A letter from the President – Merry Christmas

December 25, 2020

Merry Christmas,

Spoiler alert, all my children will receive a custom wrapped roll of Toilet Paper for Christmas as a reminder of 2020.  

Can anyone remember last Christmas, or has our short-term memories become blurry?  Twelve months wasn’t that long ago, but it seems like a lifetime.  So, what will we do with 2020, besides give it a swift kick in the rear at 11:59 PM on 12/31? 

I have always looked forward to Christmas and as a child I could never go to sleep Christmas eve in anticipation of Christmas morning.  I love Christmas movies like, “White Christmas”,  “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Elf”, “Grinch” and “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer”, but my favorite is, and always has been is “Charlie Brown”.  If you are a fan of Charlie Brown, you know ole Charlie Brown is often finding himself on the wrong side of a decision.  In Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown is task with finding a tree for the school play and brings back a scrawny tree that has become symbolic of all bad Christmas trees.  His classmates mock him and say, “you are hopeless Charlie Brown” then in total frustration, Charlie Brown shouts, “does anyone know what Christmas is all about?”  Linus steps forward and says, “sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about,” Linus then quotes from Luke 2.  Linus is Charlie Brown’s trusted friend who always carries his blue security blanket everywhere he goes.  What is little known about this scene, is that when Linus comes to, “and the shepherds were very afraid and the angel said, do not fear,” at that moment, Linus drops his security blanket on the stage. 

When I reflect back on 2020, there is a tsunami of emotions.  The Covid Virus has made its mark in 2020, but it will be up to us whether or not to declare it the victor.  To a large degree, what I’ve discovered in 2020 is that normalcy had become my security blanket and somewhere along the journey of 2020, God said to me, “do not fear.”

Many of us have similar experiences of the bizarre combination of tragedy and joy this year.  I, like so many of you are looking forward to turning the pages toward 2021, but what will we carry forward from 2020?  The answer to that question will be different for us all, but it is worth taking a minute to consider.  For me, we got to see the best and the worst, and best prevailed.  We were tempted with division, but United we still stand.  We were challenged with the change, and we adapted.  We looked directly into the eyes of doubt and did not flinch. 

Our team has demonstrated what it is to “Own-it” and I’m honored to be a part of this great team.

So long 2020, we will never forget you, because we grew through you. 

Merry Christmas,

Billy D.

President and CEO

Threaded Fasteners, Inc.

Threaded Fasteners Mobile Dedication to Extraordinary Service

August, 4, 2020

Threaded Fasteners Dedication to Extraordinary Service

The Threaded Fasteners mission is to create value in and for the people we serve. As a team we are always looking for ways to improve in our mission of creating value for our customers. That is why when we were given the chance to be a flagship vendor for a local customer, we jumped at the opportunity to see what we could do to help them build value. AM/NS Calvert is dedicated to transforming tomorrow with sustainability, quality, and leadership; our teams came together to work to not only streamline their processes, but to build a culture around these values.

What began as a small change to be more organized quickly broadened to a complete revamp of the VMI areas from top to bottom. Our team was given the task to convert the area from open bins to cabinets for all products in the Hot Strip Mill of AM/NS Calvert. When our teams came together, we realized that we’re both dedicated to developing the environment rather than just updating and organizing. When our teams met to see what we could do to create more value in what they were looking to accomplish, we looked at their 6S to Success model. This is a model that the AM/NS Calvert team is looking to standardize in facilities worldwide. Our team set out to find ways to educate on this new model, creating signs for the AM/NS Calvert team.

Planning

We worked closely with the planning team and shared ideas to make this transition beneficial to all the team members of AM/NS Calvert. Our goal was to make this a very orderly and efficient process for production with a decreased loss in “wrench time” for those needing parts in a hurry. By categorizing, labeling, and providing guides to each cabinet’s contents, the approach has successfully allowed for team members to more quickly access the needed parts.

Each day provided new challenges to us in making this the beginning of a new standard. The teamwork between TFI and the AM/NS Calvert Planning department was essential for the successful transition. Both ingenuity and attention to the needs of AM/NS Calvert’s workflow were very important in making the necessary adjustments in our quest for ideal VMI. We worked diligently together from beginning to end to find new and creative ways to make things user friendly as well as cost effective. 

Building Value

AM/NS Calvert is a world class steel mill which desires a world class VMI, and we are pleased to work together to accomplish the very first project in making that happen! AM/NS Calvert is recognized as one of the most advanced steel finishing facilities in the world, and we are excited to be able to join with them in this venture.

We enjoy strengthening relationships through working together on this project, and we look forward to our next endeavor working alongside such a great company with such strong core values and great culture. If you are interested in seeing how Threaded Fasteners VMI teams can transform your inventory system, give us a call today.

