Episode #158 - Don't Mess with Jess

If the fastener business sometimes feels like mortal combat, one group seems prepared. YFP president, Jake Glaser leads a wide ranging conversation with fellow youthful thread warriors London Penland, of Eurolink, and Young Fastener Professional of the Year, Jessi Solt, that reveals a true fighting spirit (1:22:06). Meanwhile, the fastener industry inducted the far less bellicose John “Cowboy” Wachman, and G.L. Huyett CEO, Tim O’Keeffe to its Hall of Fame (16:34). During the Fastener News Report, battle hardened news editor, Mike McNulty hosts ITR Economics analyst, Alex Chausovsky to discuss the shocking FDI numbers, and to size up prospects for long term prosperity (43:35). Industry educator Carmen Vertullo gets right to the point on the Fastener Training Minute (1:13:05). Cameos: Emerald show manager Morgan Wilson and Jamie Lawrence of AVK Industrial Products. Brian and Eric make peace with the new virtual mindset, and look to the poets for inspiration.  Run time: 02:15:28

Transcript

Hosts:       Eric Dudas

                  Brian Musker

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Intro:              It's Fully Threaded Radio, Episode, 158.             

Eric:               It's time for Fully Threaded Radio. Host of the FCH Sourcing Network. This is the predominantly fastener related talk radio podcast preferred by almost 9 out of 10 fastener professionals who listen to Fastener Talk Radio. And we're so glad you clicked in.

                        Hey everyone, Eric Dudas here. And the co-host of Fully Threaded is with me as well. He's lifetime honorary, Texan, and fastener taxonomist. Extraordinaire, Mr. Brian Musker. Hey Bri. Doing all right?

Brian:            A taxidermist interesting. Okay. That's cool. I'm doing fine. Anytime you can go outside in November and not freeze, that's terrific.

Eric:               I didn't say taxidermist. Taxonomist, you know, with the fastener taxonomy that you do every day of your life.

Brian:            I know I was looking for squirrels. You're right. Wrong, wrong thing. Okay.

Eric:               Well, glad to hear you're doing well, my friend and, it's another episode. In fact, it's Episode 158 of the podcast we're publishing on November 21st, 2020, this time. And we're going to break with tradition everyone. We've got a late breaking story. We got it after Mike McNulty had recorded the Fastener News Report. So, we're going to just jam it in here at the top. What do you think, Bri?

Brian:            Why not?

Eric:               Here it is.

M McNulty:   And now with a special edition to this month's Fastener News Report, we have two late-breaking stories. The first one is that the Home Depot has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HD Supply Holdings, a distributor of MRO products with 44 distribution centers in 25 U.S. States and two Canadian Provinces.

                        Craig Menear, Home Depot Chairman and CEO said, quote, "The MRO customer is highly valued by the Home Depot and this acquisition will position the company to accelerate sales growth by better serving both existing and new customers in a highly fragmented $55 billion marketplace." End quote. Under the terms of the merger agreement, a subsidiary of the home Depot will pay approximately $8 billion in cash for all outstanding HD Supply common stock.

                        Many in the fastener industry will recall that in 2007, the Home Depot sold HD Supply to a group of private equity firms. And in 2013, the company went public now trading on the NASDAQ.

                        And then the second story comes to us from Kentucky governor Andy Beshear. As he reports that Stanley Engineered Fastening plans to create 49 high paying jobs for Kentucky and its by way of a $6 million expansion that will add 30,000 square feet to the existing 250,000 square foot, Hopkinsville Kentucky Stanley facility.

                        The expansion will allow the operation to absorb another Stanley Engineered Fastening facility grow the current business and expand into other products. Once complete the expansion will elevate the plant's total employment to 205 workers. Work on the project starts this month, and this is expected to be finished by July, 2021.

                        Established in 1966, the Hopkinsville facility produces a variety of brackets, plugs, fasteners, inserts, bolts, nuts, rivets and screws. This has been Mike McNulty with a special edition to this month's Fastener News Report.

Brian:            Wow. That's huge. HD Supply was way up there in the Industrial Distribution, Big 50 List. As we learned last episode, we were listening. Especially the 9 out of 10 people.

Eric:               We don't want to know what the other guys are doing, but, yeah, you're right. Actually, HD Supply was number four on the Big 50 List just ahead of Fastenal. So that is huge.

Brian:            I'm glad we got that in ahead of publishing them. So, Mike McNulty is always focused, so there's nothing to do with beers to sort of distract them at the moment.

Eric:               That's right, Bri focus. That is McNulty. I don't know what the segue needs to be here with the YFP, but somehow, they're focused. I don't know if it's on fasteners, but during today's feature segment, we've got a group of young fastener professionals, including YFP member of the year, Jessi Solt. She's joined by current YFP president Jake Glaser, along with YFP poster boy and gladiator London Penland from Eurolink, Bri.

                        So, during the feature segment today, we handed the FTR microphones over to this group of YF peers to see what would happen. You're going to love it. The annual Hall of Fame awards took place during Emerald's recent online Meet & Match event, which I was honored to participate in. And this year's honors went to John 'Cowboy' Wachman and Timo O'Keeffe of GL Huyett.

                        In case you missed it, or even if you didn't, you'll want to have a listen to the condensed version of the ceremony that we've put together for you today, there's much wisdom to be gathered from these two gentlemen. And we'll kick the show off with that.

                        Of course, Mike McNulty will return with another edition of the Fastener News Report. This time he has Alex Chausovsky of ITR Economics with him to pour over the latest FDI numbers, which aren't too shabby by the way, Bri.

Brian:            Yeah, I know. Surprisingly given it was like just a few days before the election.

Eric:               Crazy timing on that. And we'll have to see next month of course, but there's quite a bit that goes on during this edition of the Fastener News Report. Mike kind of takes it off into some different directions. It's kind of a show into itself again. It's going to be good.

Brian:            Yes.

Eric:               During Carmen Vertullo, Fastener Training Minute, he makes a very important point about points and he makes very sure that you get the point, listen in and you'll hear what I mean.

Brian:            Okay.

Eric:               And the point of having sponsors is that they keep us on the air, so to speak. We couldn't do it without them. Brian, listen.

Brian:            You're right. We're very glad that we have the title sponsor of Fully Threaded being Stelfast, Brighton Best International and Goebel Faster's. Stelfast, 'For Service You Deserve and People You Trust'. Brighton Best International, 'Tested, Tried and True. Goebel Fasteners, “Quality The First Time".

                        We're also lucky to have the following sponsors, Buckeye Fasteners, BTM Manufacturing, Eurolink Fastener Supply Service, INxSQL software, ND Industries, Parker Fasteners, Volt Industrial Plastics, Würth Industry, North America and Solution Industries, 'Home of Solution Man'. So, thanks to all of you. We're glad we have you as sponsors. And if you're a listener, just make sure that you think about these companies and preferentially buy from them. Okay. They're helping to bring this to you.

Eric:               It's true. The sponsors of FTR also keep the FCH Sourcing Network afloat along with some of the other things that we do for and with the industry, including the Fastener Distributor Index. So, let them know you appreciate it, everyone. We count on you for that.

Brian:            And we count on them for things like the occasional beer at the Las Vegas show and all sorts of things like that.

Eric:               Gloves, monkeys, you name it. The checks aren't bad either, but you know, it's a package.

Brian:            Right.

Eric:               It cost a lot to keep these servers running folks. You wouldn't believe it. Oh brother. The situation I got right now with next year's license, Bri. Anyway, we'll keep that off the show. It's great to have a podcast and it's great to have you in the audience everyone. Let us know what you think of the show, the email address ftr@fullythreaded.com.

                        Well, as I mentioned, we're going to kick off with the Hall of Fame presentation in its condensed form when we get back from the break. But I'm wondering how did you enjoy the Emerald Meet & Match? It was quite an event.

Brian:            Yes, it was. And Morgan put a lot of work into it and it was rewarded. I don't quite know how it was going to go off, but my overall views, it needs a little bit of tweaking in some things, but it's probably the closest to the best presentation, the best piece of software that we've had that sort of mimics or show.

                        We all know it's not the same as the show. You sit around and talk to people, but it was a good attempt at getting something workable. The only comments that were negative, were not totally positive was that in the mechanism of a show is that you basically have booths and you go and talk to whoever happens to be standing in a booth at any one moment. You don't really in a head go and book a time to talk to someone.

                        And in the way this thing works, basically you made connections with people, not Würth the companies that were manning a booth.

Eric:               Right. Right.

Brian:            And so, Linwood, makes a lot of the connections and they're all very good, but I had no visibility to those. Whereas if it was on a booth, whoever was there, would be the person you'd communicate with. And that is the only sort of negative comment I had about it. I think it needs a bit of a rework on how they think of how a show works, but things that you could do, like breaking out to Zoom meetings, for the Hall of Fame and some of the other training sessions and the presentations. I thought that was great. I liked it.

Eric:               Well, I agree with all that. I think overall it was a success and it was an experiment and a lot of people were pleasantly surprised. I know of one person who had 10 meetings lined up with all his suppliers and he loved it. And of course, he took it seriously and he lined them all up. And of course, they were all there. Not saying all his suppliers were there, but he made the most out of the event.

                        And I suppose my biggest reaction is that Emerald needs to find a way to bump up the number of distributors walking the virtual halls. And I know that that's the challenge and they're working on it. They did a very good job. And hopefully if there is a next time, it's even better. It wasn't bad. But I would say that for me was the weakness.

                        So, I counted about in the vicinity of 60 exhibitors and I really had no way of knowing how many people were signed up as attendees. But I will tell you that during the breakout sessions that I was a participant in, we had really nice registration and it blew away what you would get in person at an in-person event.

Brian:            Oh. I could understand that. Because someone's got to man the booth. And so, you just didn't take any meetings or appointments for those times when the presentations are on, especially the ones you want it to be part of.

Eric:               Well maybe that's part of it. I don't know, but we made a couple of connections and we got several inquiries from people who really weren't appropriate for us. There were several Asian suppliers, for example, working the event, which is proper. That's how you generate business, but for us it wasn't really, a right connection. Anyway, overall, we were happy with it.

Brian:            Oh no, I think it was, I think it was very good. The only problem is that if you were having a meeting with someone else and you had another one coming up, it's really hard to shut one off and you had no way of telling the person you were having your next meeting with it, you were delayed or something, this is just technology. Okay. There are things that they need to think about a little bit better.

                        Overall, the mechanism was slick. It actually worked easier than you would think just by starting off. Lots of us had questions. And once we had our first talk to someone else, so your first meeting, it was actually easy.

Eric:               Right. You had to dive in, well, it's clear that it wasn't a substitute, but it's a thing. And it's what we have right now. So, there you go. There's our summary.

                        And we've got a lot of follow-up to that today on the podcast, as we've said with the Hall of Fame and then the YFP and of course, McNulty will have his take during the Fastener News Report later in the podcast. So, if you weren't there folks, you'll get a little taste of it, but you definitely should think about attending next time around.

Brian:            So that's a good attempt, Morgan. Okay. Worth the effort.

Eric:               And Morgan does do a lot for the show but he's got a whole team working with him also. And by and large, they're very helpful and they take their job very seriously. So, there's our summary.

                        We'll dive into the Hall of Fame when we return from our break folks. And we'll be back to release the cracking on this one faster than you can strip head on a grade two slide. It's Fully Threaded.

Brian:            Don't you dare in my car, thank you.

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Clayton:        Hey, this is Clayton Allen from Buckeye Fasteners in Cleveland, Ohio, and you're listening to Fully Threaded Radio.

Morgan:        Hi everyone. Thank you all for joining us for IFE's first ever virtual event, Match & Meet. We are excited to continue our tradition and hosting the annual Hall of Fame and Young Fastener Professional Award ceremony. We have some well-deserved inductees this year, and I know the anticipation is building to find out who the 2020 winners are going to be. So, at this time, I would like to introduce our host Eric Dudas to make the big announcements. Thank you all again for attending and we can't wait to see you next year in Vegas over to you, Eric.

