ABSTRACT
If you are responsible for the selection of the fasteners of your products and assemblies, you face an industrial fastener market with a confounding variety of designs. Similarly, if you are responsible for developing the joining techniques and procedures, you are approaching a task that can have a profound effect on the market success of your company’s products versus its competitor’s offering as well as legal ramifications should your work be less than effective. And finally, to undertake the layout of an assembly process, be it a new design or the modification of an existing assembly process, the decision made can have a lasting impact on the growth or decline of your process. The outcome is dependent on the efficiency of the assembly process and fastening hardware.
