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.

A modern Boeing 747 contains about 1 million rivets. If each rivet took a hypothetical five seconds to place, you would need more than 57 days around the clock to complete the job. Of course, building a 747 takes longer than 57 days, but you get the idea—the labor behind the riveting for creating such an enormous machine is substantial.

If you’re working with thin materials and need a strong, durable fastener that is removable and reusable, blind threaded inserts are the solution. Not only are they incredibly easy to install, but they’ll also enhance your application by ensuring production efficiency and durability.

With some projects, finding a fastener that works with thin or brittle materials can seem impossible. This is where rivet nuts, which are also known as a blind nuts, blind rivet nuts, or threaded inserts, come in. A variation on the standard rivet, the rivet nut has a tubular round, splined, square, or hexagonal body that is internally threaded and counterbored. As a blind fastener, the rivet nut is installed in instances where only one side of the workpiece is accessible, making it incredibly versatile.

Whether you’re fixing an oversized or misplaced hole or need to complete a repair on original equipment (OEM), key locking inserts are the ideal fastener for repairing damaged threads.

If you want to increase the integrity of your application, repair a stripped thread, or are working with light or soft materials, make sure you’re using helical inserts.

Helical inserts are a coiled wire insert that is installed in order to create internal screw threads for accepting a fastener, essentially serving as a thread repair solution with endless applications. The diameter of the insert is wider than the tapped hole, so it compresses as it’s inserted, creating a safe and secure application that retains locking torque over numerous assemblies. Even in environments with severe vibration or varying temperature conditions, helical inserts offer strong, permanent threading.

There are always situations in manufacturing and construction where welds just can’t do the job. When assembling products for automotive, container manufacture, aerospace, railway, mining, and so on, you need a reliable, fail-proof joint that can withstand stress and vibrations. That’s when it’s time to look at lockbolts.

Inventory management can bog down your productivity, not to mention hurt the bottom line. How often do you run out of fasteners, and how many people take unnecessary time out of their work days to track down additional inventory? These disruptions result in wasted time and wasted resources.

With thousands of fasteners available for purchase online, you need a wholesaler that can deliver an efficient shopping solution. This means a company that lets you narrow down your options to find the fasteners you need—quickly and efficiently—and delivers them with that same commitment.

Although fasteners might seem like nothing more than a small piece to a much larger project, they’re actually an incredibly critical part of any machine or structure. These pieces of hardware usually join two or more materials together, either permanently or temporarily, so start by asking yourself some basic questions: