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Things moved more optimistically overall in our latest forecast update for both 2024 and 2025 revenues.
Core Producer Price Index ticks up 0.2%.
A recent report from PwC highlights seven factors that manufacturers should consider when deciding where to grow.
How can you strengthen the organizational factors that lead to long-term health?
MAPI forecasts industrial production growth of 4.5% in 2012 and 2.3% in 2013.
Organic sales growth for Grainger in August was 7 percent.
The ASU in Guiyang will produce 2,000 TPD of gaseous oxygen and nitrogen for Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical.
Survey found that distributors expect costs across categories to increase in next 12 months.
BDI’s new branch helps distributor serve customers with global reach.
VWR acquisition expands laboratory supplies distributor’s reach in Latin America.
Sales increased 2.7 percent in a year-over-year comparison.
Hisco case study shows the value of involving branches in the strategic planning process.
The process of finding the answer can sometimes be more telling than the answer.
The software will help the American Marketing Association connect with marketers across multiple channels.
Grainger wasn’t the first distributor to introduce a mobile app, but the app it recently launched is arguably one of the most robust available on the market. The announcement comes as demand for mobile access to product information, availability and order capabilities continues to increase across industries. This article examines the process behind Grainger’s application development, as well as what’s driving more distributors to go mobile.
Have a question? Check your smartphone. We’re no longer required to wait until we get home or until we can connect our computers to the Internet to get the answer. While this has been a growing trend in our personal lives for years, it is now making a major mark in the B-to-B world.
A number of distributors have developed their own targeted apps.
Platt Electric Supply, for one, developed an app with a store locator and mobile access to your Platt account. HVAC distributor Johnstone Supply created a broader “toolkit,” including a duct-sizer and efficiency savings calculators.
Grainger’s new mobile app, released in August, takes the concept even further – aiming to bring the full functionality of grainger.com to the smartphone.
The Grainger Model
Over the past year, mobile traffic to Grainger’s website has increased 400 percent, …
The purchase of Australian KLEN International will strengthen VWRs position in mining lab supplies.
Latest Prime Advantage report finds manufacturers are optimistic, but elections are causing some to put off plans to invest.
Year to date, manufacturing technology orders are up 5.4 percent over the same period in 2011.
Expert: ‘Don’t do it just because it’s cool.’
Brent Grover: What you leave behind is more important than where you go.
Strategic alliances between distributors should be aimed at improving business for all participants. But this isn’t always the driver of organizations that enable independent distributors to get together.
“Our experience is that it’s often reactive in nature,” says Brent Grover, principal at Evergreen Consulting LLC and author of The Little Black Book of Strategic Planning for Distributors. Grover recently took part in an “Ask the Author” webcast event with MDM, answering audience questions about his new book, which is available at www.mdm.com/littleblackbook.
In his experience, the frequent focus on national accounts …
January 2007 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $333.4 billion, down 0.9% from the revised December level but up 6.2% from January 2006.
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January sales of durable goods were virtually unchanged from last month, but were up 5.7% from a year ago. Sales of metals and minerals, except petroleum, were up 4.4% from last month.
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January sales of nondurable goods were down 1.8% from last month, but were up 6.7% from last year.
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Total inventories were $396.7 billion at the end of January, up 0.7% from last month and up 9.2% from a year ago. End-of-month inventories of durable goods increased 1.1% from December and were up 9.3% from last January. Compared to last month, inventories of motor vehicle and …
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods advanced 1.3 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed a 0.6-percent decline in January and a 0.9-percent rise in December. At the earlier stages of processing, the intermediate goods index turned up 1.1 percent after falling 0.7 percent in the previous month, and prices for crude goods climbed 8.9 percent following a 6.3-percent decrease in January.
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Among finished goods in February, the index for energy goods moved up 3.5 percent compared with a 4.6-percent drop a month earlier. The rate of increase for consumer foods prices accelerated to 1.9 percent in February from 1.1 percent in January. Excluding prices for foods and …
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 …
This article details two mid-sized distributors' experiences with global sourcing and is adapted from presentations at the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors' annual meeting, with additional information provided through follow-up interviews with MDM.
To use a cliché, the devil is in the details. Andrew Berlin, president of Berlin Packaging, says this has never been truer than when sourcing from China.
And one more cliché," he says. "You get out of it what you put into it."
Berlin should know. He's been sourcing from China for his customers and suppliers for almost 20 years, and understands the value of taking the time required to set up a profitable transaction rather than …
In Part II of MDM’s interview with Wolseley CEO Chip Hornsby, he addresses the differences between the global building materials and HVAC/plumbing distributor’s North American and European markets, and Wolseley’s aim to grow significantly on the European mainland -doubling its market share every five to seven years.
