NEWS BRIEFS
“In bolt security there is failure or no failure.”
It is pass/fail, not A,B,C,D&F grades.
“In bolt security there is failure or no failure,” Nord-Lock International A.B. global research & development director Maxime Thonnerieux told Fastener+Fixing magazine. “There is a lot of unseen engineering behind two apparently simple washers. They have to allow a perfect tightening process, absolute resistance to vibration and loosening, and still permit straightforward, deliberate untightening. They also have to work totally reliably across an extraordinarily diverse spectrum of applications – a lot of different materials, a lot of different loads applied to the system.”
“We have to envisage all the potential applications for the product worldwide and ensure that its design and manufacture will never create a problem for a particular application,” Thonnerieux added in the F+F interview following Nord-Lock’s acquisition of Superbolt Inc. and P&S Vorspannsysteme AG earlier this year.
Sweden-based Nord-Lock is aiming for global status in bolt securing. Nord-Lock washers were developed in the U.S. and first produced in Sweden in 1982 by then privately owned Nobex.
In 1994 Nord-Lock was sold to its main Swedish distributor, a subsidiary of Investment AB Latour.
Nord-Lock went on to develop export markets, staring in Germany and Italy. It opened its own subsidiary in the U.S. in 1998, followed by the UK, France and Finland.
Four years ago Nord-Lock began a vertical integration of its business to support to customers operating globally.
Beginning in 2008 Nord-Lock acquired similar channel businesses in Germany, Benelux, Japan and Italy. Nord-Lock opened companies in Poland, Czech Republic, Norway and Switzerland.
Nord-Lock now totals 17 subsidiaries worldwide, employing 330 people.
Superbolt was invented to solve a bolt-loosening problem on large-scale steel processing machinery built by the Steinbock Machinery Corporation. Rolf Steinbock was inspired to try replacing one large torque with a number of smaller torques, developing Superbolt’s multiple jackbolt system.
With rented space and three employees, Superbolt was formed in 1988 and today manufactures in Pennsylvania and by P&S in Switzerland.
P&S employs 50 people. Nearly a fifth are engineers because more than half of Superbolt assemblies are for specific applications.
“What is impressive is taking care of the supply chain, controlling the raw material supply, exercising tight control over sub contract processes,” Thonnerieux told F+F.
Thonnerieux and Norbert Schneider, head of engineering at P&S Vorspannsysteme AG, want to be involved in the customer’s earliest design phase. “Both our companies started as problem killers,” Schneider explained. “Now we are spreading the word that you don’t need to suffer the problems, nor do you need to go through all the effort and pain of understanding the complex engineering of a bolted joint.”
Field application engineers assist customers in understanding of the real cost of bolted connections. Physical testing at Nord-Lock verifies performance.
The acquisitions give Superbolt engineering-oriented channels to global markets and Nord-Lock now has stronger presence in the North American market. Both brands are expanding in Asian markets with companies in Osaka, Tokyo and Singapore, plus plans for China, Korea and India. ©2011 GlobalFastenerNews.com and Fastener+Fixing
It is pass/fail, not A,B,C,D&F grades.
“In bolt security there is failure or no failure,” Nord-Lock International A.B. global research & development director Maxime Thonnerieux told Fastener+Fixing magazine. “There is a lot of unseen engineering behind two apparently simple washers.”
“They have to allow a perfect tightening process, absolute resistance to vibration and loosening, and still permit straightforward, deliberate untightening. They also have to work totally reliably across an extraordinarily diverse spectrum of applications – a lot of different materials, a lot of different loads applied to the system.”
“We have to envisage all the potential applications for the product worldwide and ensure that its design and manufacture will never create a problem for a particular application,” Thonnerieux added in the F+F interview following Nord-Lock’s acquisition of Superbolt Inc. and P&S Vorspannsysteme AG earlier this year.
Sweden-based Nord-Lock is aiming for global status in bolt securing. Nord-Lock washers were developed in the U.S. and first produced in Sweden in 1982 by then privately owned Nobex.
In 1994 Nord-Lock was sold to its main Swedish distributor, a subsidiary of Investment AB Latour.
Nord-Lock went on to develop export markets, staring in Germany and Italy. It opened its own subsidiary in the U.S. in 1998, followed by the UK, France and Finland.
Four years ago Nord-Lock began a vertical integration of its business to support to customers operating globally.
Beginning in 2008 Nord-Lock acquired similar channel businesses in Germany, Benelux, Japan and Italy. Nord-Lock opened companies in Poland, Czech Republic, Norway and Switzerland.
Nord-Lock now totals 17 subsidiaries worldwide, employing 330 people.
Superbolt was invented to solve a bolt-loosening problem on large-scale steel processing machinery built by the Steinbock Machinery Corporation. Rolf Steinbock was inspired to try replacing one large torque with a number of smaller torques, developing Superbolt’s multiple jackbolt system.
With rented space and three employees, Superbolt was formed in 1988 and today manufactures in Pennsylvania and by P&S in Switzerland.
P&S employs 50 people. Nearly one-fifth are engineers because more than half of Superbolt assemblies are for specific applications.
“What is impressive is taking care of the supply chain, controlling the raw material supply, exercising tight control over sub contract processes,” Thonnerieux told F+F.
Thonnerieux and Norbert Schneider, head of engineering at P&S Vorspannsysteme AG, want to be involved in the customer’s earliest design phase.
“Both our companies started as problem killers,” Schneider explained. “Now we are spreading the word that you don’t need to suffer the problems, nor do you need to go through all the effort and pain of understanding the complex engineering of a bolted joint.”
Field application engineers assist customers in understanding of the real cost of bolted connections. Physical testing at Nord-Lock verifies performance.
The acquisitions give Superbolt engineering-oriented channels to global markets and Nord-Lock now has stronger presence in the North American market. Both brands are expanding in Asian markets with companies in Osaka, Tokyo and Singapore, plus plans for China, Korea and India. ©2011 GlobalFastenerNews.com and Fastener+Fixing
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