The pace of recovery in the general economy has clearly slowed, but the deceleration is less visible in the manufacturing sector, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI U.S. Industrial Outlook: Deceleration in the Recovery, a quarterly report that analyzes 27 major industries. More

HD Supply, Atlanta, GA, No. 2 on MDM’s list of top 40 industrial distributors, reported sales for its second quarter ended Aug. 1, 2010, were $2 billion, an increase of $1 million from the second quarter of 2009. The distributor reported a loss in the second quarter of $115 million, compared with $89 million in the same period a year ago. More

Acklands-Grainger Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of Grainger, Chicago, IL, has acquired Solus Securite Inc., Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Solus Securite, a distributor of fire protection and safety equipment, has locations in Trois Rivieres, Victoriaville, Montreal and Sorel. More

A veteran WinWholesale Inc. local operation president has opened Fargo Winnelson Co. in Fargo, ND, to supply plumbing contractors in parts of that state, South Dakota and Minnesota with equipment, parts and accessories. More

Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC has agreed to acquire a 42.5 percent ownership interest in Dutch chemicals distributor Univar. CVC Capital Partners bought the business in 2007. The transaction values the company at $4.2 billion. More

EIS Inc., Atlanta, GA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, has acquired Seacoast Electric Company Inc. Headquartered in Hawthorne, NY, Seacoast has distribution locations in Virginia, Texas and California, serving the marine and oil and gas markets with shipboard and offshore cables and electrical equipment. Seacoast will operate as a separate division of EIS. More

Airgas shareholders elected three Air Products nominees to the Airgas board of directors, according to preliminary results released by Airgas. The nominations were part of Air Products’ hostile takeover bid for the Radnor, PA-based industrial gases and hardgoods distributor. More

The Timken Company, Canton, OH, has launched a new line of precision cylindrical roller bearings designed to maximize speed, precision and efficiency in high-demand machine tool applications. More 

Chicago-based distributor Grainger, No. 3 on MDM’s list of top 40 industrial distributors, reported sales results for August 2010. Daily sales increased 20 percent versus August 2009. More

Associated Materials, LLC, Cuyahoga Falls, OH, majority owned by affiliates of Investcorp and Harvest Partners, has agreed to be acquired by affiliates of Hellman & Friedman LLC in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion.  The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2010. Associated Materials is a manufacturer of exterior residential building products, which are distributed through company-owned distribution centers and independent distributors across North America. More

The U.S. economy continued to grow in July and August, at a slower pace than previous months, according to the latest Federal Reserve Board Beige Book. Economic growth at a modest pace was the most common characterization of overall conditions, as provided by the five western Districts of St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. More

Wholesale prices increased 0.4 percent in August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This rise followed a 0.2-percent advance in July and a 0.5-percent decline in June. More

Industrial production rose 0.2 percent in August after an increase of 0.6 percent in July. Manufacturing output rose 0.2 percent after having advanced 0.7 percent in July. The capacity utilization rate for total industry rose to 74.7 percent, a rate 4.7 percentage points above the rate from a year earlier. More

July U.S. manufacturing technology consumption was $266.08 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and the Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 10.1 percent from June and up 72.6 percent from the total of $154.13 million reported for July 2009.  With a year-to-date total of $1,473.79 million, 2010 is up 58.9 percent compared with 2009. More

Canadian manufacturing sales decreased 0.9 percent in July to $44.3 billion, according to Statistics Canada. Despite the decrease, sales were 15.5 percent higher than their low reached in May 2009. Sales fell in 12 of 21 industries, representing about half of total manufacturing sales. More

Canadian industries operated at 76 percent of their production capacity in the second quarter, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous quarter, according to Statistics Canada. This was the fourth consecutive quarterly increase. More

Diversified manufacturer 3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Arizant Inc., Eden Prairie, MN. 3M will buy the manufacturer of patient warming solutions designed to prevent hypothermia in surgical settings for $810 million in cash. More

Unisource Worldwide, Inc., Norcross, GA, a distributor of paper, packaging and facility supplies in North America, has relaunched a newly designed, customer-focused Facility Supplies website, offering the latest green knowledge, resources and access to environmentally friendly products. More

Brady Corp., Milwaukee, WI, reported sales for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2010, were $1.26 billion, an increase of 4.2 percent over fiscal year 2009. Organic sales increased 0.2 percent. Profit for the manufacturer of high-performance labels and signs, safety devices, printing systems and software, and precision die-cut materials increased 16.9 percent to $82 million. More