Earl Ewing Norman founded the Corporation, which was to become Automatic Screw Machine Products Company, in 1914. Located in Chicago , the Company was near the hub of the then fast developing heavy manufacturing industry in this country and initially manufactured steam boiler regulators on screw machines. The company had the distinction of being one of the first screw machine job shops in Chicago .

After beginning operations in rented space on the top floor of an old building, the company grew and prospered during the days of World War I. It soon expanded into larger facilities. However, soon after the end of World War I, other methods of power transmission were found to be more economical and both the steam generator and steam generator regulator business began to drop off. The company began to use the screw machines to make an assortment of special parts, expanding their customer base to include both the Chicago and Minnesota areas.

It is interesting to note that during this period of time, horses and wagons delivered the steel and removed the scrap, as well as delivering the finished products to the railroad freight yards for shipment. Also company employees worked a grueling workweek of six 10-hr days.

In the early twenties, with the continued growth of the company, property was purchased and the first company-owned building was built to house the manufacturing operations. Their capabilities were now turned towards making hexagon steel standard nuts. An addition to the plant facility was built during the boom years just prior to the depression of the thirties.

Unfortunately, it would be several years before the addition contained any machinery and equipment. The depression took its toll on Automatic, just as it did on countless other manufacturing firms. Automatic survived those times, largely because of the loyalty and resourcefulness of their employees who the company was able to keep working. Past business relationships made it possible for the company to have the support of the steel suppliers and the banks, so that the company could weather the economic storm.

As the country lifted itself out of the depression, the late thirties brought the aviation industry to boom proportions. The company again began to grow and prosper by supplying the high quality nuts needed to manufacture airplanes during World War II. In the mid-forties, the company expanded into an additional manufacturing plant in Booneville , Mississippi , operating as the Southern Steel Nut Company.

The company soon realized that transportation problems in the Booneville area made it difficult to receive raw material shipments and ship finished parts adequately. The decision was made to search for and select a more acceptable location to which the company could be relocated. After an intensive search throughout the Southeast, land was purchased in 1948. A manufacturing facility was built in Decatur , Alabama , an area that had been found to be acceptable in terms of an available work force and excellent transportation facilities.

In the years since 1948, the company has continued to grow, largely because of the dedication and commitment of its employees. It has weathered the economic storms, which have faced the industry from time to time. During this growth, many changes have occurred within the company. In the late fifties, all precision aircraft manufacturing operations were relocated to the Decatur operations from Chicago , followed by the relocation of all manufacturing operations in the seventies.

The company had, in 1965, formed the Homan Fasteners Division in Chicago to distribute not only the company products but also the production of other manufacturers as well. Relocating the Chicago manufacturing operation to the Decatur facility made it possible for the company to continue expanding the customer base. The original Decatur plant, expanded in 1976, continues to serve as the company's sole manufacturing facility.

Industrial Bolt and Screw, Memphis , Tennessee , was purchased in 1992. This distributor of just-in-time inventory systems was merged with Homan Fasteners to form Assembly Component Systems, Inc.

In 1996 Lawson Products, Inc. purchased Automatic and the company now operates as a subsidiary of Assembly Component Systems, Inc.

Automatic Screw Machine Products Company serves a broad range of customers. The aircraft market continues to be a vital part of our business but so are companies which manufacture elevators, trucks, off-road equipment, locomotives, recreational vehicles, hand and power tools and a wide variety other products including the automotive aftermarket.

In the future Automatic will no doubt look different, but our goals will remain to search for new customers and new markets and to serve them with products MADE IN USA by dedicated, talented and motivated employees.