When Willie Goodman was offered an opportunity to sell rivets in New York City in 1912, he had no way of knowing he was laying the foundation for a company that would still be thriving more than 110 years later. What started as a one-man operation grew into Industrial Rivet & Fastener Co. — today one of the fastener industry’s largest and most respected manufacturers of permanent mechanical fasteners, with an inventory of over 1.4 billion pieces of high-quality rivets, automated riveting tools, delivery systems, and related services.
Now in its fourth generation of family leadership, the company is headquartered in Norwood, New Jersey, and led by Willie’s grandson Bill Goodman as President, alongside his great-grandchildren Taryn Goodman and Steven Sherman, who serve as Co-Vice Presidents.
A Family Business That Runs Like One
Taryn Goodman, who oversees finance, marketing, and administration, didn’t always plan on joining the family business. She earned undergraduate degrees in biology and economics at Williams College, followed by an MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. She started her career at Lehman Brothers in 2008 — just two months before the firm’s collapse during the financial crisis. After a few years at Barclays Capital, which acquired Lehman’s operations, Taryn realized something was missing.
“We’d advise all of these companies because that’s what you do in investment banking, but I never got to see it through or learn the final results,” she says. “I felt something was missing.”
In 2012, she joined Industrial Rivet & Fastener Co. — and hasn’t looked back. “I love coming to work every day. It’s truly the best.”
Her cousin Steven Sherman, Co-Vice President and head of R&D and Engineering, has been with the company for over 26 years, working his way through virtually every role from header operator to product engineering, application engineering, sales, and management.
Together with Bill Goodman, the three form the leadership team steering the company into its next century of growth.
From Rivet Supermarket to Engineered Solutions
In the company’s earlier generations, Industrial Rivet was widely known in the industry as the “supermarket of rivets” — a one-stop source for a wide range of rivet types at a time when most competitors focused on just one. That breadth of inventory remains a core strength today, but the current generation has taken the company significantly further.
“We still offer many types of rivets, but we also put a strong focus on our engineering capabilities to help customers solve their problems — and their customers’ problems,” Taryn explains. “We’re continually assessing what’s the ideal rivet for a certain application and what’s the most efficient way we can manufacture it.”
That engineering-first approach is backed by a robust in-house infrastructure. Industrial Rivet conducts salt-spray analysis, shear and tensile testing, and dimensional verification to ensure fastener reliability across applications. The company’s ISO-certified lab also offers hardness testing — Rockwell B, C, and Vickers — for maximum durability verification.
Innovative Tools for Modern Manufacturing
One of Taryn’s greatest sources of professional satisfaction has been bringing new technology from concept to production — something she never got to experience in investment banking.
The RivetKing® KingSet is one standout example: a handheld autofeed riveting system that allows operators to align workpiece holes with one hand while riveting with the other, dramatically speeding up assembly. Fully portable and adaptable to both horizontal and vertical orientations, the KingSet fits a wide range of manufacturing environments.
The RivetKing® FreeSet® series of cordless riveters is another leap forward — operating at speeds comparable to or faster than pneumatic tools while using 99% less energy than traditional air compressors. For manufacturers focused on sustainability and reducing their CO2 footprint, the FreeSet® represents a meaningful operational upgrade.
Built for the Long Run
Industrial Rivet has been paperless for nearly 20 years and operates a largely automated facility — a reflection of a company that has consistently stayed ahead of an industry that, as Taryn notes, is often slow to adopt change. The company was designated an essential manufacturer during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained fully operational throughout, keeping its entire team healthy and employed.
That team — employees, sales representatives, partners, and customers — is considered extended family.
“Family is what holds this company together, whether that’s our actual family members or our extended family of employees, sales reps, partners, and customers,” Taryn says. It’s a value the company takes seriously enough to have trademarked: Family is our fastener.
For more information about Industrial Rivet & Fastener Co. and the full RivetKing® product line — including blind rivets, rivet nuts, lock bolts, and automated riveting tools — visit rivet.com or call email marketing@rivet.com.
As featured in Fastener Engineering Magazine, April 2021.