Hillman Solutions Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides hardware-related products and related merchandising services to retail markets in North America.
The company’s principal business is operated through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hillman. Hillman sells its products to hardware stores, home centers, mass merchants, pet supply stores, and other retail outlets principally in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Product lines include thousands of small...
Hillman Solutions Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides hardware-related products and related merchandising services to retail markets in North America.
The company’s principal business is operated through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hillman. Hillman sells its products to hardware stores, home centers, mass merchants, pet supply stores, and other retail outlets principally in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Product lines include thousands of small parts, such as fasteners and related hardware items; threaded rod and metal shapes; keys and accessories; builder's hardware; personal protective equipment, such as gloves and eye-wear; and identification items, such as tags and letters, numbers, and signs. The company supports product sales with services that include design and installation of merchandising systems, maintenance of appropriate in-store inventory levels, and break-fix for its robotics kiosks.
The Hillman Group, Inc. (Hillman Group)
The company provides products, such as fasteners and related hardware items; threaded rod and metal shapes; keys, key duplication systems, and accessories; builder's hardware; personal protective equipment, such as gloves and eye-wear; and identification items, such as tags and letters, numbers, and signs to retail outlets, primarily hardware stores, home centers and mass merchants, pet supply stores, grocery stores, and drug stores. The company complements its extensive product selection with regular retailer visits by its field sales and service organization.
The company markets and distributes a wide variety of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) of small, hard-to-find and hard-to-manage hardware items. The company functions as a category manager for retailers and support these products with in-store service, high order fill rates, and rapid delivery of products sold. Sales and service representatives regularly visit retail outlets to review stock levels, reorder items in need of replacement, and interact with the store management to offer new product and merchandising ideas. Thousands of items can be actively managed with the retailer experiencing a substantial reduction of in-store labor costs and replenishment paperwork. Service representatives also assist in organizing the products in a consumer-friendly manner. The company complements its broad range of products with merchandising services such as displays, product identification stickers, retail price labels, store rack and drawer systems, assistance in rack positioning and store layout, and inventory restocking services. The company regularly refreshes retailers' displays with new products and package designs utilizing color-coding to simplify the shopping experience for consumers and improve the attractiveness of individual store displays.
The company operates from 22 strategically located distribution centers in North America and supplement its operations with third-party logistics providers to warehouse and ship customer orders in the certain areas.
Products and Suppliers
The company’s product strategy concentrates on providing total project solutions using the latest technology for common and unique home improvement projects. The company’s portfolio provides retailers the assurance that their shoppers can find the right product at the right price within an 'easy to shop' environment.
The company manages a worldwide supply chain comprised of a large number of vendors, the largest of which accounted for approximately 8.3% of its annual purchases and the top five of which accounted for approximately 17.9% of its annual purchases. The company’s vendor quality control procedures include on-site evaluations and frequent product testing. Vendors are also evaluated based on delivery performance and the accuracy of their shipments.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Hardware and Protective Solutions; Robotics and Digital Solutions; and Canada.
Hardware and Protective Solutions
The company’s Hardware and Protective Solutions segment includes a variety of product categories including Fasteners; Builders Hardware; Wall Hanging, Threaded Rod and Metal Shapes; Letters, Numbers, and Signs (LNS); and Personal Protective Equipment.
The company’s Fastener business consists of three categories: core fasteners, construction fasteners, and anchors sold under a variety of brands, including Hillman, Fas-n-Tite, Deck-Plus, and Power-Pro. Core fasteners include nuts, bolts, screws, washers, and specialty items. Construction fasteners include deck, drywall, metal screws, and both hand driven and collated nails. Anchors include hollow wall and solid wall items, such as plastic anchors, toggle bolts, concrete screws, and wedge anchors.
Builders Hardware includes a variety of common household items, such as coat hooks, door stops, hinges, gate latches, and decorative hardware. The company markets the builder's hardware products under the Hardware Essentials brand and provide the retailer with innovation in both product and merchandising solutions. The Hardware Essentials program utilizes modular packaging, color coding, and integrated merchandising to simplify the shopping experience for consumers. Colorful signs, packaging, and installation instructions guide the consumer quickly and easily to the correct product location in store, while digital content, including pictures and videos assist the online journey. Hardware Essentials provides retailers and consumers decorative upgrade opportunities through contemporary finishes and designs.
The Wall Hanging category includes traditional picture hanging hardware, primarily marketed under the OOK and Hillman brands, and the High & Mighty series of tool-free wall hangers, decorative hooks and floating shelves that was launched in 2017.