 

– Threaded Fasteners, Inc. Mobile Sales Team

Before
After

A letter from the President

June 10, 2020

In the long history of Threaded Fasteners, we have never faced an obstacle comparable to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a fast and life altering moment in our lives that we are still facing to this day. Our team took swift, fact-based actions from the very beginning. Prioritizing the safety of our family both physically and mentally. We understood early on that the emotional toll for our family could be just as draining as the physical. Uncertainty was a virus itself, and we wanted to make sure our team members knew that they would not miss a paycheck due to this virus.

As an essential business, we continued all portions of our operations but wanted to make sure that our priority was on our family. We stopped many of our promotional activities and posts to focus on our team and what they needed. We began weekend contests and activities for our employees during social distancing. We held weekly free lunches from local businesses in each of our locations from local restaurants across our areas. We placed over 100 “A Hero Lives Here” signs in our communities for health care workers on the front lines. Our team members in every branch have supported their communities both individually and as a team and we are so proud of each one of them.

We want to reiterate what we released at the very beginning of this crisis, that Threaded Fasteners is in a strong position. Our family’s safety is our top priority, we are looking at loosening some of our restrictions soon and will keep you updated on when we will let visitors and customers into our facilities. For now, we would like to thank you for working with us during this time of precaution, we are thankful for your support and cooperation. Our supply chain remains strong and we will continue to provide the exceptional services you have come to rely on our team for. We are dedicated to carrying out our mission to create value in and for the people we serve. We are here for you.

Just as the world has seen the heroic and selfless acts of health care workers during the pandemic and have commended them. We have also witnessed, as a world, the senseless and brutal act of law enforcement officers in Minneapolis with the death of George Floyd and we must as a nation condemn this act. The outrage that our nation and communities are facing has highlighted the divisions within our nation. We as individuals, corporations, communities, and a nation must stand in opposition to the evil in the hearts of men that has been a part of our society since the beginning of time. We must have courage to stand in the face of injustice and speak out for our fellow men. If change is going to come in our company, our city, our nation, and our world it begins with me. My prayer is that we have the courage to speak and hear the truth in love. 

Accepting challenges for meaningful change,

Billy Duren

President & CEO

Threaded Fasteners, INC.

Threaded Fasteners Becomes Member of Certified Employee-Owned

May 14, 2020

Threaded Fasteners is Certified Employee Owned

Threaded Fasteners has become a member of Certified Employee-Owned (Certified EO), the leading certification program for employee-owned companies in America. To become a member of Certified EO, companies must pass a rigorous certification process to demonstrate that their employees
own at least 30% of the business (exclusive of company founders), access to ownership is open to every employee, and the concentration of ownership is
limited. Fewer than 1 in 200 American companies are eligible to join Certified EO.

Certified EO is an organization that strives to create an employee-owned economy. Their certification program is combining the reach of employee-owned companies to create national recognition for this new approach to business. Certified EO works directly with members to help them make their employee ownership more visible to their workers, their clients, and their communities. Certified EO was founded in 2017 by Thomas Dudley and Kramer Sharp. The current membership includes over 175 companies and more than 120,000 employee-owners. To learn more about Certified EO, please visit www.certifiedeo.com.

EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ADVOCATE PROGRAM

The Threaded Fasteners ESOP Advocate program is a team of employee owners from each branch that will represent and promote employee ownership for their team. Advocates will travel to the home office for an all day training session that will give them the tools and information they need to be outstanding advocates for what it means to be employee owners. Part of their duties will be to provide tools and information to their local team on what employee ownership means to every level of owner. This new program is an exciting new way to grow our teams ownership participation! 

THREADED FASTENERS OWNERSHIP

On April 1, 2007,  employee owners of Threaded Fasteners Inc. purchased the shares of the majority shareholder Frank Martin. In 2012, the purchase was complete when the second owner, Steve Sholtis, sold his stock making TFI 100% Employee Owned.

The Threaded Fasteners Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a trust established for the exclusive benefit of the employees. Shares of stock are owned by the trust, and the trustees manage the trust. Each vested employee is a beneficial shareholder of the trust. The TFI ESOP is set up primarily as a retirement plan. 

 

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A letter from the President- TFI Essential Business

April 3, 2020

To TFI Clients and Business Partners,

Several states have issued “shelter in place” and “stay at home” orders in recent days that affect non-essential businesses. This letter is confirmation that Threaded Fasteners, Inc is an essential business and that we will be staying open to support our client and business partners during this challenging time. Threaded Fasteners, Inc supplies essential products that support critical industries such as agriculture, transportation, energy, mining, and construction that are used by other essential businesses and operations as defined by the federal government.

