2025 Trade Show Update

Last week, Austin Hardware exhibited for the first time at Fastener Fair USA, which is billed as North America's premier trade show and conference for the fastener industry and its allied manufacturing sectors. Fastener Fair USA was the fourth of six major trade shows at which we will exhibit in 2025. The event concluded a very busy run of shows, with us participating in one per month since February.

Whenever we participate in a trade show, we develop a detailed plan of action and select specific products to highlight based on the nature of the event and our corporate initiatives at that time. However, regardless of the show, there are always several overarching goals:

·       Customer and prospect engagement

·       Market exposure

·       Business development

Additionally, for new members of the Austin team, enhancing their product and industry knowledge by collaborating with colleagues, customers, and prospects in a highly hands-on environment is essential.

The 2025 trade show year began in mid-February at the annual NATM (National Association of Trailer Manufacturers) Convention & Trade Show, held in Nashville, TN. Our team reported strong overall show traffic and a steady stream of customers and prospects visiting our booth. The main feature in our booth was our Austin-engineered Safe Assist ramp door assist, which, despite achieving significant early success, is still being recognized by some in the industry for the first time, indicating plenty of additional opportunities ahead.

Also, on display at NATM were our Austin-engineered extruded aluminum bar locks and hinges, drag wheels, easy-open vents, traditional locks and latches, sealants, adhesives, and much more.

Just two weeks after NATM, in early March, the NTEA (National Truck Equipment Association) Work Truck Week took place, held annually in Indianapolis, IN. Always a major show for Austin Hardware, a team of 13 employees and several vendor guests staffed our 20x20’ space to greet and discuss solutions with visitors.

Our booth showcased a wide range of products, many of which were displayed at NATM, with an enhanced emphasis on live demonstrations of some of our chemical solutions like Evercoat, Mirka, and Quin adhesives, as well as fasteners and tooling from Goebel.

Our staff reported significant booth traffic and critical one-to-one meetings with key stakeholders. As Darren Groom stated, “Our product depth is allowing for more company engagement. We are talking multiple applications in one sitting.”

In early April, the annual FDIC (Fire Department Instructors’ Conference) exhibition, also in Indianapolis, IN, proved to be a highly informative and productive event for Austin Hardware and the team who worked it. The event was well attended by our customers, the majority of whom are industry-leading OEMs. While much of the event traffic passed through the exhibits of the OEMs, many of their key employees also made a point to visit our booth and engage in meaningful conversations with our team.

Our booth was professionally presented with a strong, open design, allowing us to show off our Austin-engineered products for the fire, rescue, and emergency vehicle market. The engineered products we had on display included LifeDefender™ cabinet security frames, Lift N Stow™ oxygen bottle counterbalance system, Snap N Stow™ bin organizing system, B-Lift hydraulic bariatric lift, and more.

Our booth, a 30x10’ space, also offered ample room for us to display many of the critical latching products we provide from key suppliers like TriMark, Eberhard, and Southco. 

Our new reps, Tony Gray and Jay White, were part of the team attending FDIC and reported having gained valuable hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of our products, how they’re used in the industry, our customers, and what they’re looking for from us.

As usual, foot traffic at FDIC was very good, allowing our staff to engage with a diverse range of customers, including companies both familiar and new to Austin. All reported significant value from the experience, citing meaningful collaboration with peers, leadership, existing customers, and potential prospects. The event helped reinforce established relationships while also creating new business opportunities and generating promising leads. The leadership team had detailed meetings with top existing customers like REV, Rosenbauer, and others.

June and July are traditionally downtime for trade shows in our key markets, but we’ll finish out the year with two shows in late August and mid-September. In August, a team will be back in Nashville, TN, for the NATDA (North American Trailer Dealers Association) Trailer Show, a great event at which we first unveiled Safe Assist three years ago. Then, in September, we’ll be participating in a first-time event, the NATM Trailer Expo, which targets trailer dealers, a key group to help pull our products through the market, especially our engineered products like Safe Assist.