It is very easy to suggest that any person is lazy or group...unless you know the work they do.
I know a women who has decades experience working in the fastener industry. She recently posted this
It is just a screw
"Please look at this as an Educational tool. Being in the Fastener industry 34 years do you know how many times I have heard this? But maybe this will give you an idea of all the processes involved in making a screw.
But let’s look at what it takes to make a screw. First we get a description or a print of what is needed. If it a standard part, it is quoted and then the customer eventually gives us the order.
We will start off with either a Machine screw or a Tapping Screw or I could show my age and say a Sheet metal screw. Please keep in mind that it will take longer to run 100,000 then 25.000 pcs.
First we need material. Usually 1010/1018 for Machine screws and 1018 to 1022 steel is used for Tapping Screws. We have to make sure that heading dies, rolling dies and Punches are in stock. If all is a go then the part gets scheduled on a header. After the parts are headed & QC’d then they are scheduled to a roller. Once rolled & QC’d. Machine screw if plated gets sent to the platers or finishers. When complete they are received, QC’d, packed and shipped to the customer.
If the part is a Tapping Screw we proceed basically the same until after the rolling process. Tapping screw then have to be Case hardened or heat treated and may be plated too. In most cases we can send to the same vendor to Heat treat and plate. If not then we have to heat treat the pars must come back to be checked then sent out to be finished or plated
When complete they come back are QC’d, packed and shipped to the customer.
Now we can change a few things that add to the complexity of that Screw or bolt. Let’s make a Shoulder screw.
Once we get the order from the customer. What Material are we making? Grade 2(4.8 metric) would be 1022 Steel no heat treat. Grade 5 (8.8 Metric) would be 1038 material Neutral hardened. Grade 8 (9.8 Metric) would be 4037 alloy Neutral hardened. In most cases they would have material or would have ordered as soon as the order was received.
Because we are looking at a part where the shoulder diameter will be larger than the threaded part. So this will run on a transfer header. This is where tooling may have to be ordered. So this could take several weeks. So we have to have heading dies, Trimm dies and roll dies.
So we schedule, we run, & we QC. Then if the part have to be trimmed. Parts are scheduled, trimmed, QC’d . Rolled & QC’d Heat treated if needed and plated. This will pretty much follow the above movement. Parts come back are checked, packed and shipped.
Please keep in mind that each operations adds time to the completed part. If the operations are not done in house at the manufacturer then more time is added to the completion of the part.
I hope that you have a little bit of an idea of what it takes for it to be a screw or a bolt. Not all parts are made to sit in stock. Many are made to order."
Obviously there is more to it then simply pouring metal and waiting for it to cool. Likewise with any job there are things that frankly you don't see.
People always see the front end operations of a profession. I worked retail and that meant someone talked to you, showed you where products were and provided some limited advice. Maybe scheduled an order and a delivery. What they don't see is the daily inventory program, the weekly loss prevention anti theft program, the monthly state compliance pricing audit, the daily safety reviews, the annual inventory etc.
Even with jobs that are not physical not everyone understands that it does take time to go over a budget in excel, to make a report look right in publisher, to install an operating system, to go over a contract etc. Heck some might belittle meteorology as just a guy with a map clicking around yet weather derivatives drive much of the energy market and now restaurant, recreation and travel industry.
Introduction To Weather Derivatives
I wanted to help you understand the processes that are involved in making screws.
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