News
Breaking news in Wholesale Distribution
While countless offices in this country have the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship pool sapping the life out of productivity this week, I’m guessing there are at least a few pools estimating the date of sale for Home Depot Supply. I don’t know what the Vegas odds are, but the probability is close to 100 percent in my book that we see a deal happen. Here’s why I think it will be sooner rather than later.
Home Depot CEO Frank Blake said that it was important to determine a course of action for HD Supply so that the company didn’t have a foot on the dock and a foot on the boat, as MDM reported on the company’s refocus on retail.
Let’s get out the spyglass and look at that statement. If …
January U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $297.48 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and The Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 9.8% from December, but up 30.9% from the total of $227.23 million reported for January 2006.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
While early forecasts for 2007 have suggested it is unlikely that growth in our industry’s sales will surpass the results of 2006, January has made an impressive start, says John J. Healy, AMTDA president. Results were well above year-ago levels in almost every …
Fastener distributor Bossard’s sales dampened the group’s overall global revenues in 2006. Sales in the dropped 9.5% from 2005. Bossard attributed the decline to falling demand from larger customers -which comprise 50% of the company’s overall sales.
Overall, the Bossard Group sales were up 8.7% to CHF 560 million (Swiss francs), and 7.6% in local currency. Translated, sales were roughly US$458 million for the year. Asia saw the largest growth rate, at 42%. sales doubled, and the had a sales increase of 56.6%. sales were up 29.8%.
Bossard saw sales in Central Europe grow 15.5% to CHF 300 million (US$245 million, Euro 186 million). All European countries reported double-digit growth rates. was up 13.1%, Scandinavia up 12%, up 13.8% and Eastern Europe up 38%. <br ...
The Timken Company, Canton, OH, will close its production facility in Sao Paolo, Brazil, by the end of the year. Timken will maintain a sales, marketing and warehousing presence in Brazil to meet the needs of customers and distributors.
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Timken will support its future growth in the Brazilian market with its global manufacturing resources, along with new warehousing operations and a network of 35 distributors located in Brazil.
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The closure of the facility in Brazil is part of Timken’s ongoing efforts to improve the performance of its Automotive Group. The company previously announced a restructuring initiative in 2005 and a workforce reduction in 2006, which are on track to deliver expected savings of approximately $40 million and $35 million, …
Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain have agreed to merge Owens Corning’s Reinforcements Business and Saint-Gobain’s Reinforcements and Composites Business (a part of the entity known as Vetrotex) into a new company that will be named OCV Reinforcements.
On July 27, 2006, Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain jointly announced that they were in discussions to merge their respective reinforcements and composites businesses, creating a global company in reinforcements and composite fabrics products, with worldwide revenues of $1.8 billion (1.5 billion) and 10,000 employees.
The agreement stipulates that the joint-venture will be owned 60% by Owens Corning and 40% by Saint-Gobain. After a minimum of four years, Saint-Gobain will have the option to sell its stake to Owens Corning, and …
ISCO Industries, Louisville, KY, distributor and supplier of polyethylene (HDPE) piping products, has purchased Fraser Mining and Industrial Supply Company in Mansfield, TX.
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“Fraser Mining and Industrial Supply has fostered an excellent reputation across Texas and the south central United States, especially in service to the mining industry. With the similarities in our product lines and emphasis on HDPE, this move provides us with a location in the north Texas area, while giving us a strong presence in the Texas mining market, said Jimmy Kirchdorfer, president of ISCO Industries.
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ISCO also has nearby stocking and sales facilities in the Houston, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma areas.
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Fraser Mining and Industrial …
Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc., Peabody, MA, has agreed to acquire North Coast Commercial Roofing Systems, Inc., a Twinsburg, OH-based distributor of commercial roofing systems and related accessories, with 16 locations in eight U.S. states.
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North Coast has branches in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. There is minimal overlap with Beacon’s existing locations.
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North Coast gives Beacon with its first locations in three states: New York, Ohio and West Virginia. North Coast employs 197 associates and had sales of about $253 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
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It will operate as a separate region under the North Coast name.
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Beacon …
Illinois Tool Works Inc., producer of highly engineered components, equipment, consumable systems, and specialty products, has bought Quasar International, Inc., the inventor of PCRT (Process Compensated Resonant Testing), a NDT (Nondestructive Test) method. Quasar is in Albuquerque, NM. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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Quasar will continue to operate as an independent company, consistent with the ITW decentralized organization structure. Quasar will be associated with MAGNAFLUX, a division of Illinois Tool Works Inc., a supplier of Magnetic Particle equipment, Dye Penetrant inspection equipment, and associated chemical products used for nondestructive testing. Quasar operations in Albuquerque and Detroit will remain essentially unchanged, and …
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Modern Distribution Management’s January Inflation Index, which measures a cross-section of industrial supplies, was up 0.59% from the previous month, and up 3.27% from January 2006.
Summary of  ; MDM Inflation Index for the past 12 months:
January 2007 Index 268.7
December 2006 Index  ; 267.1
November 2006 Index 266.5
October 2006 Index 265.9
September 2006 Index 265.6
August 2006 Index 265.2
July 2006 Index 264.0
June 2006 Index 263.0
May 2006 Index 262.1
April 2006 Index 262.1
March 2006 Index 262.1
Febuary 2006 Index 261.2
January 2006 Index 260.2
Please click below on Related Document to view a print-ready pdf of the  ; MDM Inflation Index for January 2007, listing the ten …
