After investing in high speed, digital nail-making equipment and overhauling its quality systems, Michigan Fastener Inc. says the nail it makes today is a fundamentally better product than what it produced even a year ago. Jon Will, the president and owner of Michigan Fastener, wants anyone looking to diversify its nail supply with a quality domestic source to give Michigan Fastener a try.
Customers should try our new product! The new equipment makes a huge difference. “We were running older equipment, trying to keep up with the big guys, and I think that hurt us a lot,” Jon Will acknowledged. “Some customers didn’t want to buy from us now because of their previous Quality. We’ve changed all that…. You come in there now; it’s a whole different nail. It’s just absolutely incredible.”
Overhauling the manufacturing process was expensive, but it was something that we had to do for the future of our company. Located in North Branch, Michigan, Michigan Fastener provides both bulk and collated fasteners for pallet and shed companies across the country.
New High-Speed Digital Equipment Changes the Game
Toward the beginning of the year, Michigan Fastener took delivery of new high-speed digital nail-making machines. After installation, the company spent about a month dialing them in. The machines represent the single biggest capital investment in the company’s history. Jon describes the cost plainly: “Very expensive. But we had to do it. We have to change. We have to grow. We have to push hard to meet the quality and demand of our customers. We want them to grow with us.”
The technical leap forward is significant for customers running automated pallet nailing machines. The older equipment Michigan Fastener relied on produced inconsistencies that were particularly problematic for high-speed applications. Off-center nail heads and inconsistent head diameters, exactly the kind of variation that causes jams and downtime on Viking-style automated nailers.
“The inconsistency of the head diameters is a huge deal with our customers using automated Viking machines,” Jon explained. “Now our tolerances are extremely tight. It’s making the same nail every single time. The heads are perfectly centered.”
The new machines also address quality control at the source rather than downstream. Michigan Fastener had previously invested in a laser retina inspection unit to catch off-spec nails, but the machine couldn’t keep pace with production volume at scale. The new digital equipment eliminates the gap by embedding quality control directly into the manufacturing process. Sensors throughout each machine monitor head centering, head size, and feed consistency in real time. If anything falls out of tolerance, the machine shuts off automatically.
“These new machines, they’re all sensored,” Jon said. “If there are short feeds, if the heads are off center, if the heads are small, they shut off. It really dials in the quality.”
There is an added benefit that customers running high-speed machines will appreciate: the new equipment produces nails that are, in Jon Will’s words, “bright and clean” and completely oil-free. Older nail-making machines required oil in the manufacturing process, leaving a residue on the finished nail. The new machines do not, which means nails are much cleaner than ever before.
Steel, Sourcing
Equipment is only part of the quality equation. The steel behind the nail matters too, and Michigan Fastener has spent the better part of a decade trying to get that formula right. The company sources all of its wire rod exclusively from Ohio and Indiana both domestic suppliers and has developed a proprietary steel drawing process in partnership with those mills over roughly ten years.
“With Domestic USA Made Steel we actually came up with a formula we’ve worked on for the last ten years with multiple steel mills, trying to dial in how it gets drawn and the kind of material we’re drawing from,” Jon noted. “That’s a special formula formulated for our nails. It’s kind of like a secret. You don’t really want to give that out.”
For coil and bulk nails, the company uses high-tensile grade steel. This is a specification chosen specifically to reduce shiners and improve performance in hardwood applications. Michigan Fastener also offers flat-point nail geometry on its coil nails, which Jon Will said customers in hardwood markets have embraced for its ability to reduce wood splitting. The company’s most popular nail point remains the blunt diamond, with chisel point and flat point rounding out the lineup depending on region and application.
The commitment to American sourcing extends beyond steel. Michigan Fastener’s boxes come from Livonia, Michigan. Our tooling is sourced right here in town. He stated “Everything that we use is made here in Michigan or a state very close to us. I don’t know anybody else that’s really committing themselves to being American-made in every facet of the operation the way that we are.”
The Tariff Question: A Domestic Producer’s Moment
If you buy pallet nails from overseas or have been considering it, Jon Will has some things he wants you to think about.
The current trade environment is the most complicated it has been in years. Steel tariffs on imported finished nails stand at 25-30% and have been threatening to climb higher. Jon isn’t predicting where trade policy goes next. He’s the first to admit the landscape changes too quickly to forecast, but he is watching what it’s doing to his competitors’ customers. “We are seeing prices go up overseas. We’re beating a lot of the prices right now,” he shared. “Customers are getting just crazy price hikes. I think some people are taking advantage of it. And our price isn’t really moving; we follow American steel.”
Because Michigan Fastener manufactures exclusively in the U.S. using domestic steel and domestic inputs, the company carries zero tariff exposure in its cost structure. That’s a genuine structural advantage, and it’s one that Jon sees gaining more traction as importers face growing uncertainty. “We don’t have any type of cost in our box that has to do with tariffs, which most people have,” he said. “I personally think it does help us because we’re 100% American-made.”
But tariffs are only one piece of the import calculus. Jon’s pitch to companies currently relying on overseas nail supply goes beyond price. The mechanics of importing, which includes paying upfront, then waiting months for a container, tie up working capital and leave buyers exposed to quality surprises that they can’t easily remedy.
