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MDM spoke with United
Stationers' CEO Dick Gochnauer recently about the master distributor's
move into the industrial sector through ORS Nasco. Gochnauer also spoke
about value-added initiatives to strengthen United's position in the
market. Read the Article
After reading your weekly ISA news, scroll past the yellow section
for more features.
This
Industrial Supply Conference session will introduce the most extensive
product market share report ever made available for North America and is
the result of more than 18 months of work by ISA's Profit Improvement
and Revenue Enhancement Committees. The report covers 14 product
categories in more than 500 markets in the U.S. and Canada, at county
and province levels.
The ISA Trade Fair floor
will boast two specialized Pavilions this year to make finding new
trading partners easier than ever. The Safety Pavilion will focus on
Safety Product Manufacturers on day 1 of the Trade Fair. The BizTech
Pavilion will be featured both days of the Trade Fair and will host
services, products and technology for Industrial Distribution and
Manufacturing Companies who want to improve their communication,
financial, marketing, material handling and customer service
capabilities. For more information on either of these special new
Pavilions, please click here.
Click here for more information on the conference and
trade show. Contact ISA at info@isapartners.org or call 215-320-3862.
As a participant, you will
receive a copy of the Profit Report and personalized Profit Improvement
Profile. The report compares your firm with similar firms. You will also
have access to the Profit Toolkit Online. Deadline is April 15, 2008.
Click here to participate or for more information.
Join financial
expert and tax authority Bart Basi and Jack Keough, editor of Industrial
Distribution, on March 12 for this Webcast on succession planning. This
one-hour seminar will cover business valuation, grooming a successor,
and understanding legal, accounting and tax aspects of the business, in
addition to creating an exit strategy. Click here for more information. ISA members get a
20% discount!
 COMPENSATION SURVEY: FINAL DEADLINE
EXTENSION IS FRIDAY, FEB. 22!
Do not miss this opportunity to participate in the
bi-annual survey. Calling all Canadian companies - we need you to
participate in order to have a Canadian breakout! Click here for more information.
Hear
Meagan Johnson's hilarious spin on how to attract, train, market, manage
and retain people from each generation and not strangle someone in the
process. Click here for more information.
In this seminar,
attendees will work on a target account of their choice to gain
practical, hands-on tools for better face-to-face selling. Click here for more information.
SAVE THE DATE May 21: NEW WEBINAR - How to Find and Keep the Right Employees … Without
Stealing from the Competition
Flat-rolled mills announced modest price increases for
January and February deliveries. But stronger demand and inexorably
rising costs impelled the producers to raise prices again for March and
April shipments. Click here to sign on and view the report.
ISA and OfficeMax have
partnered to give members a new way to save money. OfficeMax is proud to
introduce the Retail Connect card, which provides you with access to
your company's prices on office supplies and printing services from
OfficeMax ImPress at any of the nearly 900 OffficeMax retail locations.
To take advantage of your special pricing,
- Go to isapartners.org under Cost Reduction and print one
out.
- Take your card to OfficeMax ImPress counter. With your first
purchase, OfficeMax laminates your card for free.
- The cashier will scan your card to pull up your association pricing.
It's that simple! In addition OfficeMax has created an Instant
Purchasing Account for ISA members. Simply 1.) Go to OfficeMaxSolutions.com, 2.) Use the FPSA Username
0503537, and FPSA password omax1. For additional
information, call (913) 344-5722 and start saving today. Be sure to
check out all of the other cost reduction programs ISA has to offer at
isapartners.org.
The ISA eBusiness Committee announces availability of the ISA
eBusiness Implementation Guideline. Click here for more information.
Feb. 18: We want YOU to participate: 2008 ISA Profit Survey
Details
Feb. 22: Employee Compensation Survey & Report – FINAL
DEADLINE EXTENSION Details
March 12: ZAP THE GAP! How to Solve the Multi-Generational Puzzle
Webinar Details
March 12: Exit Strategies for the Family Business Owner Details
March 18-20: The Four Pillars of the Sales Profession Seminar,
Dayton, OH Details
April 18: Deadline to receive ISA Conference & Trade Fair Early Bird
Registration Fees and to be listed in the printed conference program.
The program will be mailed in advance.
