NCET Biz Tips: You’ve benefited from this technology made in Nevada, but you may not know it

NCET helps you explore business and technology

By Dave Archer

If you’ve flown on an airplane or sailed on a cruise ship, the odds are that Click Bond has helped make that a safe and energy efficient journey for you.

Click Bond is a family-owned and operated company headquartered in Carson City that creates innovative mechanical hardware solutions for aircraft, cruise ships, naval ships, and even the Mars Curiosity Rover.

Inventor Charles Hutter and his wife Collie founded the company in 1987 with Click Bond’s first product, the Click Patch, an adhesive-bonded patch that offers economical, rapid repair for fuel leaks and other damage on aircraft.

“Click Bond grew from my father’s love of aviation and a curiosity about how to do things better, more efficiently, effectively, and with an eye for elegant design,” said Karl Hutter, Charles and Collie’s son, who now leads the company. “His ideas took shape in prototypes and patents, and Click Bond became the world-class manufacturer it is today under my mother’s financial and operational leadership.”

Today, the company manufactures thousands of products supporting the world’s top civil and defense programs in air and sea transport. Its adhesive-bonded, rivetless nut plates eliminate the need for drilling on aircraft and other vessels, which preserves structural integrity and longevity, enabling weight savings and reducing installation, rework, and repair time and cost.

“For over 30 years, we have taken on tough challenges, creating advanced assembly solutions that enhance our customers’ competitiveness, expanding what is possible in the design, manufacture and operation of their high-performance systems,” Hutter said.

Click Bond’s employees create and innovate each day at the company’s Carson City headquarters, where about 375 are employed. The company prides itself on being a solutions-based organization that responds to its customers’ pain points with ideas that advance the industry.

“By coupling a work environment that promotes creativity and problem solving with strong customer partnerships, we affect change and improve the way aircraft are assembled across the globe, and that’s pretty incredible,” said Danielle Costella, Click Bond’s corporate communications manager.

Through all that innovation, the family remains central to Click Bond’s operations and culture.

Dave Archer

“I’m proud to carry forward my parent’s legacy of invention and ideation backed by the highest standards of quality in manufacturing within an intimate, family-owned business setting,” Hutter said. “At Click Bond, we make the small things that let big ideas take flight.”

See where Click Bond creates innovative adhesive bonded fasteners for air, sea, land and industrial applications NCET’s Tech Wednesday event from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at Click Bond. Participants will tour the company’s Carson City location and learn how it supports global leaders in the design and manufacture of high-performance platforms and systems. For more information and to purchase registration, visit NCETwed.org.

Dave Archer is president/CEO of NCET, which produces educational and networking events to help people explore business and technology.