2007 National Industrial Fastener Show West Rounded Off in Las Vegas

Celebrating its 11th anniversary in 2007, the National Industrial Fastener Show West opened November 13-14 in Las Vegas for the first time and rounded off with a record number of 684 companies from around the world.

The show, held annually in the U.S., has been one of the world's most typical and largest exhibitions for the industry that turns out industrial-grade fasteners, and built a solid name by displaying an enormous range of fasteners and related goods and services.

The 2007 show, occupying an exhibition space of 83,000 net square feet, was located at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and attracted a total of 5,620 persons and 684 companies throughout the U.S. and from foreign countries, including Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, China, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, filling 829 booths at the show.

Noteworthy is that of the 684 companies, 154 were applying to exhibit products at the show for the first time, providing even more sources for overseas buyers to procure all sorts of fasteners and related products and services, according to Susan A. Hurley, the show manager.

Besides, according to statistics compiled by the show management, the registered attendees of the 2007 show included 2,820 fastener distributors, importers, sales agents and representatives of manufacturers, and other professional buyers, with distributors accounting for the largest portion of 1,577 persons, up 2.3% from 2006's show.

A wide range of fastener products were exhibited at the show, including screws, nuts, washers, pins, anchor screws and other customized fasteners for special applications, and related production machines, specialized moulds, gauges and clamping devices, testing equipment, springs and automotive parts. Also, such essential machinery as molding machines, screw heading machines, tapping machines and heat treatment machines were placed in special display sections so as to draw attention from buyers and interested parties.

Most know that Vegas is one of the most high-profile recreational areas in North America with highly publicized, gigantic thematic hotels, located within minutes of infamous Death Valley, so visitors to the 2007 National Industrial Fastener Show had easy access to all kinds of leisure activities and tour packages. So it was very convenient to mix business with pleasure during or after the two-day trade show. For example, the Fastener Industry Open Golf Tournament was held on Nov. 11 at the Stallion Mountain Country Club, drawing 36 golfers who competed in a 4-person scramble format.

In addition, the show management invited the IFI and NFDA Fastener Industry Educational Group (FIEG) to host a complimentary breakfast program on Wednesday morning, November 14. The group addressed a series of quality problems that are often seen in all kinds of products outsourced from suppliers in the Far East and offered advice, guidelines to insiders of the sector-aiming to prevent such issues from exasperating and offering suggestions for improvement.

"We applaud the IFI and NFDA for their proactive position on this critical issue and are delighted that we could use the National Industrial Fastener Show/West as the forum for discussion", said Show Management spokespersons Jim Bannister and Mike McGuire.

To add a touch of globalization, not just talk, to the show-enabling anytime access to the Internet if so desired by the businesspeople, the show management set up a six-station Internet Cafe at the exhibition hall, which was sponsored by the Canadian-based Infastgroupe Distribution and proved to be a huge hit with the attendees, according to Susan Hurley.

As Taiwan's leading export media for hardware makers, CENS (China Economic New Service) manned booth No.162, doing its usual best to live up to its long-standing corporate goal-engaging in a variety of tasks to help foreign buyers of fasteners, products and services, making their jobs easier. CENS's booth was keeping abuzz with discussion and inquiries for Taiwanese suppliers of this kind, indicative of buyers' intense interest in products made in Taiwan.

Backed by the sunny weather, friendly atmosphere, world-class venue and recreational resources, and unequalled professionalism, the organizer of the 12th annual National Industrial Fastener Show West expects to draw plenty of eager businesspeople, insiders of the fastener industry through its doors from November 2-4, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas; while all signs show that the event is expected to become one of the world's most successful and largest of its kind soon.