Alcoa Fastening Systems can link two foreign hardware parts together into a strong, unshakable and unbreakable friendly bond.One great connection has emerged as the most potent factor in fastening sheet metals / plates together in a majority of industrial applications across the world. This is what Alcoa Fastening Systems is, a $1.1bn business unit of Alcoa Inc. and the market leader in the design and manufacture of precision fasteners, fastening systems, and assembly tooling.
Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary and fabricated aluminium, and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry, with a global turnover of around US$18.43 Billion in 2009. Alcoa is Based out of Pittsburg USA and serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production, and other capabilities of Alcoa’s businesses to customers. The company has been named one of the top most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for seven consecutive years.
AFS in India
Alcoa Fastening Systems (AFS), the globally renowned engineering business unit of Alcoa Inc., has operations throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and India, with subsidiary offices in many other countries and authorized AFS distributors in many of the world’s industrial centers, providing a ready source of fasteners, installation tools, tool parts, and application assistance.
The company is now bringing it’s reputed and wide-ranging fastening technologies and expertise in India too. AFS offers ultimate fastening solutions through its subsidiary, Alcoa India Pvt. Ltd. which caters to the industrial customers in India. The company currently has a significant presence in the Eastern part of India, with it’s major share of the business coming from the Indian Railways and freight car wagon builders.
AFS is however spreading its strong fledgling wings to other segments in the country including Commercial Vehicles, in the coming months with significant developmental work being already done with almost all the major CV majors.
Products & ApplicationAlcoa Fastening Systems offers over a century of experience creating innovative fastener products and solutions, serving the commercial transportation, automotive, industrial, and construction markets. Their fasteners and installation tooling are used to assemble everything from trucks and truck trailers, buses, railcars, and automobiles to HVAC equipment, satellite dishes, electronic cabinetry and shopping carts. Their extensive product line includes blind rivets, blind bolts, lockbolts, and a full line of pneudraulic and hydraulic tooling and installation equipment.
Apart from the widely acclaimed brand Huck, one of the most advanced high strength structural fasteners in the world today, AFS also produces the installation tooling to combine with the fasteners to deliver a high quality fastening system solution. The system has been developed to allow low skilled operators to become proficient with only 30mins of training.
Adds Mr. Suvendu Ghosh, General Manager - Sales, India: “Alcoa Fastening Systems are the most specialized engineering, highest quality, outstanding value, and greatest breadth and depth of fastening system solutions in the industry.’’
From heavy-duty trucks and trailers to automobiles, boats, and even shopping carts, Huck fasteners provide permanent clamp performance plus easy installation and inspection. Huck fastening systems include both the fasteners themselves and the tools used to install them, ensuring maximum productivity in any application.
Huck LockBolt and structural blind fasteners are designed to provide permanent, vibration-resistant, superior-quality joining solutions for use in industrial applications. Each Huck fastener has its own unique characteristics ensuring that there is a product for every application.
Because Huck fasteners offer relatively high tensile, shear and clamp properties they are suited to applications where the joints are integral to the structure. Offering a clean and safe alternative to welding and a more efficient fastening method than standard nuts and bolts, Huck fasteners offer benefits which other fastening methods cannot, including quick and easy installation, elimination of re-checking / replacement, and ultimately cost reductions.
Alcoa Fastening Systems are constantly trying to develop new Huck products to meet the diverse and changing customer requirements. The most recent addition to the Huck range is the Huck BobTail, which offers superior performance combined with reduced noise, increased speed and elimination of pintails as well as more efficient and lighter tooling.Huck fastening systems deliver a number of important benefits, making them the worldwide leader.
• Easy to use – consistent accuracy with little operator training required.
• High productivity – reducing installation time by 25% to 50%.
• Reduced QC procedures – a visual inspection is sufficient to verify a correct installation.
• Consistent high-clamp performance – typically much higher than with conventional fasteners.
• Durability – extremely high clamp force retention, with 10% to 20% greater fatigue life than conventional threaded fasteners
These strengths combined with Alcoa’s long-standing leadership, commitment to excellence and high end Research & Development capabilities makes Alcoa Fastening Systems the best choice to answer the Industrial fastening system needs. Huck fasteners solve the problems associated with extreme stress and vibration between adjoining materials. They provide strength and facilitate lighter, stronger, more durable structures. Today the product range based on Lou Huck’s original drawing of the first lock-bolt from 50 years ago, now known as a HuckBolt, has evolved to include small and large diameter lock-bolts, medium and heavy duty blind rivets and accompanying installation tooling.
