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Most distributors and manufacturers surveyed in the 1Q25 Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey indicated a 1-10% increase in the cost of goods sold in 2025, though uncertainty colored commentary. Get our deep dive analysis here.
The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, has launched its Eco Options program in the U.S. Eco Options is a classification that allows customers to easily identify products that have less of an impact on the environment.
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The Home Depot has identified more than 2,500 Eco Options products, including all-natural insect repellents, cellulose insulation, front-load washing machines, organic plant food and vegetables in biodegradable pots. The array of Eco Options also includes compact fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and certified wood.
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Products with the Eco Options label are either eco friendly by definition, such as solar lights that use natural power, or have met certain environmental performance criteria verified by Scientific Certification Systems, an …
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH, reported an increase in sales of 5% in the first quarter 2007 to $3.2 billion. Profit was $234 million, up 15%.
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Sales growth in the first quarter included 1% from organic growth, 2% from acquisitions, and 2% from higher foreign exchange rates. End markets declined slightly more than 1% in the quarter, driven by the decline in the NAFTA heavy-duty truck market.
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Eaton reported it anticipates a decline of 3-4% in its end markets in 2007, due to the decline in the NAFTA heavy-duty truck market.
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Eaton saw weaker conditions in the first quarter in the North American markets for residential electrical equipment and hydraulics.
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Sales for the Electrical segment …
Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported sales of $1.5 billion in the first quarter, up 9% from the first quarter 2006. Profit increased 18% to $102 million.
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Daily sales increased 8% in January, 10% in February and 9% in March. The company’s sales were positively affected by 1 percentage point for strong sales of seasonal products and negatively affected by 1 percentage point as the company unwinds low-margin contracts for automotive and integrated supply customers.
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Sales in the branch-based segment in the U.S., Mexico and China increased 10% in the first quarter. Daily sales grew by 9% in January, 11% in February and 11% in March.
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Sales in the U.S. were up 10%. The strongest sales growth in the U.S. came from government customers followed by …
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 1.0 percent in March, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This advance followed a 1.3 percent rise in February and a 0.6-percent decrease in January. The index for finished goods excluding foods and energy, or core inflation, was unchanged in March after moving up 0.4 percent in February.
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At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods increased 1.0 percent in March following a 1.1-percent advance a month earlier, and the crude goods index rose 3.2 percent after climbing 8.9 percent in February.
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Among finished goods, the index for consumer goods less foods and energy edged up 0.1 percent in March following a …
UK-based Wolseley plc, distributor of plumbing/HVAC and building materials, recently reported its first-half results, which were brought down by Stock Building Supply in the U.S. and boosted by Ferguson. Wolseley saw 9 percent organic growth in North America, but profit fell 15%. European operations however saw double-digit organic growth, with profit up 33 percent.
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Here are a few graphics from a recent slideshow Wolseley recently posted online on its first-half results. The full presentation is here.
Download the pdf below to see the …
Brady Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, acquired Sorbent Products Co., Inc., Somerset, NJ.
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Sorbent Products is a manufacturer of synthetic sorbent materials used in a variety of industrial maintenance and environmental applications for spill clean-up, containment and control. Available in a variety of shapes, sizes and configurations, SPC sorbents and spill kits are used indoors and outdoors in virtually every type of industrial market and environmental sector.
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The company has manufacturing operations in the U.S., Belgium and Hong Kong. Sorbent had sales of $47 million in 2006.
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The acquisition of SPC allows Brady to broaden its product portfolio for the MRO market and enhance its position as a provider of products that protect premises.
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The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, sales of $489,157 for the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, an increase of 13.3% over the same period last year. Profit increased 12.9%.
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During the first three months of 2007, Fastenal opened 73 new sites, as it did in the first quarter 2006. There were 2,000 sites as of Dec. 31, 2006.
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Current Initiatives
During the last several years, Fastenal has been pursuing initiatives to improve its operational performance. These include: a new freight model, tactical changes to working capital model, an expanded store model called CSP2, and a ‘master stocking hub’ distribution model.
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The freight model is an effort to haul a higher percentage of products with the Fastenal trucking network and to charge …
Anchorage, AK-based Spenard Builders Supply, a division of Pro-Build Holdings, Denver, CO, has acquired Polar Supply Co., which operates in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Kenai, according to the Home Channel News.
Polar Supply specializes in products required to build and maintain roads, bridges and pipelines and adds to Spenard’s commercial product offerings.
Polar Supply’s three facilities will each operate as a separate division within Spenard, focusing on major commercial contractors, pipeline and oil companies.
Based in Anchorage, Spenard Builders Supply …
Motion Industries, Birmingham, AL, has acquired Jonesboro Bearing & Supply, Jonesboro, AR. Jonesboro Bearing has two locations: Jonesboro, AR, and Stuttgart, AR.
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Jonesboro is a distributor of bearings, power transmission, industrial supplies and fasteners.
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Motion Industries, a division of Genuine Parts Co. with 2006 sale of $3.1 billion, is an industrial parts distributor of bearings, power transmission products, electrical and industrial automation, hydraulic and industrial hose, hydraulic and pneumatic products, industrial supply products and material handling. It has more than 500 locations including nine distribution centers throughout North …
February U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $268.37 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 down 9.7% from January, and down 6.3% from the total of $286.29 million reported for February 2006. With a year-to-date total of $565.54 million, 2007 was up 9.4% compared with 2006.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
The first two months of the year fit the forecast pattern of slower growth in 2007,” said John B. Byrd III, AMT President. “The strength of U.S. manufacturing activity is likely to …
Saint-Gobain’s Building Distribution Sector has acquired three distributors in Europe: Vemac (Italy), Discesur (Spain) and Sch& auml; fer (Germany).
