34 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK By John Wolz editor@globalfastenernews.com FASTENER INDUSTRY NEWS MARKS 35 YEARS WITH 500th STORY POSTED ON GFN Fastener Industry News is marking its 35th anniversary by reaching 500 stories posted in its Fastener History section on GlobalFastenerNews.com. The online Fastener History section provides a glimpse into what was lost in the 2003 Southern California wildfire that destroyed Mel Kirsner’s Fastener Museum. Each month of the 1997 FIN Calendar featured quotes from books and catalogs collected by Kirsner. The collection included such items as an 1892 catalogue from Pawtucket Manufacturing Co. and a book, History of the Bolt & Nut Industry, written by W.R. Wilbur in 1905. In April 1997 the FIN Calendar summarized Archimedes being credited for discovery of the screw thread, and in May of that year the subject was the “First Method of Threading a Screw.” The Fastener History section includes thousands of fastener companies mentioned in FIN articles dating from 1979 to 2014. In 2012 four companies reached 100: Portland Bolt, Illinois Tool Works, Industrial Rivet and Chicago Hardware. In 2003, the Fastener History section features the “Chronology of the 1st 100 Years of SPS Technologies.” Among the company history stories is: 2007 FIN – “Distributors Link Marks 30th Anniversary.” The article explains how Leo Coar was on the road making sales calls as a rep, and he recruited his sister-in-law, MaryAnn Marzocchi, from Southern Screw, to help start a distribution-oriented magazine. The articles posted in Fastener History are from the three-and-a-half decades covering the industry’s news. • Successful fastener company executives have offered their tips to FIN readers over the decades. FIN’s 1997 interview with Reinhold Würth in Germany is just one of many industry leaders who have shared the secrets of their success. Among the notables: Win Adams, Wayne Golden, Henry Bossard, John Zehnder, Morrie Halvorsen, Larry Stanley, Pat O’Toole, and the European Industrial Fastener Institute’s Jean-Paul Micheau. In 2011 Bill Unferth and Joe Soja wrote about their 50-year fastener careers. • Fastener association history: In 1979, Jack Sullivan of Accurate Fasteners was elected the first chairman of the New England Fastener Distributors Association. • A 1983 FIN article reported on 10 fastener associations representing 1,000 companies holding a networking meeting. Participants rated new country-oforigin marking requirements as the most important problem facing fastener distributors. • In 1996, the Chicago Bolt, Nut & Screw Association turned 50 and FIN interviewed one of its founders – Howard Langdon – who was still active in the industry. In 2004 CBNSA became the MidWest Fastener Association. • The industry’s largest gatherings are described through the years. In a 2002 FIN interview, Jim Bannister of the National Industrial Fastener Show & Conference recalled the steps to the first show in 1981 in Columbus, OH: “How the Fastener Industry Discovered Columbus.” The start of the western version is explained in a 1997 FIN article headlined, “Las Vegas Show Gamble Pays Off.” • A 2009 FIN article, announced Fastener Fair Stuttgart had become the world’s largest fastener gettogether. • Recessions are part of the economy. In 1983, seven fastener executives – Weldon Shrum, Don Broom, Jim Revercomb, Mary Anne Baker, Larry Stanley, Sid Goodwin and Jim Snider – gave suggestions on “Surviving the Recession.” please turn to page 142
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