Fastener Industry Professionals: How to Drive Growth Through Innovation?
Innovation is the driving engine of social and industrial progress. Without it, both social and industrial development would stagnate. The fastener industry is no exception.
Many believe innovation is a difficult process of creating something from nothing. But it isn’t. Innovation is driven by demand, and demand is everywhere, constantly with us.
The history of fasteners dates back hundreds, even thousands of years. Early nails, made from wood or bamboo, emerged from the need to join wooden furniture or buildings. As the demand for greater strength grew, metal nails came into use.
Around the mid-15th century, with the invention of the printing press, there was a need to apply uniform pressure to a typeset plate. The iron screw, capable of generating immense axial pressure and allowing for repeated loosening and tightening, was created as a fastener and pressure device. Over time, the drive for interchangeability led to standardization and systemization, gradually evolving into the modern fastener industry.
Here are a few examples of innovation in the fastener industry and their origins:
| Case | Challenge Faced | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Blind Rivet | In aircraft manufacturing, traditional solid rivets required two workers: one using a pneumatic hammer on one side, and another supporting the rivet on the opposite side. However, in enclosed fuselage or wing structures, it was often impossible to accommodate two workers at once. | The innovation of blind rivets, which allowed a single worker to perform riveting from one side only, greatly improving assembly efficiency. |
| Flange Nut | Traditional designs using flat washers and spring washers had drawbacks such as excessive part count, complicated assembly, and insufficient resistance to loosening and vibration. | Flange nuts addressed these issues by using serrated faces for anti-loosening and vibration resistance, enlarging the contact surface to protect components, and simplifying assembly. This innovation was the result of continuous refinements made by generations of engineers and workers. |
| Threaded Insert | In low-hardness materials such as aluminum alloys or wood, direct use of steel screws often damaged the substrate under load, leading to loosening. | Thread inserts provided a harder sleeve in which screws could be tightened. The insert expanded under load, creating strong static friction with the base material and effectively preventing loosening. |
Society moves forward, and so does innovation. Even in our highly developed industrial society, fastener professionals must keep innovating. Fastener inspection machines never stop innovating.
Evolution of Fasteners Inspection Machine
To ensure that 100% of fasteners are qualified before being delivered to the customer, the innovation of using machine vision to replace manual sorting began around the year 2000. Industrial cameras capture surface dimensions and defect information of fasteners. Using rule-based algorithms, the computer compares and analyzes the images to determine whether the product is qualified. This type of machine not only reduces the need for manual inspectors but also provides more objective and accurate results via automated logging.
In recent years, industries have increasingly demanded higher quality standards, requiring greater precision and complex defect inspection. Consequently, some manufacturers have introduced AI algorithms capable of detecting defects as small as 10 microns.
Openex is among the first in the fastener vision inspection machine manufacturers to successfully apply AI algorithms to meet customer needs.
In addition, since customers often struggle to provide a large number of defect samples at the start, Openex have integrated cutting-edge large language models for few-shot learning in our fastener vision inspection systems, reducing the required number of defect samples by approximately two-thirds.
In 2024, to better demonstrate our inspection capabilities to clients at international exhibitions, Openex designed a portable vision inspection device. This device can be miniaturized to fit inside a 28-inch wheeled suitcase, making it convenient for travel. Once unpacked, it could be used directly to demonstrate the principles and performance of our vision inspection system.
Thus, where there is a need, there is innovation.
Please feel free to contact Openex for any inquiries.
