dramatic change. We went through a phase where we thought that because of the internet, the relationship aspect of the business was going to go away and that is not true, which is good. In terms of the industry, the proliferation of plastics in every single industry and changing from metal to plastics has been huge which has impacted our standard product offering and staying ahead of what the industry needs. I would also say that the world seems to have gotten a lot smaller. Previously, you had a lot of local companies buying from local suppliers, now you’re seeing companies from all over the world buying from each individual SPIROL location. One of the things we talk about to our customers is that although we are a global company, we are a local supplier. For example, in Australia you would think companies would buy from Asia as this is closest to them, but we see them buying from Connecti‐cut or even the UK.
Can you share some of your career highlights and milestones so far?
SPIROL is the only company I have ever worked for in my professional career. I love what we do, I love what the company stands for; we are truly about working and partnering with our customers to help them succeed and it’s not just about selling small parts. It really is about providing a solution, whether that’s a technical or architectural solution. I have been able to have several different careers whilst being at SPIROL, I have worked in Engineering, I have worked in Operations Management, I worked in Technical Sales and Sales Management, and now I’m the Director of Marketing for a global company. Technical Sales is still my passion, and I would say marketing is very similar to that. In Technical Sales I have been able to work with leading designers and manufacturers around the world in several different industries. I can say that if you have been in surgery before, I have probably influenced some of the surgical instruments that were used. If you have benefited from the use of the car, I have probably had some impact in these applications as well. It’s not just fun being involved in this kind of thing, but it’s super gratifying!
What is your favourite thing about the fastener industry? One of my favourite things about the fastener industry is the diver‐sity of the different products that involve fasteners. Being able to work with cosmetic companies, medical companies, automotive companies and more. Another thing is that in the fastener industry, you’ll find that if you join some of the organisations that I have, it’s a very close nit industry so getting together annually in some of the things we do across the world is very cool.
What do you think needs to be done to encourage more women to get involved in the fastener industry?
So, there’s distribution and then there’s manufacturing but at the end of the day it’s still an industrial product. I think that perhaps some women tend to be intimidated by industrial products because it has typically been a male dominated industry. One of the things that we do at a local level and at the headquarters in Connecticut, United States, is that we will bring in high school kids or junior high kids and we give them a tour of our facility and we talk to them about different careers in manufacturing. Manufac‐turing gets a bad reputation as everyone thinks of it as a job that is oily and dirty, and it really isn’t like that. It is also about getting people excited and showing them that they can have a future in this industry, not just manufacturing but in accounting, purchasing, marketing. In terms of the fastener part of it, if you like to learn, if you like to help people, if you have any type of technical interest –not even at a high level –I encourage you to check it out!
Anything else?
I think it is really important, no matter what industry that you choose something that you like to do. Ultimately, love what you do. I think that working with companies to solve problems and help them to succeed and to become more competitive in their marketplace, is super fun. If you really embrace that as a concept and embrace the spirit of what we do at SPIROL, you too will love your job. Also, the fastener industry is growing, and we are seeing lots of new technologies that are developing over the next few years.
www.spirol.com
JAN MORR HOUSE OF THREADS
Jan Morr, Regional Sales Manager at House of Threads and Vice President of Women in the Fastener Industry discusses her everyday role, changes to the industry, and how young women and men can get involved in fastener associations…
How did you get into the industry?
I have a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Professional Concentration in Accounting. I was persuaded by the Vice President of a steel distributor to come work for them in the steel distributor industry and the rest is history. That led me to the structural bolt manufacturing industry and now work‐ing for the largest bolt distributor in the world, Wurth. Most of my career has been focused on the structural steel industry such as bridges, structural buildings.
What does your day-to-day job involve?
I am responsible for five States, so right now that includes a lot of traveling. I am the Regional Sales Manager at Wurth Construction Services, Midwest Division – Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin & Kentucky.
What are the biggest changes you have seen in the industry and/or the company since you started?
Raw material price increases are the biggest challenges currently in the fastener industry. In fact, the entire building industry is facing skyrocketing prices. With that comes supply issues in a time where there is a great push for infrastructure. Wurth has some very great vendor partnerships and so far we have been able to weather the storm and still able to provide excellent service and delivery.
What do you think needs to be done to encourage more women to get involved in the fastener industry?
The fastener industry offers many associations for all young men and women to get involved. There is the Young Fasteners Association, and also for women in particular is Women in the Fastener Industry (WIFI) which I sit as Vice President on the Board. We are very involved with women of all ages new to the fastener industry and everyone already working in the industry. If you are a woman working in the fastener field, please look us up at www.fastenerwomen.com, and take advantage of all of the free seminars and scholarships for training that we offer.
Any final thoughts?
My favourite part of my position as Regional Sales Manager at Wurth Construction Services, and any position I have ever held, is business development. I enjoy getting out there, letting the industry know who we are and what we provide. Wurth Industries truly believes in building partnerships in this indus‐try and providing excellent service, and that is something very unique these days.
www.wurthindustry.com/en/wina/industries/construction
Can you share some of your career highlights and milestones so far?
One of my career highlights would be working for the largest bolt supplier in the world, Wurth Industries. I am also Vice Presi‐dent of Women in the Fastener Industry. We mentor and educate women through scholarships and training. This is by far the most fulfilling experience of my career‐seeing these young women thrive in the fastener industry.
What is your favourite thing about the fastener industry?
My favourite part of the fastener industry is the lasting friendships made in this industry. Someone told me 11 years ago that once you work in the industry, you never leave. I truly believe that the fastener industry is exactly that, a lifetime career.
