Insight

A review and preview of the global fastener industry

A wide cross section of global fastener business leaders have contributed their retrospective of 2015 and thoughts on the prospects and challenges for 2016. We asked them to consider not just economic and financial issues but also technology drivers for the fastener industry and to identify priorities for the upcoming year. Here is Hilti Group's article:

Hilti Group
Marc Schäffer, head of anchor development

Despite challenges brought on by unpredictable currency exchange rates and a volatile market, Hilti successfully maneuvered through a stormy 2015. We managed global customer needs and requirements efficiently, thanks to our well balanced company structure and our global footprint in major regions of the world.

We’ve learned in the past that a broad and strong portfolio of products, hand in hand with services and software solutions, are a key pillar for success. This was especially true in 2015 for Hilti’s Anchors Business Unit, a leader in mechanical anchors and a major player in the pre-installed segment with anchor channels and internal threaded inlays, as well as in the post-installed segment with traditional mechanical anchors.

As pioneers in basic and applied research in fastening technology, we continued in 2015 to invest a significant portion studying the behaviour of anchors under various conditions. From a product development perspective, we focused on providing innovative solutions that addressed a wide array of customer requirements and needs, such as installations in seismic zones, cracked concrete, as well as uncracked concrete.

Hilti took a giant leap forward in 2014 with the game changing HUS3 – the world’s first screw anchor featuring a tested and approved adjustability process while delivering up to 30% higher design resistances than metal expansion anchors. HUS3 transfers tensile loads via the same mechanical interlock principle used by cast-in headed anchors, undercut anchors and cast-in place rebars. The highly loaded concrete consoles in the region of the optimised HUS3’s thread increases the original concrete compression strength, resulting in highest loads, even in low strength concrete. With the HUS3, a screw anchor – for the first time ever – outperformed a stud anchor.

In 2016 we will build on the success of the Hilti HST stud anchor and extend our role as leaders in this space with the new HST3. First introduced in 1997, HST was the first metal expansion anchor to carry an ETA for cracked concrete. HST3 is the approved solution for an impressively wide range of applications and conditions under static, seismic and shock loading and delivers the highest tension and shear resistance. The HST3’s innovative features work in perfect harmony to meet challenging design requirements in varying concrete strengths (C12/15 to C80/95). HST3 fits every safety relevant design condition imaginable. Simply put, if it can’t be designed with Hilti HST3, then it can’t be designed with an expansion anchor.

In addition to superior product performance, our customers are looking for added value, and here, Hilti will continue to deliver in spades. Services like on-site testing in combination with our PROFIS software, will allow our customers to get much more out of given anchor and base material circumstances. It’s exciting to see our development teams progress in this field, and I’m looking forward to see how we can further push the limits of mechanical anchors.