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.
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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.
Wesco, TD Synnex and Performance Food Group earned spots on Fortune’s expanded ranking recognizing AI implementation and business impact. The recognition puts distribution’s AI progress in the spotlight and offers a timely connection to NAW’s latest industry research.
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.
The electrical distribution giant said its new worldwide Data & AI platform now brings predictive models to operations representing 95% of company revenue, with applications spanning inventory, sales and customer experience.
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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.
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AI now accounts for 67% of supply chain digital investment, but a majority of supply chain leaders remain uncertain about the returns, Gartner found.
Wholesale distributors are sitting on an overlooked asset: the judgment and institutional knowledge of their most experienced employees. This article explains how AI can help companies capture that “tenure capital” before a historic retirement wave carries it out the door for good.
Developed with the AI Applied Consortium, NAW’s new AI Governance Architecture gives distributors a practical framework for managing AI risks, accountability, transparency and workforce impacts while keeping people at the center of implementation.
The Series B brings InstaLILY’s total funding to nearly $100 million as the AI provider expands technology designed to build and maintain customized software for distributors and other operationally complex businesses.
At the company's annual TUG conference for distribution customers, CEO Kevin Samuelson and AI Innovation leader Rick Rider outlined how the company is positioning AI for distributors — not as a standalone product, but as an ongoing service built around industry context, co-innovation, process intelligence and governed automation. Here are our key takeaways.
The San Francisco-based startup said its seed funding will support hiring, product development and continued expansion of its machine learning models for distributor purchasing decisions.
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What if AI doesn’t replace Lean Six Sigma, but finally makes it scalable? The first in this four-part series from NAW Chief Innovation Officer Bart Tessel introduces LSS AI: a disciplined operating model to help distributors move beyond AI hype, close learning loops and build organizations that learn faster than volatility.
New Census Bureau data analysis suggests wholesale trade continues to report AI usage below the national average, indicating a more gradual pace of adoption. Meanwhile, the broader findings reflect MDM & NAW's industry AI research.
We kick off our new "The Hidden Majority" article series with one that focuses on the small- to mid-sized results from the latest Baird-MDM survey combined with our AI research from earlier this year. This piece explores why pricing and margin optimization remain the industry’s biggest untapped AI opportunity — especially for sub-$100M distributors.
Featured coverage from The Colorado Sun focused on how distributors are approaching artificial intelligence with practical, operations-driven strategies based on conversations at NAW's SHIFT Conference.
Distribution always had rich data on new construction — but almost nothing on the market that's already standing. The replacement and renovation market has been a data desert for decades. That's starting to change with AI.
