WINTER 2024

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THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
Eric Dudas Fully Threaded Radio
Eric Dudas co-founded FCH Sourcing Network in 2006 and launched the industry
renowned Fully Threaded Radio podcast in 2010. With business partner and co-host
Brian Musker, FCH operates its widely used digital inventory marketing platform,
and provides data cleansing and formatting services for fastener distributors across
the industry. FCH also produces the monthly Fastener Distributor Index. Apart from
industry punditry, Eric ponders the deeper existential aspects of life driving a tractor
around his small farm in semi-rural northeast Ohio. eric@fastenersclearinghouse.com
UNTHREADED:
QUESTIONS RANDOMLY ASKED
I’m a fan of randomness. That’s not to say I believe
the universe to be an infinitely sized, disordered accident.
It’s just that since I reached the conclusion that my
predominantly fastener-related mind will never understand
exactly how it all works, the flow of existence might as
well be random.
One of the reasons I’m such a big fan is that
very frequently, seemingly spontaneous events lead to
amazing things.
I also love irony, by the way. And it seems to abound
in this world. Things sometimes unfold in ways that are
just too perfect to be unplanned. This might interest only
the small cadre of unthreaded existentialists among us,
but it amuses me.
The year Bill Derry was inducted into the Fastener Hall
of Fame there was only one inductee. He was it. The year
was 2017.
That random piece of fastener industry trivia was
uncovered as I took pause recently to review some
archived episodes of the Fully Threaded Radio podcast
while searching for inspiration in the words of a long
forgotten interview. I stumbled onto exactly that as the
first click on my quest brought up the segment with Mr.
Derry just after he had received his award.
How does this kind of thing happen? I ask myself.As it
turns out, Bill Derry is a huge advocate of asking questions.
Bill was a pioneer of the VMI business. Along
with his brother, Jim, and their team at Field Fastener,
they intentionally developed their operation around that
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLE
BILL DERRY BELIEVES SUCCESS IS ANYTHING BUT RANDOM. HE WAS
THE SOLE INDUCTEE TO THE FASTENER HALL OF FAME IN 2017.
growing business paradigm and created novel processes
to meet the demands of a market hungry for innovation.
Their massive success is well known, and it earned Bill
his place in the pantheon of industry greats.
You hear plenty of stories about guys who hit it big
just because they were in the right place at the right time.
For example, some of the importers who saw a chance
to get ahead by bringing in low cost product from Asia
completely revolutionized the fastener industry during
their time.
But it was much more than a simple torque of fate
that built this success. It was anything but random. As Bill
says during his interview on FTR episode 120, “All Rise”,
you’ve got to ask questions and also become skilled in
listening to the answers.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 108