SHORT TAKES: Agrati, Associated Spring, Bisco, Taber/Canterbury and Ford

John Wolz

� Agrati Corporation received ISO/TS 16949 certification. The new certification is published by the International Automotive Task Force and will align with the anticipated ISO 9001-2000. The ISO/TS 16949 will eventually replace QS 9000. It satisfies current automotive quality system requirements for AVSQ (Italy), EAQF (France), QS 9000 (U.S.) and VDA 6.1 (Germany).
Agrati�s North American headquarters address is: P.O. Box 686, Shelton, CT 06484-0686. Tel: 203 922-7711. Fax 203 922-7713.

� Associated Spring, a business unit of Barnes Group Inc., opened a 25,000 sq ft R&D center in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, MI.
Associated Spring president Leonard Carlucci said the product development center will allow customers to work with designers and engineers �and leave with a working prototype, in many cases in a single day.�
The new product development center is headed by vice president of sales & marketing Thomas Fodell and is located at 15150 Cleat St., Plymouth, MI 48170. Tel: 734 737-0958. Fax 734 354-2755.
Barnes Group, founded in 1857, manufactures precision metal parts and distributes industrial supplies. Barnes had 2000 sales of $740 million. Barnes has 5,600 employees at 50 locations worldwide and is headquartered at 1123 Main St., Bristol, CT 06011-0489. Tel: 860 583-7070. Fax 860 589-3507. Web: barnesgroupinc.com

� Bisco Industries Inc. opened branches in Oregon and Houston, national sales manager Vicki Shorts and area manager Robert Rist announced.
Zachary Peck is the sales manager for the Oregon facility, located at 8105 SW Nimbus Ave., Bldg. 11, Suite L, Beaverton, OR 97008. Tel: 503 626-1165. Fax 503 626-0446.
Jackie Shillingburg is sales manager for the new Houston branch at 10801 Hammerly Ave. #124, Houston, TX 77043. Tel: 713 461-2274. Fax 713 461-3713.
Bisco promoted Robert Rist to Western regional sales manager.
Bisco is the new authorized distributor for Kato Fastening Systems. KFS manufactures helical coil screw thread inserts and installation tools, tangless and tanged inserts.
Bisco, founded in 1973, now has 24 facilities in the U.S. and Canada. Bisco distributes electronic components and fasteners and is headquartered at 704 W. Southern Ave., Orange, CA 92865. Tel: 714 283-7140. Fax 714 283-7180. E-mail: info@biscoind.com Web: biscoind.com

� Ben Taber and Tom Valoric formed Canterbury Group Inc. to provide merger and acquisition service to fastener distributors, manufacturers and industrial supply companies.
Taber has been in the fastener industry for 32 years. He has been president of Phillips Screw Company and director of mergers & acquisitions in North America for the W�rth Group.
Valoric is a CPA who has negotiated acquisition of more than 50 companies for buyers and sellers. Valoric said Canterbury�s role will be determining fair market value and finding suitable partners and negotiating the deal.
�There remains strong interest for consolidation under the current economic conditions,� Taber said. �Merging of like industries brings buying power and synergies to the resulting entity. The slight downturn in the industry has caused even more interest to consolidate.�
Taber announced Pat Burbidge is joining Canterbury as an associate. Burbidge is secretary/treasurer of the New England Fastener Distributors Association.
Canterbury is headquartered at 253 Main St., Milford, MA 01757. Tel: 508 478-8529. Fax 508 473-8321. E-mail: bctaber@aol.com

� Ford Fasteners opened a Southwestern warehouse at 9203 Diplomacy Row, Dallas, TX 75247.
Ford, founded in 1963, manufactures 410 stainless steel screws and assembles sealing washers to self-drillers, sheet metal and machine screws. Ford is headquartered at 110 S. Newman St., Hackensack, NJ 07601. Tel: 201 487-3151 or 800 272-3673. Fax 201 487-1919. \
�2001 FastenerNews.com