Author Archives: Pier Cipollone

  1. Sherex Fastening Solutions Year in Review 2024!

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    Well, what a year! The acquisition into PennEngineering® at the beginning of the year made quite a bit of noise and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Behind the scenes, the transition has been smooth as we continue to migrate into our parent company’s systems and processes. In the front of the house, the most important things have not changed —  continuously working to improve all of our fastening products, and the attentiveness to our customers’ needs. Those two pillars will never waver as we move forward into 2025 and beyond. Let’s take a closer look at Sherex’s 2024.

    PennEngineering Acquires Sherex Fastening Solutions

    Obviously the biggest news of the year happened just a few days into January when it was announced that PennEngineering® had acquired Sherex Fastening Solutions, and Penn was moving its ATLAS brand of rivet nuts under Sherex. The acquisition was a surprise at the time, but looking back on it, not very surprising. PennEngineering has a variety of top-class fastening companies under its umbrella, including PEM®, Profil®, Haeger®, and SI®, and with the growth and success of Sherex in the rivet nut and mechanically attached fastener space, bringing in Sherex made a lot of sense. The move will continue to help Sherex grow on the manufacturing and sales side.

    With the combined Sherex-ATLAS brand, Sherex is now the largest manufacturer of rivet nuts in North America and continues to establish itself globally as a premier company of rivet nut technology – something we pride ourselves in and something we will continue to prove in 2025 and beyond. Our messaging is clear: If you are interested in rivet nut technology and the benefits of rivet nuts, there’s not a better company that can help make your application easier to assemble, while decreasing waste and cost than Sherex Fastening Solutions.

    Optisert® Continues to Impress

    Optisert is the best round body rivet nut on the market

    The best performing round body rivet nut is making more waves as several automotive and general industry assembly projects began to use Optisert in 2024. More customers are beginning to understand not only the improvement to spin-out Optisert has over other round body rivet nuts, but this rivet nut can also serve as fastener to discharge electrical current in electrified applications. Lots of conversions are taking place and if you have a project with softer materials like aluminum, fiberglass, or plastics, Optisert is a perfect fastener for these applications.

    Sherex-Penn Marketing Integration

    With the integration of Sherex into the PennEngineering ecosystem, Penn has integrated us into a variety of different marketing campaigns and tradeshow exhibitions, including FABTECH, The Battery Show USA, EuroBLECH and The Battery Show Europe.

    PennEngineering’s eMobility Solutions is a campaign that showcases Sherex and the rest of Penn’s fastening capabilities in electrified applications like electric vehicles, charging stations and battery storage facilities. Optisert and other Sherex fasteners, including rivet nut studs, play a role in this campaign and there will be more instances where the entire PennEngineering portfolio can play a vital role in fastening the entire application.

     

    ATLAS Products at the New Sherex Warehouse

    ATLAS rivet nut products are officially being shipped out of the new Sherex warehouse in Buffalo, NY, further cementing the integration process. ATLAS product was moved into the new warehouse in September and shipments began shortly after.

    Soon, ATLAS products will be migrated onto Sherex.com, into a new printed catalog, and customers using the Sherex portal will soon be able to view current inventory and pricing of ATLAS products.

    New Sherex warehouse up and running

    New Sherex Sample Plates

    New sample plates showcasing both Sherex and ATLAS products

    The new Sherex Sample Plates are here, and they are pretty! Showcasing the best of what Sherex and ATLAS has to offer in its standard catalog, these sample plates make a great discussion piece for distributors or design engineers looking explain the different styles of standard rivet nuts Sherex has to offer.

    Want a few? Contact eneuhaus@sherex.com or ask your Sherex regional sales manager or Sherex representative!

    TEC Series sales record!

    TEC Series products continue to grow

    Sherex’s reusable wedge locking washer brand of products, TEC Series, hit a record sales number for the year before December! More and more customers are learning about the benefits of wedge locking washers and how TEC Series offers the same technology and performance as other similar-styled competitor washers at oftentimes a 20 percent savings.

    If you’re using a wedge locking washer to combat vibration in automotive, heavy truck, renewables, or really any kind of application, but not using TEC Series or Disc-Lock products, you’re losing money! Both TEC Series and Disc-Lock wedge locking products have plenty of sizes and styles in stock and ready to deliver!