Eric:               Thanks, Morgan. It's good to be with you again, everyone. Eric Dudas here for the Emerald Expositions 2020 fastener industry Hall of Fame induction presentation. I'm presenting today from the Fully Threaded Radio studio in the heart of the fastener industry, Cleveland Ohio.

                        Of course, the virtual home of the industry is wherever you're watching right now with the online format this year, you'll notice our inductees will be keeping their remarks on the brief side. So, if you've attended these events at the Vegas show in the past, this one will go by in a flash.

                        The number of inductees this year has been set by Emerald and Tumens. And now for the moment, we've all come for. I get to say those hollowed words that make Hollow Award Shows what they are. The envelope please for the Fastener Industry Hall of Fame, 2020.

                        Number one for his exemplary and tireless work, advancing the cause of education with the Fastener Training Institute and repeatedly getting back on that horse at Desert Distribution. It's Mr. 'Cowboy' John Wachman. Way to go John.

                        Second inductee for meritorious conduct in his wildly successful business dealings for his many generous efforts towards the advancement of the careers of many in the industry and for his numerous articles, writings and work with the associations. Our second inductee of the Fastener Industry Hall of Fame for 2020, is from G.L. Huyett, middle of nowhere, Kansas. Mr. Timo O'Keeffe.

                        Jamie Lawrence of AVK Industrial products is here now to introduce John Wachman.

Jamie:           Hello, my fastener friends today, we're here to talk about John Wachman. John, if you don't know hails from New York and he started his fastener career actually on a drafting board. There, drafting away by the hours. He gained an interest in mechanical fasteners and components and moving on from there, he actually went to a marine company that built chains for anchors, for ships.

                        And of course, this was a heavy weight upon John's head and back. So, he said, I'm getting out of this. I'm going to go to Gesipa. And Gesipa is where he started his fastener career. From Gesipa to Cherry to Copper State and many other fastener companies. And along the way, of course, handling a multitude of different types of fasteners, giving him a very expansive product knowledge.

                        Combined with his logical and strategic support in handling his customers and principles, John became and what I would call. And if you know the movie Dune the Kwisatz Haderach of the fastener world. So, what more can I say about that? John is the chosen fastener for everyone. So, with that, it is my pleasure to introduce the Hall of Fame inductee and part-time urban cowboy, my friend, John Wachman.

John:             Thank you Jamie, for that most generous introduction and kind words. Jamie is a friend; colleague and we have worked together closely for over three decades. AVK Industrial Products was one of our first lines when we started our rep agency and remains one of our premier principles.

                        Thanks to Morgan Wilson and the folks at the International Fastener Expo, IFE for honoring me and continuing the fastener Hall of Fame tradition started by Mike McGuire and Jim Bannister. Special thanks to the Fastener Industry Coalition for their assisting IFE in both the Hall of Fame and Young Fastener Professional Programs.

                        I have been blessed to be born in the greatest country in the history of the world. Then again, blessed to have had loving parents that set me on the right path. We often joke about the rigors of a Catholic education, but from here looking back, I was again, most blessed. My biggest blessings are my bride of 37 years and a love of my life, Monica, aka Mo, and my daughter, Ashley, both are incredibly special people and make me proud every day.

                        They have quietly and patiently endured my life of too much travel, too many meetings and long-winded phone calls. I made that choice to further my career. But at this point I do have many second thoughts. The honor of being inducted into the Fastener Hall of Fame was totally unexpected. I entered the fastener business over 35 years ago to get a job and feed my family.

                        It has done that and much, much more. I have reached the level of success and comfort way beyond any of my early expectations. My travels have taken me to most every area of these great United States. Many and various non-disclosure agreements will not let me mention a company by name, but if it rolls, flies, floats and more, I have likely visited them. Plant visits are always the best parts of my days. Solutions to problems or value-added selling has been my chosen specialty. The sights, sounds and smells of the factory floor have always delighted me.

                        The fastener business has become my second family. Bob Lehman always reminded us. The fastener business is a people business. Tiger Woods offers that, "To grow and learn. We need to play with people who are better than us. This was the plan I followed. I have had the pleasure to work with many of the legends in the fastener business.

                        They have all helped me in one way or another. And I humbly thank them all. Projects I have worked on included snowmobiles with Winn Adams, HAG equipment with Ed Mcilhon, electric vehicles with Tim Marzano and mobile refrigeration units with Ross Dorn. The most life-changing project was in 1989. Working with Martin Calfee on what ended up being a ten-year VMI program. Supplying fasteners used to manufacture automobile airbags.

                        Martin took a chance and moved me to Arizona. Our VMI program was very, very successful. And then there were the horses, Mo and I fell in love with these special gifts from God and spent much of the last 30 years exploring the beautiful Vistas of Arizona on horseback. Sir Winston Churchill penned, "There's something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." I cannot explain how true this is, but it is true.

                        We don't ride that much now, but there are three horses in the barn, five rescued Australian Shepherd dogs, plus three cats running about the house. We are a mile from a paved road and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the high Sonoran Desert of Scottsdale. Although frequently interrupted by cell phones and high-speed internet.

                        I have had the fortune to work for fastener manufacturing companies, distributors, importers, and lastly, as the founder of Manufacturer's Rep Agency, which we started in 2001. Desert Distribution sales represents Engineered Fastener and Component Suppliers. Our focus is solutions to problems and adding value to the supply chain.

                        Beth VanZandt and Jo Morris joined our agency. And we have grown to add the Rocky Mountains to our Southwest territory. Both are seasoned industry veterans and brought tremendous experience and value to our agency and the great companies we represent.

                        In 2008, I helped launch the Faster Training Institute. I was the first president and now serve as Managing Director. Beth, Jo and I are part of the team that manages FTI under the direction of a board of directors comprised of inured fastener industry executives. FTI is a registered 501 C (6) non-profit created to fill the void in education about all thing’s fasteners.

                        I will take this opportunity to express my sincere, thanks to all who have made FTI a success. FTI is your training platform. We still need your help and support. Please consider attending or sponsoring a class. The time will come again in 2021 to meet at the IFE Expo in Las Vegas. I got to go now as I have a Zoom meeting in five minutes, then it will be time to feed the critters. God bless and be well,

Eric:               Congratulations again, John. Tim O'Keeffe is a maverick in this industry and in life. Take a listen to Episode 126, of Fully Threaded to hear the background story on Tim's G.L. Huyett. It explains a lot of reasons, he's here today as our honoree, and he's opted to book the tradition of having a colleague make an introduction. So, I'll just say, congratulations again, Tim. The stage is all yours.

Tim:                Thanks to the IFE and the Fastener Industry Coalition for this Hall of Fame induction. I'm extremely honored. I'm very, very humbled and somewhat speechless, but I have some people I want to thank. I want to thank Mike McGuire, who I think nominated me. And I appreciate that Mike, and appreciate your thought leadership in the industry.

                        I want to congratulate fellow inductee, John Wachman from Desert Distribution and the Fastener Training Institute. It's probably only appropriate that John and I are going at the same time because maybe the group thought that I was going to carry John's luggage because that's about relationship to the contribution that John's made, compared to myself.

                        I'm very humbled and I have not done nearly what John has done in the industry. I am speaking to you from where this all started. This is what we refer to at G.L. Huyett as the Tin Shed. This is the place that my wife and I purchased back in 1992, 28 years ago, almost right now. And this was quite an adventure. I used to write these, slogans around the walls to try to keep people focused.

                        Through this wall, was, an unheated, air-conditioned warehouse. So, we had to put fingerless gloves on in the winter to go outside there and, pick orders. Everything was done. All the invoicing was hand done on a Smith Corona typewriter.

                        I recall, memorizing many, of the industries leaders, distribution leaders. Their shipping addresses billing addresses because each one was hand individually typed. So, we've come a long way and there's some people that really have helped me in the journey.

                        I want to thank, Hall of Famer, Ed Mcilhon who's, probably the best salesman I ever met. And he taught me it's sometimes better to be nice than right. I want to thank a Hall of Famer, Bruce Wheeler. Bruce is probably the most common sense go person I've ever met extremely sensible and whatever I need to be grounded into just basic logic. Bruce is the person I call.

                        I want to thank a Hall of Famer, Bill Derry. Bill taught me a lot about changing my leadership ways. I'll talk a little bit about that later, and he's also instrumental in our, profit sharing design at G.L. Huyett. I want to thank fastener professional of the year, Don Nowak. Who's now retired formally from Falcon Fastening Systems. Don taught me to pay attention to the numbers and the financials.

                        I also want to thank Bob Hahn. Bob was the person that we purchased G.L. Huyett from. He taught me to conserve cash, watch cash. He was also just in general, a mentor. And, I recall a few years back, maybe longer than I care to admit, him having my son Jimmy on a forklift down here in the Brick Street. So, he was a great guy. And then following my dad who taught me to be a philosophical type person in business, always be thinking about things.

                        I want to thank some suppliers, Craig and Jonathan Slass from Rotor Clip. Mike Lentini and Jeff Koehl from Spirol. Bill Sulesky from A. Raymond Tinnerman and the Tinnerman folks. Jamie Lawrence of AVK, Duran Bellamy, Allan and Virginia Wong and then Jenny Pilsner. And now, I guess retired Jerry DeWitz from ITW Shakeproof.

                        I also want to thank Chuck Smith of AZ Lifting Hardware and Roger Szafranski of Precision Specialties. Those are a couple of companies we've purchased in the last few years, and I hope that we've treated them well. And we've certainly extended the business and we're very pleased to have worked with them and looked forward to working with more such folks.

                        Also, I want to extend a very special thank you to my fellow members or former members of the Fastener Advisory Board, Ron Stanley of Empire Bolt & Screw. Mark Shannon of Tower Fasteners. Jim Reutz of AIS, which I hope soon to be Dr. Jim Reutz. Giovanni Cespedes of Falcon Fastening Systems. Doug Ruggles of Martin Industrial, Nick Reutz of AIS MSC. Matt Goldberg of Accurate Manufactured Parts group. And then Adam Pratt from Sherex. All very, very instrumental.

                        And really for me and my career, there was an inflection point. This wasn't just an easy linear journey, but there was an inflection point back in probably 2006, 2008 timeframe when the fab members really gave me a lot of direct advice. And I really had to change my ways as a manager. I had to learn to lead, instead of telling, you had to learn to stimulate and influence as opposed to being a boss.

                        I had to learn to be more self-aware in terms of how people are reacting to me and how I'm reacting to them to be a better communicator, and also had to learn how to focus. I'm always kind of a person of ideas. And sometimes that can be overwhelming to people and you do a lot of things halfway instead of a couple of things really well.

                        And so, from that, I feel like we've emerged as a professionally managed company. I'm very thankful to my executive team, Dan Harriger, Sarah Sennett and Scott Longfellow, as well as all of the associates and employees, to G.L. Huyett. This is a team award and, I hope that everyone at G.L. Huyett is honored as well.

                        There is a legacy that I hope that we are working on to continue to leave in the industry. This is an industry that has a lot of channel conflict between manufacturers and distributors. There's a conflict over safety stock, there's conflict over the customer relationship. And sometimes I think that the value to the actual end user can be to a certain extent compromised by that conflict. And so, our legacy that we're trying to leave is we want to try to influence the channel to deliver value.

                        And so, there's a few things that we have our attention that we want to continue to work on. One is how much safety stock should there be in the supply chain and where should it be? The second thing is can we reduce the time it takes to transact so that the costs of procurement are lowered? Can we reduce the number of vendors? The more vendors, more vendor relationships, the more invoices pack lists that distributors have to have, the higher the cost.

                        Can we influence and improve design and fit, form and function, assembly costs, those sorts of things? Those are all things really important to us. And so, I think, there are some archeological, if you will, artifacts that we've left upon the industry. We have a field sales force, that's the highest trained in the industry and, is also, what we were one of the few companies that has a direct sales force.

