Global Fastener News

NIFS Inductees Darling & Werner Have 70 Years of Fastener Experience

John Wolz

Bruce Darling of Porteous Fastener Co. and Edward Werner of EZ Sockets Inc. will be inducted in the National Industrial Fastener Show “Hall of Fame.”
The NIFS luncheon will be Monday, May 1, 2006, in Columbus, OH, in conjunction with NIFS/East regional trade show.
Werner, president of EZ Sockets Inc., told FIN he was living in Las Vegas managing family-owned Weight Watchers franchises when he was “drafted” into the fastener industry in 1974 by his father-in-law, Isador “Izzy” Mintz, who was president of MSL’s Hunter Stevens division. Mintz first assigned Werner to warehouse duty in New Jersey.
Mintz handed “the old red IFI Standards” text to Werner to learn the fastener industry. Werner recalled studying the voluminous book while commuting by train to work until he commented to Mintz, who responded, “Oh, you only need the part on sockets.”
After advancing to inside sales and outside sales, Werner was sent to open a branch in the Atlanta market.
Mintz retired from Hunter Stevens in 1977 and in 1978 Werner and his wife Mildred Werner and Mintz opened EZ Sockets.
Today Springfield, NJ-based EZ Sockets supplies domestic and imported socket screw products to distributors from branches in the Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Portland and Southern California markets.
Werner said Mildred Werner also should have been inducted into the NIFS Hall of Fame. “We have been working together for 30 years” going back to Hunter Stevens.
Werner was one of the distributors and other industry leaders who traveled to Washington D.C. to visit congressional offices asking for help on the U.S. Fastener Quality Act.
Werner has been president of the former Hardware Square Club of Manhattan and the Metropolitan Fastener Distributors Association. He has spoken at conferences of numerous fastener associations.
Werner emphasized his role as the MFDA scholarship chair. “Association scholarship programs help fastener company employees and their children with one of the biggest financial obligations,” Werner explained. “We donate to the scholarship fund in every association we belong to. It affects us all in the future.”
Ed Werner can be contacted at: EZ Sockets, 5 Cornell Pkwy., Springfield, NJ 07081. Tel: 973 376-7130 Fax 973 376-7130 E-mail: ezsockets@juno.com Web: ezsockets.com

Darling, vice president/materials at Porteous, started his 38-year fastener career with Bosco Fastening Service Center, a subsidiary of RB&W (now known as ILS) in Dallas. During his 20 years at Bosco Darling held roles of increasing responsibility, including credit manager, chief accountant, director of systems and director of inventory control and purchasing.
In 1988 Darling joined Porteous as vice president of materials. During his Porteous tenure Darling has taken 30 trips abroad to make more than 1,200 visits to 400 factories and trading companies. Destinations include China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Most of the regional fastener associations have called on Darling to share his expertise with presentations including inventory control, technology, product pricing changes, the impact of China on the U.S. economy and steel pricing. He has been featured by the Western Association of Fastener Distributors seminars at the National Industrial Fastener Show.
Over the years Darling has observed and even participated in the fastener importing shifts from Japan and Korea to Taiwan and most recently to China.
During the U.S. Fastener Quality Act process of the 1990s he “encouraged factories to accept the challenge of the FQA and to achieve ISO accreditations for their operations and testing labs,” Darling recalled.
Using the Porteous mill sales volume, he “encouraged and pushed factories to raise the technical level of products they produce, thus making them less vulnerable as standard fasteners shift to another country,” Darling told FIN.
Bruce Darling can be contacted at: Porteous Fastener Company, 1040 Watson Center Rd., Carson,
CA 90745. Tel: 310 847-6776 Fax 310 835-0415 Email: bruced@porteousfastener.com Web: porteousfastener.com �2006 FastenerNews.com