    Bring on 2025!

    As always, more innovations are in the works for 2025 from all three of Sherex’s core products: Rivet Nuts and Mechanically Attached Fasteners, Fastener Tooling and Automation, and Vibrational Loosening Prevention through our TEC Series and Disc-Lock wedge locking washer and nut products. We’re looking forward to some 2025 product releases!

    Hope you all had a great 2024 and we hope all of our friends, customers, and those who use Sherex products have a prosperous 2025!

  2. Stainless Steel Rivet Nuts

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    Sherex offers has a variety of stainless steel rivet nuts available in different styles. One of the biggest reason to use stainless steel blind rivet nuts help battle corrosion and are used across various industries, from construction and agriculture equipment, to heavy trucks and automotive applications. These fasteners are designed to provide strong, threaded connections in thin-walled materials, particularly for applications where only one-sided access is available—often referred to as “blind” installations.

    Sherex’s stainless steel rivet nuts come in high-grade 302, 304, 316 and 430 stainless steel, offering excellent resistance to corrosion, chemicals, and harsh environments. They are available in multiple styles, including:

    Round Body: These versatile rivet nuts fit standard drilled or punched round holes, providing a straightforward installation for many applications.

    Sherex has many stainless steel rivet nuts available in these round body rivet nut styles: CAL, CAK, CFW/CAT (Swaging Series), CFW/CAW (Swaging Series), and NAS/MS style rivet nuts. Soon, Optisert round body rivet nuts will be available in stainless steel to provide the best performance round holes.

    Stainless Steel Rivet Nuts

    Half Hex Body: Known for their increased spin-out resistance, half hex body rivet nuts are ideal for high-torque applications, though they require a hex-shaped hole for installation.

    Sherex is an exclusive North American distributer of Tubtara rivet nuts. Tubtara’s HUPO/HUKO half hex series features 304 stainless steel.

    Hex Stainless Rivet Nuts

    Installation Benefits
    Stainless steel rivet nuts are a alternative to weld nuts, eliminating issues like thermal distortion, weld-related fumes, and a more expensive total installed cost. They provide high-strength threading for materials that are too thin for traditional tapping, and one-sided installation means they can be used on finished or hard-to-reach components without risking damage to the visible surface.

    Applications

    Stainless steel rivet nuts are used in various sectors, including automotive, marine, and industrial applications, where long-lasting, vibration-resistant fasteners are critical. For example, Sherex’s Optisert line has been specifically engineered for strength, utilizing a knurled body and underhead wedge design for enhanced grip in high-stress settings.

  3. Sherex Adds Desert Distribution Sales as a Manufacturers Sales Representative

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    Sherex Fastening Solutions®, a PennEngineering® Company and global leader in engineered fasteners, tooling, and automation, is proud to announce its relationship with Desert Distribution Sales as its new sales representative in the Southwest United States.

    Desert Distribution Sales is a professional manufacturer’s representative for engineered fastener and component manufacturers and suppliers for the southwestern United States, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. Led by John Wachman and Jo Morris, Desert Distribution Sales has been in the fastener business representing some of the biggest US fastener companies since 2001.

    With Sherex’s wide-range of innovative fastening products, like the award-winning Optisert®, RIV-FLOAT®, and Hand Tool Calibration Unit, Desert Distribution adds another impressive manufacturer to its portfolio.

    “Sherex is quickly turning into one of the fastener leaders in our industry,” Morris said. “They offer a wide selection of quality rivet nut solutions along with great customer service and reliability as a manufacturer. Our customers will benefit by having them on board.”

    While Sherex has provided the Southwest US with quality fasteners for over 20 years, Desert Distribution will improve the visibility of Sherex products across this region.

    “I’ve always been impressed with John, Jo and David, and I think there are many opportunities for us in the Southwest,” said Sherex president Adam Pratt. “We’re glad to have the Desert Distribution Sales team represent Sherex and I’m looking forward to growing together.”

