In simple words, fasteners literally hold industry together. These are very important because each component or machinery or vehicle needs these to hold it together. Fasteners are main components used in many sectors such as automation, manufacturing, infrastructure and others in which different types of items are produced that require assembling of machinery or vehicle parts. At once missing fastener may not be missed, but is quite capable of leading adverse consequences. Especially in the age of assembly operations where a product is put together by components manufactured at several different locations.
A fastener can be a special type of nail that has spirals on its side. These are used to make substances rigid, long lasting and look clean as well. These features have led to the popularity of fasteners which are available in different shapes and dimensions. Varieties of fasteners are available at the market these days, each with specific purpose, made with different metals, non- ferrous and ferrous and now even of engineering plastics.
Some of the most common fasteners used in the industry are bolts, nuts, bars, screws, rivets, pipe plugs, bits and anchors, retaining rings and pins. But in the quest for the better and effective solution, new and innovative fasteners are continuously designed and manufactured. The examples of new generation fasteners are snap or smart fasteners.
The most important factor in determining the usefulness of the fastener is the purpose of the same. Different types of fasteners are required by an industry as compared to a residential building. An automobile industry's requirement for fastener is different from fasteners used in airplanes. Fasteners are classified on the basis of the material used for manufacturing them such as titanium, heavy iron and stainless steel fasteners. Titanium fasteners are used where corrosion is unavoidable, heavy iron fasteners are used where the main construction purpose is weight carrying capacity and stainless steel fasteners are widely used as they are corrosion resistant and cheap and can be a good replacement for titanium fasteners.
Additionally fasteners are broadly classified into mild steel and high tensile fasteners based on their tensile strength. While high tensile fasteners require superior technology and are greatly manufactured by organized sector, the mild steel fasteners are relatively used in general applications and are produced by the unorganized sector. Around 75% of the total demand for the fasteners accounts by automobile industry followed by consumer durables and railways.
Fastener manufacturing industry is facing lot of challenges these days. Although the aim is always simple, just to make best fasteners with long lasting feature and can be moved or fixed easily. Adding the restrictions on the use of certain materials in the manufacturing process gives some idea of the challenges they face.
The fastener industry in India has a low level of standardization, since various automobile manufacturing companies have different design specifications and given their distinct foreign collaborations for their assemblies, then a fastener producer has to maintain a large inventory to cater to various clients.
