September 2007 - Modern Distribution Management

September 2007

Graybar Opens New Location in Illinois

Graybar, St. Louis, MO, distributor of electrical and communications products, has opened a 10,000-square-foot distribution facility in Collinsville, IL.
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With the addition of this facility, the company now has 12 locations throughout Missouri and Illinois, including regional distribution centers in Joliet, IL, and Springfield, MO.&nbsp ;
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The branch inventory is backed by a $4.5 million inventory in the St. Louis distribution center and a $10 million inventory in the Springfield, MO, regional distribution center.&nbsp ; Graybar Collinsville features a counter operation and one-hour will-call service.
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Graybar has more than 250 North American distribution facilities with around $5 billion in annual ...

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C.H.Briggs Appoints New President

C.H.Briggs Company, Reading, PA, has appointed Donald F. Schalk as president and Chief Operating Officer.
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Owner Julia Klein retains the titles of chair and CEO.
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Before joining C.H.Briggs, Schalk served as president and general manager of EnergyUnited Propane LLC, a regional energy company in North Carolina. Before joining that firm Schalk was president and CEO of Richland Partners LLC, dba Leffler Energy, a $100 million petroleum distribution company, which was formed through a management buyout of Columbia Petroleum.
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C.H.Briggs Company is an independently-owned distributor of specialty building products on the East Coast. ...

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Pro-Build Subsidiary Expands in Idaho

Lumbermens Inc., Lacey, WA, has agreed to buy Alpine Lumber Supply's two North Idaho facilities, according to local newspaper, the Bonner County Daily Bee.
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Alpine is a supplier of building materials with two lumber yards focused on eastern Washington and North Idaho builders. The company serves contractor and retail segments. After the sale, Alpine will operate under the Lumbermens banner.
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Lumbermens is a division of Pro-Build Holdings with more than 70 lumberyards, truss plants, millwork facilities and installed services in five states.

Pro-Build Holdings operates more than 500 lumber and building product distribution, manufacturing and assembly centers in 40 ...

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Atlas Copco Moves Pneumatic Production to Hungary

Atlas Copco, Stockholm, Sweden, will establish a factory for assembly of pneumatic tools in Hungary. The move involves transferring production of these tools from Hemel Hempstead, Great Britain.
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This is part of our strategy to increase sourcing from Eastern Europe and&nbsp ; Asia," says Fredrik M& ouml; ller, business unit president, Atlas Copco Industrial Technique.&nbsp ; "By establishing production in&nbsp ; Hungary, we are lowering our cost base and safeguarding our future growth prospects.

The factory, close to&nbsp ; Budapest, will become fully operational during the first quarter of 2008.
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The supplier said that Great Britain is an important market for Atlas Copco and the changes will not have any effect on the marketing, sales ...

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Air Liquide Subsidiary to Buy Scott Specialty Gases

American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc., an Air Liquide affiliate, has agreed to buy Scott Specialty Gases, Inc., an international producer and supplier of mixed and pure high specialty gases to the analytical, medical and electronics sectors, and of gas handling equipment and specialty gas delivery systems.
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Headquartered in Plumsteadville, PA, Scott employs 450 people with annual sales of $88 million. It covers the U.S. market with centers in the Northeast, Midwest, Gulf Coast, Rocky Mountain and Pacific. Internationally, Scott is in the UK and the Netherlands as well as Europe, India, Africa the Middle East and Taiwan.
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The combined Air Liquide and Scott operations in the high-growth market for specialty gases will provide Air Liquide with a new platform for ...

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Succession Plan Ensures Leviton Stays in the Family

The late Harold Leviton has appointed sons-in-law Donald J. Hendler as CEO and Stephen B. Sokolow as chairman of the Board of Directors of Leviton Manufacturing Company. The appointments were made through a succession plan to ensure the company would be run by family as it has since his father started the electrical manufacturer in 1906.
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Hendler was named president in 2005, and Sokolow was named Vice Chairman the same year.
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The Leviton family business will continue to grow as we embark on our second century in business," said Donald Hendler, president and CEO of Leviton. "I am proud to accept leadership responsibility on behalf of Harold and the Leviton family. We have a number of exciting initiatives planned for the coming months and both Steve and I look ...