    To learn more about Desert Distribution, visit www.desertdistribution.com

    To learn more about Sherex, visit www.sherex.com

    About Sherex Fastening Solutions

    Sherex Fastening Solutions, a PennEngineering® Company, is a leading manufacturer of fasteners for thin sheet material applications in steel, aluminum, and composite materials. Beyond its headquarters in Buffalo, NY, Sherex also has sales and distribution facilities in Mexico, UK, and Poland, along with worldwide manufacturing capabilities in the US, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Ireland. Sherex services a wide-range of industries, including automotive, heavy truck, general manufacturing, renewable energy, construction and agricultural equipment, and aerospace.

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  4. Sherex’s Jake Glaser Awarded Young Fastener Professional of the Year

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    Sherex Fastening Solutions’ Jake Glaser will be awarded the Young Fastener Professional of the Year at the International Fastener Expo Awards Ceremony, held on September 10 at the Expo Session Stage.

    This award “celebrates exceptional contributions to the fastener industry and recognize individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, innovation, and dedication.”

    Jake’s resume speaks for itself. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications at the University at Buffalo, Jake joined Sherex in 2014, and quickly worked his way up to a regional sales manager for the Western US, managing national and international accounts with a focus on heavy truck and eMobility applications, a role he holds today.

    Since joining Sherex, he has been an active member of the fastener community, involved in Pac-West and NFDA programs and the Young Fasteners Professionals, where he served as president from 2019 – 2022. Jake is also a member of the NFDA Board of Directors since 2022.

    “Jake personifies the future of the fastener industry,” said IFE Show Director, Morgan Wilson, in a press release on fastenershows.com. “His passion, ingenuity, and leadership are remarkable, and we are excited to see his continued impact and success in the fastener industry.”

    Jake follows in the the footsteps of Sherex president Adam Pratt, who was named Young Fastener Professional of the Year in 2017.

    “We’re so proud of Jake and it’s been really great to see him grow in this industry,” Adam said.

    Now residing in Colorado, Jake enjoys volleyball, camping, snowboarding and being outdoors with his friends and his dog, King.

    “I’m truly honored to receive this award. I cannot thank our industry family enough for their recognition and for supporting my growth and development over my 10 years here with Sherex,” Jake said. “I’ve met so many amazing people I am lucky enough to again call my family while working in the world of fasteners, so if you’re someone who’s younger or new to the fastener industry, there are so many opportunities to grow your career and relationships. Take those steps and soar.”

  5. Sherex Statement on April 3 Earthquake in Taiwan

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    To Our Valued Customers,

    On the morning of April 3, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the western side of Taiwan in rural Hualien County, approximately 93 miles from the capital of Taipei.

    Sherex Taiwan, situated in Chungli City in the northwestern part of the country, experienced no damage, and all employees are safe. Sherex Taiwan is currently operating as usual, and we will promptly advise if any issues arise.

    Our thoughts are with those who were impacted by this severe earthquake.

    Sherex Taiwan Earthquake Statement 4-3

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  6. Sherex Announces Southeast Sales & Engineering as New Sales Rep

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    Sherex Fastening Solutions®, a PennEngineering® Company and global leader in engineered fasteners, tooling, and automation, is proud to announce its relationship with Southeast Sales & Engineering as its new sales representative.

    Southeast Sales & Engineering is a professional manufacturer’s representative specializing in the transportation and industrial markets in the southeastern United States, including Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Mississippi, and Virginia. Led by president Bo Oliver, Southeast Sales & Engineering brings over 20 years of experience working with manufacturers to find the right fastening solutions for their applications.

    With Sherex’s wide-range of innovative fastening products, like the award-winning Optisert®, RIV-FLOAT®, and Hand Tool Calibration Unit, Southeast Sales & Engineering adds another quality line card to their portfolio.

    “Sherex’s growth over the past few years has been impressive,” said Oliver, who also represents the ATLAS® line of rivet nuts that will soon be offered by Sherex. “They are on the forefront of fastening technology and have a reputation of being easy to work with. We think our customers will benefit from their product offerings.”

    While Sherex has provided the southeastern US with quality fasteners for over 20 years, Southeast Sales & Engineering will improve the visibility of Sherex products across this region.

