January 20, 2009 - Modern Distribution Management

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January 20, 2009

AMETEK Acquires High Standard Aviation

AMETEK, Inc., Paoli, PA, acquired High Standard Aviation, a Miami, FL-based provider of electrical/electromechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic repair services to the aerospace industry. The privately held High Standard Aviation has annual sales of approximately $31 million.
 
The acquisition broadens AMETEK's position in the aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul market, and provides a presence in Miami. High Standard Aviation will become a unit of AMETEK Aerospace & Defense.
 
AMETEK is a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annualized sales of $2.5 ...

AMETEK Acquires High Standard Aviation Read More »

Sysco CEO Announces Retirement

The CEO of Sysco Corp., Houston, TX, Richard J. Schnieders, has announced his plan to retire on June 27, 2009, the end of Sysco's 2009 fiscal year. Schnieders will continue as chairman of the board subsequent to stepping down as CEO on March 31. He joined Sysco in 1982, serving as CEO since 2003.
 
Bill DeLaney, Sysco's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will become CEO. Delaney will continue to act as CFO until his replacement is chosen. In addition, Ken Spitler, Sysco's president and chief operating officer, has been promoted to vice chairman of the board of directors and will continue in his current responsibilities.
 
DeLaney has been with Sysco since 1987, and has served in his current position since 2007. Spitler joined Sysco in 1986 and was ...

Sysco CEO Announces Retirement Read More »

Canadian Manufacturing Sales Fall in November

Source: Statistics Canada

Canadian manufacturing sales decreased for a fourth consecutive month in November. Sales fell 6.4% to $48.4 billion, the lowest level since December 2004.

Constant dollar manufacturing sales, which are measured in 2002 prices, fell to their lowest level in almost 10 years, decreasing by 3.0% in November. Therefore, about half of the drop in the current dollar series compared with October reflected price declines. The most significant price decreases were in the petroleum and coal industry (-18.5%) and primary metal industry (-6%).

At the industry level, sales in 12 of 21 manufacturing industries decreased in November, accounting for over four-fifths of ...

Canadian Manufacturing Sales Fall in November Read More »

Options Outside of Standard Downsizing to Bolster Profits

Long-time industry consultant Bruce Merrifield addresses profitability in a recent post to his Web site. He says that companies have options outside of traditional downsizing moves to boost performance in these tough times.

He asks: How do we carefully: either sculpt away our corporate bloat (losing customers, products, people); or, redeploy losing-activity resources into revitalizing the ripped, profitable athlete that is hiding within the general average numbers?"
 
Toward the end of his post, found here, he recommends: 

  • Identifying the "super-loser" accounts that are in best ...

Options Outside of Standard Downsizing to Bolster Profits Read More »

Praxair Completes 15 Acquisitions In 2008

Praxair Distribution, Inc., Danbury, CT, a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., completed 15 acquisitions in 2008 with sales totaling nearly $90 million, including five acquisitions made during the fourth quarter.
 
Our acquisition program over the past two years has been very successful and remains an important part of our overall growth strategy, said George Ristevski, president of Praxair Distribution. "We have acquired 26 companies with sales exceeding $350 million since 2007 and remain committed to acquiring selected, high-quality distribution businesses. We have many active projects in the pipeline that meet our strict return criteria."
 
Praxair Distribution, with sales of $1.7 billion, supplies a comprehensive range of industrial, specialty ...

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Distributors Feel Dismal 2008 Auto Sales

General Motors and Toyota both announced 2008 vehicle sales this week. General Motors said vehicle sales dropped 11% in 2008, with a 21% drop in North America and a 6.5% drop in Europe. Toyota saw its global sales drop about 5%. Distributors are feeling the ripple effect from automotive supplier customers far, wide and deep.
 
Automotive supplier musical chairs is in full effect from a distribution perspective. If your customer plant is still running, it might even be increasing production as work is shifted from other operations, now shut down.
 
As some automotive suppliers struggle and go under, some distributors are seeing tooling and production work shifted to other suppliers, again with some increase in business on that end. But the good news in January is ...

Distributors Feel Dismal 2008 Auto Sales Read More »

Venture Tape To Buy Compac’s Pressure Sensitive Adhesives

Venture Tape Corp., a subsidiary of St. Paul, MN-based 3M, has agreed to acquire the pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape assets of Compac Corp. from Lamtec Corp. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
 
TriMas Corp., the parent company of Hackettstown, NJ-based Compac, recently agreed to sell Compac to Lamtec. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009. Upon completion of this transaction, all Compac PSA tape products will be supplied from Venture Tape Corp.  Compac products primarily are used in the heating, ventilation and air condition, insulation, and industrial markets.
 
Venture Tape manufactures a broad range of tapes used in construction, oil and gas, HVAC, electronics, aerospace, marine and appliance markets. It ...

Venture Tape To Buy Compac’s Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Read More »

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