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Building Materials Holding Corp. Sells Retail Units

Building Materials Holding Corporation, San Francisco, CA, a supplier of construction services and building materials to professional residential builders and contractors, announced its subsidiary, BMC West Corporation, has sold three retail-oriented business units in Western Colorado for $11.4 million.
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The buyer is West Canyon Investments, an affiliate of Harbert Lumber, Grand Junction, CO. Sales for these three operations in 2006 were $40 million or 3% of BMC West.
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The sale is another step in BMC West's continuing strategy to focus on professional builders and contractors and to emphasize value-added products and services, including manufacture and installation of millwork and structural components, in addition to lumber and materials ...

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Final GDP Estimated 2Q Growth at 3.8%

Real gross domestic product -the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. -increased at an annual rate of 3.8% in the second quarter of 2007, according to final estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.6%.
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These GDP estimates are based on more complete source data than were available for&nbsp ; the preliminary estimates issued last month. In the preliminary estimates, the increase in real GDP was 4%.
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The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter primarily reflected a downturn in imports, upturns in federal government spending and in private inventory investment, accelerations in exports, in nonresidential structures, and in equipment and software, and a ...

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On Environmental & Humanitarian Initiatives

I spent the past week in Monte Carlo, Monaco, for the European Power Transmission Distributors Association annual convention. Two topics in the meeting's discussions stuck out to me as noteworthy:
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1 -The focus on designing, manufacturing and selling more environmentally friendly products. Global manufacturer SKF was the most visible in this initiative at the convention, touting the benefits of its product lines that reduce energy consumption (and therefore save customers money) when used in manufacturing processes. While the construction markets are seeing more and more of this as building "green" becomes the norm rather than the exception, I believe going green will grow in importance on the industrial side as customers ...

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Royal Adhesives Buys IAC Product Line

Royal Adhesives and Sealants LLC, South Bend, IN, has acquired the IAC Bond-Plus water base adhesives and coatings product line. The acquired product line consists of EVA, PVA and, acrylic latex water based adhesives and coatings that are primarily sold to the paper, graphic arts and laminating markets.
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Royal will be transferring production of these products to its manufacturing center in South Bend.

The acquisition is Royal's fifth in the past three years, following its acquisitions of ESC Adhesives in December 2004, Hardman Adhesives in June 2005, J & R industries in December 2005 and Basic Adhesives in April 2006. The company reports that all five acquisitions fit its strategy to acquire businesses focused on industrial market applications
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Actuant Sales Up 21% in 2007

Actuant Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, reported fiscal 2007 sales increased 21% from the prior year to $1.46 billion, with net earnings at $105 million. Fourth-quarter sales were up 20% to $390 million.
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Organic growth was 6% for both the fourth quarter and the full year. Actuant acquired five businesses during the fiscal year and completed a sixth in September.
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Fourth quarter net earnings were $31.4 million, compared to prior year net earnings of $25.2 million.
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Fourth quarter Industrial segment sales increased 23% to $120 million. Excluding currency translation and acquisitions, Industrial segment sales grew 13% driven by continued strong global demand in both the joint integrity and high-force hydraulic tool product lines.
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Fourth ...

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Canadian Wholesale Revenues Rebound in July

Source: Statistics Canada

Following a weak second quarter, wholesale sales rebounded in July, spurred on by a turnaround in automotive sales, as well as healthy demand for machinery, and personal and household goods.
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Wholesalers sold an estimated&nbsp ; $44.1&nbsp ; billion worth of goods in July, a&nbsp ; 2.0% gain over June, surpassing the previous record high reached in March.
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The key automotive products sector led the way with a&nbsp ; 4.9% gain on the back of strong demand for motor vehicles. July also proved to be a good month for wholesalers of personal and household goods (+4.0%), machinery and electronic equipment (+2.8%), and building materials (+1.3%). Sales excluding the automotive sector rose&nbsp ; 1.3% in July.
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Manufacturing Shipments Up in Canada

Source: Statistics Canada

Manufacturing shipments rebounded from a sharp&nbsp ; 2.0% drop in June, gaining&nbsp ; 2.3% to&nbsp ; $50.0&nbsp ; billion in July, the highest level since March. Most of the strength in July came from a return to more normal shipment levels by motor vehicle manufacturers following a sharp decrease in June.

Manufacturing shipments have been heavily influenced by fluctuations in the transportation equipment industry over the past several months. Excluding the motor vehicle and parts industries, shipments advanced&nbsp ; 0.4% in July for the fifth gain in the last six months.

Using constant dollars, which take price fluctuations into account, the volume of manufacturing shipments increased&nbsp ; 4.3% to&nbsp ; ...

