Mid-West Fastener Association

The Best Week In The Industry

Meet us in the heart of the Fastener Industry for a week of awesome events. There’s the saying “Something for everyone” but this is the case of “Lots for everyone!”

August 20th - the week will open with a Sleep in Heavenly Peace Bed Build. Abbott Interfast , in Wheeling, IL will be hosting this event. The goal is to build 90 beds helping local children who currently do not have a bed. The first bed build was held last year and proved to be a fun and gratifying experience for everyone participating. After a morning of building Brighton-Best Int’l will sponsor Cheesie’s Food Truck providing lunch and BTM Mfg. will sponsor Kona Shave Ice.

August 21st - industry personnel will have the chance to visit local fastener companies offering Open Houses and Plant Tours. This is not only a great time to meet the staff at these companies, but it can also be used as an education tool. Bring your new employees, let them see how the industry operates.

The Lincolnshire Marriott Resort will host many of the events including on August 22nd, a Basic Print Reading Seminar (a must if you want to be more knowledgeable on your job), the 41st MWFA Fastener Show (you’ll meet new suppliers, revisit your current suppliers, meet buyers, source new products and more all in one afternoon-in one place), Retro 80s Fastener Bash Dress the part and you may win a prize! »»

If only I had some topics to discuss with you all…just kidding!

Before I dive into what lies ahead for the MWFA, let’s take a quick minute and reflect on our past six months together: Joint Meeting with NASF at Putt Shack, Fascination with Fasteners, Wine Tasting, Essentials of Metallurgy and our annual Screwed Up Open Golf Outing. Heck, I did not even mention our new traveling pop-up happy hours, rightfully named “Nuts and Brews”. All the while, the board pressed on with its search to find a new executive

Mwfa Welcomes New Members

MWFA would like to welcome the following new members to the Association, we thank you for your support.

» Packer Fastener, Green Bay, WI

» Carver Engineering & Mfg. and Carver Labs, El Cajon, CA

» Chicago Industrial Fasteners, West Chicago, IL

» Davies Molding, C arol Stream, IL director, which I can proudly say resulted in the MWFA board hiring Francesca Lewis!

Our Board is looking forward to working with Francesca and I know she will benefit immensely from working side by side with Nancy for the reminder of the year. Francesca is very excited to get started and our board is equally as excited to introduce her to all of our members. Be on the lookout for Francesca and give her a warm welcome to the MWFA! I would be remiss if I did not mention the board’s search committee during this entire process. There were many additional hours dedicated to finding the right fit for our association, and I am very grateful to all of the committee members for their hard work.

Finally, our signature event, FSTNR Week 2023, is only weeks away. In my opinion, our MWFA FSTNR week has become the “can’t miss event” within our entire fastener industry. From the unofficial start with the Rugged Maniac race on Saturday, August 19th to the MWFA Mixer on Thursday, August 24th, the entire week is jam packed with excellent opportunities for both distributors and suppliers. I hope you will make note of all that the MWFA has planned for the week and schedule some time to come hang out with your fastener friends. Also, don’t forget your Members Only jacket for our Retro 80’s Fastener Bash! As you can see, the MWFA has been very busy so far and we are not even thinking about slowing down. I know the entire board is very excited about what we have coming up for the second half of 2023. I cannot wait to see all of you during FSTNR week and, as always, I thank you for your continued support of the MWFA!

God Bless,

2023 Board Of Directors

President

Vice President

Treasurer

Secretary

Directors

Jake Davis - BTM Manufacturing

Jill Lewis - Integrated Packaging

Bob Baer - Abbott Interfast Inc.

Bobby Wegner - Beacon Fasteners and Components

Glen Brin - Innovative Components Inc.

Rich Cavoto - Metric & Multistandard Components

Matt Delawder - SWD Inc.

David Gawlik - Stelfast, Inc.

George Hunt III - Brighton Best International Alternates

Administrator

Executive Director

Tabitha Herbst - Burlington Graphic Systems

Jen Kushnir - DLP Coatings

Steve Urhausen - All American Systems

Wayne Wishnew - XL Screw Corporation

Nancy Rich

Francesca Lewis