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Vemac is one of the country’s largest builders’merchants based in Abruzzo. The business has 10 branches, employs 187 people and recorded net sales of & euro; 66 million in 2006.
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Following the opening of a second La Plateforme du B& acirc; timent store at the beginning of 2007 in Milan, Saint-Gobain Building Distribution reinforces its presence in the Italian market.
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Discesur is the No. 2 distributor of tiles in Spain. With a large showroom (4,000 m2) in Madrid, the business recorded net sales of over & euro; 55 million in 2006 and employs 101 people. Through this acquisition, Saint-Gobain Building …
Gibraltar Industries, Inc., Buffalo, NY, has acquired NorWesCo, Noll Manufacturing, and M & N Plastics from The Employee Ownership Holding Company. The companies, which have annual sales of $60 million, operate manufacturing facilities in Fife, WA; Portland, OR; and Stockton, CA.
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They manufacture more than 4,000 products that serve the building, HVAC, and lawn and garden markets. They sell to retailers, building product distributors, roofing/concrete distributors, lumber yards, and contractors.
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Gibraltar Industries is a manufacturer, processor, and distributor of products for the building, industrial, and vehicular markets. The company serves a variety of industries in the U.S. and throughout the world. It operates 89 facilities in 26 states, Canada, …
Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that February 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 $340.8 billion, up 1.2 percent (+/-0.5%) from the revised January level and were up 7.1 percent (+/-1.2%) from the February 2006 level. The January preliminary estimate was revised downward $0.5 billion or 0.1 percent. February sales of durable goods were down 0.8 percent (+/-1.0%) …
Our cover story this week in Modern Distribution Management on channel management has been a fascinating subject to research. There are some significant role shifts taking place. We gained a lot of input from innovators in manufacturing and distribution, including many more beyond those quoted in article.
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It was also a difficult topic to get beyond the generalizations, stereotypes and misperceptions that in fact too often form the basis for relationships and ultimately policies in many companies. For some people, channel management is an oxymoron, because they are using the same pricing and marketing formulas in place 10 or 20 years ago. But we found others who are finding some good …
VWR International, Inc., West Chester, PA, $3 billion supplier to the global research laboratory industry, has acquired the remaining 76 percent interest in KMF Laborchemie Handels GmbH, a German-based scientific laboratory supply distributor. KMF has 70 employees, all based in Germany, with annual revenues of US$45 million.More …  ;
Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has completed its acquisition of Strategic Distribution, Inc., MRO distributor to industrial and institutional customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The acquisition is a public-to-private transaction and Strategic Distribution Inc. has been delisted from the NASDAQ exchange, with each share of common …
Modern Distribution Management’s February Inflation Index, which measures a cross-section of industrial supplies, was up 0.29% from the previous month, and up 3.27% from February 2006.
Summary of  ; MDM Inflation Index for the past 12 months:
February 2007 Index 269.4
January 2007 Index 268.7
December 2006 Index  ; 267.1
November 2006 Index 266.5
October 2006 Index 265.9
September 2006 Index 265.6
August 2006 Index 265.2
July 2006 Index 264.0
June 2006 Index 263.0
May 2006 Index 262.1
April 2006 Index 262.1
March 2006 Index 262.1
February 2006 Index 261.2
Please click below on Related Document to view a print-ready pdf of the  ; MDM Inflation Index for February 2007, …
Saw Blades represented a market in 2006 of $1.22 billion, according to estimates by Industrial Market Information, Minneapolis.  ;
These charts show the top ten industries, by SIC code, consuming these products; and the 2006 end-user consumption of these groups sorted by the nine
government market regions.
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This article is available to non-subscribers through online access below, or by purchasing the series, Changing Channels, in the MDM Store.
While the basic concepts for effective channel management haven’t changed, new competitive pressures have changed the focus to channel profitability. Here’s an analysis of the key shifts taking place in independent distribution channels. Part 2 of this article will outline manufacturer-distributor emerging best practices in channel management.
Relationships between manufacturers and distributors have been a topic of conversation at conventions for decades. The tension has always been there,” says Marshall Jones, a past president of the Specialty Tool and Fastener Distributors Association. “But the sources of that tension have changed.
Distributors and manufacturers are navigating uncharted territory and areas that until now maintained some …
This is the pdf of this issue of Modern Distribution Management. Apply the full $24.95 pay-per-view cost toward an annual subscription (within 30 days of purchase), which includes two issues a month plus access to more than six years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email [email protected] to …
Tighter global monetary policies, the unwinding of investment excesses, and the moderation that tends to accompany maturing expansions all point to an imminent period of slower growth for the global economy, according to a new quarterly report.
In the MAPI Quarterly Forecast of U.S. Exports, Global Growth, and the Dollar: Second Quarter 2007 Through Fourth Quarter 2008, economist Cliff Waldman concludes that the impact of the housing downturn in the United States and the near-term path of the embryonic investment slowdown in China are the two key variables that will determine the strength and stability of the world economy during 2007 and 2008.  ;
Financial markets have been nervous about the U.S. and Chinese outlook,” he writes, “but most indications …
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