2006

Stock Building Supply, Raleigh, NC, has purchased Kempsville Building Materials Inc., Virginia Beach, VA, a supplier of lumber, stairs, trusses and other materials to home builders. Kempsville Building Materials had sales of more than $70 million in 2004, but sales have been declining since, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Kempsville’s general manager told the newspaper that the […]

Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation, Brookfield, WI, has tapped Steven P. Richman as its new president. Richman will be responsible for the Milwaukee brand and its role in manufacturing and marketing professional and industrial heavy-duty portable corded and cordless power tools, pneumatic tools, accessories and safety equipment. He will report directly to Horst Pudwill and will

force, you've got to show them ?what's in it for me,'" Fitzgerald says. Binkelman showed its sales force that it could document what it has done for customers, including cost savings and getting out of bed at 2 in the morning to deliver a part. Then, if the customer is acquired, changes management or isfrustrated

and other construction materials were down 4.0 percent, while sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum, increased 2.6 percent. More …September U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $407.21 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and the Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total was up 31.9% from August and up 43.1% from September 2005.

September 2006 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $330.2 billion, down 1.2 percent from the revised August level, but were up 8.1 percent from the September 2005 level. September sales of durable goods decreased 0.3 percent from last month, but were up 9.0 percent from a year ago. Compared to

increase contact with medium-sized customers, Grainger is upping the number of inside salespeople focused on them by 35 percent. In addition, the distributor plans to send 100 percent more catalogs to smaller businesses next year, and do more direct mail with this group.Improved Logistics NetworkGrainger’s North American network can now reach 99 percent of its

September U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $407.21 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was up 31.9 percent from August and up 43.1 percent from the total of $284.47 million reported for September 2005. With a year-to-date total of $2,815.34 million, 2006 was up 26.2

months after delivery (and is not designated to be a critical repair part), the supplier should automatically issue a return-goods authorization and give the customer full credit for the return. Guarantees of performance. When it enters a VMI agreement, a customer invests in a specific amount of inventory anticipating a forecasted service level for the

HD Supply, Home Depot’s fast-growing wholesale division, reported sales increased 159% to $3.5 billion in the third quarter. HD Supply accounted for about 15% of The Home Depot’s overall sales.HD Supply organic growth was 7 percent, due to the slowdown in residential construction.Overall sales for The Home Depot were boosted by the supply sector, but

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has agreed to buy the U.S. bulk gas business that Linde AG is required to divest after its acquisition of The BOC Group. Airgas will pay $495 million in cash for eight air separation units and related bulk gas business, which generated $154 million in revenues at the end of the year Dec.

Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL, has acquired Ark-Les Corporation, Stoughton, MA, a developer of highly engineered electronic and electromechanical controls.Ark-Les is a global producer of electromechanical and electronic switches, sensors, connectors, controls, user interfaces and actuators. Products of Ark-Les are used in household appliances and automobiles.Ark-Les will be a wholly owned subsidiary of ITW

materials sector was boosted by higher sales of lumber and millwork (+3.4%), which rose for the second consecutive month, and building supplies (+1.8%). Meanwhile, sales of metal products continued their recent slide (-2.9%). The recent rises in lumber sales follow four months of major declines, as lumber wholesalers struggle to cope with a slumping US

Strategic Distribution, Inc., Bristol, PA, announced that the special committee of its board of directors has received a letter from William R. Berkley, chairman of the board of the company, that an entity he controls, Interlaken Capital Inc., proposes to acquire Strategic Distribution for $8.30 per share in cash. Berkley owns about 22.5% of the company’s

Industrial distributor Grainger, Chicago, IL, announced its Lab Safety Supply subsidiary has agreed to acquire Professional Inspection Equipment Inc. and Construction Book Express Inc, both companies operating from the same address in Hauppage, NY. The businesses are direct marketers of tools, instruments and reference materials to the $2.5 billion building and home inspection market. “Our strategy

Strategic Distribution, Inc., Bristol, PA, distributor of MRO products, reported revenues of $46.2 million for the third quarter 2006 compared with $37.5 million for the third quarter of 2005. Strategic attributed the rise to $6.8 million of growth within the existing customer base and $1.9 million from new customers.  The company reported net income of $0.2

Caxton-Iseman Capital, a New York-based private investment firm, has agreed to acquire Valley National Gases Incorporated for about $312 million.Founded in 1958, Valley National is an independent U.S. distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases delivered in packaged or cylinder form, related welding equipment and supplies, and non-pipeline propane. The company serves more than 225,000

It’s a way to better manage our information, to not only get more efficient internally but most importantly provide a very high level of service to the customer. But again, SAP is really only an enabler to the extent that that technology is layered in and leveraged against world-class processes. That’s why we’re going to