The Great Lakes Fasteners Group has acquired Connection Service Company of Benton Harbor, Michigan, continuing its rapid growth plans serving manufacturers in the greater Midwest region.
Founded in 1987 by Richard W. Adent, Connection Service Company has been a pillar in the southwest Michigan region serving a variety of customers from large manufacturers to small service companies. Now led by his son, Richard “Todd” Adent, Connection Service continues to grow by providing standard, metric, and special fasteners to print.
In addition, Connection Service is a boutique manufacturer of standard and special U-bolts, threaded rods, and special threaded studs.
“Kevin and I tried to join forces 10 years ago as we clearly saw a connection (pun intended), but the timing just was not right,” said Todd Adent. “All of us at Connection Service are looking forward to bringing our two families together, as we are both hard-working organizations driven to deliver quality service, a vast array of products and be the value leader for our customers.”
The Great Lakes Fastener Group is a full-line fastener distribution and manufacturing company that offers its clients a comprehensive portfolio of standard, metric and made-to-print fasteners, packaging services and innovative inventory solutions. The group maintains a quality management system to the ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100 standard.
Connection Service will join forces with the fastener distribution group formed by Kevin Weidinger, owner of the portfolio. The group operates Great Lakes Fasteners, Nut & Bolt Fastening Solutions, and as of September 2022, Lakeshore Shore Fastener and Hodges Fastener Corporation.
The group is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, with distribution and manufacturing centers in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Wisconsin. The consortium strives to maintain the distributors’ local identities in their communities yet leverage the collective strength and size of the enterprise.
Customers enjoy a vast inventory of standard and special fasteners plus bundled lean production services, including kitting, packaging, sub-assembly, and managed inventory programs.
“Connection Service brings us talent, capabilities and a geographic location to expand our presence in Michigan, as well as serve customers and prospects in northern Indiana with ease,” said Weidinger. “Manufacturing was a strategic initiative that we were driven to add, and the relationship with Connection Service gives us a perfect entry with products that many of our customers already buy.”
Weidinger added: “I had the pleasure of cutting, threading and bending some u-bolts with Todd this past week, and I know my grandfather was smiling down from heaven, as he was an engineer and maker of many prototypes for the Big 3.”
Filed Under: Fastener industry news