September U.S. manufacturing technology consumption was $438.95 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 21.7% from August, and up 2.9% from the total of $426.39 million reported for September 2006. With a year-to-date total of $3,076.65 million, 2007 was up 6.7% compared with 2006.
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These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
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Evidence that manufacturing is alive and well in the U.S. can be seen in September’s extraordinary surge in manufacturing technology orders,” said John B. Byrd III, AMT president. …
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Worthington Industries, Columbus, OH, announced that its subsidiary, Worthington Steelpac Systems, LLC, has acquired a 49% interest in LEFCO Industries, LLC, a minority business enterprise.  ; The resulting joint venture will become LEFCO Worthington, LLC.  ; In addition to continuing LEFCO’s existing products, the joint venture will manufacture steel rack systems for a variety of industries, including automotive and trucking.  ;
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LEFCO operates a manufacturing facility in Cleveland, OH, where the company produces engineered wooden crates and specialty pallets.  ; Worthington Steelpac and LEFCO have been working in a strategic alliance for the past two years to assess opportunities for an MBE supplier in the steel rack fabrication market.  ; With …
Home improvement retailer The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, reported third quarter 2007 profits of $1.1 billion, compared with $1.5 billion, or $0.73 per diluted share, in the same period in fiscal 2006.
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Sales for the third quarter were $19 billion, a 3.5% decrease from the third quarter 2006, reflecting negative comparable store sales of 6.2%, offset in part by sales from new stores.
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The sale of HD Supply was completed on Aug. 30, 2007, and the company reflects the results of HD Supply as a discontinued operation. The operating results and financial impact of the sale of HD Supply are listed as a one-line item on the income statement. Earnings from discontinued operations were $20 million, down 26.8%.
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We are facing a tough environment as …
Electrical distributor Rexel reported sales were up 3.5% in the first nine months of 2007 to 7.9 billion euro (US$11.5B). Profit before IPO costs was up 57%.
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During the third quarter of 2007, Rexel saw continued growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific, led by the industrial and commercial end-markets while sals trends in North America were comparable to the second quarter. & hellip; Looking ahead, our proposed full-cash offer for Hagemeyer marks our confidence in the quality of Rexel’s business model and would provide compelling development opportunities for our Group,” says Jean-Charles Pauze, CEO.
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Rexel is in negotiations to acquire Hagemeyer NV for $4.5 billion, based on current exchange rates. The offer is 4.85 euro per share. Rexel would then sell the …
Hagemeyer and Rexel entered exclusive negotiations aimed at finalizing an agreement under which Rexel would make an all-cash offer of & euro; 4.85 per share, approximately 3.1 billion euro in total, or US$4.5 billion. Under the agreement, Hagemeyer’s Management and Supervisory Boards would recommend Hagemeyer accept this offer.
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The offer is up from Rexel’s original bid of & euro; 4.60, which had valued the company at US$4.3 billion.
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Rexel’s agreement with Sonepar will stand. As part of that agreement, Rexel will sell Sonepar the American, Asian-Pacific and select European activities of Hagemeyer.
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For Rexel’s part, in the original proposal, it said it would acquire Hagemeyer’s Professional Products & Services (PPS) activities in the Baltic …
KRG Capital Partners, a Denver, CO-based buyout firm, has sold drill-bit manufacturer Varel International to an affiliate of Atlanta-based private equity firm Arcapita, Inc. for $369 million. Varel, based in Carrollton, TX, is focused on the oil and gas, mining and industrial industries.
Varel produces polycrystalline diamond compact and roller cone bits for the oil and gas drill bit market, as well as roller cone bits for other mining and industrial applications.
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With operations and sales offices in 41 countries, Varel serves a broad range of national and multi-national oil and gas companies and generates 50% of its revenue outside North America. …
Doug Levin has been involved in distribution information technology for more than 20 years. He is well known in many distribution sectors as the former executive vice president of Prophet 21 software company, acquired by Activant Solutions in 2005. In this interview, the guy who sold a lot of technology systems urges distributors to optimize current systems first. Here's Levin's perspective on IT best practices, standards, consolidation and challenges ahead.
MDM: What's your perspective on the consolidation you've seen in distribution software over 20 years, some of which you actively drove in your role with Prophet 21? Have distributors benefited?
Doug Levin: It has probably gone from 30 companies that focus specifically on distribution …
According to the MDM/Industrial Market Information MRO Market Analysis, the U.S. market size in 2007 for the 126 MRO industrial product groups is $445.7 billion. (Prior-year data available at  ; the MDM Databank  ; are not directly comparable due to slight variations in product groups included.)
Estimates are based on data compiled by Industrial Market Information, Minneapolis, MN, and analyzed by MDM. Definitions for the 126 individual product categories used to estimate the market size are on p. 6 of this section.
Two aggregate subgroups were measured, as well. Manufacturing & Utilities sectors consumed $229.8 billion in MRO products across these 126 product groups.
Construction & Mining sectors consumed $97.8 …
September 2007 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $366.8 billion, up 1.3 percent from the revised August level and were up 9.9 percent from the September 2006 level.
The August preliminary estimate was revised upward $1.3 billion or 0.4 percent. September sales of durable goods were up 0.3 percent from last month and were up 4.6 percent from a year ago. Compared to last month, sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies were up 4.1 percent, while sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum, were down 3.7 percent.