MDM: Can you talk a little about the European distribution landscape?
Chip Hornsby: The first thing I had to understand -we laugh about it all the time -was that in fifth-grade geography they didn’t teach us that there’s another continent out there called the UK. And then there’s Europe. And those 22 miles are bigger than the ocean between us and them. I get asked all …
Home Depot CEO Frank Blake reinforced his drive to refocus on the business’ retail division at the company’s annual investor and analyst conference at the end of February.
As this first quarter comes to a close, it’s a good time to evaluate the annual plan created in September, or in January for those who subscribe to JIT strategic planning. This is when most plans start rotting on the shelf. The end-of-quarter flurry is too hectic to perform a disciplined review. Then a new cycle starts.
Janitorial Supplies represented a market in 2006 of $19.98 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 nine government market regions.
Click on Related Document below to see the charts and breakdown by end-user.
… 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 …
The European manufacturing sector, much like that of the U.S. and Japan, saw its industrial cycle peak in 2006 and will see its growth moderate in 2007, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Industrial Outlook for Europe February 2007, a report that analyzes 27 major industries.
Construction spending during January 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,180.2 billion, 0.8 percent (±1.4%) …
Manufacturing expanded in February following a decline in January, and the overall economy grew for the 64th consecutive month, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business.
February proved to be a good month in the manufacturing sector as New Orders, Production and Employment contributed to a solid growth scenario, ISM reports. The Inventories Index showed significant reduction in manufacturers’ inventories for the second consecutive month, and the Backlog of Orders Index is growing once again.
While the prices manufacturers pay reached their highest level in five months, concern about prices is still minimal due to the small number of commodities indicated as up in price. The trend in manufacturing, as well as the overall economy, …
Home Depot CEO Frank Blake reinforced his drive to refocus on the business’ retail division at the company’s annual investor and analyst conference. To that end, Blake told participants that acquisitions outside of the retail core won’t be a priority for us.
New Orders
New orders for manufactured durable goods in January decreased $17.1 billion or 7.8 percent to $203.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced in a preliminary release. This followed two consecutive monthly increases including a 2.8 percent December increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 7.8 percent.
Shipments
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January, up five of the last six months, increased $0.5 billion or 0.2 percent to $211.4 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent December increase.
Unfilled Orders
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in January, up twenty of the last twenty-one months, increased $1.0 …
Industrial production decreased 0.5 percent in January after an increase of 0.5 percent in December. Output in the manufacturing sector declined 0.7 percent in January; about one-half of the decrease was a result of a drop of 6 percent in motor vehicles and parts.
Market …
Wholesaler-distributor revenues were $3.903 trillion last year, up 9.8% from 2005, unadjusted for seasonal variations. Wholesale revenues for durable goods were up 8.8%, and nondurable goods sales were up 11%. The increase in sales was slower than in years’ past, partly due to a slowdown in commodity inflation.
December 2006 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, were $337.1 billion, up 1.8 percent from the revised November level and were up 8.6 percent from the December 2005 level. December sales of durable goods increased 1.1 percent from last month and were up 7.0 percent from a year ago. Compared to last month, sales of hardware and plumbing and heating equipment and supplies were up 4.2 percent and sales of motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies increased 2.9 percent. December sales of nondurable goods were up 2.5 percent from last month and were up 10.2 percent from last year.
Inventories . Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales …
Last week saw a feeding frenzy of rumors in distribution, with action on both sides of the Atlantic. The biggest hunters suddenly became the hunted.
Wolseley CEO Chip Hornsby sat down with MDM recently to talk about the distributor’s market moves, its localized strategy, the current housing market and the importance of leadership training. Hornsby also addressed the $25-billion global distributor’s potential expansion into new but complementary sectors, which should slow while the company digests the acquisitions it has made in the past 18 months.
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Wolseley is the parent company of Stock Building Supply and HVAC/plumbing distributor Ferguson in the U.S. The second part of this interview, focused on Wolseley’s European ambitions, will be in the March 10 issue of MDM.
MDM: What are the key issues for Wolseley in North America to develop markets in terms of services, product mix, …
In the mid-1990s, Mayer Electric Supply, Birmingham, AL, prepared and mailed its invoices and statements in-house. The distributor had employees who printed the mailings on high-speed printers at night and used a machine to fold and stuff the mailings. It also maintained a Pitney-Bowes postal machine.
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