Bay Supply Blog - Rivets, Fasteners, and Tools (9)

Metal price hikes, primarily caused by tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, have resulted in major headaches for American companies. How prices will be affected in the future remains uncertain.

Over the past year, our team at Bay Supply has been working diligently to be your go-to source to learn all about the top engineered fastening and riveting system brands. At Bay Supply, we aim to provide not only the most comprehensive inventory at the lowest prices; we strive to provide a wealth of informative resources to the engineering and manufacturing community, too.

Whether you oversee an assembly line, manage a repair shop, or are a do-it-yourself enthusiast, you always want to use the right tool for any task at hand. Failing to follow this basic principle can dent productivity and negatively affect the quality of whatever you are constructing or repairing. That’s disappointing for a DIY fan or hobbyist and it’s costly for a business.

The idea of rivets and heavy-duty metal fasteners often conjures up images of serious industrial uses: airplanes, skyscrapers, bridges, and assembly lines. However, rivets also offer functionality and durability for a wide variety of home improvement projects and goals.

“Plastics.”

This is perhaps the second-most famous quote from The Graduate, right after “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me!” This advice on what Dustin Hoffman’s character should focus on his future was played for a few laughs, but was also sage: Five decades later, plastics are everywhere, including industrial applications.

Your tools first and foremost must be reliable no matter what line of work you're in. They should perform consistently and be intended to make the job easier for the consumer. Ergonomically designed to reduce fatigue on the body, and longer use on the job site — the Goebel Riveting Tool Family provides this.

The tariffs the Trump Administration has imposed in 2018 have been met with plenty of criticism, along with a few approvals. Recent news from Ford has really brought the decisions—specifically, tariffs on steel and aluminum—into sharper focus.

Ford announced that, after attributing $1 billion in lost profits to President Trump’s tariffs, it will institute “massive layoffs”—up to 24,000 jobs, according to one report. The automaker’s woes are not unique to the industry—other manufacturing sectors have also struggled with the effects of the new duties imposed on goods from other nations, including Canada, China, Mexico, and the European Union.

The assembly path to a completed product is often complex. The supply chain getting parts to the assembly line must be reliable. Necessary components must be of high quality and fit the tasks at hand. Assembly itself must be efficient.

For some applications, a tight seal plugging a hole isn’t a luxury—it’s mandatory. Leaks of air or fluid are simply not acceptable, and you must have confidence that the seal you supply will perform as expected, even if you don’t have access to one side of the hole during installation.