I say to customers: You don’t always have to buy a truckload. We can ship 1 skid to a full truck load. Michigan Fastener went further than just offering an alternative for the next order,” Jon said. The economics of smaller, more frequent domestic orders are more compelling than many buyers initially expect. Michigan Fastener recently established a volume shipping relationship with Central Transport that produces deeply discounted LTL rates across the country. Jon said for customers buying five skids at a time maybe closer to a Truck load rate than you think.
“Why buy a truckload and sit on that truckload for six to eight months and have your money held up? Buy five skids at a time,” Jon suggested. “You’re getting a high-quality nail. It’s a fresh nail. It’s not sitting on your floor for months collecting dust or rust.”
For buyers with one eye on supply chain resilience, the argument isn’t just about cost; it’s about flexibility. Michigan Fastener’s machines run dedicated work like a 2’’ NP Screw nail in bulk which is the most popular.
The ability to adjust order size, receive fresh product on short lead times, and avoid the customs and logistics uncertainty that comes with container shipping is increasingly valuable in a market where demand levels can change quickly.
Quality Systems: More Than Just the Machines
The new equipment does the heavy lifting on quality, but Michigan Fastener has built a broader in-house quality program around it. Every box that leaves the plant carries a lot number traceable back to the specific wire coil it came from, the machine it was made on, the employee who ran it, and the quality checks performed during production. Fifteen-minute sweep lab checks throughout each shift testing the quality and durability of the nail.
“From the time the wire comes in the plant, we have an entire process until it’s out the door,” Jon said.
Winning Back Trust
Winning customers back after some quality problems is not easy.
“Give me a chance. Let me prove it to you. Let me show you what we can offer,” Jon requested. “We offer a product that is 100% American Made right here in Michigan.”
In Search of the Perfect Nail
Even though he is only 25, Logan Will, Jon’s son and plant floor manager, has already lost years of sleep to one thing: the pallet nail. He is focused on making a nail that drives fast, clinches hard and never backs out when your customer’s load hits a forklift. For years at Michigan Fastener, Logan has worked to reinvent the manufacturing process and nail design. This includes the head, the shank, collation and coating. Logan explained, “I focused on figuring out why do nails jam, bend or pull out. We lost customers while I chased that answer. I own that. But we have found the right formula. The result is a bulk pallet nail and collated nail built for your machine speeds and your bottom line. It drives straighter in pine and hardwood, resists jams in your nailing guns, and holds like concrete through shipping and storage. Fewer misfires. Fewer callbacks. More pallets per shift.”
For Michigan Fastener, this focus on improvement isn’t about being just another supplier. Logan stated, “I want Michigan Fastener to be the largest and most respected nail manufacturer in the United States. And the only way there is by making the best nail the pallet industry has ever run.”
Family Dedication, Strong Customer Service
The Will family running the operation shares Jon’s intensity. His son Logan manages the plant floor alongside Marshall, who grew up as part of the family. Both are 25 years old and, by Will’s account, as invested in nail quality as he is. His daughter Sage handles the company’s financials, and his daughter-in-law Dallas manages all shipping coordination. The next generation is already arriving: Sage and Dallas are both in the early stages of expanding the Will family, making Michigan Fastener a three-generation enterprise in the making.
Michigan Fastener also added its own semi-truck to handle full truckload deliveries, giving it direct control over one of the most common points of frustration for smaller manufacturers: the unreliable third-party carrier. With 20 full-time employees and capacity to grow, Will says the company is ready to take on new customers. His product line now runs from 1¼-inch to 4-inch nails across galvanized, smooth, ring shank, and screw shank configurations — a range he says most competitors can’t match at the long end.
Focusing on value, Michigan Fastener continues offering pneumatic tools to customers at cost. There is no markup with repair service included. It’s a model built on relationships rather than margin extraction. Jon explained that some others offer free pneumatic tools and then include those costs into the price of the nails. “We strive to keep nails costs low and simple.”
“I’m still a handshake guy,” Jon said. “If I tell you I’m going to do something, that’s my word, that’s my name. If I shake your hand and tell you I’m going to do something, I’ll go to the end of the earth to make sure that happens.”
Long-term Commitment to Customers and Multiple Generations
Growing up, Sage Will has had one goal: to do something meaningful. She wanted her work to matter and realized that working in the family business gave her the best opportunity to achieve those goals.
Becoming the next generation of Michigan Fastener hasn’t been a single moment. It has been a gradual introduction into many aspects of the nail business. She credited her father for being her inspiration. Sage commented, “My father’s strength is the foundation I stand on. His example is the reason I’m ready to carry this company forward.”
Sage added, “I plan to continue Michigan Fastener for generations to come. One day, my daughter will grow up seeing the same motivation, discipline, and passion that my dad instilled in me over the past decade. She’ll understand that this isn’t just a business, it’s a legacy built with hard work, family values, and a commitment to American manufacturing.”
In a market rattled by tariff uncertainty, supply chain fragility, and rising import costs, Michigan Fastener is betting that domestic sourcing, aggressive quality investment, and genuine customer service are a durable combination. For pallet manufacturers and recyclers reassessing where their nails come from or willing to take another look at a supplier they walked away from, Jon Will suggests that the conversation is worth having.
For more information, contact Michigan Fastener at (810) 728-4005, visit www.michiganfastener.com, or email michiganfastener@outlook.com.