The company is the leading supplier of Threaded Rod and Metal Shapes in the retail market. The SteelWorks threaded rod product includes hot and cold rolled rod, both weldable and plated, as well as a complete offering of All-Thread rod in galvanized steel, stainless steel, and brass. The SteelWorks program is carried by many top retailers, including Lowe's and Menard's, and through cooperatives, such as Ace Hardware. In addition, the company is the primary supplier of Metal Shapes to many wholesalers throughout the country.
LNS includes product lines that target both the homeowner and commercial user. Product lines within this category include individual and/or packaged letters, numbers, signs, safety related products (e.g. 911 signs), driveway markers, and a variety of sign accessories, such as sign frames.
The company’s expansive Personal Protective Equipment category covers many uses for DIYer (Do It Yourself) around the house and for the professional at the job site. The company’s products can be found at leading retailers across North America.
The company distributes a full assortment of work gloves under the Firm Grip, True Grip, and Gorilla Grip brands; automotive gloves including Grease Monkey; Digz gardening gloves and more; as well as cleaning and all- purpose gloves. As a category leader in work gloves, its portfolio is founded on design and consumer driven innovation.
The company’s work-gear products consist of tool storage, knee pads, clothing, and other accessories sold under variety of brands, including AWP, McGuire Nicholas, and Firm Grip. The portfolio offers a one stop shop for leading retailers with an expansive assortment to meet the needs of both the pro and DIYer.
The company’s safety products include face masks and safety vests sold under a variety of brands including Firm Grip, AWP, and Premium Defense. Focusing on innovative materials, intuitive design, and industry trends, the company expects growth in the Hardware and Protective Solutions segment.
Robotics and Digital Solutions
Robotics and Digital Solutions segment consists primarily of software-enabled robotic key duplication and engraving solutions that are tailored to the unique needs of the consumer. Robotics and Digital Solutions products are located in high-traffic environments where retailers can provide consumers with on-the-spot, customized licensed and unlicensed key and engraving options. The company’s offerings include store associate assisted key duplication and self-service robotic engraving and key duplication kiosks; together with related software, systems, keys, and key accessories sold in proximity to the kiosks. The company’s services include product and category management, merchandising services, and access to its proprietary robotic key duplicating and engraving software platforms and equipment.
The company designs and manufactures proprietary software and equipment in its Boulder, Colorado and Tempe, Arizona facilities; housing the cornerstone for its key duplication business. The company’s key duplication system is offered in various retail channels, including mass merchants, home centers, automotive parts retailers, franchise and independent hardware stores, and grocery/drug chains. The company provides the most diverse key duplication systems in the industry, through its unique combination of self-service kiosk technology and store associate assisted duplication systems. Equipment diversity allows the company to meet the individual needs of retailers. The company’s self-service solutions are driven by its MinuteKey technology, while store associate assisted duplication uses the state-of-the-art KeyKrafter equipment and other legacy duplication machines.
The company’s MinuteKey self-service kiosk uses robotics technology in an innovative way that is accurate, easy to use, convenient, fast and highly reliable. The company utilizes a proprietary network integration software within its MinuteKey kiosks to maintain high levels of machine up-time and ensure machines have the optimal mix of key types available for duplication. The kiosk is completely self-service and has a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. The company manufactures and supports the MinuteKey kiosk out of its Boulder, Colorado and Tempe, Arizona facilities.
Hillman KeyKrafter is the company’s most popular, innovative, and effective store associate assisted key duplication kiosk. It provides significant reduction in duplication time while increasing accuracy and ease of use for unskilled store associates. Additionally, with the KeyKrafter solution, the capability exists for consumers to securely store and retrieve digital back-ups of their key without the original through the revolutionary Hillman KeyHero Technology. The company’s Precision Laser Key System uses a digital optical camera, lasers, and proprietary software to scan a customer’s key. The system identifies the key and retrieves the key’s specifications, including the appropriate blank and cutting pattern, from a comprehensive database. This technology automates nearly every aspect of key duplication and provides the ability for every store associate to cut a key accurately. In the automotive key space, the company offers the SmartBox Automotive Key Programmer which is a tool to quickly and easily pair transponder keys, remotes, and smart keys.
