MOBILE, Ala. (November 1, 2017) — There’s a company in Mobile where men and women manufacture and distribute nuts, bolts and screws that are packaged and sold to industries across North America. While the threaded fasteners can be as small as one-eighth inch in diameter, they play a mighty role in holding buildings together, making sure giant utility towers stay bolted to the ground and keeping hurricane shutters firmly in place during powerful storms.
Threaded Fasteners Inc. (TFI) — a 140-member employee-owned firm — operates a manufacturing plant in Semmes, Ala., where anchor bolts and specialty headed products are built by local crews on two-shifts to meet the growing demand for quality materials.
Founded in 1979 by brothers-in-law Frank Martin and Steve Sholtis and a handful of staff members and investors, Threaded Fasteners has grown from modest beginnings (a chop saw and a rigid pipe threader in a borrowed warehouse) to become one of the largest fastener manufacturers and steel bolt distributors in the southeast.
Now, there are locations in nine U.S. cities spanning five states: Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma, where $4.5 million in inventory is available on a daily basis.
As the economy continues to improve across the U.S., TFI also has seen growth in sales by expanding into new markets and industries. In the past decade, Threaded Fasteners has experienced a dramatic rise in sales, and is on track to nearly double what was earned in 2007, according to TFI President Billy Duren. Duren went to work for TFI in 1979 and was named president 10 years ago.
“The company has flourished because of the people who work here,” Duren said. “I love our people.”
Another reason for the success, leaders say, is the firm’s constant focus on innovation. Team members actively seek ways to find the best solutions for customers, whether that means finding a more expedient service to deliver parts to a California client or developing packaging labels tough enough to withstand extreme weather conditions across the continent.
The company’s leadership team remains in expansion mode, too, seeking strategic ways to grow the firm by acquiring other businesses and launching new ones.
One such new venture – Quality Galvanizing – was founded in March 2017 when ground was broken for the plant in Semmes, Ala., and where TFI products will be galvanized against corrosion prior to packaging, sale and distribution. Plans call for the new plant to be operational in the first quarter of 2018, Duren said.