Fuzion Fasteners is an American company that makes quality fasteners from quality materials right here in the United States. Its parent company is Hahn Systems.
“We are one of only a few pallet nail manufacturers in the States now,” said Mike Sheehan, sales manager for Fuzion. “That’s what makes us different. We control the quality and a lot of the material is sourced locally. So it truly is an American owned and operated company.”
Hahn Systems, which was established in 1938, purchased ECS Fasteners in November of 2013, changed the name of the two-year-old manufacturer to Fuzion Fasteners in 2014 and relocated fastener production from Westport, Indiana, to a larger 20,000-square-foot building in Greensburg, Indiana, just southeast of Indianapolis.
Besides Fuzion, Hahn has seven on-site distribution and retail locations, each with sales and service reps available to answer questions, give advice, and to go on-site to repair equipment.
Hahn sells a full-line of industrial and construction supplies, maintenance supplies (MRO), and has a dedicated packaging division, as well as the Fuzion plant that manufactures the majority of nails for the pallet industry.
“When we were ECS, we strictly manufactured machine-grade bulk nails,” said Sheehan, who was a part-owner of ECS, along with Mike Conrad, an engineer who now manages the Fuzion plant in Greensburg. Sheehan has 22 years of experience selling fasteners and Conrad has 12.
“Our manufactured product offering at Fuzion is much larger and includes 40-plus different SKUs of fasteners strictly for the pallet and crating industry,” commented said Sheehan. These include small coil nails, large coil nails and machine-grade bulk nails.
“That handles a good majority of what’s being used in the pallet industry,” said Sheehan.
But a nail isn’t just a nail, and not every nail by every manufacturer is created equal, explained Sheehan. “Nails may vary across manufacturers,” he said. “The Fuzion brand offers consistent quality every time.”
You can’t get the type of consistency you get from Fuzion from a lot of other manufacturers, especially from overseas, he explained. Sheehan stated that a China nail and nail from Taiwan might be made with two different processes, for example, and getting consistency in quality and even in size can be an issue. He added that getting customer service can also be a challenge and obtaining product replacements can take months.
“Any issues or questions that may arise about a fastener, we’re here and anything that we need to change, we remedy based on the changing needs of the pallet industry,” Sheehan said. For example, when many pallet makers started using softwood when hardwood was tough to get, that meant that they needed a fastener with more holding power. This typically meant changing from a screw shank nail to a ring shank nail.
“We have also recently developed a .086-diameter pallet nail with a larger style head and fully threaded shank strictly for the pallet industry,” said Sheehan. “You’ll get performance on this nail like you would a larger size nail that you may pay more money for.”
Fuzion also has a variety of coil nail programs that are very popular with its customers in the pallet industry, although some companies still don’t know about it.
These include bundled programs, where the company purchases the nails and uses Fuzion tools. “The tools are ours, and we maintain them,” said Sheehan. For companies outside of the manufacturer’s 10-state primary Midwest service area, there is a tote program where tools can be shipped both ways so if a customer needs a replacement, they simply call Fuzion and put the tool in a provided UPS box. A new tool is immediately shipped out to them at the same time and the two packages will pass in transit.
With the unbundled program, a company can purchase both the fasteners and the tools for using them from Fuzion. There are also hybrid programs as well, said Sheehan. “Basically, we can create a program to fit any pallet manufacturer’s needs.”
“For companies that are looking for a consistent high-quality fastener every time, that is what they get,” said Sheehan. “With Fuzion you get quality control and excellent turnaround times, along with the expertise and support of a 78-year old company which is Hahn systems.”
To learn more about the nails that Fuzion Fasteners manufactures for the pallet industry, call Mike Sheehan at 616-581-6190 or visit www.fuzionfasteners.com.
