Acute lab shortage threatens fastener supply
Distributors who ignore consequences of FQA regs face risk
By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 6/1/1998
Many distributors expected implementing the Fastener Quality Act would be a big headache. The aching has already begun because of a shortage of accredited labs needed to conduct the required testing.While the FQA's implementation date was delayed until July 26 to allow for more labs to become accredited, many distributors and manufacturers say the shortage of certified labs is severe enough to disrupt a continuous supply to OEMs. Industry leaders warn that distributors and suppliers who have ignored the requirements face a huge risk.
"That's the single most important thing today because until that's fixed you will see continued disruption,'' says Robert Harris, managing director of the Industrial Fasteners Institute. "It takes just one company making one part that's sole source that can't be delivered, because (it) can't find lab capacity, to seriously disrupt'' the supply chain.
Harris and other industry officials expect less than 300 labs certified by the National Institute for Standards and Technology will be up and running by July's end, far less than the 425 that federal regulators anticipated needing. The industry seeks about 550 accredited labs. Congress passed the FQA in 1990 to prevent the sale of dangerous, poorly made nuts, bolts and rivets in the United States.
Distributors who are supplied by smaller, niche manufacturers may feel the shortage most. Many manufacturers have their own testing facility and larger suppliers are ISO 9000 or QS 9000 certified, which will allow them to operate under the quality assurance provision of the law, says Bill Derry, president of the National Fastener Distributors Assn. and of Field Fastener Supply in Rockford, Ill. But distributors who rely on smaller suppliers that are not certified should be checking on their suppliers' contingency plans for metallurgical and dimensional inspections, he says. By now, distributors should have a formal FQA implementation plan.
The boom may fall soon on distributors who haven't done so, Derry and others warn.
"The reality of it is they (niche manufacturers) will be in a position to say I just can't supply this product to meet FQA,'' Derry says. "There is no way they'll be able to get it out. They'll have parts sitting on the shop floor."
Derry believes some distributors like mill supply houses who are not fastener specialists may not know the full implications of the law. Others still try to avoid it after nearly a decade of industry wrangling with federal regulators.
"I think these two groups - those who are ignorant and those who choose to ignore it -- are going to have a rude awakening on July 27,'' Derry says.
Dave Merrifield, executive director of the National Fastener Distributors Assn., predicts there will be delays in the supply chain. Many labs are in various stages of development and accreditation may take up to a year.
Other industry leaders urge distributors to educate end-users about the FQA. Nancy Rich, executive director of the industry's public law task force and the Fastener Industry Coalition, fears that starting on July 26, customers will make orders for FQA-compliant goods only. Distributors should tell them that the inspection standards and specifications before and after that date are the same.
The only difference is "because it was manufactured before the implementation date you can't call it FQA compliant, and you need to tell people that," Rich says.
Meanwhile, the task force, which continues to address outstanding issues with government regulators, says the final FQA regulations did not answer many questions. Among them:
* Lot number. Preambles to the regulations require both the original manufacturer lot number and distributor's trace number.
* Definition of grandfathered product.
* Meaning of "accompany'' for imported product paperwork.
* Definition of fastener. (Unclear in terms of what an indirect reference to a standard means.)
* Private label distribution.
* Status of the questions and answers from previous workshops.
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