Fastener Groups Announce Formation of Joint Education Committee on Quality

In an effort to provide positive and proactive education on quality for the fastener industry, the National Fastener Distributors Association (NFDA) and the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI) have announced the formation of the Fastener Industry Education Group (FIEG).

Committee Chair Andy Cohn said: "The mission of the FIEG is to educate all fastener end-users and suppliers (manufacturers, importers, and distributors) about the importance of understanding and effectively using industry and government fastener standards and how to determine the conformance of the products to those standards."

Rob Harris, Managing Director of the IFI, emphasizes that this is a proactive effort: "Manufacturers, importers and end users rely on a system of voluntary compliance with a variety of consensus standards, OEM specifications, and Quality Assurance System certification. That reliance is well-founded and depends on every participant in the process doing what is necessary to insure that all fasteners manufactured, imported or exported meet the applicable standards and specifications."

"This is a perfect fit for NFDA and IFI," said NFDA President Joel Roseman, "Our commitment to education is strong and will naturally apply to systems and procedures which insure that fasteners sold into commerce meet all applicable industry and federal specifications and standards."

The committee is currently developing an education strategy for the industry and will be announcing projects and programs soon.

NFDA is a North American trade association with over 250 distributor and associate members. The Association offers a variety of member benefits, including biannual meetings, educational and affinity programs. The Association was founded in 1968 and is located in Chicago, IL.

IFI is a trade association of leading North American fastener manufacturers and suppliers of materials, machinery, equipment and/or engineered services. Founded in 1931, IFI members combine their resources to seek solutions that advance fastener application engineering.