Metal challenge

accepted

Tubtara® / Sherex, Antwerp / New York

For many years, Dejond has worked with partners and distributors from far beyond our borders. Sherex Fastening Solutions is one of them. The American company distributes, among others, our Tubtara® blind rivet nuts in North America, Canada and Mexico. A warm cooperation between 2 companies that highly value quality and craftsmanship. Accompanied by a dose of ambition and a lot of love for metal. Speaking is Marc Drossaert, our Tubtara® Business Development Manager. 

Which collaboration through Sherex sticks with you the most?

"That is without doubt a well-known US manufacturer of electric cars and battery systems. Initially, we didn't know who the end customer was. Only after delivery did we find out what our product would really serve. It became a standard piece in an energy storage system of that brand."

Later, the end customer placed quite a challenge on Dejond - how so?

"True. Because their production was skyrocketing, they asked us to make additional pieces. The agreement was signed, but the customer wanted the project to start much earlier than planned. Therefore, the prototype enclosures had to be produced quickly, even before we had manufactured the required custom fasteners. Moving quickly was the message. We promised them an alternative fastener and that within a short delivery time."

How did we at Dejond deliver on that promise?

"We transformed closed-ended cylindrical parts we had in stock into 6-sided blind rivet nuts with a finishing machine. And so Dejond was still able to deliver earlier. Within 2 weeks, we produced and shipped a small quantity of M12 pieces to build the prototype. Once on site, the product was revised based on the customers' requirements." 

"Then a new question came up: whether we could supply pieces with a much larger head. In addition, the end no longer needed to be closed, as watertightness was no longer required where the rivet nut was to be used. Via cold forming, we managed to make open Tubtara® blind rivet nuts in steel with a 35 mm head. Generally not obvious in stainless steel. But it worked. And that brought 2 big advantages: economically and also for the application itself. Thanks to the large head, the car manufacturer could omit another part. So they no longer had to buy that piece and the assembly costs fell."

All's well that ends well?

"Definitely. The end customer is happy with Tubtara® large-head blind rivet nuts. And we like being able to show what we are worth. Flexible and innovative, we go to extremes for our customers."

"Thanks to Dejond's flexibility, we were able to offer our end customer the desired Tubtara® blind rivet nuts at short notice. Even when it turned out that the part in question was not available from stock.
Their solution: simply rework the stock standards. A fine piece of craftsmanship."

Sherex Fastening Solutions