DTWNews

According to Industrial Supply Magazine, the five leading American industrial supply companies generated more than 44 billion dollars in revenue in 2012. Although American businesses continue to outsource more jobs overseas, the United States was second only to the European Union in terms of manufacturing revenue during 2010. During that year, American manufacturing generated more than 1.7 trillion dollars in revenue, and outpaced China by nearly 15 billion dollars.

Industrial supply companies play a crucial role in manufacturing on both the domestic and international levels. The leading industrial suppliers provide manufacturing companies with the industrial grade tools, hardware, and finishing supplies that are essential to the production of all types of consumer products. Basically, without industrial supply companies, the manufacturing industry would be at a standstill.

While major industrial suppliers often contract with manufacturing companies, they also sell everything from cable glands and cable ties to cap nuts and rubber grommets online. Although these specific products, among countless others, may seem minor to those who are unfamiliar with industrial manufacturing, each one performs a key role in sophisticated, precise production processes.

For example, cap nuts are designed to perform specific functions for which standard steel or nylon nuts are not designed. The domed, or acorn, shape of the cap nut is vital when the external threads of bolts and screws must be protected from outside contact. Thus, cap nuts are critical for the safe and reliable operation of products whose functions rely on wheels, axles, hinges, rollers, or others moving parts. An apt example would be drawer rollers, where the accidental loosening of nuts could be potentially catastrophic.

A particularly versatile manufacturing product is the cable tie, which was invented in 1958 by Thomas and Betts. Cable ties are indispensable for the securing of dangerous electrical cables or the organization of innumerable tools, products, and supplies. Cable ties are even used outside of the manufacturing industry by law enforcement personnel as temporary handcuffs.

Whether manufacturers need to organize industrial cables with rubber grommets or cable ties, or simply looking to prevent the rusting of hardware with industrial grade bolt covers, industrial supply companies play a vital, if unacknowledged, role in the manufacturing sector. In order to serve their customers better, manufacturers of all sizes can browse and purchase everything from plastic washers to screw cover caps to rubber grommets online.