                        We have a superior customer service experience. We time all of our quotes, train all of our teams. We have inside sales engineering to support those solutions that we do. We have a robust e-commerce site. And then we do a lot of data driven decision-making and are working a lot on data analytics. And so, there are smaller things like free material test reports and the pack list that can change your life.

                        And the IQ quoting tools that we have for our lifting hardware. So those are all things that are important, but when it gets down to the most important legacy that we want to leave is the community. And this really gets back to, the burden that this imposes upon me and upon our organization. So, we really, really do want to give back. And so, as we move forward and we want to continue to give back in the form of new ideas, but more importantly, I'd like to give back professionally and personally.

                        And so, if any of you need help, you want to call me in the middle of the night, anything like that at all, I'm happy to help. I'm happy to consult. I'm burdened by this and obliged and I want to try to continue that community building.

                        Finally, I want to thank my family. I want to take my five kids. My oldest son, Jimmy. Emily, my daughter. My son, Tommy. Tommy O'Keeffe Spotify. Now over 200,000 plays. So, if you're interested in some good music, check him out. My daughter, Mary-Grace, my son, John, and then my wife.

                        My wife has really been my soulmate. And, she really brings the love, our culture of love that we have at G.L. Huyett and has been a big influence on the business in an indirect way. And so, I want to leave you with a line from a poem that I gave Carol, my wife, when I proposed to her for marriage. It's from the poet, Dylan Thomas, and it goes like this, "Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of light".

                        And so, as we move forward and as you move forward in the fastener industry, I want to encourage you to always chase the light. Remember you only have one time on this earth to make a change, to make an influence. And so, don't blow the opportunity. I thank everyone, once again, God bless.

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Leo:                This is Leo Coar, an editor at Distributors Link Magazine, and you're listening to Fully Threaded Radio.

Eric:               Hey, Bri, you know, the fastener industry isn't the only one who's doing these online virtual events.

Brian:            Well true. Everyone's trying to.

Eric:               And everyone has to face it.

Brian:            Yeah.

Eric:               Anyway, I'm looking at Fastener Technology International October, November issue, and see a story here. Page 70 with most industry events canceled, the heat treatment industry met online, describes everything that went down over there. This was put on by an organization called Seco/Warwick group, which is Polish based.

Brian:            Well, it doesn't have very Polish name.

Eric:               No, but the organizer is Katarzyna Sawka, no mistake in that one.

Brian:            No. Okay.

Eric:               Anyway, it sounds like it was a big success. It was an international event. People from all over the world participated and it's covered in fastener technology, which is appropriate because this is the new segment of the show. We're back with you. And this segment is sponsored by Volt Industrial Plastics.

                        Of course, the title sponsors of Fully Threaded Radio are Stelfast, Brighton Best International and Goebel Fasteners. I've kind of settled on Goebel, Bri after the last episode.

Brian:            I was going to say something, but I decided no, I wouldn't.

Eric:               I think we should standardize on that one. I've run into it myself a few times. And I understand now Christian's problem with the 'Goebel' thing. So, I'm a 'Goebell' guy now, even though it wasn't my initial preference.

Brian:            Well, to me, it's not that hard to pronounce because 'O' and 'E' together or 'I', with two dots, that's a problem. But I lived in Cologne, which was called to them 'Köln'. And so, I know how, and I also worked in another Swedish city called Malmö with an 'O' with the thing cross through it.

Eric:               An umlaut.

Brian:            No, it's not. Whatever they call it anyway. It's not called an umlaut but anyway, the dealers, I got used to those different sounds, but I understand that if you're not used to it. You muddled up by what that really is.

Eric:               See, I thought you were going to say, because you lived in Texas.

Brian:            Well, I did, but I was actually working in Germany and living in Texas at the same time I flew back every month.

Eric:               I can never keep track of your history. What particular continent you were on at any given moment?

Brian:            I don't know. I'm very, very static sitting right in the Chicago suburbs.

Eric:               Lucky for us. Anyway, it's Goebel.

Brian:            Okay.

Eric:               And virtual events seems to be one of the themes, but another one of the themes today is awards. And as it turns out, WIFI the Women in the Fastener Industry also announced a whole slew of awards. I know McNulty will shout this out, but we got to do it too, because some of our friends are among the recipients. Their woman of the year was Brighton Best International digerati member, Rosa Hearn.

Brian:            Right. Who, we speak to through the IFE meet and greet early on. That was one of their first calls. Bob Baer and Rosa.

Eric:               You know, they would be there, but congratulations to Rosa on that honor. Saw that flying around Twitter and LinkedIn.

Brian:            Yes.

Eric:               And another one of our compadres, Jake Valdez Davis picked up the, Man-up Award, which is, I guess the WIFI's award for the coolest dude who helped them out during the year.

Brian:            Okay.

Eric:               I don't know if it had anything to do with U-Bolt Blend Coffee, or it was just other general coolness that he exhibited over the year. Congratulations, Jake, on that one.

                        Then the Hudson ladies who are also responsible for the Tuscon Fasteners, who are also responsible for the Fastener News Desk, Cris and Lisa, they won the Women Business Owners Award from WIFI. So, friends of the podcast top to bottom, congratulations, all

Brian:            There's lots of benefits, just other than just the fascinating predominantly news and information about fasteners to listen to Fully Threaded.

Eric:               It just keep on coming Bri. As they will in just a moment when Mike McNulty comes on with Alex Chausovsky of ITR Economics. Don't get down in the dumps folks at the end of the segment they put together today because Mike quizzes, Alex, on the ITR view of the upcoming depression that they've been predicting for many years. If you've caught any of their presentations. Alex brings us up to speed on some of their most recent thinking on that topic, which is interesting. Juxtaposed against the wildly optimistic FDI.

Brian:            Right. I've been forecasting depression for years. If you do that at some stage, you’re going to be right.

Eric:               A little more than just speculating on that. They have their reasons anyway. Listen in, find out let's not dwell on it.

Brian:            Well, before we get to the news, I would like to actually congratulate the Hall of Fame winners, people we know well. John Wachman and Tim O'Keeffe.

Eric:               Congratulations again, men. It was really, really well done. And I'm so glad I had the chance to participate with you on your special day. And it's always a special day when Mike McNulty's in house. So, without further ado, here's the Fastener News Report.

M McNulty:   Thanks Brian and Eric, this is Mike McNulty from Fastener Technology International Magazine, bringing you the Fastener News Report, which is sponsored by Volt Industrial Plastics, makers of the world's finest plastic fasteners.

                        The latest quote, "Most important election of our lifetime." Unquote is now over and all levels of mainstream local and social media, as well as scores of woke elite corporations and institutions are asserting their self-proclaimed authority and electoral instructions to everyday Americans. But I am still focused on fasteners and ready to deliver today's fastener news report.

                        In this episode, ITR senior business advisor, Alex Chausovsky joins us to reveal the latest results of the Fastener Distributor Index, also known as the FDI. Also, in today's broadcast we have our top story on Optimas, as well as the newsmaker headlines from Würth industry North America. The Marmon Fastener Group, Goebel Fasteners, AIS, Wesco, Bolton, and Field Fastener. On the back-page report, we're going to talk about IFE's virtual Match & Meet event. We'll get to all of that and the latest FDI results right after this.

Joseph:         My name is Joseph Volltrauer. We've got really good people work ethic. You do a little more than what you're getting paid for. I'm a great believer in that. That's how you get ahead. "We are Volt." If you grow too fast, you go broke real quick and growing too slow is not as dangerous, but it's boring. "We are Volt." Do we know how to build the tools? And if you don't have the tools, you can't do anything"

Eric:               Volt Industrial Plastics, makers of the world's finest plastic fasteners.

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                        At Würth, ‘Status Quo Isn't An Option’. Würth is a global supply chain solutions provider of fasteners, MRO and safety products. Along with value added services like kitting and assembly, 3d printing and engineering assistance. Find out what Würth can do for you at Wurthindustry.com.

                        You're listening to Mike McNulty's Fastener News Report on Fully Threaded Radio.

M McNulty:   The season adjusted Fastener Distributor Index for October, 2020 was 56.5 versus 52.0 in September. A solid improvement and the second highest result for 2020. Fastener Distributor Index data is collected and analyzed by the FCH Sourcing Network and Baird. The FDI seeks to identify demand pricing and outlook trends within the American Fastener Distribution Industry. We talked to ITR senior business advisor, Alex Chausovsky.

Alex:              Hey, Mike, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

M McNulty:   So, you have the benefit of, talking on a time where things are moving in the positive direction.

Alex:              Yes, it's certainly a nice change of pace relative to the last time we spoke in the spring when things were kind of disintegrating all around us. But I think, the index has picked up essentially a broader context of economic recovery unfolding in the United States. And in particular in the U.S. Industrial economy, we've seen the green shoots of this recovery emerge really since the summer timeframe. And it certainly held true through the early fall period.

                        And even with the latest data that we're paying attention to everything that we're seeing, including our leading indicators, both the monthly and the weekly ones that give us more of a pulse of the situation on the ground indicate that that recovery should continue through the end of this year and into 2021 as we've been expecting.

M McNulty:   Well, that's good to hear. I wanted to talk about the sales number, looking at the FDI report jumped to over 65 and the FLI, the Forward Looking Indicator also jumped up to its highest result in nearly three years, 64.5. Any, comments about that or is it kind of tie in what you're hearing on a broad area?

Alex:              Well, I think that it's really important to remind your listeners that you have to cut through the fear, the anxiety and the noise that you're constantly being bombarded with in terms of the healthcare aspect of COVID-19. And remember that economic performance is really driven, not by the cases or the deaths as grim as that might sound. It's actually driven by how we react to the pandemic, which is, do we continue to allow businesses to remain open?

                        If we look back at the second quarter, we clearly have a lot of evidence now that, that contraction that we experienced. One of the most severe ones in history, by the way on a short-term basis was largely a result of the shutdowns. The fact that businesses could not operate and that most people were not leaving their homes.

                        So, I know that we're having some reversals in the reopening process right now. They seem to be concentrated in some key areas like restaurants, bars, and gyms, which are not going to have an impact on the ground for many industrial companies.

                        And so, we're very encouraged by the fact that there's this recognition that the contraction in the economy is really more related to the economic freeze that we self-imposed back in the April, May timeframe. And we're seeing very, reluctant governors and certainly at the federal level that we're not going to likely repeat that in the near term future.

                        So, try to separate that emotional reaction to the pandemic itself from what's going on near-term the ground. We see a lot of really positive developments, in the leading indicators I mentioned earlier. Things like the Purchasing Managers' Index, which is obviously a gauge of optimism when you look at it on a cyclical basis, continues to rise and points to a very sharp recovery from a rate of change basis as we look towards 2021.

                        We've got total industry capacity utilization rate, which is really a measure of how much of the existing capacity we're using to meet the current level of demand, that's continuing to rise. A lot of very diverse and very pertinent leading indicators, all point to a continuation of that rising trend.

                        So, I think you've got to understand that the resiliency in the economy, primarily as we look at it from a consumer perspective, that's providing a lot of underlying foundational demand for many manufacturers. And that's why you're seeing these positive developments in your own Fastener Distributors Index, and some of the leading indicators that point to further upside momentum in that metric.

M McNulty:   Well, that's good news to hear all these other broader indicators going in the right direction as well. And I like your advice of, putting aside fear, anxiety, and noise. That's definitely good advice, for anytime actually.

Alex:              Absolutely. And I think there's another angle to that in the sense that as you look forward, you have to remember that your goal as a business leader, as a decision maker should be to remain half a business cycle ahead of your competition. And so right now your focus should be on thinking about 2021 expecting a positive year growth, certainly by the end of next year and planning for that.

                        Asking yourself, what do I need to have in place in my business to make sure that I can fully capitalize on that rising trend, separate myself from the competition, really establish the market, share gains, attain new clients and all the things that typically come along with that positive momentum in the economy that we're expecting for next year.

