Cold heading, also known as cold forming, is a room-temperature forming process that uses a series of dies, punches, and hammers at high speeds to produce parts. A metal rod or wire is fed into the machine, cut into pieces, and formed into the desired shapes. The components are work-hardened rather than machined or heated, resulting in higher strength and minimal material waste. The fast, efficient cold heading process creates fasteners like rivets, screws, weld bolts, and pins with superior fatigue resistance and precision.
MultiTech Industries (MTI) specializes in manufacturing cold-headed fasteners for a variety of industries, including automotive, agriculture, aerospace, construction, defense, and power tool assemblies. We supply high-volume thread-forming, self-tapping, SEMS screw, and other fasteners through advanced multi-die parts forming. Our advanced, automated cold forming equipment streamlines production and brings down costs, so we pass on those savings to customers
Our Cold Forming Process
The manufacturing cycle begins with selecting the exact wire or rod alloy for the application. The raw material enters our automated equipment, where multi-die parts forming/headers shape the metal progressively at high speeds. Each die station applies targeted pressure to form the head, extrude the shank, and create specific geometric features.
This sequence creates complex profiles without cutting away any raw material. The metal flows into the die cavities, maintaining its structural integrity and enhancing its natural grain flow. At MTI, our global footprint allows us to run these processes at scale, so we can supply just-in-time inventory to keep your assembly lines moving.
Benefits of Cold-Headed Fasteners
Unlike hot forging and machining, cold heading creates components without introducing high heat or cutting tools. As a result, this process offers several advantages for fastener manufacturing:
- Superior strength and durability. Continuous grain flow from cold forming enhances the mechanical strength and fatigue resistance of the fastener.
- Tight dimensional accuracy. Consistent, repeatable cold forming produces reliable tolerances and uniformity even across high volumes. In fact, cold heading can achieve tolerances down to +/- .002” without secondary processing.
- Material efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Cold forming produces minimal waste compared to machining, maximizing raw material utilization. High-speed, automated forming reduces cycle times and lowers per-part costs.
- Enhanced surface finish. Smooth, work-hardened surfaces improve fastener performance and reduce finishing requirements.
- Sustainability. Cold heading reduces energy consumption (no heat required) and results in less scrap material, contributing to eco-friendly manufacturing.
Our Cold Heading Capabilities
At MultiTech Industries, we can cold-form highly engineered standard and custom fasteners with diameters ranging from M2 to M22 and lengths of 3 to 230mm. With our in-house tooling, design, and engineering capabilities, we can develop unique solutions for challenging configurations or application requirements.
In addition to cold forming, we offer a variety of manufacturing capabilities as secondary processes to create fully finished components:
- Drilling and tapping
- Flattening
- Inspection
- Milling
- Pointing
- Shaving
- Slotting
- Sorting
- Trimming
- Roll forming and threading
- Wire EDM
These capabilities support complex part projects, creating multiple features in a single run. This allows us to reduce lead times and maintain consistent quality across all stages of the manufacturing process.
Custom Cold-Headed Fastener Types
At MultiTech, we produce a diverse selection of cold-headed fastener types, including but not limited to:
- Bolts
- Screws
- Nuts
- Ball studs
- Double-ended studs
- Wheel studs
- Clinch products
- Plugs
- Rivets
- Washers
- Fluid fasteners
- Drive systems
- Self-tapping screws
- Thread-forming fasteners
- Screw and washer assemblies (SEMS)
- Weld bolts
- Cam bolt assemblies
- Specialty products
Multitech’s extensive fastener testing and development capabilities provide tremendous value to our customers. Our team offers a wide variety of testing to achieve success in the application. We offer drive torque, strip torque, recommended installation torque, repeat assembly, material tensile testing, and more.
High-Performance Steel Fasteners for Demanding Applications
As a premier custom cold-headed fastener manufacturer, MTI supports demanding industrial and defense sectors. These applications require durable materials that can withstand extreme mechanical stress and corrosive environments. We operate a robust quality management system certified by a third party to follow IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 standards, and we are ITAR-registered to serve the aerospace and defense industries.
Our global manufacturing footprint gives us the capacity to source and form high-performance alloy fasteners specifically for aerospace and defense environments. As your manufacturing partner, we can match the appropriate metal grade to your operational requirements. Procurement managers rely on our single-source capabilities to consolidate vendors and secure consistent component quality.
Materials We Work With
Some of the common materials we work with are:
- Alloy steel
- Low to medium carbon steel
- 300 and 400 series stainless steel
- A286 stainless steel
- 52100 steel
- Monel®
Engineering & Testing Capabilities
Our engineering team and subject matter experts work with customers to provide technical support through design, production, and testing. All of our facilities are equipped with fatigue analysis, clamp load, torque tension, predictive joint design, and other testing capabilities. We provide part- and application-specific solutions to help customers enhance production efficiency and maximize product performance.
In-House Tool Rooms
From our state-of-the-art, in-house tool rooms, our tool and die experts can quickly prototype and produce custom tooling for your components, shortening development cycles and time to market for new parts. Unlike other providers that must outsource tooling work, MultiTech can handle your project from start to finish with quality and precision, enabling faster turnaround times and lower costs.
Partner with MTI: Custom Cold-Headed Fastener Manufacturer
Cold-headed fasteners from MultiTech are key components in automotive, agriculture, aerospace, construction, defense, and power tool assemblies. As a single-source manufacturing provider, MultiTech supplies more than just parts. Our design and engineering specialists can collaborate with you to develop custom solutions for complex projects. We have the technical expertise and cutting-edge equipment to design, produce, test, and deliver components on time and within budget.
Contact us to request a quote for your next cold-headed fastener project.
FAQs
Contact Us
Request a quote today to discuss your next cold-headed fastener project.