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Clufix, which designs, develops and produces fixing and assembly solutions for sheet metal and plastic parts, has launched a new fastening device that looks set to revolutionize the assembly process in the automotive industry, and a range of other manufacturing sectors. The Leankeasy blind rivet bolt is a single, ready-to-set, pre-assembled component comprising both a screw and a nut. The product is completely unique, as crimping the nut and screwing the screw occur in the same step, providing a wide range of benefits, including significant cost savings.

Éric Massebeuf, director of Clufix, explains that the launch of Leankeasy represents a new era for assembly process fastening products. "The first generation of products comprised just basic nuts and bolts," he says. "The second generation - which emerged in the 1920s, became more widely used after 1945, and is still here today - has involved engineered fasteners (self-clinching nuts, cage nuts, blind rivet nuts, weld nuts, threaded inserts…) preparing the metal sheet support by setting a threaded component, but still using nuts and bolts separately. The third generation has now arrived with the launch of Leankeasy." The key change is that, whereas using second generation products involves not only two components - the separate nut and bolt, but also two steps - the pre-setting of the nut and the final assembly - by contrast, with Leankeasy, only the one component and one simple step is required.

Massebeuf adds: "Leankeasy is the first truly game-changing innovation in this field for about 90 years. That is why this product is wowing people." Leankeasy  is simple and easy to use, and requires no setting equipment and comparatively few assembly items and parts. And, crucially, costs are reduced dramatically. Due to the extent to which it simplifies the setting process, all the costs associated with this process, including labour, are reduced by more than a half when Leankeasy is used, resulting in an average total cost saving of 35%.

The key markets at which Leankeasy is initially being targeted are France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Clufix plans to begin selling the product to the US automotive industry from 2015.

Product animation:  http://vimeo.com/75970057