The company retains ownership of the key duplicating equipment and market and sell keys and key accessories. The company’s proprietary key offering features the universal blank which uses a universal keyway to replace up to five original equipment keys. The company continually refreshes the retailer’s key offerings by introducing decorated and licensed keys and accessories. The company’s key offering features decorative themes of art and popular licenses such as NFL, Disney, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Marvel to increase personalization, purchase frequency and average transaction value per key. The company also markets a successful line of decorative and licensed lanyards and other key accessories.
All of the company’s key duplication systems are supported by a dedicated in store kiosk sales and service team.
In its engraving business, the company supplies a variety of innovative options of consumer-operated robotic kiosks, such as Quick-Tag, TagWorks, and FIDO for engraving specialty items, such as pet identification tags, luggage tags, and other engraved identification tags. The company has developed unique engraving systems leveraging state-of-the-art technologies to provide a customized solution for mass merchant, pet supply retailers, and other high traffic areas such as theme parks, all supported by its in store kiosk field service technicians. The company designs, engineers, manufactures, and assembles the engraving kiosks in its Boulder, Colorado and Tempe, Arizona facilities.
The company’s engraving business focuses on the growing consumer spending trends surrounding personalized and pet identification. Innovation has played a major role in the development of its engraving business unit. From the original Quick-Tag consumer-operated kiosk system to the proprietary laser system of TagWorks, it continues to lead the industry with consumer-friendly engraving solutions. As in its key business, the company retains ownership of the key engraving equipment and market and sell blank tags.
Canada
Canada segment distributes fasteners and related hardware items, threaded rod, keys, key duplicating systems, accessories, and identification items, such as tags and letters, numbers, and signs to hardware stores, home centers, mass merchants, industrial distributors, automotive aftermarket distributors, and other retail outlets and industrial Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in Canada. The product lines offered in the company’s Canada segment are consistent with the product offerings detailed in is other segments. The Canada segment also produces made to order screws and self-locking fasteners for automotive suppliers, OEMs, and industrial distributors.
In 2023, the Company realigned its Canada segment to include the Canada portions of the Protective Solutions and MinuteKey businesses, which are operating under the Canada segment leadership team. Previously, the results of the Canada portion of the Protective Solutions business were reported in the Hardware and Protective Solutions segment and the Canada portion of the MinuteKey business was reported in the Robotics and Digital Solutions segment and were operating under those respective segment leadership teams.
Markets and Customers
The company sells its products to national accounts such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menard’s, PETCO, PetSmart, Tractor Supply, and Walmart. The company’s status as a national supplier of proprietary products to big box retailers allows it to develop a strong market position and high barriers to entry within its product categories.
The company services a wide variety of franchise and independent retail outlets. These individual dealers are typically members of the larger cooperatives, such as Ace Hardware, True Value, and Do-It-Best. The company ships directly to the cooperative's retail locations and also supply many items to the cooperative's central warehouses.
The company sells its products to a large volume of customers, the top two of which approximately 43% of its total revenues in 2023. For the year ended December 30, 2023, Home Depot was the single largest customer, representing approximately 23.3% of its total revenues. Lowe's was the second largest at approximately 20.1%.In the year ended December 30, 2023, the company derived over 10% of its total revenues from Lowe's and Home Depot which operated in each of its operating segments.
The company continues to expand its B2B eCommerce platform allowing certain customers to order online through its website, www.hillmangroup.com. The B2B eCommerce platform features many of the company’s items available for sale online and over thousands of customers are enrolled with the online ordering platform. The company continues to support direct-to-store and direct-to-consumer fulfillment for consumers who choose to order fasteners directly from retailers' websites.
Sales and Marketing
The company partners with its customers to understand the unmet needs of consumers, design creative solutions, and commercialize those solutions, bringing them to life in both physical and digital channels through a tight alignment between the product management, marketing communications, and channel marketing functions. The company provides best in class support and customer service at every touch point for its retail partners. Many of the company’s largest customers use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for processing of orders and invoices.
Competition
The company’s primary competitors in the national accounts marketplace for fasteners are Primesource Building Products, Inc., Midwest Fastener Corporation, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Spectrum Brands, and competition from direct import by its customers. The company’s national competitors for gloves and personal protective equipment include Techtronic Industries, West Chester Protective Gear, PIP, Iron Clad, and MidWest Quality Gloves, Inc. The principal competitor for the company’s franchise and independent hardware store customers is Midwest Fastener Corporation.
Research and Development
The company research and development costs were $2,562for the year ended December 31, 2023.
History
Hillman Solutions Corp. was founded in 1964. The company was incorporated in 2018.