M McNulty:   That's good advice too. Now you mentioned looking forward and we said that the FLI was the highest in three years. Also, the six-month outlook peaked. We had 72% of respondents saying they expect better business, six months from now, 22, the same and only 6% expecting it to be worse.

So, if you take the first two together, that's 94% is expecting the same or better. Six months from now, which takes us into, I guess April. So that kind of ties into what you're saying.

Alex:              Absolutely. I think that obviously you have to continue to monitor the events on the ground. We're watching for three key areas to make sure that that recovery trajectory remains on track. As long as we remain open as an economy, that should be very helpful.

                        The second thing is continuing to pay attention to those leading indicators. We provide that, look on our website through our various social media channels and through our trends report, which is the fundamental publication that we put out every month. And, again, everything we're seeing there is positive. And when we look at things like housing and retail sales, those barometers of consumer activity, those are also very positive right now, but we need them to remain.

                        So, in the absence of a second round of stimulus, it's going to be very important to watch those things over the coming months to make sure that they don't get derailed. Right now, everything we're seeing is positive, but certainly things could change.

M McNulty:   Yes, definitely. Now let's move on to the respondent commentary and, people when they fill out the survey, have the chance to add their comments to the survey. It's also important to note that this survey was completed, before the election of November 4th. 

So, we had one respondent indicated, the future is hinged on two things, not in anyone's control the general election and potential spikes in COVID globally, which we've discussed.

                        And then, someone said, I think the survey would be different if you held it, after the election versus, holding it before the election. And, let's see, one comment suggested that demand continues to strengthen. Business is definitely improving and our expectations is to stay on growth pattern, but at a slower rate than what some industry economic sources are saying. That all sounds like reinforcement with what you've been saying is, people will get into the next year more positive, I think.

Alex:              I would agree. And in particular, on the COVID side, I would say that, again, the focus needs to be on the allowing businesses, particularly manufacturing companies, to remain open, despite what may be going on Business the cases side so far, that looks good. I do think it's worth mentioning that, on the election front, we're not actually going to be adjusting our forecast for 2021, regardless of who the official winner is declared whenever that happens, whether it's Joe Biden or President Trump gets another turn.

                        We think that it's all about policy. So just declaring the result of the election, is not sufficient to change our outlook. We're going to be looking at policy. And I just want to remind the audience that it takes significant amount of time for policy initiatives to actually, unfold and then actually impact the events on the ground. As it pertains to economic activity.

                        You only have to look back at 2016 to see this exact thing playing out. So, during the summer and fall period on the campaign trail, President Trump had a lot of major ticket items on his agenda. He talked about healthcare reform, immigration reform, infrastructure, trade, taxes. And it wasn't until almost two years later at the end of 2017 that we saw the first major, actually piece of legislation in the tax reforms and jobs act get passed.

                        And it wasn't until mid-2018 that we saw that legislation affect the economy and the cycle on the ground by giving it an additional boost. So, keep in mind, it takes time for these events to unfold. We do not think that there's going to be any significant changes, to 2021. So, when we focus on next year, it's much more about that leading indicator input, the data that we're looking at, the dynamics of the internal trends as we call them, which means that rate of change interplay between the quarterly data and the annualized data.

                        And so, I would say that business decision makers and owners should be thinking about the future in terms of, again, looking at what do they need to have in place, make sure they're investing in their people, investing in their business. 

I think actually right now is a very interesting time to look at some potential M and A activity because there are some companies out there under severe distress that could be very accretive to future top line and bottom-line growth.

                        So, leverage the low interest rate environment. If you don't want to spend your own money, if you do have a nice cash hold take a look and see if there's any potential candidates out there. Because again, what you don't want is to look back at this low point in the cycle with regret, as you are experiencing that future growth, you want to make sure that you're doing everything right now to capture that as much as possible.

M McNulty:   Don't want to miss the opportunity. And, that's a good point that, these legislative changes take a long time. The only thing that can go quickly is these executive orders, which the last few presidents have seemed to be fond of.

Alex:              Yes. That's true.

M McNulty:   If they can do anything and go quicker, if they can do things on regulations one way or the other. So hopefully there's not a lot of big changes in regulations that have a damaging effect.

Alex:              I think that the most concerning of the legislative initiatives that Joe Biden has put forth so far has obviously been the tax proposal. That's what I hear most business leaders worry about. And I just have to, again, remind people that it's going to take a flipping of the Senate as well as Joe Biden being officially declared as our next president.

                        And at this point, it's obviously a toss-up. The Georgia, runoffs in late January are going to be a determining factor of that. But again, as you can see, these considerations that Joe Biden's going to change taxes on day one are largely unfounded. It's not going to happen that way.

                        So, I think that the executive orders that are possible are much more targeted and smaller scale in their implications. And I haven't seen anything out there right now that would be concerning from an outlook perspective.

M McNulty:   And as a good reminder, to change tax law, which are laws, you have to do it in the legislative branch and it has to pass both the house and the Senate, and then it has to be signed in law. I could see some Democrats and if this is all hypothetical, but some Democrats saying, hey, let's not increase taxes right now because we're recovering from the pandemic.

                        So, as you point out, it's not going to happen overnight. And it's not guaranteed that it ever happens.

Alex:              That's right.

M McNulty:   Certain things. Okay. Let's move on. Anything else? You had mentioned the PMI and some other indicators. Do you guys track any or hearing anything from, distributors in general, anything to report there?

Alex:              So, I can only give you the perspective of the clients that I talk to on a regular basis. We do individual one-on-one consulting with companies where we provide them with a three-year outlook for their top line revenue or their profit margin, or their unit volume shipments.

                        And again, all of the signs that I've seen, all of the monthly data that's come in through October has been very encouraging. It’s kind of corroborates what we're seeing in the leading indicators, which is there's incremental increases happening in the monthly data off of a low seen in that second quarter.

                        The math of it basically functions in a way that, because we're doing our comparisons year over year, that means that the low point in the industrial economy is going to happen early next year in Q1. And then starting in Q2, you should start to see that business cycle rise. 

So everything we're seeing on a company basis, these are not specifically, distributors of fasteners or manufacturers of fasteners, but large public companies that I track.

                        Companies like Caterpillar, John Deere and other industrial powerhouses, Rockwell Automation. They're certainly seeing the same kind of trends play out. So, I'm very encouraged by what I'm seeing in the company data, as well as in the more macro and micro economic data.

M McNulty:   And fasteners are definitely tied into all of those things. So that's good to hear. Alright, before we close out, how's everything going at ITR.

Alex:              Everything is going great. We are busier than we've ever been before. I've done more presentations this quarter than I did in the first three quarters of the year combined. So, if that's a leading indicator of economic activity. I think it's pointing in a very positive direction. We just want to make sure that everybody knows we're here to support you.

                        We put out a lot of free content all the time, again on our social media channels. You can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn. My personal Twitter handle. I'll throw this out there @achausovsky again, blog posts, opinion pieces, podcasts, and videos all the time designed to keep you informed, help you cut through that noise and help you be the data-driven decision maker that you need to be right now. So, if there's anything at all we can help you with, please reach out to us. We're here to support you.

M McNulty:   Yes. As I will remind the listeners., I've seen your presentations and some of your colleagues and you guys are always do a great job. And I liked that you cut through the bologna and the noise and the trending things and you base it on facts and logic and restraint.

                        Now I can't let you go without asking, you guys have talked about, maybe not you in particular, but from ITR they've talked about the potential of the coming depression in 2030. Is that still something you guys are expecting to happen or you think it might come sooner because of all this money we've spent in 2020.

Alex:              We've got a great deal of questions on this subject. So, we've done a very thorough analysis and essentially the messaging remains the same. We are more convinced that that is an outcome in our longer-term future. We still think it's a function of the 2030's.

                        In the near term, the next three to five years, I think everything on the government's part is going to be very conducive and supportive of making sure the economy gets back on solid footing. So, we're not seeing increases in interest rates. We're not seeing cutbacks in spending at the government level.

                        Longer term, it becomes a question of are investors, both foreign and domestic, both individual and institutional continuing, and are willing to lend the U.S. money? And we think that remains, certainly affirmative because we still remain the best-looking dog in the pound if you will.

                        Relative to the interest rates that we're offering compared to Europe or to Japan, the other safe havens of the world, most of them are zero or negative. On the U.S.10-year treasury bond you can still get about 3/4 of a point right now. So, I think money will continue to flow in the United States as we remain a haven for the world.

                        There's obviously going to be ups and downs over the timeline. We're not saying that it's just a rosy non-stop growth for the next 10 years, but we think that the great depression that we've been talking about remains relegated to the 2030's. And we are developing some tools that are going to allow us to see the signs of that happening.

                        For instance, we're certainly going to be watching inflation. As you mentioned, there's been a lot of money pumped into the system, and we think that down the road that will lead to higher inflationary pressures, leading the fed to raise interest rates, to try to combat some of that inflation.

                        So, we're going to keep an eye out on that, but right now we still think that it's a 2030's phenomenon rather than moving closer to our current timeline.

M McNulty:   That's good. I mean, no, depression's not good, but that the fact that it's not moving closer in the rear-view mirror or on the horizon, that's good. And I liked the two things you use to describe the United States, the best-looking dog in the pound, as well as a safe Haven. Those are appropriate, I think, and comforting a little bit, a little bit humorous too.

Alex:              Well. Excellent. I'm glad. I just want to encourage people to not get bogged down in the weeds. I know it's hard to do right now, your personal life might be disrupted and that might translate into some very negative outlook for your business life. And I would just say, deep breaths, hang in there, we're going to get through it. We always have before. And I certainly encourage people to look forward to a much better 2021 than we had in 2020. We're Strand Quist on that path. And I look forward to a much better year next year.

M McNulty:   Great. Well, that's great advice and a great outlook. And I think, welcome news for everybody to hear out in the fastener industry and in the world in general.

                        Thanks for joining us. And it's always good to, to hear your take on economics and what's going on in the industry.

Alex:              My pleasure, thanks for having me, Mike.

M McNulty:   That was ITR Senior Business Advisor, Alex, Chausovsky. The FDI number for October was 56.5 versus 52.0 the previous month visit FDI survey.com to participate in the process and get a detailed PDF copy of Baird's monthly analysis.

                        Now for today's top story. Optimas Solutions, a global manufacturer and distributor of industrial fasteners and supply chain solutions has promoted its president of the Americas, Marc Strandquist to the position of Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds newly elected Optimas Board Chair and AIP operating partner TJ Rosengarth.

                        In his new role, Marc will oversee the planning and execution of the company's strategic plan for its two regional business groups, the Americas and International, and he will continue to oversee the company's America's business unit.

                        In that role, he has ignited revenue growth, service diversification, and technology advancements under his manufacturing solutions strategy. Which was launched earlier in 2020 to drive sourcing operations and service improvements across the USA, Canada, Mexico, and South America. Included in this plan was a new 30,400 square foot facility in St. Louis to handle the U.S. distribution of a new line of manufacturing, consumable products, focusing on PPE and MRO products.

                        To hear more details on this story, check out Eric Dudas' special report with Optimas CEO, Marc Strandquist posted on-line at the end of October, and ready to listen to @fullythreaded.com.

                        Next up today's fastener newsmaker headlines. In acquisition, expansion and agreement news Würth Industry North America also known as WINA has acquired Techni-Tool Incorporated.

                        Tenn-Tex Plastics has joined the Marmon Fastener Group.

                        Kimball Midwest has opened a larger distribution center in the Dallas Texas area to serve customers in nine States.

                        Goebel Fasteners has named Accufast as a master distributor for Western Canada.

                        G.L. Huyett is now stocking DFARS compliant, MAK-A-KEY Mil-Spec Key Stock.

                        And All Integrated Solutions also known as AIS. A division of MSC Industrial Supply has expanded its distribution center in Atlanta, Georgia with a new 800,000 square foot facility.

                        In personnel news, Wesco International appointed Akash Khurana as Executive Vice President and chief information and digital officer.

