“Traveling Salesman” (aka Marty Nolan of R.L. English Co.) is marking the 10th anniversary of FastenerBlog.net.

In his first blog on October 10, 2006, Traveling Salesman wrote: “We have all seen consolidations, companies close their doors. We’ve seen an influx of fasteners from China and India and many other countries. We have seen online ordering, we see high tech warehousing all across the country. But…..where do we go to discuss the evolution of our industry with other people from our industry?? Welcome to Fastenerblog!

“I’m not sure what this site can accomplish. Perhaps distributors across the country can discuss sources for products both domestic and overseas. Maybe someone moving across the country can do some job searching on the site. Maybe a company can discover some marketing insights by linking up with other bloggers. All I know is I have kids under the age of 20 and they all have blogs and “My Space” pages and “Face Book” accounts and I thought….why not us? The bolts and nuts people.”

During the decade Traveling Salesman led the salvage of the NIFMSE Hall of Fame bricks before expansion of the Greater Columbus Convention Center and Nolan has been president of the North Coast Fastener Association and on the Fastener Industry Coalition board.

Nolan is also marking 30 years in the fastener industry. Nolan’s father, Gil Nolan, had owned R.L. English since 1976 and Marty started with the rep agency in 1986 and took over in 1992 upon his father’s death.

Founded in 1952 by Bob English, today the rep agency is based at 10750 Pearl Rd. E3, Strongsville, OH 44136. Tel: 440 878-1040 Web: rlenglishco.com

FCH Sourcing Network is marking its 10th anniversary.  Eric Dudas and Brian Musker had been working together in web consulting for eight years when “we stumbled into a fastener project, thought our approach to presenting fastener data online could bring value to the industry, and the rest is history,” Dudas recalled.

The website – FastenersClearingHouse.com – initially was for slow moving and odd-lot inventory.

“The scope quickly widened, and we re-branded it FCH Sourcing Network,” Dudas explained.

He said FCH currently has 1.3 million listings from distributors.

FCH is headquartered at 2504 Durango Ave. Suite 201, Naperville, IL 60564. Tel: 877 332-7836 Email: eric@FastenersClearingHouse.com

Jill Baron was appointed president of General Fasteners Co. and General Fasteners de Mexico.

Baron 20 years of industry experience, including as lean distribution manager at Robert Bosch and leadership positions at Federal Mogul and ITW.

CFO Ken DiLaura cited Baron’s experience in operations management, business development and process improvement as “a significant asset to our company.”

General Fasteners also named Sheila Levy as new business development representative, Midwest Region, and Sandra Ray as regional sales rep, Southeast Region. 

Founded in 1952 by Jerome Grossman and Simon Diamond, General Fasteners is a privately owned distributor of fasteners and assembly components for automotive, heavy truck, industrial, medical and military markets. The company operates an engineering and testing facility in Madison Heights, MI, as well as 12 regional distribution centers in the U.S. and two in Mexico. 

General Fasteners is headquartered at 37584 Amrhein Rd., Suite 150, Livonia, MI 48150. Tel: 734-452-2400 Email: gfsales@genfast.com Web: genfast.com

Gesipa Fasteners USA is expanding operations in North Carolina. The expansion includes equipment, training and product development for blind rivets and installation tools. 

The facility will have new cold headers, thread rollers and processing equipment and state-of-the-art equipment to develop engineered solutions. The renovation will provide increased R&D engineering and training in North America, including rapid prototyping for customers’ unique fastening requirements.

In November, the technical center will launch FireRex, a new Gesipa production tool that can set blind rivet nuts at any conceivable angle.  The hydro pneumatic tool includes a pressure booster for use in tight spaces.    

Also this year, Gesipa opened a technical sales and application engineering center in the Detroit area. 

Founded in 1955 in Germany, Gesipa has facilities worldwide. The expanded facility is at 126 Quality Dr., Mocksville, NC 27028. Tel: 336 751-1555 Web: GesipaUSA.com

Lindstrom opened a Canadian distribution center in Ontario and Bill Akerfeldt joined Lindstrom as general manager of the branch.

The Toronto-area distribution center offers the full range of Lindstrom products and serves and provides shorter lead times and lower freight costs for Canadian customers.

“The opening of the new distribution center represents a significant expansion of Lindstrom’s international presence and demonstrates its commitment to improving service in all markets,” the company stated.

The branch is located at 5690 Timberlea Blvd., Mississauga, ON L4W 4M6. Tel: 905 625-7886 

Founded in 1983, Lindstrom is a master distributor of specialty metric and inch fasteners, which also offers packaging, secondary processing, managed programs and technical services. Lindstrom is headquartered in Minnesota with branches in Illinois, South Carolina, Texas and New York. Web: lindstromfasteners.com

The Conway Center for Family Business is honoring Mid-State Bolt & Nut Co. for 70 years in business.

The Center holds its 18th annual Family Business Awards program in November. 

Mid-State was founded by Edward Broehm in 1946. Donald Broehm was president from 1976 to 1996; Bradley Wilson from 1996 to 2008 and Mid-State is now headed by CEO David Broehm. Donald Broehm was the 1976-77 president of the National Fastener Distributors Association and Wilson was president 1984-85.

The distributorship currently has 47 employees. Mid-State distributes to OEMs, with 80% of customers utilizing VMI. Mid-State has a branch in Rensselaer, IN, an in-plant location in Georgia and outlying business in Connecticut, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia and Mexico.

The company is headquartered at 1575 Alum Creek Rd., Columbus, OH 43209. Tel: 614 253-8631 Web: msbolt.com