April 15: Profit Report - Deadline to Participate
May 21: How to Find and Keep the Right Employees … Without
Stealing from the Competition Webinar Details
June 1-3: ISA Industrial Supply Conference & Trade Fair, Chicago, IL
Details
Sept. 10: Developing an Inventory State of Mind Webinar
Dec. 2: The Telephone Doctor Webinar
For more information on upcoming ISA events, go to isapartners.org.
Send name, title, email address and company
name of each colleague to info@mdm.com. Only employees of ISA member companies
will be added to the list to receive this weekly association update.
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What are the Benchmarks for Success in Distribution?
A successful benchmarking
effort begins with an understanding of common performance metrics. The
Annual Census of Distribution conducted by the MPI Group identifies
current performance levels for key technologies and processes—from
radio-frequency identification (RFID) to Six Sigma—in distribution
centers and warehouse operations. Learn how savvy distributors are using
benchmark metrics and adopting best practices to stay one step ahead of
the competition. Click here to read the Annual Distribution
Executive Summary.
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MDM NEWS UPDATE: February 14, 2008
(Click
headline to view)
The recent National Association of
Wholesaler-Distributors Executive Summit in Washington drew one of the
largest audiences of wholesale distribution executives together in
years. Publisher Tom Gale has attended nearly every annual NAW meeting
since 1993, and this one can best be summed up by one word: Focus. The
executives at the conference were focused on collecting great ideas on
getting leaner, improving productivity and fine-tuning their strategies,
despite talk of an economic downturn.
More...
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MDM spoke with Seth Erickson, vice
president of product merchandising for Grainger, about the $6.4 billion
facilities maintenance distributor's product expansion and private label
strategies. Last week, Grainger added 44,000 products to its 2008
catalog, including power-transmission products, raw materials products,
and fleet maintenance products. The expansion is part of a long-term
strategy to provide one-stop shopping for its customers and was driven
by customer request, says Seth Erickson.
"We have found that in MRO efficiency is king, and the more efficient
we can make our customers, the more valuable we are to them," Erickson
says. In fact, he says that as the economy slows, distributors and their
customers must become more efficient and strategically reduce costs by
consolidating purchases. Erickson also talked to MDM about its new
private label, Tough Guy. More...
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Pembroke Consulting's Adam Fein
wrote at his Distribution Trends blog that many wholesale
distribution executives are employing strategies in the face of an
economic downturn, including making acquisitions of distressed
competitors, improving employee productivity (with technology) and
refocusing on customer profitability. Two other ideas: Diversify your
end-markets to balance out weakness in residential markets and explore
the possibility of exporting. As MDM wrote recently in The Decline of the U.S. Dollar, exports – cheaper
on the world market thanks to a weak dollar – have helped set off
softness in the housing sector. Fein gives an example of an executive
who plans to sell his company's private label overseas.
More...
Though not as specific as Fein's
strategies for dealing with a downturn, this article does offer one good
point of advice that may be easier said than done, but is still
important to keep in mind: "The most important step to thrive in any
economy is to make yourself indispensable … In business, this means
that you have become the 'must-have' provider."
More...
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Starting his company out of a
Volkswagen in 1976, Michael Funk, a ponytailed former garbage man, has
turned his business into a Fortune 1000 company that dominates its
competition, according to this Fortune magazine profile. Still sporting
the ponytail and his signature purple Converse high-top sneakers –
he even wore them during his first visit with Wall Street investors
– Funk has turned his natural foods distribution business into
United Natural Foods.
With organic food sales on the rise (up 21% in 2006), this Dayville,
CT-based distributor will generate $3.3 billion in sales this year, five
times more than its closest competitor. Funk is now working to acquire
Millbrook Distribution Services, a $300 million supplier of ethnic and
gourmet items.
More...
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Here's a look by the San Francisco
Chronicle at one distribution sector that has been forced to shift its
focus due to shifts in customer needs and technology. The original Post
Card Distributors Association recently changed its name to the Souvenir
Wholesale Distributors. This smart name change – following a trend
rather than fighting it – comes from the fact that postcard sales
increasingly make up a smaller percentage of the distributors' overall
sales (now under 10%) thanks to the popularity of digital photos, text
messages and e-mail.
More...
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ABOUT ISA ADVISOR
ISA Advisor is a weekly news and industry update provided as a member
service of the Industrial Supply Association. More information about ISA
member benefits and services is available at the web site of the Industrial Supply
Association.
ISA Advisor is published weekly by Gale Media, Inc., publisher of Modern Distribution
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