                        Bulten has appointed Anna Ackerblad as new Chief Financial Officer. And Bumax of Sweden has named Lars Holm, Managing Director focusing on the international market. And Lennart Löfgren, Chief Operating Officer, focusing on operations in Sweden.

                        In milestones, Field Fastener is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. You can get details on all of these stories and more in Fastener Technology International Magazine and the Fastener News Report, monthly newsletter, both available online and in print and online additions can be seen @fastenertech.com.

                        Now let's turn to the back page to talk about IFE's Match & Meet virtual event. I was a late and somewhat reluctant registrant for IFE's first ever digital show called Match & Meet, but I am pleased to report that I'm glad that I tuned in and enjoyed some excellent contact and content making ability.

                        IFE's show management reports that over the two days of the virtual show, over 2,700 connections were made and over 6,700 messages were exchanged. The virtual platform featured hundreds of attendees for connecting to dozens of exhibitors with lots of downloadable and viewable content. Ten informative conference sessions, and a virtual bash with trivia contest.

                        Of all the interesting features of IFE's Match & Meet. My three favorite parts of the event were as follows first. The Women in the Fastener Industry also known as WIFI recognize it's 2020 award winners. Rosa Hearn from Brighton Best International is the 2020 woman of the year.

                        Cris Young and Lisa Kleinhandler from Product Genius. Hudson Fasteners, and the Fastener News Desks won the WIFI Women in Business Award. And BTM Manufacturing, the founder and roasting partner of U-Bolt Blend Coffee took home the 2020 WIFI man-up award for its support of Women in the Fastener Industry.

                        Second, I enjoyed the fastener manufacturing panel discussion hosted by Fully Threaded Radio host and FCH Sourcing Network Partner, Eric Dudas. The panel featured Charlie Kerr, CEO of Kerr Lakeside. Larry Kelly Business Development Manager at Buckeye Fasteners Company and Matthew Boyd, VP of Global performance and Innovation at Parker fasteners.

                        The insight and experiences of these fastener makers throughout the 2020 pandemic year was informative and useful in some entertaining non-fastener subjects were sprinkled into the mix, including beer drinking, grocery store navigation and the economics of bicycle ownership and riding.

                        And third on this list. But number one, in my judgment, the awards ceremony announcing the 2020 Hall of Fame and Young Fastener Professional winners was excellent.

                        The ceremony was also hosted by Eric Dudas and congratulations are in order for Hall of Fame, 2020 inductees, John Wachman of Desert Distribution, and Tim O'Keeffe of G.L. Huyettt. As well as the winner of the Young Fastener Professional of the year award, Jessi Solt, also from G.L. Huyett. I encourage you to watch and listen to the humble speeches made by these three winners.

                        As I watched, I could feel the greatness of the American fastener industry, as well as the gratitude of the awardees delivered on locations from two great States of Arizona and Kansas. Some points to listen for include John Wachman's love of horses, meeting people at fastener plants and the sights sounds and smells of factories.

                        Tim O'Keeffe's poetry reading as well as his commitment to family, teamwork, legacy and helping others and Jessi Solt's folding chair, as well as the pure joy exhibited by her husband, Ty and her co-workers on a windy day in Rock City Park in Minneapolis, Kansas. Visit fastenershows.com to check out the platform which will remain online with on-demand conference viewing well until the year 2021.

                        And finally, did you know that early presidential voting in the USA has been on a steady rise over the last three decades. Originally intended to accommodate people to vote when they were unable to get to their designated polling station on voting day.

                        Early voting was only 7% of all votes cast in 1992, rising to 16% and 22% in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Eclipsing 30% when the USA's most famous community organizer came onto the scene in 2008, approaching 32% in 2012 and 37% in 2016 while exploding to 67% in this fear-mongering year of 2020.

                        This trend in my view is not a good one. What should be resisted and rolled back as it clearly exposes the perennial and competence of many government groups while opening many doors, not only to the appearance, but the actual commission of voter fraud, ballot harvesting and voter coercion. All USA citizens have the right to vote in their respective, local state and federal elections, but all rights come with responsibilities.

                        And in the case of federal elections, these responsibilities include not only being able to show up to vote, if you don't have a legitimate excuse, but understanding what is written in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The U.S. Constitution, and all ratified amendments, as well as understanding the policy platforms of the political parties represented on the ballot. Otherwise, you might end up with millions of reckless and emotional votes for candidates that have built their governing plans on foundations that you may find horrifying.

                        This has been Mike McNulty of Fastener Technology International bringing you the Faster News Report. Please send your news pictures, comments, corrections, or complaints to me at mcnulty@fastenertech.com.

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Carmen:        Hello everyone. This is Carmen Vertullo with your Fastener Training Minute, coming to you from the Fastener Training Institute and AIM Testing Laboratory in beautiful El Cajon California. And it is truly beautiful here today. I'm not going to tell you what's going on right now, but this is a pretty historical time we're living in. And, there's a lot of points being made out there right now, but I'm going to tell you about a different kind of point.

                        This is a kind of point that we find on the end of a screw or bolt, and it's not a very pointy point, but it is a point and the point has a point. And if you don't have the point, you're going to get the point. So, when I come back, I'm going to tell you why the point on the end of a screw or bolt is very important.

                        (Music)

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Carmen:        Welcome back everybody. This is Carmen Vertullo with the Faster Training Minute. Today I'm talking about a thing called point. It's a feature that we find on the end of hex cap screws and other types of externally threaded fasteners. And it has a very specific requirement and it serves a very important function.

                        Imagine a threaded fastener, externally threaded fastener, a bolt or screw. When you look at the end of it, it usually has what you would like to describe as a chamfer. And that is the correct terminology, a chamfer the standard's referred to this chamfer as a point.

                        And if we were to look at one of our more common standards for hex cap screws, ASME B18.2.1, for example, it has a very specific requirement for that point. And the reason is because if there is no point on the end of the bolt.

                        What could easily happen or the end of the screw, because as a matter of fact, bolts are not required to have the point, but screws are, if there is no point, the last thread on the end of the screw, it just wipes out to almost nothing. It can be almost as sharp as a razor blade. And that point is very vulnerable to damage.

                        Therefore, if that last thread gets dinged or bent, it won't take the nut. And so, if we put a little chamfer on the end of that, we keep that from happening. And especially with large bolts over 1/2 an inch, but even down to 1/4 of an inch if they bang around in a package or get dropped on that thread, it will bend. But this is what ASME B18.2.1 says about points in paragraph 2.4, I guess, correctly called the section 2.4. Unless otherwise specified bolts need not be pointed. So, no points for bolts.

                        Products designated as screws with the exception of lag screws. We know what a lag screw is, it already has a very pointy point are required to have a chamfered point. IFI note; chamfered point lengths should be not less than one, but not more than two thread pitches from the end of the screw. The point diameter at the extreme end of the screw should be no greater than the minimum, minor diameter of the screws thread.

                        Now that's not part of the standard. That's just an IFI note. because I'm reading this from the IFI version of the standard. It goes on to say, "The chamfer angle may vary depending on the manufacturing process, when specified the chamfer angle should be considered a reference dimension only".

                        "The presence of a point is to reduce the possibility of damage to the leading threads and promote ease of assembly with a tap hole. Or nut point features not defined in a given product standard or at the discretion of the manufacturer."

                        Now, if you were to look at a manufacturing process for a cold form part, that was a hex cap screw, you would see this progression as it goes through. And at one point in the process, there's a very subtle change. That is all of the sudden before it goes to thread rolling. After it's been headed, after it's been extruded, after it's been maybe trimmed, I don't know, trim maybe comes after pointing.

                        I don't know someone would know that, but somewhere in there that there's a point put on the end of the screw. And that's generally done with the material removal process, such as some kind of a machine or a grinding. It could be done with forming, but it's generally done with material removal. And that also is more friendly to the thread rolling process.

                        So, if we look at other inch standards, if ASME B18.3, for socket screws, it has a very similar call-out to this requirement. It's not exactly the same, but it's very similar. However, it does, as we know socket screws start at a very small size. 

So, one of the get out of jail free cards, and this can get us into trouble. Is that it's note 8 from table 1 will tell us and I'm not going to read the whole thing. It's got very similar stuff to what we just read, except it gives us the requirement that screw sizes up to and including size eight, the chamfer is optional.

                        So below number eight, you don't have to have the chamfer or what they call the point. And we have had issues with that in the past. What brings this up for me is we recently had a client who made a bucket load, large bucket loads of long 3/8's, 24 socket head cap screws. They were eight or 10 inches long. Sent them to us. We tested and they were fine. Sent them to the plater, got them back. Got them to the customer. The customer rejected them because some of them would not take a nut.

                        They send them to us. They said, “Oh, inspect these threads.” We inspected the threads. They were fine. However, we did notice that there was no point and some of the leading threads were damaged. So that was the issue there. Fortunately, those screws probably can be repaired. They're long, expensive screws, be a hand operation to grind that point on, but we always want to have the point.

                        I'm going to just go to two more plates. Let's say B18.2.6. Structural bolting also requires a point. It's a much more defined point and a larger, deeper point than other bolting. And you would expect that because structural bolts are kind of used in a clunky, heavy, rough application.

                        And then finally, if we go into our ISO, our metric standards, if we look at it, e.g., ISO 4762 for the socket head cap screws, it goes to another whole standard called ISO 4753, which has the list of all kinds of points in it. And in that standard, it says we should use a point called a chamfered point for sizes above M4 and for M4 and below we can use as rolled, which means essentially no point. So again, the small screws in the ISO system don't require points, above M4 does. And their specific requirements are ISO 4753.

                        Well, I hope you got the point of this point. It's very important that threaded fasteners have a point because without a point you got no point. Well, this has been Carmen Vertullo with the Fastener Training Minute. Thanks for listening.

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Rob:               Hi, this is Rob 'Big Country' Reynolds from INxSQL Software coming to you from the 19th hole. And you are listening to Fully Threaded Radio.

Jake:              Ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever You are. This is Fully Threaded Radio, FTR brought to you by the Young Fastener Professionals Association. Our teams here at YFP are taking over the airwaves today. Thank you so much, Eric and Brian for having us on. Super excited to be here with my esteemed colleagues, Jessi Solt from G.L. Huyett and London Penland from Eurolink Fastener Service and Supply. How you doing my friends?

London:        Hey, hey, what's up?

Jessi:             Hey.

Jake:              Ladies and gentlemen, here with you live Jake Glaser from Sherex Fastening Solutions. Very happy to be manning the helm today with you folks.

Jesse:            Not to be confused with Jake from State Farm.

Jake:              Certainly not to be confused with Jake from State Farm, because you will never see me in khakis because I don't own a pair of khakis.

Jessi:             So, do you have the red shirt?

Jake:              So, I do have the red shirt and not for nothing. I appreciate the comedic fodder. So, anybody who wants to call me Jake from State Farm, come on down, I'm fine with it. You're not going to scare me.

London:        I'll give you a call late at night, Jake, and ask you what you're wearing.

Jake:              Please do, please do. Very good. And guys, before we hop in today, just for fun, what's the T what's going on, anything fun, anything different or interesting percolating through your areas?

Jessi:             Fine, interesting and different. My entire life revolves around interesting and different and random.

Jake:              Well said. Okay. I'll be more specific. Again, the expression that I've heard used is what's the T? So, you'll pardon me for being new to this expression, but apparently what's, the T just leads us right into, what's been going on, and this is the gossip shared topic top. So, my gosh, man, T from my side, I am in crazy weather patterns here.

                        I reside in Boulder, Colorado. It's been a long road map to get me here, but I'm born and raised from Buffalo, New York. And that is actually where I started my career with Sherex Fastening Solutions. Set up our headquartered facilities there. Spent about a year, year and a half working from our Buffalo, New York offices, had the opportunity to move out to the West Coast to continue to support Sherex West Coast Teams.

                        Lived in Sacramento, California for roundabout four to five years. Back in New York for the year of '19. And now I'm back out in Colorado for the year of '20. Literally arrived February 1st, 2020 out here in Colorado. So, I had all of the month of February prior to pandemic times to get settled, but again, T from my side, kind of new to the onset of winter temperature swings here in Boulder.

