Industries at large have been affected due to Covid 19 pandemic. It is expected to drive demand for automation and digitalisation. Manufacturing of components will see a new change within the fasteners too. New technologies will be deployed to manufacture efficiently and within a limited resource atleast for a year from now. This article takes a close look at the new technologies that will make fastener manufacturing efficient.

The Indian market is undergoing a transition from manufacturing standard metal products to producing superior quality plastic and specialty fasteners to meet the rising demand for application-specific products. Fluctuating raw material prices, intense market competition post-Covid 19, and subsequent price war are expected to hamper profit margins for industry.

The Indian industrial fasteners market size was estimated at USD 31.22 billion in 2017. The product plays a vital role in most major industries, including automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, and industrial machinery. The rapid growth of these industries on account of increasing mechanization in residential and industrial construction is expected to propel product demand.

The market is undergoing a transition from manufacturing standard metal products to producing superior quality plastic and specialty fasteners to meet the rising demand for application-specific products. Fluctuating raw material prices, intense market competition, and subsequent price war are expected to hamper profit margins for industry players.

India is one of the top 20 industrial fastener-importing countries in the world, accounting for a share of 1.5 per cent in global imports. Major players from developed countries like the USA, Germany, UK, and France are inclined toward investing in India owing to favourable market conditions, untapped customer base, and lucrative opportunities.

Asia Pacific has been a key exporter, with China, Taiwan, and Japan emerging as leading manufacturing countries. The market presents low barriers to new entrants in terms of technology and raw material supply. However, these players face the challenge of sustaining in a highly competitive environment formed by well-established existing players with a large customer base.

The selection of appropriate raw material is an essential factor for manufacturers, as the product needs to comply with standards including SAE, JIS, ISO, ASTM, and ASME. Furthermore, players are prone to compensation for accidents attributable to fasteners, especially in automotive and aerospace applications. Thus, product quality is an essential factor for industry players.

Miniature fasteners is one of the latest trends in the industry. Compact designs, structural requirements, installed hardware, and restriction in the area available are factors that favour this trend. Smaller sized products fit easily in the area and facilitate the equipment to work effectively particularly in electronics, aerospace, and marine applications.

Inserts with external threads, helical inserts, press-inserts, twist-resistant press-fits, heat-set inserts, screws, magnets, blind rivets, grooved clevis pins, thread-forming screws, thread-cutting screws, captive nuts, and overprinted captive nuts. 

Such a technology can be useful in automotive manufacturing plants where it requires extensive usage of automotive. “Imagine if a company is manufacturing its own fasteners, it can connect it to its automation workflow and whenever required, the workflow could activate 3D printer to manufacture fasteners to maintain inventory, based on the requirement,” states Ajay Deshkar, CEO, 3D Engineering Automation LLP.

Moreover, the fasteners can be manufactured using two different materials in a single screw or a nut, thread, or non-thread can be effectively managed. Deshkar added, “With 3D printing potential is immense. 3D printing may help to even manufacture speciality components that were never imagined. Imagine a bolt having a free space in between, a twisting bolt for peculiar parts and usage.”

The metal segment in the fastener market has dominated the industry for long which once accounted for a share of 90 per cent of the overall market. However, the product is expected to witness sluggish growth as compared to its other counterpart owing to the increasing penetration of plastic fasteners in applications such as aerospace and automotive. This is on account of their high corrosion resistance and lightweight characteristics by the latter.

Metal fasteners offer greater mechanical strength and are less susceptible to harsh conditions such as extreme temperature and pressure. However, they tend to corrode when exposed to water, which hampers their performance and durability, especially in applications such as home appliances.

The plastic fasteners segment is likely to exhibit a CAGR of 9 per cent till 2025, on account of their rising application scope in the automotive industry, some of them being EV and electronics components. Application of these products in automotive manufacturing reduces overall vehicle production cost and weight, thereby improving performance and reducing the carbon footprint.

Lightweight, excellent moisture resistance, and chemical inertia offered by plastic fasteners is likely to propel their demand in electronics and automotive applications. However, the metal variants are likely to retain their larger share on account of their superior impact resistance and ductility, which is an essential factor for industries such as railways, industrial machinery, and shipbuilding.

Externally threaded products, including bolts and screws, accounted for over 50 per cent of the overall market in some years ago. Even today, they are relevant and these products are considered a fundamental component in several structural and non-structural applications and high demand for automotive, electronics, shipbuilding, railway, and heavy equipment manufacturing industries.

Internally threaded fasteners primarily include nuts and inserts. These products are generally used in combination with bolts to stack two or more parts of the structure together. Commercially, there are several product types available in the market, such as cap nuts, hex finish nuts, flange serrated nuts, square nuts, T-nuts, tri-groove nuts, and wing nuts.

Non-threaded fasteners include pins, washers, rivets, hooks, grommets, O-rings, and cable ties. This segment is likely to expand at a CAGR of 3 per cent till 2025. They are primarily used for cable management and wire harnessing in automotive and construction applications. The segment is expected to witness high demand owing to the products’ low cost and lightweight.

Aerospace grade fasteners are classified as a separate grade from their industrial counterparts owing to their high quality, performance, raw material, price, and other technical specifications. The aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) segment primarily determines demand for these fasteners in Asia Pacific as the region has a limited aircraft manufacturing base compared to its maintenance capabilities.

Demand for automotive fasteners in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0 per cent before Covid 19 was expected somewhere between 8-10 per cent. The Government of India’s Automotive Mission Plan 2016-2026 (AMP 2026) to foster the growth of the automobile industry, which in turn, was expected to have a positive impact on the market for automotive fasteners has slowed its pace due to slowdown and further Covid 19. 

“The automotive application accounted for around 35 to 40 per cent of the overall fastener market. In the automotive industry, it is used for bonding and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) control. Plastic, especially nylon fasteners, are expected to witness the highest growth in this application on account of lightweight, high corrosion resistance, high thermal, and electrical insulation properties,” educates Narinder Singh, President, Fastener Manufacturers Association of India, Ludhiana.

Aerospace is expected to be the fastest-growing application segment in the Asia Pacific industrial fasteners. The most commonly used raw materials for manufacturing these products include stainless steel, alloy steel, Ti-alloys, and aluminium alloys. At present, titanium and aluminium alloy dominate the market for aerospace-grade fasteners.