Fastenal

Fastenal has grown from a single store to more than 2,700 locations, each providing tailored local inventory and personal service for our customers. As they've expanded across the world, retained a core belief in people and their ability to accomplish remarkable things - if given the opportunity. 

A wide-ranging of services and solutions to help businesses reduce inventory, touches, and supply chain waste. This includes a suite of technology solutions to monitor, track, and control everyday supplies. Producing custom products to meet unique needs, from high-volume fasteners to complex machined parts.

From this philosophy stems an entrepreneurial culture that challenges every employee to run their own business, create their own success, and rise up to become company leaders. Backed by our global sourcing, quality, and logistics operations, each store is a local, one-stop source for a spectrum of OEM, MRO and Construction supplies.

1967: The company was founded by Robert A. Kierlin in November 1967 and is headquartered in Winona, MN.

1973: The change turned out to be exactly what the stores needed to become profitable, and Kierlin left IBM to run Fastenal full-time.

1981: Importantly, Fastenal purchased the inventory and customer list of the fastener lines of Briese Steel in Rochester.

1985: By this year the chain had grown to a total of 35 company-owned stores.

1992: Fastenal opened a fourth distribution centre in Dallas and agreed to purchase a fifth in Atlanta.

1993: Founders Remake a Tiny World-Class High School,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, December 12. Some of the stores were called FastTool, which debuted that year.

1994: Most of the initial planning was done during the weekends and other times when the group could get time off from work. "It was almost like a hobby," Remick reminisced in the November Corporate Report Minnesota.

1995: The company was also experimenting with a small Fastenal/FastTool combination store for small towns with 5,000 to 8,000 residents. By this year only two of the original founders were with the company: President and Chief Executive Kierlin and Treasurer Steve Slaggie.

1997: HD Supply profile and corporate video HD Supply was formed as the professional services division of Home Depot.

1998: By this time, the company had nine distribution centres; it then opened two more early that year, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Kansas City, Missouri.

1999: There were eight such locations at the beginning of 1999 and 21 at the end of that year.

2000: Fastenal began operating a second manufacturing facility at its Fresno, California, distribution centre. Sales for 2000 increased 22.4 percent over the previous year, reaching $745.7 million, while net earnings totalled $80.7 million, an increase of 23.3 percent.

2001: Another cause for optimism was the continued leadership of the thrifty Kierlin, who remained firmly in charge as chairman, president, and CEO, and who continued to hold a 10.6 percent stake in the firm he co-founded, a stake worth more than $250 million mid-year. Nevertheless, the company continued to carry no long-term debt and had plans to open between 100 and 150 stores in 2001, depending on the strength of the economy. Toward the end of the year, the slowdown of the United States economy began affecting Fastenal's sales.

“To grow our company by providing our customers with a superior offering of products, consumption tracking capabilities and reseller consortium partners.”

“At Fastenal, we don’t just sell and ship products. We offer a toolbox of solutions, services, and subject matter experts to help your business reduce costs, increase productivity, and ultimately do more of what you do best.”