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  • Article

MDM’s Singer Industrial Case Study Report Now Available

How has Singer Industrial grown into a 55-plus-company platform while preserving local leadership and culture? This MDM Case Study explores the industrial rubber, fluid power and automation distributor's coordinated autonomy model, acquisition strategy and technology investments that are helping drive scale, efficiency and long-term growth.
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  • Article

Lean Six Sigma was Early in Distribution. AI Makes it Real (Part 1 of 4)

What if AI doesn’t replace Lean Six Sigma, but finally makes it scalable? The first in this four-part series from NAW Chief Innovation Officer Bart Tessel introduces LSS AI: a disciplined operating model to help distributors move beyond AI hype, close learning loops and build organizations that learn faster than volatility.
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  • Article

MDM’s May Premium Monthly Issue Now Available

Our May issue is packed with articles that cover the margin pressure gap between large and small distributors; a deep dive into Grainger’s impressive 1Q; parts 2 and 3 of Tom Gale’s data analytics series; updates on DNOW’s MRC Global integration and ERP headaches; our monthly MDM Forecast and M&A Roundup; a Safety/PPE Market Profile; and more.
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  • Article

Trump Administration Eases Select Metal Tariffs on Ag, HVAC Imports

A new presidential proclamation temporarily lowers Section 232 duties on certain agricultural equipment, residential HVAC products and mobile industrial machinery — offering targeted relief for distributors but leaving much of the broader metals tariff regime intact.
Warehouse workers are operating forklifts, transporting goods between tall shelves filled with various products, showcasing the fast paced environment of a modern distribution center
  • Article

Before You Automate Your Warehouse, Ask These 3 Questions

Warehouse automation often falls short — not because of technology, but because distributors automate the wrong problems. This piece outlines three critical questions to reduce friction, improve workflow orchestration and ensure automation investments actually deliver efficiency gains.
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  • Article

The Hidden Majority: Your AI Is Writing Emails. Your Competitor’s is Finding Margin

We kick off our new "The Hidden Majority" article series with one that focuses on the small- to mid-sized results from the latest Baird-MDM survey combined with our AI research from earlier this year. This piece explores why pricing and margin optimization remain the industry’s biggest untapped AI opportunity — especially for sub-$100M distributors.
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  • Article

Late Payments: Key Causes, Consequences and How to Close the Gap

Late payments aren’t just a collections issue — they expose deeper breakdowns across distributors’ revenue lifecycle. This contributed article explores the operational causes behind delayed cash flow and how unified data, contract-driven billing and AI can help close the gap.

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