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Day: February 25, 2010

The Business Case for Better Data

Leave a Comment / Technology, Features, Grocery & Foodservice Distribution, Companies, Top Distributor Sectors, Power Transmission/Motion Control/Fluid Power, Industrial, Electrical, Subscriber Only / By
Distributors and their suppliers want to improve efficiencies, save time and money, and reduce errors. One way to do this is to improve and standardize the way they use and send data. This article is the first of a series of MDM articles on current trends in doing business electronically.
 
About five years ago, PTDA member Baldwin Supply Co., Minneapolis, MN-based distributor of mechanical power transmission and electrical control products, adopted the association’s recommended format for receiving product data changes from its suppliers.
 
“It used to take us a month to update a price increase with some of our bigger manufacturers. Now we can do it in an hour or so,” says Baldwin Supply President Ron Herem, the Power Transmission Distributors Association board liaison to the Industry Relations Committee, which in collaboration with other associations developed the Product and Price Information Format.
 
“(PPIF) drastically reduced the time it took to do a pricing update. We used to have 2 and a half people – and that was pretty much all they did, and it was done manually.”
Baldwin’s experience is just one example of the impact of one of many data standardization initiatives taking place right now in distribution.

Fourth-Quarter Public Distributor Report: The Back and Forth Between Air Products and Airgas

Leave a Comment / Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Features, Gases & Welding Equipment, Companies, Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only / By

This is the MDM Public Distributor Report, provided on a quarterly basis to subscribers of Modern Distribution Management. This report includes an overview of public distributor earnings calls, Airgas and Air Products acquisition talk, and financial metrics for publicly traded distribution companies.

Fourth-Quarter Public Distributor Report: Signs of Optimism Start to Appear in Quarterly Calls

Leave a Comment / Research & Analytics, Features, Companies, Subscriber Only / By

This is the MDM Public Distributor Report, provided on a quarterly basis to subscribers of Modern Distribution Management. This report includes an overview of public distributor earnings calls, Airgas and Air Products acquisition talk, and financial metrics for publicly traded distribution companies.

Economic Update: Is Manufacturing Bouncing Back?

Leave a Comment / Economic Trends, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / By

Cautious optimism remains the theme for the economy in 2010. Slow but steady improvement is being seen in several sectors, yet the latest round of earnings reports demonstrate a hesitation to proclaim the U.S. and global economies have entered the recovery phase.

Last month, Donald A. Norman, an economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, referred to the economy having been in "rehab" during the last quarter, while now it "finally appears to be on the road to recovery."

Indeed, manufacturing – one of the hardest hit sectors during this recession – began posting some positive numbers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing added …

Commentary: Recommended Reading in 2010

Leave a Comment / Free, Perspective, Strategy, Management, Top Distributor Sectors, Power Transmission/Motion Control/Fluid Power, Subscriber Only / By

Tenney Campbell, the well-known owner of a fluid power distributor, died in mid-January. He was ahead of his time in many ways. He will be remembered as a person who had an impact in this world beyond so many friends among fluid power distributors and manufacturers. He sold his California business to Berendsen Fluid Power in the mid-1990s. He continued to work for the company a few years in the capacity of corporate curmudgeon.
 
His role in those few years was to “create heat, smoke and discontent” among the company’s management, according to distribution consultant Mike Workman, who called Tenney a longtime friend and mentor.

MDM Interview, Part 2: Applied Industrial Technologies’ Growth Plans

Leave a Comment / Features, Companies, Top Distributor Sectors, Power Transmission/Motion Control/Fluid Power, Subscriber Only / By

This is Part 2 of an interview with David Pugh, CEO of industrial distributor Applied Industrial Technologies. In this piece, Pugh talks about new markets, fluid power, e-commerce, integrated supply and the impact of the recession on channel relationships. Find Part 1 of this interview here.
 
MDM: You have made some key acquisitions in the fluid power segment. How does that fit into your growth plans going forward?
 
David Pugh: We started our fluid power growth in the mid-‘90s. I am not sure we truly understood the business when we headed into it because we pictured it to be a lot like bearing and power transmission. The manufacturers supplying the industry have a different mindset with regard to how they use distribution and how they authorize distribution. That was an eye-opener for us.