Our History

Over the years, it evolved into a manufacturer of various welded and weldless chains used as hardware and in industrial applications.

It operated near E.55th St. and Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio as a manufacturer of screws, nuts, and bolts. 

National Screw and Manufacturing Company acquired Hodell Chain and continued to operate Hodell Chain as one of its divisions.

National Screw established Natco Fasteners as a warehousing division for the distribution of standard fasteners. 

National Screw purchased the Bolt & Nut Co. in St. Louis, Missouri, to expand the Natco division. This propels Natco Fasteners to become a full-line distributor of standard and specialty fasteners. 

Monogram Industries, a conglomerate out of Los Angeles, California, absorbed National Screw and continued all of its operations as a subsidiary company.

Monogram Industries sells the Hodell Chain division to a private investment group in Cleveland, Ohio and Otto Reidl is named President.

Monogram Industries is acquired by Nortek Inc. who then sells the Natco Fastener division to the same Cleveland investors who purchased Hodell Chain. Otto Reidl simultaneously presides as President over Natco Fasteners. 

Otto Reidl leads a growth via acquisition strategy for Natco Fasteners. Natco Fasteners purchases Bi-State Stainless and strengthens its foothold in the St. Louis fastener market.

Natco Fasteners purchases Cleveland-based Service Bolt & Nut customer list out of bankruptcy proceedings.

This acquisition gave Natco Fasteners the distinction of being an authorized master distributor of tooth lock washers for ITW Shakeproof, a global fastener manufacturer. The master distributorship gave Natco Fasteners a distinct competitive advantage to expand sales in the tooth lock washers market.

The abundance of cheap labor in China compared to the United States, combined with new, state-of-the-art welded chain manufacturing equipment, would make it impossible for Hodell Chain to maintain long-term manufacturing success. As a result, Otto preemptively sold off Hodell Chain’s welded chain manufacturing equipment and refocused the company on chain distribution.

Otto Reidl, solidified his theory that chain distribution (not manufacturing) should be Hodell Chain’s core competency. Consequently, he strategically directs Hodell Chain out of the manufacturing business by selling off all remaining weldless chain manufacturing equipment to Perfection Chain.

By serving various markets often consuming both fastener and chain products, Hodell-Natco experienced rapid, first-year growth. To accommodate the rapid expansion and achieve economies of scale, Hodell-Natco moved into a larger facilities and merged operations in both Cleveland and St. Louis.

Hodell-Natco acquires Southwest Fasteners in Houston, Texas to expand their footprint into the southern United States.

Dan Reidl joins Hodell-Natco’s Purchasing Team. Hodell-Natco acquires Acton Stainless Threaded Fasteners USA Corporation in Phoenix, AZ and New Castle, DE to expand its geography and product line.

Kevin Reidl joins Hodell-Natco as General Manager of the Cleveland, OH branch. Hodell-Natco purchases LMP Fastek, an industrial fastener distributor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Hodell-Natco purchases Assembly Fasteners in Columbia, South Carolina and Chicago, Illinois, to broaden its reach particularly in the southeastern United States.

Hodell-Natco acquires Bonanza Nut & Bolt, a fastener distributor in Reno, Nevada. This expands Hodell-Natco’s reach all the way to the West Coast.

Additionally, Hodell-Natco adds Western Chain to their list of acquisitions.

Under his father’s leadership, Kevin Reidl becomes Hodell-Natco’s Executive Vice President.

Hodell-Natco purchases Missouri Bolt Inc. and adds to their market share in St. Louis.

The United States experienced a financial crisis and entered the Great Recession, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

As the manufacturing industry falters during the recession, Hodell-Natco’s leaders (Otto, along with sons, Kevin and Dan Reidl) carefully navigated a severe business downturn for two years.

Dan Reidl transitioned to its Sales Leader. A formal, long-term strategic plan was put in place to guide the company in terms of culture, customer experience, operational excellence, and profitable growth. A decision was made to focus sales efforts on specific strategic target markets.

It transitioned away from multiple autonomous business units to a more homogenous team with centralized functions including Accounting, Purchasing, Sourcing, IT and Marketing at their corporate headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. This move was done to eliminate redundancies, improve consistency, strengthen supplier relationships, increase transparency, and especially to bolster teamwork and collaboration among all business units.

First, Hodell-Natco sold its non-strategic packaged fastener business to Lindstrom, LLC. Later that year, Hodell-Natco sold another non-strategic business unit, chain, to Perfection Chain Company. The capital from these sales was used to fund the acquisition of a highly strategic competitor, Davco Fastener Company. These divestitures and subsequent acquisition have propelled Hodell-Natco into a growth phase where it continues to benefit from a strategically focused business model.