    “I’ve always been impressed with Bo and his team at Southeast Sales and Engineering, so when the opportunity came for them to represent the ATLAS® and Sherex product lines we were not going to let it pass,” said Sherex president Adam Pratt.

    To learn more about Southeast Sales & Engineering, visit https://sesales-eng.com

    To learn more about Sherex, visit www.sherex.com

    About Sherex Fastening Solutions

    Sherex Fastening Solutions, a PennEngineering® Company, is a leading manufacturer of fasteners for thin sheet material applications in steel, aluminum, and composite materials. Beyond its headquarters in Buffalo, NY, Sherex also has sales and distribution facilities in Mexico, UK, and Poland, along with worldwide manufacturing capabilities in the US, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Ireland. Sherex services a wide-range of industries, including automotive, heavy truck, general manufacturing, renewable energy, construction and agricultural equipment, and aerospace.

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  7. Optisert Receives 2023 Fastener Innovation Award!

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    Sherex Fastening Solutions’ Optisert, the best performing round body rivet nut on the market, was recently awarded as a winner of the 2023 Fastener Innovation Awards by WorldwideFastenerSources.com.

    The innovative Optisert was chosen as a winner because of its incredible performance against spin-out. Its proprietary combination of an engineered knurled body and underhead wedge design helps it grip into the base material to prevent it from spinning. In softer materials, like aluminum, plastics, and composites, the spin-out performance matches that of a full hex body rivet nut.

    This award “aims to recognize the people and companies to encourage Research & Development in the fastener industry,” as stated in the release by Mike McGuire, president of WorldwideFastenerSources.com.

    “We are proud that the Fastener Innovation Awards are based on technical advancements compared to what exists in the marketplace today,” McGuire was quoted in the release.

    The Certificate of Recognition and Crystal Marquise Globe given to the award winners

    This is now the second recognition for Optisert, as it was also a finalist for the Route to Fastener Innovation 2023.

    Optisert took over 7 years of research and development to become part of Sherex’s standard part offering. That meant lots of testing and tinkering to make sure Optisert would be ready to perform as a premier round body rivet nut in softer materials.

    Optisert

    Optisert’s underhead wedges and engineered knurls give it superior grip

    “A driving force in the evaluation process is that the fasteners be innovative in assemblies today and that they will become tomorrow’s standard,” the award release said. “Our philosophy is continuous improvement with innovative solutions for customers’ fastening applications.”

    Sherex shares the same philosophy and with more innovations coming soon, more awards should be on the way!

  8. Sherex Fastening Solutions Year in Review 2023!

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    Hi all! This year seemed to be the year when the COVID pandemic was clearly in the rearview mirror. We launched the best-performing round body rivet nut, Optisert (which customers love), traveled to see our great customers more than ever, and came up with some great solutions for our customers to solve difficult fastening problems.

    Optisert Buzz Is Growing

    Optisert

    Optisert’s diamond wedges and engineered knurls creates incredible spin-out resistance

    While saying Optisert is the best-performing round body rivet nut may sound like marketing talk, we have the data to back it up. Now, we have the customers too. Many assemblers made the switch to Optisert, and one chose the new round body standard over a potential, and costly, change to a hex body rivet nut too.

    The benefit is simple: Optisert’s spin-out performance in composite, plastics, carbon fiber, aluminum, and other softer materials is as great as a hex body rivet nut. Spin-out resistance is critical in many applications, and round body rivet nuts have had significantly less spin-out resistance than hex body rivet nuts. Now, if OEMs can’t produce a hex hole, they can feel confident that Optisert can deliver the performance they expect from a threaded fastener.

    We’ve seen Optisert in automotive, heavy truck, and general industrial applications with more projects on the way.

    Solutions for Heavy Trucks and Construction and Agriculture Equipment

    We’ve added two new industry pages and a solutions for composite page that highlight some of the most popular and best practice fasteners for the application.

    The Fastener Solutions for Heavy Trucks, Fastener Solutions for Construction and Agriculture Equipment and Fastener Solutions for Composite Materials pages are designed for OEMs and distributors to think about the applications they have and how the joint can be secured better or assembled better. Use the products other assemblers are using in your own to save money and decrease waste.

