Fastenal Company Acquires Certain Assets of Apex Industrial Technologies

On March 30, 2020, Fastenal Company (“Fastenal”) purchased certain assets of Apex Industrial Technologies LLC (“Apex”). Fastenal and Apex have worked together since 2008 to develop a vending delivery platform that today is the leading solution in the industrial and commercial marketplace. Apex’s contributions to this achievement have been to create and develop the software, design the equipment, and build the vending equipment supply chain. Fastenal brought industry expertise, a leading presence in the marketplace, and a willingness to bring the platform to market. This collaboration over twelve years has established a new platform within industrial and commercial supply chains, with more than 105,000 product dispensing and leased devices across 23 device types in 25 countries that generated more than $1.1 billion in sales in 2019. In connection with this transaction, Fastenal purchased a perpetual and unfettered use of key patents, designs, software and licenses, as well as direct access to the supply chain. Terms and conditions of the transaction were not disclosed.

Fastenal’s President and CEO, Dan Florness, commented, “Fastenal’s founder, Bob Kierlin, conceived of industrial vending at the company’s inception in 1967. Our relationship with Apex in 2008 helped to make the industrial vending solution scalable. This transaction allows both organizations to move forward with their unique strategic plans while still providing an avenue for additional collaboration. I thank Kent Savage, Apex’s founder and CEO, for his partnership and contribution to our business over the last twelve years and wish him success as he focuses Apex’s energy on the food and retail sector.”

Apex’s Founder and CEO, Kent Savage, stated, “Our collaboration with Fastenal has created a world-wide best practice for distributing MRO materials. Fastenal’s adoption and deployment of automated dispensing technology combined with its singular fulfillment capabilities delivers tremendous efficiencies, productivity, and cost-savings to its customers every day. Working with Dan Florness and Fastenal’s visionary leaders has been an honor and a pleasure. Apex is proud to have been a part of Fastenal’s exceptional success and we look forward to continued collaboration with them in the future.”

Fastenal will report its sales and earnings for the first quarter of 2020 on Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

About Fastenal

Fastenal helps customers simplify and realize product and process savings across their supply chain. We sell a broad offering of products spanning more than nine major product lines – from fasteners and tools to safety and janitorial supplies. These products are efficiently distributed to manufacturing facilities, job sites, and other customer locations through local service teams and point-of-use inventory solutions, including industrial vending technology and bin stock programs (Fastenal Managed Inventory, or FMI^®). Our distribution system centers on over 3,200 in-market locations (a combination of public branches and customer-specific Onsite locations), primarily in North America but also in Asia, Europe, and Central and South America, each providing tailored inventory, flexible service, and custom solutions to drive the unique goals of local customers. These in-market servicing locations are supported by fifteen regional distribution centers, a captive logistics fleet, robust sourcing, quality and manufacturing resources, and multiple teams of industry specialists and support personnel – all working toward Fastenal’s common goal of Growth Through Customer Service^®. Additional information regarding Fastenal is available on the Fastenal Company website at www.fastenal.com.

Contact:

Ellen Stolts – Assistant Controller – (507) 313-7282

Source: Fastenal Company