There are a couple of encouraging trends for the fastener market which will probably not come as news to you, but are worth pointing out nonetheless.

Firstly, there is the growing use of wood in construction. While wood has been used in construction since Noah first got into boat building, there has been a recent upswing in demand for construction wood screws in building projects in Europe, not least due to the demand for sustainable and recyclable materials, even in large scale projects. All of which is great news for wood fastener manufacturers, distributors and merchants.

The other trend is in the automotive market. The sector is undergoing a period of significant upheaval, with diesel’s contrasting fortunes, autonomous vehicles and the shift from the combustion engine to hybrid and electric cars. EFDA President Dr Volker Lederer made the point that electric cars require more fasteners (perhaps three times more) at the Global Fastener Summit at Taiwan’s International Fastener Show and coincidentally the point was mirrored in Bulten’s Q1 2018 report, which includes the statement: “The development toward more hybrid and electric cars works in our favour, as more fasteners will be needed for each car due to new materials and powertrains.”

Both of these trends neatly tie into this May edition of Torque Magazine, where we have a feature on wood screws and on automotive fasteners & tools, not to mention our preview of Automechanika Birmingham. Please follow the links to read more about those.

Before I sign off, you may have noticed that we have revamped the look and feel of Torque’s enhanced digital magazine. The change comes 18 months since we first launched our enhanced digital magazine. It’s still responsive, it still features videos and pictures, it’s still in 3 languages but it’s a bit sleeker, and looks even better on mobile. We’re always looking for ways to improve what we do, so any comments will be very welcome. Please send them to Jonathon@torque-expo.com

Thanks for reading!

Jonathon Harker

Editor