Manufacturing Shipments Up in Canada Read More »

Wilden Pump Acquires Griswold Pump Co.

Wilden Pump & Engineering has acquired Griswold Pump Company, Thomasville, GA. With the acquisition, Wilden, a division of Dover Corp., will have annualized sales of more than $140 million.
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Griswold manufactures ANSI centrifugal pumps for use in the petroleum, petrochemical, wastewater and pulp & paper industries.
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Wilden, whose international business exceeds 60% of total sales, has locations in Dusseldorf, Shanghai, and Chennai, respectively. International growth will be a highlighted area in Griswold's strategic plan going forward.
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Wilden says it will use its distributor network in introducing the Griswold line to a worldwide ...

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Canadian Market Analysis: MRO Products

The industrial product group listed here - MRO Products - represented a market in 2006 of $34.8 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 12 Canadian government market regions. ...

Canadian Market Analysis: MRO Products Read More »

Acme United Expands Knife, Cutting Business

Acme United Corporation, Fairfield, CT, has acquired the knife and cutting business of Tiger Sharp Technologies, Inc. The purchase price was $350,000. Revenues were approximately $400,000 in 2006.
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Tiger Sharp manufacture extremely sharp replaceable blade pocket knives, and distributes them to independent knife dealers, industrial wholesalers, and companies such as John Deere and Browning.
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The recent acquisition of Camillus Cutlery provides Tiger Sharp with a well known brand of knives to incorporate its technology. It acquired Camillus for $200,000 earlier this month; the assets were acquired after Camillus filed for bankruptcy. Revenues were $18 million in its final year.
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Acme United is a supplier of cutting devices, measuring instruments, ...

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Dana Corp. Completes Sale of Fluid Products Businesses

Dana Corporation, Toledo, OH, has completed the sale of its North American coupled products business to Coupled Products LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanxiang (USA) Holdings Corporation.
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The sale concludes the divestiture of Dana's fluid products business. Last month, the company closed the sale of its North American fluid products hose and tubing operations to Orhan Holding, A.S. Dana previously sold its European fluid products hose and tubing operations to Orhan in July 2007.
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The completion of this divestiture marks another important step in Dana's efforts to concentrate our resources on the core products and competencies that are the foundation for our future growth," said Dana Chairman and CEO Mike Burns.
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The coupled products plants ...

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U.S. Residential Market Slows Wolseley Annual Sales

Global HVAC, plumbing and building materials distributor Wolseley plc reports there are no signs yet of any upturn in the U.S. housing market; it is also seeing the repairs, maintenance and improvement market starting to soften. A weaker dollar and price deflation in lumber and panels has also hurt its North American building materials business.
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In its preliminary results report for the year ended July 31, 2007, Wolseley had sales of 16.2 billion pounds (US$32.7 billion), up 14.6% from the previous year. Operating profit fell slightly.
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North American revenues declined slightly overall, reflecting slow sales by Stock Building Supply hit by the weak U.S. residential market. Ferguson, the plumbing/HVAC business, had 5.5% organic growth. Operating profit in ...

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Strategic Sales Management

It's no longer enough to leave relationships solely in the hands of individual sales reps, no matter how capable they are. Becoming a strategic partner in the supply chain means evolving to a new model of sales management, according to this excerpt of a new book from the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence.
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The 1990s saw the emergence of a new concept. Instead of just being a middleman between manufacturers and customers, wholesaler-distributors started to become marketing channels.

On the upstream side, sophisticated manufacturers began to look at distributors as partners in the ultimate job of reaching and satisfying end consumers.

Instead of just talking about what the distributors'bought, they started discussing what the distributors ...

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DXP and Precision Merger Complete

Power transmission and bearing distributor DXP Enterprises, Inc., Houston, TX, has finished its acquisition of Precision Industries for $106 million. The acquisition is DXP's largest and nearly doubles the distributor's size. Precision has a run rate of $250 million in sales in 2007. In the Aug. 25, 2007, issue of MDM, we presented Precision's reason for selling the company. Recently, DXP held a conference call on the purchase and shared its reasons for making the acquisition. The following is an excerpt from comments made by DXP CEO David Little during that call:
Precision Industries fits within our primary acquisition criteria of acquiring companies that allow us to gain access to new geography, strengthen our product and service offering and have established and accomplished ...

DXP and Precision Merger Complete Read More »

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