Written by R.W. Baird analyst David J. Manthey, CFA with Quinn Fredrickson, CFA 4/3/24 Key Takeaway: The seasonally adjusted Fastener Distributor Index (FDI) expanded further in March, increasing to 53.0, up from 50.5 in February. Demand commentary leaned overall fairly positive but balanced out by a noticeable uptick in comments regarding continued rises in freight/container costs and labor strikes/delivery issues. This month’s Forward-Looking Indicator (FLI), meanwhile, was stable, albeit below 50, which implies deceleration could be ahead. Net, we believe the FDI suggests a modestly impro ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published March, 18th 2024 as “how do I know if an installed bolt has been properly tightened?” during episode 198 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hello everyone, this is Carmen Vertullo with your Fastener Training Minute,  coming to you from Fastener Training Institute and Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California. Today’s topic, like many, came from an email inquiry and the question was sort of like; how do I know if an installed bolt has been properly torqued? Torqued was the actual word but tightened mi ..read more

Written by R.W. Baird analyst David J. Manthey, CFA with Quinn Fredrickson, CFA 3/5/24 Key Takeaway: The seasonally adjusted Fastener Distributor Index (FDI) bounced back to growth (>50) in February with a reading of 50.5. A key theme present among respondent commentary was stabilization/consistency in demand. After accurately forecasting the rebound in this month’s FDI, the Forward-Looking Indicator (FLI) slightly retrenched, dipping to 47.9, implying some deceleration ahead. Overall, while the headline FDI showed some moderate m/m improvement, our key takeaway is that conditions were fa ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published February, 20th 2024 as “do you torque the bolt or the nut and does it even matter?” during episode 197 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hello everyone, this is Carmen Vertullo with your Fastener Training Minute,  coming to you from Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California, and the Fastener Training Institute. Today’s Fastener Training Minute comes from the other side of the world, at least the other side of the world from where I’m at  in San Diego, and this Fastener Training Minute comes all ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published January, 18th 2024 as “How do you certify your fasteners to your clients?” during episode 196 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hello everyone, and welcome to the Fastener Training Minute. This is Carmen Vertullo coming to you from Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California, and from the Fastener Training Institute. Today’s topic, like many, came as a result of an email that I received where a client had an issue. In this particular case the issue was relatively simple, but it could lead to a larger topic ..read more

Written by R.W. Baird analyst David J. Manthey, CFA with Quinn Fredrickson, CFA 1/8/24 Key Takeaway: The seasonally adjusted Fastener Distributor Index (FDI) softened m/m with a reading of 47.5 but participants largely attributed this to seasonal softness around the holidays. Comments were varied as some participants see significant uncertainty (economy, election) heading into 2024, while others expressed optimism. The Forward-Looking Indicator (FLI) also moved very modestly lower m/m to 49.6, back below the neutral 50 level. Overall, we believe the FDI/FLI suggests a slightly softer-than-ex ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published December, 19th 2023 as “Is there such a thing a tamper-proof fastener?” during episode 195 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hi everybody, this is Carmen Vertullo with your Fastener Training Minute coming to you from Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California, and the Fastener Training Institute. I am feeling wonderful because I am just back from a 7-day trip to Disney World with my kids and my granddaughter and my wife, and we had a marvelous time even though I hate Disney all together. I hate the place ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published October, 19th 2023 as “Everything you ever wanted to know about blind rivets” during episode 193 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hello everyone, and welcome to the Fastener Training Minute. This is Carmen Vertullo coming to you from Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California, and from the Fastener Training Institute. Today’s lesson is one that we have probably covered before, but not as comprehensively as we’re going to cover it today.  As with many of these topics, this comes from a client inquiry ..read more

This edition of the Fastener Training Minute with Carmen Vertullo was originally published September, 21st 2023 as “How to choose the correct thread-cutting tap for cutting a thread into a hole. Part 3” during episode 192 of Fully Threaded Radio. Well hello everyone, this is Carmen Vertullo with your Fastener Training Minute, coming to you from Carver Labs in beautiful El Cajon California, and from the Fastener Training Institute. Today our faster training minute is the third and maybe the last, we’ll see, in our series about Cutting Taps. Now these Cutting Taps that we’re going to be ta ..read more

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