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Latest In Featured Blog
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NAW’s 2026 AI Adoption Index suggests early returns are showing up as time saved, greater throughput and avoided hiring long before they appear as broad job reductions.
Rising fuel, labor and operating costs are putting added pressure on distributor margins. This article explores how AI-powered route optimization can help distributors cut unnecessary fleet miles, improve delivery efficiency and reduce costs — without sacrificing the reliable service customers expect.
Formerly our Premium Monthly report — a PDF often spanning 30-40 pages — our Intelligence Brief provides a consise, synthesized eight-page briefing that extracts the biggest takeaways and themes from the articles published each month. It's perfect for busy executives. Premium members can get our September Intelligence Brief from the link in this blog or from their Premium Dashboard.
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Giving commercial teams more pricing authority doesn’t have to mean losing control. This piece explains how distributors can use pricing guardrails, centralized visibility and deterministic controls to balance local market flexibility with financial discipline — an approach that becomes even more important as AI plays a larger role in pricing decisions.
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This category can only be viewed by members. To view this category, sign up by purchasing MDM Premium Subscription (monthly) or MDM Premium Subscription (annual).
Emerging technology is becoming more specific, more capable and more fluent in how wholesale distribution operates. Here, NAW's Dan Schuberth offers his perspective on how the advantage will go to companies that pair it with the accumulated judgment of their people.
MDM’s latest case study examines how Grainger continues to outgrow the MRO market through a connected operating model built on High-Touch customer solutions, curated assortment, private label, digital commerce, data intelligence and fulfillment scale.
NAW’s fifth annual Innovators Summit brought distributors and technology innovators together in Nashville for targeted meetings and industry discussions. AI was embedded throughout the event, but the conversation increasingly centered on a more disciplined question: Where can technology create measurable business value?
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A blend of technical education, industry partnerships and applied projects is helping Texas A&M connect students with distribution careers while adapting to employers’ changing expectations. We take a look at what the program looks like today and how it's evolving.
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This category can only be viewed by members. To view this category, sign up by purchasing MDM Premium Subscription (monthly) or MDM Premium Subscription (annual).
This category can only be viewed by members. To view this category, sign up by purchasing MDM Premium Subscription (monthly) or MDM Premium Subscription (annual).
AI can now turn quotes and orders around in minutes, but speed alone won’t create a competitive advantage. This article explains how distributors can convert newly freed capacity into proactive selling — directing reps toward the accounts, products and conversations most likely to generate growth.
Three more distributors have been identified as alleged co-conspirators in the sprawling PVC pipe antitrust litigation, doubling the distributor list since MDM’s initial coverage. Meanwhile, settlements involving manufacturers and a pricing data provider have climbed above $415 million.
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