largest nut

Terry Albrecht already has a lot of nuts (and bolts), but next week he will park the world’s largest nut outside his business.
Packer Fastener will install a 3.5-ton, 10-foot-tall hex nut made by Robinson Metals Inc. in front of its new headquarters on the northeast corner of South Ashland Avenue and Lombardi Avenue.Albrecht says it will give Green Bay the largest hex nut in the world.
“(Guinness World Records) confirms that there is currently no category for the largest nut in the world,” Albrecht said.”But they are willing to open one for us. It is indeed the largest in the world, but we don’t have an official Guinness seal yet.”
Albrecht has been fascinated by nuts, bolts, threaded fasteners, anchors, screws, washers and accessories since starting the company on South Broadway 17 years ago.Since then, his staff has grown from 10 to 40 with offices in Green Bay, Appleton, Milwaukee and Wausau.
An idea came to Albrecht when he saw a huge replica of the Lombardi Trophy made by De Pere’s Robinson Metal.
“For years, our slogan was ‘we have the biggest nuts in town,’” Albrecht said.”When we moved to this place, we thought it would be nice to put our money where our mouth is. I contacted a partner at Robinson with this idea and they figured out how.”
Robinson’s operations manager, Neil VanLanen, said the company had been doing business with Packer Fastener for some time, so Albrecht’s idea didn’t surprise them.
“It combines very well,” VanLanen said.”That’s really what we do. And Terry, he’s an outgoing, charismatic guy who’s been a great fit to work with as a client and a supplier throughout.”
It took company employees about five weeks to make the 10-plus-foot-long hex nut from 3.5 tons of steel, VanLanen said.It is hollow and mounted on a standard steel platform.In turn, it will be mounted on a concrete pad so that people standing in its center can see the Rambo Field.
“We went back and forth about the idea for about two months. Then we took it,” Van Lanen said.”As they move into their new headquarters, you couldn’t ask for a better place to put something eye-catching.”
Albrecht said he hoped that residents of Great Green Bay would embrace and enjoy the company’s contribution to the landscape.
“Our hope is to make it our own little landmark in the city,” he said.”We thought it would be a great photo opportunity.”