    While many of these our products are standard rivet nut products in our catalog, others are custom solution fasteners designed specifically for the application. Our engineering team will work directly with the OEM to find a solution that is the best performing, cost effective, and makes it easier on assemblies.

    Sherex President Adam Pratt Presentation at IFE

    Sherex President Adam Pratt had the opportunity to present at IFE and talked about a variety of topics, including how rivet nut fasteners are ideal replacements for weld nuts. The talking points in all of these snippets are great and useful when talking about Sherex products or rivet nut fastening in general.

    Take a look at the videos below:

    Weld Nuts vs. Rivet Nuts

    Sherex Optisert with Installation Data!

    Sherex RIV-FLOAT

    Why Assemblers Need and Calibration Unit

    Benefits to Using Process Monitoring

    More Innovations to Come!

    Like our Optisert round body rivet nut – Sherex has a few more “game-changers” in the hopper that assemblers will love to get their hands on. As Adam Pratt said in his presentation at IFE, Sherex will always try to innovate and push assemblers to use the best fastener for the application. And with more products to come, that means better fasteners and better applications.

  9. Compression Limiting Rivet Nuts

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    In our last blog post, we discussed compression limiters, their usage, and their benefits. However, there is an even simpler solution available: combining a compression limiter with a rivet nut to create a compression limiting rivet nut.

    A compression limiting rivet nut integrates both a rivet nut and a compression limiter into a single piece with a unique part number.

    Example of a Compression Limiting Rivet Nut

    This part offers several advantages:

    1. It is a single component instead of two separate parts. This streamlines assembly time and simplifies the ordering process for purchasers, as they only need to consider one part.
    2. It is cost-effective. A compression limiter and a rivet nut combined would likely cost more than a specially designed compression limiting rivet nut.

    How does it work?:

    With a compression limiting rivet nut, it pretty much acts as a rivet nut with a bigger shoulder or spacer combined on top of the rivet nut. When the compression limiting rivet nut installs, it installs into the base material, but the spacer or compression limiter then sits above it as to not distort the material sitting on top.

    Top half is the compression limiter, bottom half rivet nut!

    Like all compression limiters made and designed by Sherex, they are all unique to the application and the same applies with these compression limiting rivet nuts. They are very popular in automotive applications with pretty much limitless designs: round body, hex body, underhead seals, knurls, ect. Sherex engineering works with the application design engineers to come up with a design that will surpass performance expectations while also being the most cost-effective solution compared to other fastening options.

    So, if considering a compression limiter, a compression limiting rivet nut might be the solution you need!

  10. What are Compression Limiters?

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    Compression limiters are typically cylindrical components made of steel, stainless steel, brass, or aluminum that prevent overstressing of usually plastic or composite material and fastener clamp load loss during fastener installation. They can be used integrated with a fastener, such as a rivet nut, to provide metal to metal transfer of forces during the joint assembly.

    This helps to prevent the surrounding material from being deformed or damaged.

    Essentially, the compression limiter can fill a gap for a metal on metal load transfer as to not deform the material. So when the fastener, such as a screw or bolt, is tightened, the compression limiter is compressed between the fastener head and the metal parts being joined for a compact assembly.

    The designs of a compression limiters are limitless. They can very large or very small, have knurls or wedges, or just be a smooth body cylinder like a spacer. What all compression limiters have in common, though, is that they are UNTHREADED. In some scenarios a bolt may pass through the compression limiter, it doesn’t have threads to keep the bolt in place.

    What applications are compression limiters used in?

    Metal compression limiters are commonly used in industries such as automotive, aerospace, construction and agricultural equipment, and in general construction where high strength and reliability are crucial. They are often used in applications where the joint must withstand significant loads or stresses, such as in structural connections or engine components. They are oftentimes used to not distress the base material.

    How they are made?

    Compression limiters are either cold-formed or machined. Sherex engineers design compression limiters for specific applications, so many of these parts are unique to the project they were designed for.

    Sherex makes hundreds of thousands of compression limiters every year out of its Sherex Akron facility in Akron, Ohio. To learn more about compression limiters or if in of a compression limiter for your application, contact us!

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