Kathleen Shanahan stops by to discuss her unique path to becoming Turtle & Hughes’ CEO; the electrical distributor’s emphasis on diversity in both its workforce and supplier base; and how investment in sustainable energy storage has positioned the company for continued success in the age of electrification.

Predicting the future is folly, but market transitions are where competitive advantage is won. No, that’s not some famous saying, but the fine line Indian River’s Mike Marks and MDM’s Tom Gale tread in this conversation. How will distributors outperform market conditions and competitors? What will change the industry?

Net Results Group Managing Partner Lance Gilbert discusses the state of indirect spend at large facilities from his team’s expertise in the analytics, technology and process improvement for MRO inventories, usage and purchasing behaviors. We explore the current supply chain challenges and opportunities for distributors to help customers “right-size” their inventory.

James Dorn of the Dorn Group joins MDM’s Tom Gale to discuss ‘shoring’ opportunities and strategic implications for distributors. We’re moving from digital defining seamless service to a broader supply-chain transformation that mitigates risk for customers by creating better transparency and deeper engagement.

President & CEO John Mark discusses BlackHawk’s go-to-market strategy, how it differentiates in the markets it serves and its continued aggressive growth strategy. We also discuss the importance of culture and leadership challenges today.

Disruptive market conditions breed opportunity. In this episode, IRCG’s Mike Marks and MDM’s Tom Gale look past the horizon at the larger macrotrends shaping growth opportunities for distributors over the next several years – electrification, infrastructure, energy transition, sustainability and demographic shifts.

The content at PTDA’s Annual Summit in late October went heavy on recruiting and retaining best practices. Editor Mike Hockett chatted with association CEO Ann Arnott to discuss key takeaways from the event, which included the non-traditional methods distributors can leverage to find and keep needed staff in a time when labor is hard to come by.

When markets soften, surprises tend to be of the negative variety. But downturns can also open up opportunities to strengthen key supplier partnerships. MDM’s Tom Gale and IRCG’s Mike Marks talk about the key performance indicators in supplier relationships that can be either early warning signals or telltales for competitive opportunity across inventory and cash management, backlogs, support and strategic alignment.

Decades before digital transformation became an imperative, Jay Platt, CEO of Blue Volt and former CEO of Platt Electric, was on a mission to improve how his customers, team members and vendors could access information – whether for training, customer support or building a stronger company culture. He’s still at it.

Beyond tried and true strategies for managing the back side of economic downturns, MDM’s Tom Gale and IRCG’s Mike Marks look at unique and deeper factors the current market outlook is triggering for distributors – inventory exposure and opportunity, scenario planning, resetting sales costs and the underlying longer-term positive trends where near-term opportunity may also exist.

The Crescent Electric Supply leader tells us how employee engagement has kept the distributor pointed at its customer-based north star.

Our team has been on the fall conference tour. MDM’s Tom Gale and IRCG’s Mike Marks compare notes from conversations at Affiliated Distributors, NetPlus, ISSA, MDM’s own SHIFT event, and the latest Baird-MDM quarterly MarketPulse survey. Most distributors report double-digit growth, few signs of slowdown.

In an exclusive interview, Optimas Solutions Co-CEOs Mike Tuffy and Daniel Harms join the MDM Podcast to discuss how their elevation and newly announced roles provide additional stability to the global fasteners manufacturer and distributor.

John McKenzie joins the MDM Podcast to discuss the distributor’s new drone delivery program and Innovation Center, as well as the strategy behind its frequent acquisitions. We also dove into how Winsupply’s employee-ownership opportunity pays dividends across the organization.

MDM’s Mike Hockett chats with Bluon CEO Peter Capuciati about the company’s formation and transformation from a refrigerant R&D company to providing a new database and app to remove friction between HVAC distributors, technicians and contractors.

In this latest MDM Quicktake podcast conversation, IRCG’s Founding Partner Mike Marks and MDM’s Tom Gale examine a California lawsuit against Amazon, the trade practices at play for distributors, and the broader issues for how distributors can differentiate with stronger value propositions.

Our latest QuickTake podcast discusses how distributors’ roles go beyond reacting to threats and opportunities that many have been preoccupied with since the pandemic arrived. 

We chat with Dee Merriwether, CFO of Grainger, which took the top spot on MDM’s Top 2022 Industrial Distributors list. Our conversation covers the MRO giant’s risk mitigation, pricing strategy, how analytics have shaped its digital offerings, and much more.

Serving as President of Martin Supply and chairman of ISA, David Ruggles stops by to discuss digital initiatives from both his company and the association, as well as the progress the greater industrial distribution sector has made on that front.

Tom Gale chats with Max Meister, the CEO of Germany-based power transmission products distributor Ludwig Meister, a family-run company that took an inside-out journey to transform its operations over the past decade.