Sales of nondurable goods were up 2.1 percent from last month and were up 15.1 percent from …
Hagemeyer and Rexel have entered exclusive negotiations aimed at finalizing an agreement under which Rexel would make an all-cash offer of & euro; 4.85 per share, approximately & euro; 3.1 billion in total, or US$4.5 billion. Under the agreement, Hagemeyer’s Management and Supervisory Boards would recommend Hagemeyer accept this offer. The offer is up from Rexel’s original bid of & euro; 4.60, which had valued the company at US$4.3 billion Rexel’s agreement with Sonepar will stand to sell Sonepar the American, Asian-Pacific and select European activities of Hagemeyer. More
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Download below U.S. Construction Statistics for the third quarter 2007, including housing starts and construction spending …
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Air Liquide Deutschland GmbH set up one of the largest units in Germany for the liquefaction of gases (nitrogen, oxygen and argon) in the Ulm region.
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With this investment of nearly & euro; 60 million, the Air Liquide Group is reinforcing its supply network for industrial gases.
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The Group also hopes to meet the needs of customers in Germany, particularly in automobile construction, mechanical construction, electrical engineering, food processing, as well as in technological development.
The start-up of the unit is scheduled for the end of 2009.
Air Liquide in Germany has around 2,000 employees and serves 300,000 customers. With a sales volume of & euro; 940 million (2006), Air Liquide is the second largest provider of industrial …
Alfa Laval -supplier in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling -has agreed to acquire the Finnish company Fincoil-teollisuus Oy from Carrier Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. Alfa Laval will pay SEK 425 million in cash (US$67 million).
The company manufactures and markets products for industrial cooling applications. Fincoil has a turnover of SEK 375 million and 150 employees.
Fincoil is established in the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and Russia. About 80% of its sales are exported. Fincoil has one manufacturing site outside Helsinki in Finland.
The acquisition of Fincoil is in line with Alfa Laval’s strategy to expand the presence in the European air heat exchanger market, which we estimate has a size of …
Double Rocker Holdings, Inc., parent company of Womack Machine Supply Company, has acquired Salt Lake City, UT-based Interstate Hydraulics, Inc.
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This is a great moment for Womack Machine Supply as we continue our diversification and growth into new markets and adjacent states.” said Mike Rowlett, CEO of Womack Machine Supply.
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Interstate Hydraulics distributes many of the same product lines as Womack (BRH, BRP, BRC, Hydac, Auburn Gear, Haldex Barnes, and Thermal Transfer) and operates a hydraulic repair center in Salt Lake City. The industries they serve include metals, mining, motor vehicle parts, material handling, farm machinery, construction machinery, oil & gas equipment, logging and general manufacturing.
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The addition of IHI allows …
Wolseley plc, the UK-based global distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a supplier of building materials, announced five bolt-on acquisitions for an aggregate of 84 million pounds Sterling (US$174 million).
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In a full year, these bolt-on acquisitions are expected to add 109 million pounds (US$226 million) to total revenue.
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Stock Building Supply has purchased three companies in the U.S. (Article)
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HVAC and plumbing distributor Ferguson has acquired J.D.’s Wholesale Plumbing & Supply, Pagosa Springs, CO. J.D.’s had sales of $0.7 million in 2006.
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Wolseley France has acquired Sofiparts SAS, which designs and assembles roof trusses operating from …
Stock Building Supply has expanded once again in the commercial and industrial markets.
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Stock has acquired Architectural Building Supply Company, with facilities in Utah and Idaho, and Jacobi Hardware Co. Inc., Wilmington, NC, both fabricators, distributors and installers of commercial doors, hardware and access control devices for commercial and institutional projects.
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ABS had revenue of $36 million in calendar 2006. Jacobi had revenue of $3.3 million.
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Stock has also acquired KBC Construction LLC, a turn-key framer and wall panel manufacturer in Albuquerque, NM. In the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, KBC had sales of $16.6 …
Saint-Gobain Gypsum has moved into Vietnam through the purchase of Vinh Tuong Joint Venture, created at the beginning of 2007 and owned by Vinh Tuong Corp., Universal Cement (Taiwan) and Compact Resources (Singapore).
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The company, Vinh Tuong Joint Venture, has a manufacturing plant near Ho Chi Minh City that can produce up to 9 million square meters of plasterboard. It employs 84.
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Vietnam benefits from the high growth of the building market, and particularly of the plasterboard market whose use has been recently introduced in the country.
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This acquisition will enable Saint-Gobain Gypsum -which has been exporting to Vietnam via its Thai company for more than 10 years -to consolidate its strong position in the Vietnamese market. It represents a …
Rexnord LLC, Milwaukee, WI, diversified manufacturer in power transmission and water management products, reported sales for the second quarter ended Sept. 29, 2007, were $453.9 million, an increase of 52.3% over the prior-year period.
Organic growth was 8.6%. Power transmission sales were up 9.3% to $325.9 million, an increase of $25.9 million. The Water Management platform accounted for $128 million of Rexnord’s year-over-year growth.
Rexnord attributed growth in the PT sector to strength in end markets of mining, energy, aggregates and aerospace. Foreign currency fluctuations also favorably impacted sales by $7 million during the quarter as the Euro and Canadian dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar compared to the prior year.
Sales in the first six …
Canadian manufacturers’ optimism in the last two quarters waned as they looked ahead to the final three months of  ; 2007. According to the October Business Conditions Survey by Statistics Canada, manufacturers indicated heightened dissatisfaction with the level of orders received, while production prospects weakened.
Although they remained positive in the fourth quarter of  ; 2007, manufacturers were more guarded as they continued to face important labor shortages, coupled with ongoing pressures caused by the Canadian dollar reaching parity with the U.S. greenback.
Manufacturers’ outlook on production prospects weakens
In October, the proportion of manufacturers stating they would increase production over the next three months stood at  ; …
