E&R Industrial is a suburban Detroit-based distributor offering a range of metalworking and other industrial supplies primarily to manufacturing customers, and it’s embarking on a new journey in the wake of being divested from Grainger in late 2023.

E&R was part of Grainger for 10 years and is now privately-owned, and has new leadership in place.

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My guest in this episode is Joe Stephens, who became E&R’s CEO this past September. Joe spent nearly 25 years at Fastenal before taking the lead at Motor City Industrial until it was acquired by AFC Industries in 2023. He then led fluid sealing master distributor APG for two years before joining E&R.

E&R has ambitious plans as the company looks to add scale through a combination of M&A and sales force expansion, and Joe’s experience and perspective from both national strategics and independent growers will be vital there.

Our discussion covered not only what E&R has in mind, but Joe’s thoughts on the broader industry’s evolution on the fronts of how much relationship-selling still matters; what it truly means to be technology-enabled, and the role of vending today.

Listen to the full episode via the audio player above, and you can find our entire MDM Podcast library here.

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