                        I'm going from getting 8 to 10 inches of snow and 30 degrees up to 75 again, and having it all melt away the next day. Other than that, today is one of the days where the sun is shining. I've got Bluebird skies out there. Super excited to get out this afternoon and go for a bit of a trail walk with my dog here. So that's the T from my side, happy the sun's out. Happy to get out for an adventure.

London:        That sounds good. How about you, Jessi? What's the interesting thing going on these days?

Jessi:             Well, it's Kansas, so literally nothing.

Jake:              How's the corn?

Jessi:             It's a wheat field. Have you learned nothing? G.L. Huyett right in the middle of a wheat field? Come on. Literally nothing here, plain simple business as usual.

London:        No special awards or anything lately.

Jessi:             I have no idea what you're talking about.

London:        No idea.

Jessi:             It's all quiet here at G.L. Huyett.

London:        Jake, you want to drop it for her then?

Jake:              Sure. That was a super subtle segue into drum roll ladies and gentlemen, our own former YFP President, our current YFP president, Jessi Solt. So excited was I to be able to share the news to you, for your nomination and award of the Young Fastener Professional of the year honor, this year 2020. I don't know if you can hear it, but applause, applause, madam and congratulations.

Jessi:             Thank you. Thank you. I honestly thought your call was a prank call when you told me.

Jake:              I suppose that makes sense. Because you asked me to repeat it like five times when I did say that you were the honorary award recipient. You're like, "No, stop it."

Jessi:             I'm sorry. Excuse me. You're breaking up on me.

Jake:              No, honestly, I was so thrilled to be able to pass forward the news. I'm so happy to be the friend to get to inform you of your award receipt Jessi. So well earned, thanks so much to you and Baron and everything that our previous administrations at YFP have done to get our organization into the point where we are today. Our new burgeoning partnership with NFDA, so many new things on the horizon for us. So, a lot of it, thanks to you and to the teams that worked before us. Job well done, Madam and an award well earned.

Jessi:             Thank you very much. And it was a lot of legwork to get us to where we were today. Even when we were just merging with the NFDA, it was a long journey. That is all for the good all for the better and should hopefully serve the industry from a much higher platform with better backing.

Jake:              Absolutely.

London:        I think we're already starting to see the benefits of the resources NFDA being able to get graphic work done and redoing a website and other things like that. I think it'll create some consistency for our organization, for sure. So, I do think it was really good move. I do have to ask Jessi if you have any advice for us moving forward, what would it be?

Jessi:             Keep reaching out to all the people you don't think are interested because no, doesn't mean, no, it just means not right now. You never know where other opportunities are going to be to develop or to further expand in the future. So just keep trying. That's what we did. That's how we got here. Just keep going.

London:        Just reflecting back on it, now that you've got your YFP award, what was some of your fondest memories from YFP?

Jessi:             I loved going to all of the events at shows, honestly, which I mean, COVID came in and wrecking ball this year, but just like the mixers and the learning events and the trivia and all sorts of funny events just to get intermingle with people closer to my age, and that are not as tenured in the industry was just such great exposure and really opened up doors for connections that has actually helped me a lot in my position.

London:        I was about to ask and that was going to be my next question, but you kind of already hit it, what kind of value did you get from being a YFP board member and ultimately a YFP president? I assume obviously based on what you said and with the award and all that you would say that it's really helped your career in the fastener industry?

Jessi:             Absolutely. From finding, people that I can lean on, when I don't know about certain product type, whether it be with Baron, with the threading and all the bolts and nuts he does that. He can provide some insights. And G.L. Huyett partnership with Sherex I can lean on Jake a lot and he can verify that with help with products and stuff like that.

                        But having that connection because people at work love it because they're like, "What do I do with this Sherex thing, I couldn't get a hold of anybody at the New York office." Like hold on, I pick up my cell phone and I called Jake.

Jake:              You know the drill. You can call me anytime. It doesn't matter. As long as you're also there to say hello.

Jessi:             And that's what I do. And I just get weird looks because when he picks up the phone, he'll say his cute little opening and I will tell him, hello, sunshine. And everyone just kind of stares at me awkwardly.

Jake:              It's good times. I'm glad to hear that we're making the remainder of your bullpen, through questioning looks your way on calls. So that's fun.

Jessi:             Typically.

Jake:              Well, that's very cool, Jessi. I think again, you really did hit it head on, for me personally, the networking and true relationship development opportunity that being a part of YFP has garnered for me is my favorite part. Again, London can attest to this, but truly, this is a family to me.

                        Our association is a family and we are a community. And building that space together is so wonderful. I truly consider everyone that is on our board and in our active member base to be a friend in addition to a colleague, and we have offline conversations all across the way. There's been so much team mentality focused around our association and with everyone going above and beyond.

                        So, truly getting to meet all of our friends through YFP has been my favorite part. So that networking element is just so crucial. London and I really got to develop our working relationship within the parameters of this year, getting our desired roadmap for what YFP can be outlined. And, it's been great London, and I'm nothing but appreciative. So that's been wonderful from my side.

London:        Definitely, being able to form relationships with people around my age group, like Jessi had said, obviously in 2020 with everything being shut down, I think, Jake, you got to go to the March event right over in Long Beach?

Jake:              Yes, sir. The last in-person industry events that we were a part of out in Long Beach for the joint NFDA Pac-West conference.

London:        I know Mallory was there as well. I got to see you guys there for just a little bit. I wasn't feeling too great at that one, but I know coming back from that, we hadn't really gotten to see each other in person, at all since then. But we've definitely been doing everything, virtually staying on the phone, all that kind of thing. And, still being able to build relationships that way.

                        I know that's helped me with my sales process, man, doing the business development stuff and being able to engage in those virtual meetings with you or not just with you, but with the whole team. I think has helped me be more comfortable, using platforms like Zoom and stuff like that. I don't know about you, but we're all about the same age group. Jessi, were you ever into video games?

Jessi:             Okay. First of all, I don't like that you laughed at that Jake.

Jake:              I'm only laughing because I'm using my gaming headphones as we speak.

London:        That's exactly my point. A lot of us played video games online when we were growing up and stuff. And so, we would develop friendships with people that we never met in person. I don't think that's always been the case. I think it's a thing that I think our generation is keen to that, we can develop these relationships even if we are virtual.

                        And so, I think that's a good thing, especially in times like these, obviously we want to see each other in person and we look forward to being able to do that hopefully in 2021. But it's a nice time to be a millennial, I guess.

Jake:              And Jessi, again, I have to say, I wasn't laughing at you because I'm hoping we can link up for some games.

London:        Jessi, what did you play?

Jessi:             Well, I didn't really do like online gaming. I'm very close right now. I'm a terrible millennial. Let me just, pre-phrase that. When I say I play video games, I'm referring to my Super Nintendo.

Jake:              Yes. As it should be Jessi.

Jessi:             That's the kind of life I live, I played Call of Duty.

London:        You said you played Call of Duty.

Jessi:             I haven't played it for a few years. Because there was like this one set that I really liked that had a good map on it and I can't get technical on it or anything like that, but I didn't do too bad. I had a pretty good--

London:        Kill death ratio.

Jessi:             Yes, that's the word KD. That's the word you see you're dropping game terms.

London:        Yeah. Got to get that KD higher.

Jake:              I have, wasted way too much of my free time in this pandemic playing Call of Duty, for example. Super Fun Battle Royale game, where again, it's one of the first cross-platform games I've been able to get on with my friends. So, if you're playing computer PlayStation, Xbox, whatever, your medium you're able to play cross- platform.

                        So, this is the first opportunity that I've had on a game to actually get my extended network together. So, it's been a lot of fun. Again, from an engagement standpoint, I'm chatting with my friends more about this silly game than at any other time. Football will bring us together and apparently Call of Duties. The only other one.

                        So anyway, we're having tons of fun with that, but again, I have burned a lot of my free time into this game and I am just abysmal. I cannot get it down. I don't know what the deal is that KD that you were referring to, we're not even going to go there. It's just, non-existent on my screen.

Jessi:             Oh, I'm not going to lie. The only reason I was good is because I capped and snipes.

London:        Is that your sales strategy too? Kind of sit back and pick them off as they come. If that's applicable.

Jessi:             I mean kind of. I just approach it. I just like one at a time. Take them off slowly.

London:        To be honest. I haven't had much time for video games these days. I've been doing a lot of training and stuff like that. I used to be big into Call of Duty and stuff like that. Went back in college and all that. Even did some Halo tournaments at one point I was one of those guys.

Jake:              Now, that sounds fun.

London:        So, for those of you that don't know what Halo is, it's another shooting game. I'm sure everybody knows Call of Duty, but we might have some people listening that don't know Halo.

Jake:              The year in review, we're here, we're halfway through November at this point, which doesn't even make sense to me. The fact that we're here, it's been a blur. I can't tell if time has gone faster than ever slower than ever. What have you, but we're almost to the end of this year of 2020, how are you guys doing?

Jessi:             I am just waiting for it to all reset and like normal to come back. I was really hoping that like Halloween Saturday, full moon and like time change is going to throw a wrench back into the time-space continuum and fix it all. But that didn't happen.

London:        Not enough Voodoo for us on that night to get it back on track?

Jessi:             Apparently not. This, year has just been a wild ride from a sales perspective. It started off as a normal year. We didn't experience our normal winter slowdown in 2019. Started the year off, really strong, everything looked promising and then just like dominoes, like slowly kind of creeping over. We started getting notifications that all of our overseas shipments were being delayed and we're just like, okay, okay.

                        And then boom, here it is. And everything is closing down and it just turned into a whirlwind and we slid down there for a while and we were getting by, okay. I would say we had some medical supply companies that we were dealing with and stuff like that. So, we were able to keep trucking, but the way that the waves of business have come and go has just been completely unpredictable.

London:        I know that's something that I've talked about in some of the recent meetings, I think it was one of the Pac-West meetings. I pitched a question out there, how people were trying to approach forecasting. That even some of the best AI models and stuff like that they weren't able to make any solid predictions or any solid forecasting, because the AI used based on previous data. And so, there is no data to allow us to handle this unprecedented time. So, it's really difficult to forecast because G.L. Huyett, you guys deal with OEM's direct, right?

Jessi:             We deal with just everybody.

London:        I would assume that, with the OEM's, there has been like a lot of OEM's. shutdowns and things like that or they that have, increased or decreased their production. And so, I would assume that it's difficult to forecast for those kinds of predicaments.

Jake:              I don't know if you heard me when, that question was initially raised. I just let out a gu-fall, but the answer to that is here's my gigantic crystal ball. Why don't you go ahead and give it a shake for a second and see what the picture tells you? Going off the historical data model, it's got to get thrown out the window this year. It's really hard to plan based on history when you have black swan events like this, because nothing, nothing aligns. There is no parallel.

London:        Well, we had multiple black swan events this year.

Jake:              True.

London:        Between the oil, what happened with the oil industry and COVID, and those things.

Jake:              Oil industry, COVID, election year.

Jessi:             Don't forget Murder Hornets.

Jake:              Murder Hornets.

London:        Murder Hornets. Have you guys seen the new snake? Not snake, the new worms, snake looking worms, the hammerheads worms. Have you guys heard about this?

Jake:              No.

London:        There's been one spotted in my area now. These worms, they're huge. They can be a couple of feet long and they will eat other worms. And they apparently are like an invasive species of course, from another country. And if you cut them in half, they will just grow into two worms.

Jake:              I am checking out these guys online right now. These are weird looking little bugs.

London:        They're not even that little but if you see them, you got to smash them. You got to smash it. Don't cut them.

Jake:              Well, I know it's funny. But if this worm is eating the standard earthworm, that is actually like hugely beneficial for, everything we need as far as egg goes and all of that. Yeah, that could be bad. So, no, didn't hear about the hammerhead worm invasion.

