March 25, 2010

Ferguson’s Focus Post-Recession

Companies, Features, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

MDM Editor Lindsay Konzak recently sat down with the leaders of Ferguson to talk about where they see the company going post-recession. They also discussed the joint venture Wolseley entered into last year for Stock Building Supply – in which it now has only a minority position – and what that means for Wolseley’s positioning in North America.

In this interview:

Frank Roach, CEO, Ferguson

Kevin Murphy, COO, Ferguson

Steve Petock, Senior Vice President, Business Groups, Ferguson

Jim Feltman, CMO, Senior Vice President, Ferguson

MDM: After a couple of down years, where does Ferguson sit?

Frank Roach: Over the past several years the driving theme in Wolseley’s North American group was to centralize back-office cost and collaborate when appropriate between the individual companies: Ferguson, Stock Building Supply and Wolseley Canada.

The exposure Stock had to the new residential construction market – which was roughly 80 percent of their business –

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Commentary: What’s Your ‘Employee Return on Investment’?

Free, Management, Perspective, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Tom Gale

Indicators the past month have largely been positive across most distribution sectors. And at industry meetings, executives are looking forward instead of down. That’s a great change from a very tough year. At the same time, I have not heard anyone say we are out of the woods.

From our surveys, we found that many distributors were forced to use layoffs to stay viable, and many more did everything in their power to avoid layoffs or use them as creatively as possible.

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The Trouble with ‘Best Practices’

Features, Management, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Steve Deist

The authors of Value Creation Strategies for Wholesaler-Distributors implore distributors to define strategy in terms of closing gaps with the market rather than operational weaknesses. Tactically driven initiatives may meet intermediate goals, but they often produce unsatisfactory business outcomes.

This is an excerpt from Value Creation Strategies for Wholesaler-Distributors reprinted with permission from the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence. Order the book at www.naw.org/valuecreationstrateg.

Strictly speaking, best practices are business operations that are statistically correlated with superior financial performance. The study of best practices is now widespread and has contributed to significant productivity improvements by wholesaler-distributors across all lines of trade. The most comprehensive review of distribution …

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Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories for January 2010

Features, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Wholesale revenues increased in January, while inventories declined.

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Economic Update: Weather’s Impact on Latest Indicators

Features, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Wind, rain, snow: Severe weather plagued much of the U.S. during the first months of 2010, with the East Coast bearing the brunt of the damage. And several economic indicators reflected the damage in the latest round of numbers.

“Severe weather across the coasts of the United States last month disrupted transportation schedules,” said Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, commenting on the latest Federal Reserve industrial production statistics. “Production in consumer durables industries was particularly affected.”

Industrial production edged …

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U.S. MARKET ANALYSIS: MRO/OEM Power Transmission

Features, Market Analysis, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Analysis of U.S. market for MRO/OEM power transmission by end-user and region.

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MDM News Digest 4006

Free, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

News briefs from March 11-25, 2010.

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Download this Issue: MDM March 25, 2010

Full Issue PDF, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

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 seven years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email info@mdm.com to subscribe.

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