What a year!
It was great getting back to some normalcy. But with getting back to normal and ramping up came with challenges many manufacturers ran into this year: SUPPLY CHAIN. With that said, we feel we navigated supply chain issues better than our competitors and we even made moves that will hopefully mitigate those risks in the future.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from Sherex this year!
Operators LOVE our Calibration Unit and our Process Monitoring Units
When we released our Hand Tool Calibration Unit in 2020, we knew this would be a great tool for any installer. And after two years, we keep getting glowing praise. We hate to toot our own horn, but the tool is awesome. There are so many features the tool can provide, like exporting historical data, showing the recommended installation force on Sherex rivet nuts, and even graphing those recommended forces on to calibration unit to make sure the tool is inside of those parameters. By periodically checking the force of any spin-spin or spin-pull tool, you’ll feel confident the tool is operating how you want it, decreasing the guessing game on the pulling force, waste, and rework.
Some of our automotive tiers have had dozens of our FLEX-5 Process Monitoring Tools installed this year. Sherex Process Monitoring Tools let operators know if the rivet nut installation was perfect, instantly. Sherex sets the tool up to determine if the install was correct based on a variety of parameters: hole size, material, material thickness, rivet nut, rivet nut size, pulling force of the tool, etc. When all those parameters qualify, the system reads it as a good installation. This kind of tool combines quality and efficiency, and lets OEMs know, with data, that installations were perfect or not OK. These tools are perfect for high volume installations like on an assembly line and meets the process monitoring requirement many auto manufacturers require.
Our customers have nothing but great things to say on both these quality tools – you must try them if you haven’t already!
Sherex Poland and Sherex UK locations are off and running
We opened Sherex Poland last year and Sherex UK in 2019 and both locations have been building trust and supplying millions of our quality rivet nuts, threaded inserts, clinch nuts, wedge locking products and tools throughout Europe.
These locations serve as engineering, sales, customer support and warehousing for Europe, bringing us closer to our European customers and therefore, decreasing the total length of our supply chain. This year, new customers were pleasantly surprised we had stock AND could ship quickly! Great year by both Sherex Poland and Sherex UK.
Sherex Akron gets big upgrades, improving supply chain
Sherex Akron, located in Akron, Ohio, makes all of our aerospace and Department of Defense parts, along with millions of other parts for a variety of other industries, put online two new part formers that as part of Sherex’s global capacity plan. These cold formers have allowed us to diversify the products we make in Akron while decreasing lead times. Akron still is capable of doing many short run jobs, but these part formers will really help with some of the major projects we’ve won throughout the year. Look for lot more product coming out of Akron in the future!
Have a Made in America requirement? Keep Sherex Akron in mind!
Optisert® is coming…
We’ve been talking about it for quite some time, but now it’s ready to be released. Sherex’s new round body rivet nut, Optisert, is set to be released in early 2023. Once released, Optisert will be the best performing round body rivet nut on the market. The combination of knurled body and underhead wedges give it superior strength when installed in softer material — its performance matches and in some cases is greater than a hex body rivet nuts!
This will be the “New Standard” when it comes to round body rivet nut and performance. Stay tuned!!
Look for more industry specific content in the future
You know Sherex has Solutions for EV Automakers, but we also have solutions for Construction and Agriculture, Aerospace, Heavy Truck, Renewable Energy, and more.
Keep a look out for some of that industry specific content to show how Sherex can help make applications in all industries get assembled easier and perform better.
These are some of highlights this year and our strategy going into 2023 and beyond.
Overall, Sherex had a strong year and we’re proud of our team to make that happen. One thing that will never change is our desire to find a solutions to your fastening problem. Customer service is key to our success, and we promise to provide the engineering and customer support you need from design, to manufacture, to assembly!
We wish everyone a happy holiday and best wishes in 2023.