It is imperative that we remain open during this time of urgency and uncertainty in order to support the critical and essential industries that rely on our products. We will maintain our excellent level of service so that our customers can meet and advance their needs.

We will continue to hold to strict policies regarding personal spacing protocols and individual hygiene to ensure the safety of our team. Where possible we have asked several members of our team to work from home in order to better create spacing and further limit exposure. 

If you have any questions are concerns, please do not hesitate to call us.

 

Sincerely,

Billy Duren
President & CEO
Threaded Fasteners, INC.

A letter from the President regarding Threaded Fasteners COVID-19 Response

March 18, 2020

To our business partners,

The Threaded Fasteners mission is to create value in and for the people we serve, and we are continuing our mission during this time. Every location is open to receive and ship orders, we do not foresee any stop in this service. We do not anticipate any pauses in our supply chain nor our shipments. Our teams are taking every precaution to follow the current CDC regulations as they are updated. Our team is dedicated to serving our customers with the same level of quality that you have come to expect during our 41 years of service.

 

We have made the following adjustments to our procedures:

Walk In Business: For the safety of our employees and customers our walk-in business is currently paused. We will accept orders by phone, email, EDI, or website requests only and will furnish dock side service pickup for those orders.

Outside Sales: Our outside sales team will be working from our offices to support their local branches. They will continue to provide exceptional service to our customers as needed.

Office Guests: Our teams are asking that people refrain from entering our locations unless previously approved for the safety of our communities.

Shipments: All shipments will continue as scheduled. The safety of our drivers and our customers’ teams are our priority. Each driver has been asked to follow the requested procedures asked of them by customers and to follow all CDC recommended hygiene practices.

 

In closing, our mission has never been more relevant to these times, we will continue to create value in and for the people we serve. To all our employee owners and business partners our commitment remains the same. We are not expecting any disruption regarding the delivery of any of our products or services. We are monitoring all local, state, and federal authority’s recommendations regarding

COVID-19 and will follow those accordingly for us to make fact-based decisions.

 

President,

 

Billy Duren

Uncle Henry Receives A Letter From An Attorney

February 19, 2020

Mobile’s Uncle Henry receives letter from a lawyer, sparks new friendship with Threaded Fasteners, Inc. as he joins Team Tighten Up

Mobile, Alabama (Feb. 19, 2020) Local radio personalities Randy Kennedy and Uncle Henry entered a battle of wills in the weeks leading to Kennedy’s appearance on the Uncle Henry show on Friday. Both radio stars have “Tightened Up” in various ways, using the phrase in segments on their own stations. New to the iHeart radio team, Kennedy told Uncle Henry of his Tighten Up Sports segments sponsored by Threaded Fasteners, Inc. Undeterred by this, Uncle Henry doubled down on his need to Tighten Up, continuing his segments on air. Due to this, the Threaded Fasteners, Inc. legal team decided to take matters into their own hands.

UNCLE HENRY HOSTS RANDY KENNEDY BEFORE THE LAUNCH OF SPORTS TALK 99.5

Before Randy Kennedy appeared on his new iHeart Station Sports Talk 99.5 on Monday, he appeared on Uncle Henry to talk sports, news, and to air the grievances between the two. Uncle Henry told his listeners that he has been Tightening Up for years after a comment was made to him by a local representative. His listeners want to know how he and they can tighten up in their lives.

 

RANDY KENNEDY GIVES UNCLE HENRY LETTER FROM TFI CORPORATE COUNSEL

Kennedy, after consulting with the Threaded Fasteners, Inc. team concluded there was no other way to resolve the issue other than legal action. An excerpt from the letter reads; “Threaded Fasteners, Inc. as the sole proprietor of the phrase TIGHTEN UP on local radio marketing claims exclusive ownership to this phrase and all uses of this phrase in perpetuity.” It continues, “Without waiving any of the foregoing rights, Threaded Fasteners, Inc. does hereby grant to you, ‘Uncle Henry’, unlimited privileges to borrow our phrase and the privilege of joining the TIGHTEN UP TEAM.” See Uncle Henry read the full letter here. (Begins at Min 31).

 

UNCLE HENRY JOINS TEAM TIGHTEN UP

Today Threaded Fasteners, Inc inducts Uncle Henry as an official member of Team Tighten Up. Threaded Fasteners, Inc. Welcomes Uncle Henry to this exclusive group and encourages him to continue Tightening Up as often as he likes.

 

Uncle Henry becomes part of Threaded Fasteners, Inc. Team Tighten Up
Uncle Henry Joins Threaded Fasteners, Inc. Team Tighten Up After letter from an attorney.
Uncle Henry Officially Joins Team Tighten Up
Randy Kennedy, Uncle Henry, and Billy Duren take a picture in the IHeart Radio Sports Talk 99.5 Studio