The Grand Opening of IFE’17

by Teng-Feng Tsai, Fastener World


The annual North America’s largest fastener show, International Fastener Expo (IFE), formerly National Industrial Fastener & Mill Supply Expo, just kicked off at Las Vegas Convention Center on Oct. 18-19 this year. The show serves as not only an important event for U.S. fastener industry every year, but also one of the three world’s largest fastener events attended annually by global manufacturers, retailers, traders, distributors, association reps, and industry experts as well as professionals.

As the most comprehensive and professional B2B platform for industrial fasteners, tooling and machinery in N. America, the show attracted 723 exhibitors and was packed with crowds, manifesting its popularity to the world. A wide array of items were displayed at the show, including raw materials for fastener production, fastener products, machinery, molds & dies, surface and heat treatment, etc. In addition to companies coming from Taiwan to exhibit, delegations from China, Korea and India also participated, setting foot on the US market. Fastener World as the show agent in Taiwan brought 83 Taiwanese exhibitors to the show and had nearly 100 booths, fully demonstrating the outstanding strength of Taiwanese companies in fastener production and service. The determination and activeness of these Taiwanese manufacturers to expand business in N. America along with global markets cannot be neglected.

According to Fastener World’s representative onsite, “This year the booths were designed with a refreshingly innovative look for Taiwanese exhibitors to shape bright and professional Taiwanese fastener industry image, catching the attention of manufacturers and buyers. Most of the visiting companies were American distributors and manufacturers, who attentively sought for cooperation with fastener suppliers. A number of exhibitors said that larger crowds were seen this year and inquiring buyers were professional high-level managers. This show not only plays a role in facilitating the exchange of information and industry intelligence among fastener companies, but also provides the most direct and efficient approach to knowing the latest products and service of Taiwanese and global markets for local American buyers.”

Several seminars were also held during the show, with prestigious industry characters and association experts invited to share their valuable experience. Moreover, Demo Zone was set up at the show to display new products and state-of-the-art technologies in the industry.

The next show is scheduled to take place at Mandalay Bay Convention Center on Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2018.

Silhouettes from IFE- A Visit to BBI HQ

Prior to the opening of IFE, Fastener World brought the delegation of Taiwanese exhibitors to pay a visit to Brighton-best International (BBI)’s HQ in LA, and was received by BBI’s Chief Accounting Officer Angus Wang. Wang guided over 35 guests from Taiwanese fastener industry to visit the offices of TCI Group and BBI’s fastener warehouse. During the tour, Wang introduced the organizational structure and the distribution channel in detail, as well as shared a few successful cases accomplished by the group. Taiwanese exhibitors all learned a lot and anticipated to follow the footprints of BBI’s success to create opportunities for Taiwanese fastener industry in the world market.

Having integrated virtual Internet with physical distribution channel since 2000, Ta Chen International built the world’s first and America’s largest online B2B order platform for stainless steel. In 2008, Brighton-Best International (BBI) replicated TCI’s channel pattern and set up 31 distribution operations in 6 countries. As the biggest Internet fastener channel, BBI integrated market and consolidated its leading position of every US channel through acquisitions. Since 2015 BBI has been concentrating on product diversification. In addition to fasteners and stainless steel products, the company further offers the sales of industrial products for construction and hardware. With the previous experience and capital investment, BBI will launch customized fasteners, aftermarket service, along with machinery channel in order to gain more benefits.

Furthermore, Wang also analyzed the market scale of global and American industrial products, suggesting that the most crucial goal of Taiwanese traditional industries is to get access to channels, so as to expand into new markets. During the visit, Taiwanese exhibitors were all impressed by BBI’s spacious and well-built warehouse, along with the demonstration of advanced order picking machines, fully showing the top-notch warehouse management of BBI. The company tour ended smoothly with Wang’s welcome gala lunch.