declining sales are forecast by only 11.6 percent.

ABC Supply Co., Inc., distributor of building materials, tools and supplies based in Beloit, WI, will open a new branch in Erlanger, KY, in October. The new location will include a 3,000-square-foot showroom and a 60,000-square-foot warehouse and carry lines of residential and commercial roofing and siding products, windows and doors, as well as tools and equipment.

Parker Hannifin Corporation, Cleveland, OH, reported an increase of 13 percent in total orders for August compared to the same month a year ago. By operating segment: Orders in the Industrial North America segment increased 6 percent; Industrial International orders went up 18 percent; orders in the Aerospace segment jumped 17 percent on a rolling 12-month average basis; and orders in the Climate and Industrial Controls segment increased 20 percent over the same month a year ago.

Protective Industrial Products, Guilderland Center, NY, supplier of gloves to industrial distributors in the U.S., has acquired the Brahma Glove Division from Great Southern Corporation. Steve Vaught, the former president of Great Southern, will be the general manager of the newly created Brahma Glove Co. Division of Protective Industrial Products, Inc. Brahma offers industrial and consumer gloves made for working, hunting, gardening, welding and chemical protection. More …

Plymouth Rubber Company, Inc., Canton, MA, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Brite-Line Technologies, Inc., have emerged from Chapter 11, supported by an infusion of financing from Chrysalis Capital Partners, LP, a private equity firm, and a new senior credit facility provided by Wells Fargo Business Credit. The companies’ Plan of Reorganization, effective Sept. 5, was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on July 26. Plymouth Rubber is a manufacturer of vinyl and rubber tapes in the automotive, electrical and other industries; Brite-Line manufactures rubber reflective highway marking tapes and materials. More …

Barnes Group Inc.’s board of directors has elected Gregory F. Milzcik president and CEO, effective Oct. 19. Milzcik, 46, will succeed Edmund M. Carpenter, who announced his retirement but will remain with the company through year-end.

US Electrical Services, LLC, Chester Springs, PA, has agreed to buy Duplex Electrical Supply Corp. Herb Slater, president, founded Duplex in 1990. “We are pleased to have Duplex as a part of our ever-expanding team at US Electrical,” said Greg Griswold, president of USESI’s Mid-Atlantic Region. “Duplex allows us to continue expanding our reach well into the New York market and builds upon our focus of adding high quality businesses to our platforms.” The acquisition is the company’s fourth since former Sonepar USA CEO Richard Worthy founded the electrical distributor this year. More …

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Peabody, MA, has acquired Roofing & Sheet Metal Supply, Inc., a Tulsa, OK-based distributor of residential and commercial roofing products with locations in Tulsa, OK, Joplin, MO, and in Springdale and Fort Smith, AR. RSM Supply is a distributor of roofing products and presents Beacon with the opportunity to enter the growing Northwest Arkansas market and add to its locations in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas. RSM Supply had sales of $33 million for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2005. More …

GE, Fairfield, CT, has agreed to sell GE Advanced Materials (Silicones & Quartz) to Apollo Management, L.P., a private investment firm, in a deal valued at $3.8 billion. GE Advanced Materials, Wilton, CT, is a $2.5 billion supplier of silicone-based products, silanes, sealants, urethane additives and adhesives; and high-purity fused quartz and ceramics materials. Apollo Management also recently purchased Rexnord Corporation, a manufacturer of precision motion technology products, for $1.825 billion. More …

RBC Bearings Inc., Oxford, CT, an international manufacturer of highly-engineered precision plain, roller and ball bearings for the industrial, defense and aerospace industries, has acquired All Power Manufacturing Co. in Santa Fe Springs, CA, for $9.3 million in cash. The company manufactures a line of bearings and precision parts for use in commercial and military aerospace applications and general industrial applications. All Power had revenues of $12.2 million in its most recent calendar year. The financial results of All Power will be reported as part of RBC’s Plain Bearings segment. More …

Power transmission distributor sales in July rose 10.8 percent year-to-date as compared to the same period last year. Sales dropped 12.8 percent over the previous month and were up 9.6 percent as compared to July 2005. Days sales in accounts receivables climbed 11.7 percent as compared to June 2006 and decreased 0.3 percent as compared to the same month last year. Annualized sales-to-inventory ratio in July was 8.6, compared to 8.3 in 2005. For July, the confidence level of U.S. distributors fell to 6.3 from 7.7 in June on a 10-point scale. More …

Nearly 6 of 10 electrical distributors grew their sales by more than 10 percent in the second quarter of 2006, according to the National Association of Electrical Distributors’ (NAED) most recent Quarterly Sales Change Expectation Survey (QSCE). Of distributors surveyed, 59.4 percent estimate that their sales for the quarter ended June 30 will show increases exceeding 10 percent. For the third quarter now under way, 87.6 percent of distributors predict sales gains. And, 36.9 percent of distributors expect double-digit growth to continue, predicting gains of over 10 percent for the July-September period. Flat or