12 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Laurence Claus Laurence Claus is the President of NNi Training and Consulting, Inc. He has 25 years of experience with a medium sized automotive fastener manufacturer, holding positions including Vice President of Engineering, General Manager, Director of Quality, Director of New Business Development and Applications Engineer. In 2012 he formed NNi offering technical and business training courses as well as technical consulting, expert witness and consultation work. He can be reached at 847-867-7363 or by email: Lclaus@NNiTraining.com. You can learn more about NNi at www.NNiTraining.com. IS THERE VALUE IN APPLICATION ENGINEERING? I began my career in the fastener industry over thirty years ago as an Application Engineer. This was a great place to start, and, perhaps, the most cherished time of all my years in the industry. I suppose that Application Engineering can mean different things to different people, but within the fastener realm this role is pretty universally understood as an interface which works with the customer to provide the best fastening solution. This not only means choosing the correct fastener but also the related joint design, fastener heat treatment, finish, packaging, and any number of other design or process related decisions. A good Application Engineer is a combination engineer/ technician, salesman, project manager, and customer service representative. An Application Engineer is often the primary company contact with both new and existing customers. Therefore, in addition to these individuals needing good technical skills, they must be personable and possess the finesse of a salesman who works with customers all day long. To be successful, they must have enough gravitas in the organization to successfully make and fulfill commitments to the customer. Most manufacturers have one or more Application Engineers on staff, even if they are not purveyors of many proprietary fasteners or fastener features. Sadly, however, too few fastener distributors follow this lead and instead rely on salesmanship and pricing to develop customers, both new and old. Although there is nothing wrong with using salesmanship to develop new and existing accounts (in fact, this is necessary), in my experience many of the customers served by distributors do not have sophisticated, experienced individuals or departments focused on fasteners and TECHNICAL ARTICLE fastener engineering. The result is, perhaps, a greater need than the average fastener manufacturer/customer account to supply application’s based knowledge, assistance, and expertise. Several times in my career, I have been requested to accompany a distributor representative on a problem solving visit with their customer. In almost every case I have been shocked to experience antagonism and obstruction from the very person I was sent to help. Although this behavior perplexed me at the time, I have concluded that they perceived the application’s solution we might arrive at would in some way supplant the existing parts and, thus, the business they already had in-place. This is extremely unfortunate and short sighted as solving a customer’s problem almost always serves to improve the supplier-customer relationship and open up new, and often greater, future opportunities. Thus, fastener distributors and their customers would likely benefit more than anyone else by possessing and supplying application engineering services. Unfortunately, often both the supplier and the customer all too often take fastener products for granted and choose to forget or overlook that a fastener is not a mere piece of hardware but rather an integral component in holding the customer’s products together. In my opinion every fastener distributor should be developing individuals within their organization that possess knowledge of fastener engineering, fastener technology, and their customer’s products. Following are three real world examples of application engineering activities that provide insight into methods that can be utilized in developing and aiding a new or existing customer. CONTINUED ON PAGE 104
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