London:        So, that was the thing. So, like Jesse said, Murder Hornets. Now we've got hammerhead worms. Let's not forget the horrible way the year started when we lost Kobe Bryant too.

Jake:              Oh my gosh.

London:        2020 man. 2020.

Jake:              Those things weren't correlated. And you know what, to anyone listening just forever, forever, when you throw up a wadded piece of paper into the trash can yell Kobe, because we have to keep that one alive.

London:        Kobe. Mamba mentality, man.

Jake:              Every day you have that Mamba mentality. And that's how you get to where you are moonlighting on the FTR radio podcast. Again, one or two events that have caused this year to be just one for the books. We'll put it that way.

                        So, back to my main question was how are you guys hanging? What are you currently doing and how have you effectively, I'll say coped through these times, what have you done to ensure your general health and wellness? And are you paying attention in this time where we could be facing peak burnout? And yes, I'm looking for tips.

London:        I wouldn't be good for tips. It definitely hit me at some point I've been working pretty long hours, pretty hard for a long, long time. Well, before I even came to Eurolink and it caught up with me this year, once the whole pandemic thing hit. So, I ended up taking a little bit of time off, took a little bit of a what do you call it? Sabbatical. You could say a short sabbatical and during that time, I didn't want to just sit there and do nothing.

                        So, I actually threw myself back into martial arts training. I used to do that a lot. So, I was training like five to nine hours a day between like strength, training, speed training, agility training, and then all forms of martial arts.

Jake:              Wow.

London:        Yes. I was training. And so, even since I've been back to work, I was out for about a solid, like six weeks there which obviously not everybody can do. But, coming back to work. I've been back for 2, 2 1/2 months now. And I'm still training about two to five hours a day. I'm hoping to get into some amateur MMA fights and stuff like that, here soon.

Jake:              No kidding.

London:        So, I guess just having like a purpose outside of work. One thing I've read about a lot is that, you look at the CEO's of these companies and stuff like that. And they often take their hobbies very seriously. They often invest a lot into it and they actually really get into it.

                        And, one that used to be a hobby of mine back in the day was sparring and doing tournament fighting and stuff like that. And so, I just let it go. And, that was just a part of myself I was missing. I wanted to get back to. So, I would just suggest for people that taking and getting back to a hobby. Because when it's just all work all the time, they say it makes you dull.

Jake:              You're certainly not the sharpest sword you could be. So, I just want to repeat your main message because it actually stood out to me and I wrote it down. Ensuring that you have a purpose outside of work.

London:        Yes.

Jake:              And finding your happiness there, within that purpose. Very, very cool to me, and very important minor tie in to what you're doing. So, I wrestled all throughout high school and section six, where I'm from. So, multiple years I made it through sectionals and state qualifiers. So that was really cool. But in my post-college life, one activity hobby that I actually took on was Classic French Foil Fencing, believe it or not team.

Jessi:             Are there pictures?

Jake:              I don't think that there are pictures, because this was an outside enrichment group. I'm so sorry. You don't get to see me in full regalia. Sorry, Jess. But, so Classic French Foil Fencing. Super, super cool. And do you want to talk about an adrenaline kicker? You wait until you're lined up across from somebody holding a sword who wants to defeat you will move in ways you never thought possible. So, it was super cool, super fun activity to do.

                        And I made it through a six-week training program and I advanced to the level of intermediate, French Foil, which enabled me to actually take on a tournament. I had the ability to do that. I never pursued it beyond the course though, but with the level I attained, I was able to actually start trial for tournaments. So that was cool.

London:        When we get together in person, we'll have to sword fight sometime.

Jake:              Absolutely. We'll find some sticks in the backyard or something.

London:        I've got the sticks. I got the stuff. Because I trained the Rubio Scream Akali. So, yes. So, I'll use those in a sword fighting.

Jake:              Dude, get those akali sticks out, we can make do. That is really cool. So, you're doing weapons training in addition to bodywork.

London:        Yes. That one was just for fun.

Jake:              Are you kidding me?

London:        It's all for fun, but that one's a little extra one and I tell you also helps build good speed and eye coordination and stuff like that.

Jake:              Absolutely.

London:        And also, I do Jeet Kune Do which, Bruce Lee had developed and he actually did some fencing as well. And so, some of the movements and stuff come from fencing, it's actually really good for striking.

Jake:              Absolutely, that strike, that launch technique.

Jessi:             I think we might've just formed an unofficial fight club because I actually used to practice Muay Thai.

London:        That's also one of the forms that I practice.

Jake:              Look out for Jessi's elbows. That's all I've got to say.

London:        Jessi's elbows and knees. Don't forget them knees.

Jessi:             I got a kneel elbow. I can cut with them.

Jake:              Oh, my goodness. You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen don't mess with our Jess.

London:        Sounds like Addison. I don't know if you all watch UFC, the Addison. They call him the skinny boy.

Jake:              This is the truth. I love watching him fight.

London:        They call him the skinny boy. He's just like, "I'll cut you with these skinny arms too."

Jake:              He is incredible. He is incredible to watch, well that is super cool. So, I'm glad we're all jumping around in our, different ways to meet with that physical exertion we're all hoping for.

London:        So YFP has the unofficial fight club of the fastener industry, now.

Jake:              We tell everybody about fight club. Next meeting it's going to be male cravings and Craig Betty going at it. Let's So, go. Let's go.

London:        I wonder what Mallory trains. I'm sure it's something.

Jake:              Oh my gosh. I have no doubt. Mallory could be blindfolded in a way with all of us. It'll be fine.

Jessi:             I got her pegged as like a sword thrower.

London:        Sword thrower.

Jake:              That's fun. Well, very cool. I'm not going to mess with any sort of lie or vacuumed out human mass, but other than that, I am certainly down for the YFP fight club.

London:        Vacuumed out human mass.

Jessi:             I was processing that.

Jake:              Did you put it together? Do I need Tyler Durden in here to fully explain? Oh gosh. That scene where they're grabbing the, you know what, maybe not, but the scene was a grab backways product and it gets caught on a chain link fence and a barbed wire fence and spills all over them, nightmares. Okay. That is awful. For me, that was the roughest part to get through.

London:        So, the point of this conversation was mental health.

Jake:              The activities and methodologies that we are engaging in to ensure our mental health and well-being throughout this crazy year fight club.

London:        So, don't watch fight club apparently.

Jake:              No, no, no. Don't watch fight club. That's our message. So, truly. And again, like the direct tie in this is, physical activity and exertion that's been my biggest form of cope throughout all of this, I'll say. So, I'm blessed and lucky to have my dog King with me, big 70-pound baby, nothing but mashed potato love. But he and I were going out and trail running and hiking as much as we can.

                        Just getting out, being physically active is the biggest one. For me, it doesn't matter the shape. If it's shooting basketball by myself, hanging out or going out for walks with the dog, movement is so important to me. And you kind of get that stir crazy, locked in a box feeling after you've been in pandemic mode for a year. So, just getting out there and really engaging is the biggest one from my side.

London:        I know when I was working from home, I would go for maybe about a 20-minute walk twice a day, throughout the week. I would spread my work day about an hour back, so instead of stopping at 5, 5:30. I'd stop at like 6, 6:30, but I'd go for like a couple 20-minute walks during the day just to get outside and get my legs moving. It just helped me feel a lot better too.

Jessi:             I actually bought one of those fit boards, which is like a skateboard without wheels. And that way I could stand by my desk and be on the phone and just be like moving around. I got so tired of sitting in my corner all day.

London:        Masterful multi-tasking.

Jake:              Do you, do balance exercises on it? Is it a balanced board?

Jessi:             Yes. So, it comes, like a gentle U-shape and you put your feet on both edges and it bounces on the center. And then the point is to just like swivel back and forth.

Jake:              Cool. Cool, cool. That's fun. And what did you call it?

Jessi:             Fit board.

Jake:              Sit board?

Jessi:             Fit.

Jake:              F-I-T.

Jessi:             F as in faster

Jake:              Fit board. Doesn't that make way more sense? I was like you're not sitting on it. I don't get it. Okay, sure. I've seen these. Sure, sure. So, you've just got this posted right next to you in your work office?

Jessi:             I did for a while. We've been really amping up to go hiking. So, we've been doing killer outdoor long mileage walks and such. So that's been our escape. My husband's essential. He works in the warehouse in manufacturing at G.L. Huyett. So, we both have not stopped at all and have been going through this entire pandemic. So, getting outside with him being inside the manufacturing and me being in the house all day, getting outside has been vital to us, not losing our sanity.

Jake:              Sure. And you guys, coming from almost different directions there, it doesn't mess with you at all when he just wants to hang and you want to go or kind of vice versa, or you guys hanging okay together?

Jessi:             We're pretty, aligned on it. So, it works out really well. I guess that's just what happens over 10 years. You just kind of become the same person.

Jake:              Osmosis.

Jessi:             It really is.

Jake:              That's funny. And I guess one of my fun hobbies is I do thoroughly love cooking and I love experimenting with food and making new food. And, I'm certainly not actually much of a guy for a recipe. I actually like creating a freeform, but I have just been cooking up a storm over here on my side. So, we've turned out a number of really good meals here.

                        So that's just been the other thing, in the house, turn on some music, have a dance party with your significant other, cook up a delicious meal for them. I think you're going to be okay. So, with that work-life separation, that might be a problem for everyone right now when your work is directly in your home and there is no escape. Being able to just go into the kitchen, turn on some music, dance around and play that's been a huge one for me.

London:        So, Jake, what kind of dancing do you do?

Jake:              Oh, my goodness. I've been blessed with rhythm.

London:        Okay.

Jake:              I don't think I'm in any great shakes at dancing or anything, but no, we just have fun. So, my girlfriend McKenna, she was actually a classically trained dancer all throughout her entire life. So, she's done the full gambit, contemporary, jazz, tap, ballet etc. She's a proper dancer as I'll tell you, an actual qualified one.

                        I'm just out here, moving to the rhythm, but we have fun. We're just dancing around, I don't know if it's Lizzo and she's got some fun, catchy music that you can dance around to. Oh gosh. So, what is his name? Leon Bridges. You're getting a shout out my friend because boy, have you made dancing in the kitchen fun. But Leon Bridges, wonderful music to get a groove on to. So yeah, that's what we're doing.

                        You try to find the fun. And I guess that ties back into our theme here of how do you cope with what's going on around you? You got to find the fun and within that, you also have to be kind to yourself because this is all chaos. It's all crazy. It's all new, we're adapting. It's going to be okay. Just remember to be kind to yourself, look for fun and then truly find those creative outlets that are meaningful to you.

London:        How about you, Jessi? Are you much of a dancer?

Jessi:             No, I don't dance. That's a really bad idea. I've only had like one shining moment in dancing and it's because I'm from the Midwest. Keep that in mind. I went to a wedding in California and when they came on for Line Dancing, I rocked that and everybody like, "Yeah."

London:        Nice.

Jessi:             Because nobody knew how to do it. So, I was the star there and that was about all I had.

Jake:              I got This. We've been training since second grade.

Jessi:             You joke. But in school, in the Midwest, we have to do Square Dancing and music class or PE.

London:        She's literally trained since second grade. That's it.

Jake:              Well, very good.

Jessi:             I've just been waiting for my moment for these things to come in handy. It's like Pythagoras theorem, like the things you learned in school, like when can I use this in real life?

Jake:              You wait until, and you got to use it and Line Dancing was the thing and you shined at the wedding. So, there you go.

London:        So, do you use Pythagoras theorem anymore? I can't even say it. I guess you could use it for social distancing. Diagonally from people.

Jessi:             Once I have used it once in my career life to find a dimension of a partial left off on a print.

Jake:              That's fun.

Jessi:             And I was so impressed with it. I sought out by a high school algebra teacher to let him know that something he taught me actually came into use.

Jake:              Actual value.

Jessi:             Because other than that, it couldn't be calculated. They told me that calculators wouldn't be readily available. And as I like to use my calculator all the time, I had to let them know that it really did come in handy. So, I felt it was important to let him know.

