Great Lakes Fasteners Group — a collective of distributors and manufacturers — announced Dec. 15 that it has acquired Buffalo, NY-based Frontier Fastener, Inc. in a move that will enable Great Lakes to scale its plans to service manufacturers and other customers in the U.S. northeast.

Family-owned and operated since 1970, Frontier Fastener distributes in specialized fasteners designed to customer specifications. The company offers vendor managed inventory, delivery with bin stocking, MRO supplies, a will-call counter and custom labeling. Its customer segmentes include agricultural, food and dairy processing, animal feed processors, equipment manufacturers, MRO, automotive and heavy fleet maintenance.

Frontier is led by President Paul Kramer, who has been with the company for over 50 years.

“Aligning with the Great Lakes Fasteners Group just felt like a natural fit for me and the Frontier team,” said Kramer said in a news release. “Kevin and the Great Lakes team care deeply about their customers, just as we do, and together shared several fastener stories, including heroics performed for our customers I am also delighted to stay on and be able to expand the products and services we now have available with Great Lakes,” continued Kramer.

As of Dec. 4, Frontier has integrated with Great Lakes’ existing Buffalo-based Nut & Bolt Fastening Solutions.

“There are times when you just know it’s a solid match as we share the same drive and grit to make it happen for the customer,” Great Lakes Group President Kevin Weidinger said. “Frontier has great talent, a diverse group of loyal customers, and matches our core values perfectly.” 

Along with Nut & Bolt, Great Lakes’ other operating brands include Great Lakes Fasteners, Lakeshore Fastener Group, Hodges Fastener Corporation and Connection Service Company. The group is based in Cleveland, with distribution and manufacturing centers in Ohio, New York, Michigan and Wisconsin.