Industry News

The British & Irish Association of Fastener Distributors (BIAFD) is introducing a new Technical Group to bring together the expertise of more than 100 specialists from its member companies, to share knowledge and inform on standards development.

BIAFD’s new Technical Group aims to reflect the all too often forgotten fact that fasteners and fixings are technical, engineered products complying to detailed international standards, performing in increasingly demanding and critical applications.

Over the last decade, BIAFD has more than lived up to its commitment to ensure its members are better informed, providing information and support on the seemingly relentless tide of regulatory developments, economic and global factors impacting their businesses. Recent BIAFD meetings have addressed topics including EU and UK trade remedies, volatility in the global container freight market, through to the currently dominant topic of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism regulation and its soon to be introduced UK counterpart.  

At the 2024 BIAFD Autumn Meeting, Maddy Webb, head of risk and internal audit at Trifast Plc, presented an impassioned case for remembering that fasteners and fixings are technical, engineered products functioning in increasingly complex and demanding applications. She proposed, and BIAFD members wholeheartedly agreed to, a new BIAFD Technical Group, that would bring together the quality, compliance and technical specialists from more than 100 BIAFD members, to provide a forum to discuss and share non-competitive information and expertise. 

BIAFD has long been well represented on the British Standards Fastener Committee FME/9. The new Group will disseminate information from BIAFD members of that Committee on standards developments and, equally important, provide a mechanism to deliver feedback to the Committee from hands-on practitioners.  

Maddy explains: “Fastener standards are evolving to suit new applications, particularly the development of large diameter bolts for use in power generation, and it is likely that changes in steel processing will result in changes to heat treatment practices, driven by green steel and carbon footprint reduction. The BIAFD Technical Group has the opportunity to influence the development of technical standards through the BSI Fastener Standards Committee, and to understand these changes and communicate them to their organisations, allowing business risk and opportunities to be evaluated effectively.”

She continues: “In many fastener distribution businesses there is a growing gap between technical teams and commercial teams, with roles increasingly filled by business graduates and software or data tools, where there once might have been a team of engineers and inspectors. In fact, recruitment of technical team members, and providing technical training, is often a significant challenge, so bringing like-minded people together to facilitate discussion and debate is a core objective of the Technical Group.”  

BIAFD has already established an email circulation to provide updates to its technical specialists. However, interactivity is a crucial aim of the new Group, so BIAFD now has a rapidly growing discussion forum on LinkedIn, on which specialists from member companies are encouraged to participate.  

“As a Group we are right at the beginning of our journey,” says Maddy. “There is real need driving this. As the Group grows, we will establish a programme of speakers, technical and educational presentations, and of course a pub quiz!”