Jake:              I've got a story for that. When I was younger, maybe second, third grade, at home homework assignments, mathematic sheet. Show your work division 30 questions go. And, I snuck down to my basement. I grabbed my parents' calculator. I was doing all of the equations. I did everything, everything, everything got, all the answers, wrote it all down. It was great.

                        Parents asked me how my homework's going. "Oh, mom, I'm all done. Take a look." She looks at the sheet, eyes narrow brings it closer to her face. "Jacob, where's all of your work?" "Oh, mom, I had that on a piece of scrap paper. And we don't need to turn that over." "Well, can you show it to me." Done, done done. And that's when, I had to come clean about the calculator up the sleeve.

                        I forget what the whole point was, but I certainly got in trouble for using a calculator and yeah, they definitely lied about it, not being handheld and ready in real life. So, thanks.

London:        Well, we also have Google now too. That's great. It makes us sound a lot smarter than we normally are.

Jessi:             Does Google really make us sound smarter?

Jake:              There's no need to retain information. I just need to know how to find it.

London:        I guess it depends on how you use it. My degree was research. So, depends on how you use Google as to whether or not it actually helps you.

Jessi:             Depends on if you use Wikipedia or not.

London:        So, Jessi, what are you doing for fun these days? Aside from some Nintendo and some Line Dancing at that wedding.

Jessi:             Oh, I'm telling you we are big into hiking right now.

London:        Hiking that's good.

Jessi:             We hike 10 miles on Saturday morning, before 10:00 AM.

London:        When we were trying to schedule, you were saying that you were about to go do that. How was that?

Jessi:             It was good. We were testing all our gear. Next week, we're going to Colorado to Manitou incline. And we're going to tackle that. Yes. Bucket list item for me is to kill the Manitou incline.

London:        How far is that?

Jessi:             It is a about 0.75-mile length, but it goes up 2000 feet of elevation in that short space. It's all stairs.

Jake:              So, it's super steep. Did you say .75 miles?

Jessi:             Three-mile hike down. Yes. It's less than a mile.

Jake:              It goes up 2000?

Jessi:             Yes.

Jake:              Oh my gosh. I was going to say, I'm trying to get game day, ready out here for my fourteeners as well. Because I'm in Colorado. I don't think I've received an invitation for a climb await pandemic.

London:        So.

Jake:              No, that's really good. When are you coming out this way?

Jessi:             We'll leave Thanksgiving morning and we're tackling the incline on Black Friday.

Jake:              Well, that will be super, super fun.

London:        See, I told you to watch out for those knees. She's working on the stairs.

Jake:              Seriously. No, that's fantastic. So, that's what your internal training has been to attack this summit, right? The training that you and your husband have been doing is focused for this Colorado trip?

Jessi:             Yes. We were actually going to do it in March, but then COVID came in and ruined everything. And so, we decided that I wasn't going to not do it, so we just push it out. And so instead of being able to do it in March, when the weather is fairer, it's going to be like 50 degrees. Maybe I've been watching the weather really close. And so, we're all cold gear prepared, ready to hopefully not die on the incline.

Jake:              Just remember one of the things you haven't been able to prep for is the altitude. And it's a real thing.

Jessi:             I bought canned oxygen. I'm not letting anything get in my way.

Jake:              I'm so proud of you. Okay, good, good, good, good, good. No, no, no. That was just one of the things, just for expectation setting. When I was first coming out here, I was out on work travel and I'd be coming out, for a week, week and a half at a time. And I was all fine in the beginning. And then at the end of my week, I would just wake up, you have a headache, you just don't feel well, slightly nauseous. That altitude sickness is a real thing while you work to adjust to it.

Jessi:             Yes.

Jake:              And so just be careful. That was my thing. Just be careful, don't over push yourself, even though, you can do it because it's a real thing. It's just something to be paying attention to. Drink all the water. You can't drink enough water, drink more water.

Jessi:             That's what we drink about a gallon each day if not more.

Jake:              Maybe you can drink enough water. If you're reaching those super human levels.

Jessi:             So, we are prepared with camel packs and canned oxygen. We're ready to take it on. Like I said, I'm not letting anything stop me. I don't let things get in my way. I usually just step over them.

London:        YFP, Young Fastener Professional of the year award knowledge right there, that's how you get it, right there.

Jake:              Absolutely.

London:        You got to have that mentality, the Mamba mentality.

Jake:              The Mama and we're back to Kobe, baby.

London:        Ye I know Jessie has got the Mamba mentality. She is on it.

Jake:              Honestly. Yes. As does everybody within our association. I mean, not for nothing. We don't have time for anybody, but folks try to come in and bring their best every single day. So, it's awesome. Mamba mentality, reign supreme. And that's in all life facets, nothing's owed to you, you have to work for everything you want. So, go and take it, go and get it. The only barrier is you.

Jessi:             Exactly. So, I think that's the perfect time to point out. So, to anybody listening, who is not a member of the Young Fastener Professionals, or has wondered about the Young Fastener Professionals, first of all, we are awesome and we are fun, fun, fun people.

                        Secondly, come check us out. It's a great group to find people to help you achieve your goals, mentorships all that. You can learn a lot from these people and they can help build you up and help you find the drive to further your career in your own industry and your own companies.

                        So, I think it's really important that the mentality that we all have has all brought us together. So, if you're really hungry for it, you have to seek out other people like that. And then you put them together and then you're just going to continue to drive each other and build them up.

                        So, I think it's really important that anybody listening, young, old, male, female, whatever it may be, if you have even like the slightest inclination of, maybe I should be a part of the YFP, you should be. Come see what it's all about.

London:        Actually, it might be a perfect closing statement. I don't know about you guys. What are y'all thinking?

Jake:              Oh man. As far as for closing statements, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this has been Fully Threaded Radio, FTR. Brought to you by YFP, Young Fastener Professionals, London, Jessi, give your, sign-offs. Take it away.

London:        Hey, you guys, thank you very much. London Penland of the Eurolink. Jessi, awesome closing statements there. And it's been a great time talking and hanging with you guys. I look forward to seeing you all in person very soon.

Jessi:             Absolutely. It has been a pleasure. Jake, London, Jessi G.L. Huyett here. Thank you all for coming out and listening to us, ramble. Me, especially, I appreciate everyone that has reached out in regards to the award and all your kind words.

                        So, thank you so much to everybody. I really appreciate the nomination and all the praise that came from that. So, anybody listening, I'm here for you if you need anything, Jessi, G.L. Huyett you know where it’s at.

Jake:              Excellent. And again, just to give the sign off, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening to Fully Threaded Radio FTR as brought to you by the Young Fastener Professional Association, YFP. Special shout out and thank you to Brian and Eric for having us on today. This is Jake Glaser with Sherex signing off everybody take care out there and be well

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                        Stelfast customers say it all. Travis Hermanson Pacific Bolt Manufacturing out of Vancouver, BC, Canada. I use Stelfast as one of my main suppliers. They've been a consistent great vendor of mine. I've used them for many years now. I've never had any issues and whenever we are in a jam and we need to get skids and skids of product out the door, out of the warehouse. Stelfast jump on it right away. They're always very competitive. And they're always my first phone call. I'm a big supporter of Stelfast and I continue to be one for as long as I can.

                        'For Service You Deserve and People You Trust'. It's Stelfast.

                        This is George Hunter III from Brighton Best International. And you're listening to Fully Threaded Radio.

Eric:               Your online fastener amigos, Brian and Eric back with you. You know, Bri, when I was prepping Jake for his hosting role, I dropped a few suggestions on him and unfortunately, he ignored most of them. But I did think it would be funny if they tackled the issue of when to ask people to leave Young Fastener Professionals.

Brian:            So, you mean how old is young?

Eric:               Of course, I wasn't thinking about everyone's favorite senior YFP member, Jake Davis when I came up with that, but it's an issue. How long do you stay in the thing?

Brian:            Especially if you're only as old as you think you are, so how does that work? Or you're only as young as you think you are.

Eric:               I think YFP works on chronology or maybe it's, if you just keep paying your dues, I'm not sure. Well, they didn't tackle it. So, I guess that sets up the perfect sequel.

Brian:            As I found out, there's a new way of referring to that tricky problem that used to be called age. Now they call it birthdays. As I found out when I was having my eyes tested well, your problem is the number of birthdays you've had.

Eric:               Oh, I see. That's how they sidestep the actual issue of age, oh brother.

Brian:            The guy said, it's a birthday problem.

Eric:               Well, we truly are in the age of new speak. Welcome everyone. It's 1984. Well, as I said, it sets up a perfect sequel for the YF Peers and it was a lot of fun to have them on. I hope they'll return. And I think they will. I'd like to extend a thanks to Jessi Solt, our YF Peer of the year, along with Jake Glaser of Sherex and London, Penland of Eurolink.

                        Thanks, and congratulations to our Hall of Famers for 2020. 'Cowboy' John Wachman and Tim O'Keeffe. Way to go, guys. Mike McNulty had Alex Chausovsky with ITR Economics on the news report today. Thank you, gentlemen. And of course, Carmen Vertullo made his point during the Fastener Training Minute.

                        The title sponsors of Fully Threaded Radio are Stelfast, 'For service You Deserve and People You Trust'. It's Stelfast.

                        Brighton Best International, 'Tested, Tried and True', Brighton Best. And Goebel Fasteners, 'Quality the First Time'.

                        Fully Threaded is also sponsored by Buckeye Fasteners, BTM manufacturing, Eurolink Fastener Supply Service, Fastener Technology International, InxSQL Software.

                        ND Industries, Parker Fasteners, Solution Industries. Volt Industrial Plastics and Würth Industry North America. Thanks, one and all. And thanks for listening in. We look forward to hearing your comments and questions, suggestions for guests, the email address there, ftr@fullythreaded.com.

Brian:            Also, I'd like to remind you that, you can catch up on past issues, recordings, or the Faster Training Minute in two different ways. Either by going back and listening to the previous podcast, or if you go to FCH click on the media button, you'll see there's a link that says Fastener Training Minute and about 50 or 60 of these have been transcribed into text. So, you can just read it.

Eric:               It's at fastenersclearinghouse.com. Next episode, we're going to take a look at the situation with sea freight, which apparently is all jammed up right now Brian, triggering some pretty noticeable price hikes. We'll also be talking to Larry Kelly of Buckeye Fasteners, and he's got some pretty big news about his future work situation. So, there's lots more that we have lining up for that, but those are two of the highlights don't miss it.

                        Finally winding up today, Tim O'Keeffe quoted Bill and Thomas during his Hall of Fame acceptance speech. And he spoke about the culture of love that his wife brings to his family and the G.L. Huyett family. And you could tell, he really feels that way about his team. And I thought there are lots of people in the fully threaded family who today are dealing with some very, very hard realities and they all need our love.

                        And we all have to remind ourselves of that. I really admire Tim for doing that during his presentation. And I thought I'd borrow the idea and push it ahead a little bit with something that I think strikes the right chord about, now. Bear with me if poetry isn't really your thing. There are several firsts on this episode today, Bri.

Brian:            Good. We can deal with it.

Eric:               This is a work by Rudyard Kipling. It's called, If.

                        If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about don't deal in lies or being hated, don't give way to hating. And yet don't look too good nor talk too wise'.

                        If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts, your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth, you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you gave your life to broken and stoop and build them up worn out tools.

                        If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they're gone. And so, hold on when there is nothing in you, except the will, which says to them, hold on.

                        If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with Kings nor lose the common touch. If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you. If all men count with you, but none too much. If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance, run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it. And which is more. You'll be a man my son.

                        Rudyard Kipling's, If.

Brian:            Written a long time ago.

Eric:               And it rings true today. Hang in there everybody. And thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope to see you next time.

Brian:            And write up some poetry. We'll see you next time folks.

Eric:               For Brian Musker. This is Eric Dudas. Get out there, sell some screws, hang tough. And we'll talk to you next time.

                        Conclusion:

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