April 25, 2006

SKF, G’teborg, Sweden, has acquired for $21 million 51% of the shares of the North American seals company Macrotech Polyseal Inc. As part of the agreement SKF will acquire the remaining 49% within three years. Macrotech is a leader in fluid power seals based on polyurethane (PU) technologies and engineered plastics (mainly PTFE – PolyTetraFluoroEthylene) […]

Stock Building Supply ($4.1 billion in sales), Raleigh, N.C., building materials distributor, has acquired the Wholesale Division of Davis Homes, in Indianapolis, IN. Davis Homes Wholesale ($19.4 million in sales) is the sole supplier of roof trusses, wall panels, door assemblies, framing lumber, windows, sub-flooring, interior and exterior trim, roofing, and sheathing for Davis Homes,

Minor, Cardinal Health and McKesson Medical-Surgical Solutions.Owens & Minor has implemented margin initiatives to counter ongoing competitive pricing pressures, which management expects will not let up in the near future. Also, as suppliers continue to seek more restrictive agreements with distributors, Owens and Minor has been pursuing fewer alternate sourcing opportunities than in the past,

of the inventor, but should be determined based exclusively on official patent documents references such as treaties and dictionaries. By separating claim interpretation from factual determinations, the Federal Circuit turned over to district court judges – as opposed to juries – the task of interpreting claim language. Construction of patent claims is often a pivotal

into the supplier’s inventory and information with one click.TipsCommunication is key, he says. Employees who were responsible for the manual side of business operations knew from the start they may not have a job at the end of automation, for example.DeMao recommends distributors looking at automating processes carefully analyze and choose a software provider.“After you

an incremental $7.5 billion of inventory to their balance sheets. Naturally, this lean supply chain behavior is being enabled by new technology linkages between trading partners. Wholesalers continuously share order, inventory-to-sales, and shipment data with manufacturers. Manufacturers use real-time analyses of these data to evaluate wholesaler orders, balance inventory-to-sales levels in the channel, prevent leakages

Anixter International Inc., Glenview, IL, reported sales increased 22%  to $1.07 billion in first quarter 2006, compared to sales of $876 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income rose 53% to $31.3 million, from $20.4 million in last year’s first quarter. Sales included $70.1 million from the July 8, 2005 acquisition of Infast Group plc. ‘Sales

Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, reported sales for the third quarter 2006 increased 11.4% to $497.2 million from $446.5 million in the same period a year ago. Profit jumped to $19.9 million from $16.3 million in the same period a year ago.  For the nine months ended March 31, 2006, sales increased 10.5% to $1.397