As Supply House Times grew and became the
standard of this industry, the unstoppable tide of advances in IT resulted in a
tremendous increase in the productivity of billions of people around the world,
including people working in PHCP, HVACR and PVF supply houses. IT has helped
all kinds of businesses function with less inventory and, sometimes, fewer
people. “Do not fold, spindle or mutilate” has been replaced by cell phones
that can be used to access the Internet and download movies that demonstrate
how new products function.
Many
important advances were never well known, or have long been forgotten. This article
briefly describes many of the half-century of advances in IT that made the
benefits possible and describes some of the new technologies and trends that
should become commonplace in the future.