The construction industry is facing a severe labor shortage. Fasteners are the most used construction material & poor performing fasteners waste time. Lightning™ High-Performance Screws with Stick-Tight™ for 1-handed installation, reduces labor.
WAKEFIELD, MA … During the 2007 recession, construction jobs in America disappeared and many workers left the industry never to return. Today, construction demand is booming, but the industry is still suffering from those missing workers. To combat this issue, industry veterans have begun looking at various solutions such as pre-fab, partially pre-fab, and additive manufacturing as ways to reduce labor and help speed the building process. The Phillips Screw Company, who is the original inventor of the Phillips Head Screw, has also found a solution.
According to Ken Hurley, CEO for The Phillips Screw Company, “Fasteners are the single most used construction material on any job. For example, it takes 48 screws to install a single sheet of drywall, 42 screws to install one sheet of subflooring, 22 screws to install your typical cement board, and at least four screws per plank on just about any deck. It only makes sense that to solve a labor issue you start with the item that the contractor uses most.”
Phillips studied the industry and found that the biggest three time-wastes for contractors were slow-starting screws, slow-driving screws, and dropped screws. According to industry reports, on certain applications such as dry-wall, upwards of 24% of screws on a project are dropped and swept away as waste. While the cost of the screw does not amount to much, it is the 24% wasted time that is the real drain.
Phillips realized if they could eliminate dropped screws and speed the insertion rate, they could help contractors increase their productivity. They set out to redesign the screw from the bottom up. They incorporated best-in-class features, such as a super-sharp fast-starting tip, patented Low-Energy threads for rapid-insertion, a shank-slot shaft to prevent splitting, as well as utilizing a patented engineered drive system that creates a Stick-Tight™ wobble-free fit for true 1-handed installation.
“We watched contractor after contractor using two hands and an elbow to install the competitor’s screws. We noticed that what the contractors wanted was to be able to stick a screw on the driver bit, use a single hand to drive it, all while keeping the other hand free so they could go back into their belt to quickly reload. And that’s exactly what we created.” Hurley went on to say.
Phillips is introducing their new screw, Lightning™ on May 16, 2018 by offering a contractor site-case. The hard-sided case contains 805 of the yellow zinc coated high-performance wood screws in eight popular sizes. The screw features Stick-Tight™ wobble-free frustration-free driving. Their motto is “Never A Dropped Screw!”. Phillips is looking to partner with pro-dealers, hardware stores, and specialty retailers and have created a no-risk program to ensure retailer success.
For more information, contact Todd Ruehs at 781-213.3501, email truehs@phillips-screw.com or visit http://Phillips-Screw.com/sitecase.
Lightning™ and Stick-Tight™ are trademarks of The Phillips Screw Company