[Dan Case]

Off Shore Hardware
Whatever hardware grade you calculate or decide to use, make sure you know where it comes from.

I work for one of the world’s largest companies. Our manufacturing plant is one of my employer’s largest sites. To stay competitive price wise we much source materials and parts from off shore. We get maybe (guess) 20% of our materials and parts off shore. The off shore suppliers are capable of producing materials and parts to American and ISO specifications but our experience is they do it only if you police them rigorously. We have our own engineering department at our plant. They tell me they spend 90% of their time trying to enforce the specifications set forth in our drawings and engineering files. Steel products properties of all types are the toughest to get off shore manufacturers to comply with. Example: We have one particular specialty screw, a type of sheet metal screw made to fit our exact application, that our plant uses more than a quarter of a million of a week. A quarter of a million of one part a week is a pretty good account for a fastener salesperson. We have used several of the largest American producers to supply this part with little problem. An off shore company offered to make them to our specifications. Our engineers tried several lots from the off shore folks and they would not work, their threads pealed off most of the time. We could not use them so we are still with an American supplier. The off shore folks had little to loose if we don’t like their product. The American company does.

I encourage you to buy fasteners from a supply company that specializes in such products; the local lumber yard that also sells bolts does not qualify. Top fastener supply houses can also offer some help in fastener selection. The big brand name fastener manufacturer companies all have websites and have contact information for asking for help.