From the NAW Blog:

Our research for NAW’s just-released Innovate to Dominate, The 12 Edition in The Facing the Forces of Change® Series revealed a powerful new opportunity for distributors — the future of business is up for grabs! There is a race to leverage technology and human-centric forces of change to help business customers reinvent how work is done and how individuals and organizations learn.

From the NAW Blog:

It’s 2019 and more than 197 million people visit Amazon each month to browse more than 12 million products, according to BigCommerce. The numbers go up every day. But distributors don’t need to be afraid of Amazon. They need to innovate and sell to customers the way today’s customers want to buy. It’s that simple.

From the NAW Blog:

This blog post is for the sons and daughters of distributors; it is food for thought for your Thanksgiving gatherings! Please help this go viral by sharing it on social media or any way you can! Use our hashtags #b2binnovation #innovatetodominate #distributorsrock

EFC International is pleased to announce the addition of a new product line, Normont Motion Technology. Normont products include gas springs, dampers, and custom motion control solutions. The product line is complementary to EFC’s current motion control product offerings including components from ITW Motion such as rotary dampers, linear dampers, air dampers, hinge dampers and latches.

Normont is a leading manufacturer of industrial, automotive, and aerospace gas spring & hydraulic dampening solutions. These products can be found in numerous applications for automotive, truck, bus, heavy machinery, ATM machines, riding mowers, emergency vehicles, recreational vehicles and many other industries.  

NAW’s archive of past webinars provides you with the best content from distribution's leading business and supply chain experts! 

Discover these two on-demand webinars that feature first looks at NAW's brand-new study:
Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change® Series

Welcome to the Age of B2B Innovation

From the NAW Blog:

AI knows us better than we know ourselves. Have you ever wondered how different services accurately predict what tv shows, or books, or songs you like? How retail sites find clothes or items that you want to buy even before you know they exist? It’s not magic. It’s just well-executed data analysis. Consumer data reveal preferences and predict likely future outcomes, and when it comes to making sales, there is nothing better than knowing what customers want to buy and putting it in front of them.

From the NAW Blog:

Over the last many years, distributors have faced down one challenge after another including the emergence of big-box retailers, disintermediation by manufacturers, the financial crisis of 2008 and more. Distribution survived because of the strength of their customer relationships and an ongoing commitment to gain efficiencies by investing in business systems and information technology. Faced with new disruptive threats, this trend is continuing as distributors invest in e-commerce platforms and a wide range of digital tools.

From Elm Sustainability Partners:

There have been no changes to the US conflict minerals law status or requirements for the SEC filing.  Rumors that the law has been repealed are false and the non-enforcement statement is limited in its applicability.  Companies subject to the disclosure should proceed as in previous years. Country of origin information is still not freely available (as far as we know).  Stakeholders (including media and regulators) are carefully reviewing Form SD filings to see if US sanctioned entities are in company supply chains.  Disclosing companies should expand their smelter/refiner due diligence to include this.  The EU conflict minerals directive is not yet in effect.

We were all shocked and saddened to learn that Joe Greenslade passed away suddenly on Wednesday, October 23, at age 71.

Joe served as IFI’s Technical Director from 2007 until 2015. He was a fastener industry icon and highly respected and admired. Joe had a refreshing “can do” approach, an ability to build consensus, a knack for simple solutions, and a gentle, kind and jovial personality that endeared him to all. Joe thoroughly enjoyed working in the fastener industry and was always fully committed to completing anything he set out to accomplish.

NORWALK, CT - Fastener Fair USA, North America’s fastest-growing exposition for the fastener industry, will hold its third annual trade show and conference in May in Charlotte, NC, a major manufacturing hub. The event for the entire fastener supply chain runs May 18-20, 2020 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

From the NAW Blog:

Data silos have always been bad for business. They limit employee performance and sow dysfunction among different teams by restricting access to information. As Big Data and AI become major forces in business, the negative effects of data silos will become even more severe. Distributors should integrate databases now and employ comprehensive AI to avoid the data silo trap.  

We were shocked and saddened to learn last week that Joe Greenslade passed away suddenly on Wednesday, October 23.

Service Details
Saturday, November 2, 201912:00 Noon
Unity Church of Fort Worth 5051 Trail Lake Drive #2045
Ft. Worth, TX 76133

With the arrival of Fall and the turning of leaves, it’s time for Suzy Cravens to start thinking about cookies. “Not just any kind of cookies, but highly decorated cookies,” says Suzy.

It all started back in the 1990s, when Suzy, a self-professed crafter, sewer, baker, and all-around handy gal, decided to venture into the world of cake decorating to satisfy her creative whimsy. After taking several classes she started teaching cake and cookie decorating in her spare time. She also began a home cake decorating business which eventually led to her becoming quite well known in the area as the Cake Lady.

Washington, DC (October 21, 2019) — Wholesaler-distributors are invited to join the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence and our sponsor PROS on Thursday, November 14, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET, for a live webinar: “Welcome to the Age of B2B Innovation.”

Anyone who has a calendar conflict and won’t be able to attend this live webinar, should register anyway. PROS will send registrants a link to view the webinar on demand. Register here.

From the NAW Blog:

Many distributors have initiatives aimed at developing high-potential employees. However, identifying the employees with high potential (HiPo) can be challenging and is highly subjective. This is partially because different organizations may define high potentials differently. As a result, the characteristics and abilities that an employee must possess to be classified as a “HiPo” is largely up to individual interpretation. How can your HiPo program truly benefit your company and your employees?

NAW has just sent letters to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting that their agencies open an investigation into the General Services Administration’s (GSA) proposed e-Marketplace platform (Section 846) and Amazon’s unfair and anti-competitive practices and processes.

NAW believes that GSA should be fostering maximum competition at this stage of Section 846’s implementation.  Even though GSA identified three credible e-commerce purchasing channels, GSA’s latest Request for Proposal (RFP), Commercial e-Marketplace Acquisition (October 1, 2019), confines its pilot test to only one model, that of the e-marketplace portal, the Amazon platform.  All other e-commerce models have been excluded.

From the NAW Blog: 

In a recent Forbes article, “Moving Beyond On-Demand To The Real-Time Economy,” Kyle Jackson predicts, “In the near future, we’ll see the demand for instant gratification and access to information intensify even more. On-demand is no longer just a gimmick; it’s a reality. As the dust settles on these changes, a new real-time economy will emerge.” This prediction is consistent with our work for Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change® Series, arriving in mid-November, and the Forbes article is an essential read for innovation-minded distributors — especially since Jackson highlights a connection between data, artificial intelligence and trust.

From the NAW Blog:

AI will create trillions in business value within the next few years, but that cash won’t be distributed evenly. Not all AI is equal, and only distributors who invest in the right AI will profit. Knowing what questions to ask your AI vendor will put you in the position to capitalize on the AI value boom.

(October 10, 2019, Washington, DC) — The NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence is pleased to announce its newest, groundbreaking research study, Optimizing Channel Profitability: A Playbook to Align Manufacturer–Distributor–Customer Relationships, based on a consortium conducted by Texas A&M University’s Global Supply Chain Laboratory. Please go to www.naw.org/ocp or call 202.872.0885 to learn more and to order copies.  Quantity discounts of 15–50% apply when ordering two or more copies.

As manufacturers face new competitive challenges, distributors alter their capabilities, and customers change their requirements, the path forward keeps shifting.

Many manufacturers have not updated their channel policies in a decade, while wholesaler distributors have undergone significant changes in terms of online disruptions by non-traditional competitors, multi-generational workforce dynamics, digital transformation challenges, evolving salesforce structure, and so forth.