TR Fastenings celebrates 40th birthday

Posted on 17 May 2013 by The Manufacturer

Global fastenings manufacturer TR Fastenings celebrates its 40th birthday this month and reveals ambitious future growth plans.

TR Fastenings supplies around 150 million components to customers worldwide every day.

It has seven global manufacturing centres in Asia and the UK and 500 assembly sites around the world.

Read more about TR Fastenings’ UK manufacturing in TM’s recent profile article.

The multi-million pound business has grown over the last 40 years both organically and through strategic acquisitions. In addition to its own-branded product ranges, TR Fastenings owns a number of prestigious world-class licences, including the Pozidriv® trademark for the UK, Pozi® in the EU and the MAThread® and Torx® licences, and now has the rights to manufacture the Philips Drive Systems.

Managing Director Geoff Budd, who joined the company in 1976, commented on the company milestone being celebrated this month: “TR Fastenings has evolved from a small local business into a leading manufacturer and supplier with a global presence, but we are never complacent. The energetic attitude and spirit of innovation at TR ensures we will continue to maintain our high standards of customer service and enables us to explore new opportunities and technologies.”

Growth at TR Fastenings has been particularly strong since the appointment of a new board in 2009.  Profits have grown for four consecutive years and are set to double by 2016.

Company Timeline

1973:       Company founded in Uckfield, East Sussex, by Mike Timms and Mike Roberts.

1976:       Manufacture of threaded sheet metal fasteners commences in Uckfield.

1980s:     Rapid expansion of company, with distribution sites established across UK, along with self-locking nut factory and a factory for turned parts and cold heading of screws.

1994:       TR Fastenings floats on the London Stock Exchange and is listed as Trifast PLC.

1990s:     Growth and profitability grow dramatically year on year, driven by TR Fastenings’ expertise in component logistics management directly on to the assembly lines of mainly multinational electronics customers. Company also invests heavily in Asia – with fastener manufacturing acquisitions in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan together with a distribution centre based in Shanghai, and distribution acquisitions in NW UK, S Ireland, Norway, USA and Sweden.

2000s:     TR Fastenings rides the storms of the Dotcom boom and crash, acquires Serco Ryan, a large UK fastener distributor in 2005, and by late 2009 has moved back into profit as the first stage of a three-year recovery plan put together by the new Board introduced in March 2009. The growth of financial performance and strength has continued consistently since, resulting in the ability to acquire the high-quality Malaysian-based manufacturer Power Steel in late 2011. This recent addition has broadened TR’s capacity in larger diameter cold-formed components that particularly meet the demands of the automotive sector, which now accounts for 30% of TR’s global revenue.

2013:       As TR Fastenings celebrates its 40th Anniversary in June 2013, the company continues from strength to strength, thanks to its dedicated and skilled management and staff, who now amount to 1,300 personnel working in 21 divisions across 15 countries within the three main global continents of Europe, Asia and the USA.