MC Fastening Solutions of Shelby Township, Michigan is a full-service supplier of nutrunners, hand tools, electro servo presses, and micro screwdrivers for automotive and other markets. As the North American distributor for Japanese industrial fastening tool manufacturer Daiichi Dentsu Ltd. (DDK), the company emphasizes quality, innovation, and customer care. Recently, it introduced a common controller and cable platform to make its already leading-edge products even more efficient and effective.
“We’re very excited in the sense that the controller and the cable will be the same for all three platforms,” states MC Fastening Solutions General Manager, Jeremy Crockett. “With competition being so tough these days, this gives us a great advantage.”
For anyone outside of the manufacturing world, nutrunners are power tools used to tighten bolts, screws, and nuts in industrial settings, with fixtured nutrunners for automated systems being the segment that brings in the most revenue at present. A servo press is a motor-driven, high-precision industrial press that generates force via a servomotor rather than a flywheel or hydraulic fluid.
MC Fastening Solutions is a division of MC Machinery Systems of Chicago, which itself is part of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corporation. MC Machinery Systems distributes and services Mitsubishi laser systems and electrical discharge machines across North America, and there is some overlap between MC Fastening Solutions and MC Machinery Systems in terms of accounting, information technology, and marketing. “Outside of that, we are 100 percent self-sustaining [in terms] of our products and solutions,” says Crockett with pride.
High-performance products
AFC3000 fixtured electric nutrunners are one of the company’s main product offerings. These feature advanced digital control technology and ensure angular feedback and precision motor position control. The high-performance, high-speed tools offer consistent, accurate fastening for clients in automotive assembly, general industry, or electronics manufacturing.
The company’s micro nutrunner systems offer excellent control and accuracy for low-torque applications and are well-suited for sectors in which precision is a prerequisite, such as assembling medical devices or manufacturing electronics. AFC3000 software enables simplified setup and monitoring capability while the eco-friendly design of micro nutrunner systems reduces noise, energy use, and maintenance needs.
MC Fastening Solutions’ HFC3000II handheld electric nutrunners, meanwhile, offer high performance and accuracy. Featuring leading-edge digital control technology, these lightweight, compact nutrunners fit in an operator’s hand. Their ergonomic design means they can be used for prolonged periods without inducing fatigue in operators.
The company’s DSP3000 electric servo press segment blends efficiency, accuracy, and low cost of ownership. These servo presses enhance productivity and flexibility, and are designed to handle myriad industry applications. Safety is maintained via an integrated safe torque off feature.
A platform in common
Now, the handheld nutrunners, servo presses, and fixed nutrunners from MC Fastening Solutions feature a common controller platform and cable. This common platform is a boon for “customers trying to create efficiencies in spare parts and off-the-shelf components,” says Crockett.
The new common controller platform/cable should prove particularly attractive for clients in automotive, a sector that “doesn’t lend itself to downtime. You need to have spare parts,” and automotive accounts for roughly half of the company’s business at present. Other markets served include medical, general industry, electronics, testing, defense, and energy.
The common platform is not the only new product at MS Fastening Solutions. Another recent enhancement is a new, patented anti-cross thread feature for nutrunners. “After you’ve damaged the threads, you’ve got to throw out your part. So, with us, we are doing active cross-thread detection,” Crockett explains.
Providing peace of mind
As to what makes MC Fastening Solutions stand out from the competition, Crockett says, “for me, it’s really peace of mind.” In addition to being extremely high-quality, the company’s products are robust, reliable, and long-lasting, while controller software is designed to be user-friendly. “You receive all the functionality and capability, so the licensing becomes simple. In some cases, with our competitors, you’re buying licenses and then that becomes a mess. We try to keep everything simple and plain in that regard.”
Programming and setup has been designed to be “more like an Android product than an Apple, in the sense [that] it’s a little bit more open-source,” he adds. “Our objective is to make a tool system that can provide intelligent data in a format that is accepted by many different protocols.”
The company’s products are intended to be “open-ended, so anybody can tap in and get the information they need” for manufacturing execution system compilation and analysis, he explains. This system is a software program that tracks, monitors, and collects data during a complete factory production process.
Quality, too, speaks for itself at MC Fastening Solutions. The company’s products are ISO compliant, and the firm holds Canadian Standards Association, UL Research Institutes, and TÜV—a German standards organization—certification. “All of our products are tested and certified [before being] delivered to our building. From there, we will do another check of the system, then put the system together, put a program in there to make sure everything is functional,” Crockett explains. “Everything gets double-checked before it leaves the facility.”
Service above all
MC Fastening Solutions has 12 employees, including Crockett, but punches way above its weight. Among these dozen staff members are product specialists and manufacturing, sales, and engineering personnel who can guide clients from a project proposal to production. MC’s small size actually works to the company’s advantage, in that it is able to provide hands-on customer support. Should a problem arise, clients can avail themselves of day-and-night phone support or send in their files for review by staff.
“We want to make sure our customers are self-sufficient on the product and they’re able to at least understand what’s going on,” says Crockett. “For me, customer service is the most important aspect of this business.”
Given the relatively small size of the team, Crockett looks for new hires with “attitude, drive, and passion” for the company’s products and solutions. “I believe that technical experience and knowledge can be developed over time; our product is intuitive enough. There’s a little bit of nuance as far as terminology goes, but the fundamentals are there, and everything is straightforward,” he says, noting that what the company requires “is someone who is able to anticipate the needs of the customer. That’s how we step beyond—by understanding their needs really, really well.”
As a small, lean organization, MC Fastening Solutions can also tweak software and products speedily to suit client needs without having to go through endless layers of corporate bureaucracy. “We are able to make changes to the product, to the software, quite quickly. We’re very responsive to customers,” says Crockett. “Having that adaptability and that flexibility, I think, offers great value to our customers.”
In spite of being relatively small, MC Fastening Solutions does much of its own promotion. The company is in the process of developing new how-to videos as part of its mission to make clients more comfortable with its products and confident about using them, says Crockett.
Looking ahead, he would like to see MC Fastening Solutions be “more of a player in the industry. I see growth in having more tools and more products. I would like to see, in five years, our figures double.” With its combination of advanced fastening technology, responsive customer support, and the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing client demands, the company appears well-positioned to achieve those ambitions. As manufacturers across industries continue to prioritize efficiency, reliability, and data-driven production, MC Fastening Solutions is intent on proving that even a lean organization can deliver world-class innovation and service.
