Insight

Andreas Bertaggia, vice-president, head of global supply chain of Bossard Group, was announced as the new president of EFDA at the association’s May conference – replacing Volker Lederer who stepped down after 10 years. Content Director Will Lowry spoke to Andreas to find out why he decided to take on the presidency and EFDA’s plans for the future.

You’ve been confirmed as the new president of EFDA. What made you decide to accept the role?

“I decided to take on the role due to the people in the member companies and who work within EFDA. Even though we are sometimes competitors, I always have the feeling that we are more or less the same type of people – who understand the fastener business in every little aspect, who are down to earth, hands on and hard working.

We have some very remarkable people in our group who have an extraordinary knowledge, experience and understanding. All this creates a very positive atmosphere and contributes to a common understanding that at the end of the day we all have the same challenges to face and problems to overcome and that there is no better way than sharing and discussing these issues under the roof of EFDA.

Beside that I believe the role of EFDA has gained a significant importance among our industry in representing the interests of European fastener distributors regarding any issues our industry is facing. EFDA is giving distributors a voice.

More than 2,500 major European fastener distributors ensure that the right fastener is at the right place at the right time – thus contributing to the global success of the products produced by the European industry. I mean what would the world do if there were no fasteners?

It is for me an honour to be the representative of the fastener distributors across Europe and to defend their interests and stand for them against all odds.”

What are your thoughts on the association and how it has developed over recent years?

“During the last 15 years EFDA has developed extremely in its professionalism and power, which has not only been recognised by our members, but by other involved parties. This has led to a very positive development in the EFDA membership, with increasing numbers of member associations and companies from across Europe. I would also like to mention the work of our Secretary General Alexander Kolodzik who is guiding the association on a very high professional level.

EFDA has become the central coordinator and voice for our industry representing our interests, and defending them if needed, when it comes to all major political issues; pieces of legislation; and technical guidelines issued by the various bodies at EU level. Furthermore, EFDA provides its member associations and direct company members with the latest updates, information and news on trade defence policy or other issues concerning the supply chain.

A prime example of how EFDA works is how its members were able to handle the recent anti-dumping investigation. EFDA and its team of highly-qualified legal and technical experts guided their members through this difficult period. Providing them with as much information and orientation as possible – so that they could act in the best possible way.”

As president what are the main topics you will focus on going forward? What plans does EFDA have as an association?

For the purpose of successfully representing the common interests of the European fastener distributors, it will be important to make EFDA’s voice even more present and stronger to all stakeholders than it already is.

There must be no doubt that protectionist measures by the EU or other global political forces are wrong. Especially in times where free trade is no longer a self-evident goal of many political actors around the world. It will be a priority under my presidency to ensure that EFDA continues to be the unmissable voice within the EU fastener industry – which stands up for free trade.

In addition to EFDA's outward-facing activities, the association offers important services to its members. We will work even more successfully to ensure that EFDA is perceived as ‘THE’ point of contact for its members when it comes to politics, legislation, technical information and networking.

Apart from several internal meetings of EFDA, we are planning to be present again with a stand at the Fastener Fair Global held in March 2023 in Stuttgart. The next European Fastener Distribution is also scheduled for 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. EFDA will have its 25^th anniversary by that time, and I think as the ‘capital’ of the EU, Brussels is the right place for a European association to hold the jubilee festivities.”

You previously mentioned the anti-dumping duties that have been announced on certain iron/steel fasteners from China. What are EFDA’s thoughts on the duties? How have your members been impacted?

“With rates up to 86.5% the duties have hit our industry hard in times where European fasteners distributors were already struggling to overcome many difficult challenges. One impact of the duties is that they contribute to an already existing inflation of prices.

EFDA has always opposed the anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese fasteners imposed by the European Commission. We are glad that we could avoid the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties in summer 2021 – this saving time and money for our members, but we are still convinced that the anti-dumping regulation is violating the law in many aspects. However, from our experience, as an interested party in the anti-dumping investigation, we are convinced that the European Commission has no intention to make any changes to the measures or to suspend them.

We are monitoring the situation very closely, which poses problems in two respects because of the inappropriately high level of the duties and the different duty levels. As I said, these tariffs are very vulnerable and will also be judicially challenged from different sides. For the time being, we as an association will continue to support our members to answer questions on the practical application of the anti-dumping regulation and to clear up ambiguities.

We will also play a major role to inform the fastener market about the risks and consequences of circumvention. With the current anti-dumping regulation, an importer can not only become involved in circumvention by mistakenly sourcing Chinese fasteners via third countries, but also by mistakenly importing from a Chinese producer at a reduced duty rate – if the reduced rate does not apply to that company. We will not let up in educating market participants about these risks so that importers do not fall into traps.”

With all the market challenges of the last two years, has it underlined the importance of distribution within the market? How do you see the role of fastener distributors developing in the future?

“I think the past two years has undoubtedly underlined the importance of distribution, because it is exactly when there are issues in the supply chain that distributors, with their assortment and inventory, play a major role in providing a ‘buffer’ between OEM manufacturers and fastener manufacturers. Those distributor companies with stock were in a strong position over the last two years to meet customers answers and needs.

Going forward, I believe that distributors will play an even more important role in the future in terms of product availability, sustainability, shorter lead times, and the re-localisation of supply chains. What I see is that these aspects discussed and promoted in society and by private consumers become relevant also to our industry. All these issues will sooner or later affect our business and we will need to adapt to the new situation.”

What do you see as being the big trends for the fastener industry? How can your members benefit from these trends?

“What I can see in the short run is that the trend of globalisation has reached a certain limit. In fact, there are now trends towards so-called de-globalisation – with each continent having its own supply chain network in its region. The pandemic and the geo-political situation are forcing every company to re-think how it can procure and secure its supply.

The current political situation also fosters a separation of the Western world and autocratic governments. We have all seen during the last two years how vulnerable our high tuned global supply chain can be.

European fastener businesses currently have to cope with anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese iron and steel fasteners; overseas factories are running at full capacity with very long lead-times; the costs for logistics services has dramatically increased while the services are not less reliable. All these factors could lead to the assessment that sourcing goods with shorter distances is wiser, even at higher costs.

Another upcoming trend is the Environmental Social Governance (ESG), which requires an ever-increasing need for qualifying a company as a supplier. This is what our societies and politics want. In the long run those companies that do not comply to these requirements risk getting kicked out of business in the supplier evaluation processes of the big multinational corporations.  

From my 20 years within the fastener industry there is one thing you can be sure of and that is it is never boring. I thought I had seen everything before 2020, but here we are two years later– with the container shortages, disrupted supply chain’s, increasing raw material prices and other impacts of the pandemic, as well as the consequences of the tragical war in the Ukraine. It has made me realise that in this industry you can never be sure what is going to happen and I have decided that I will never say again that ‘I have seen it all’…”