WIT President Morris Cregger (right) presents
Goodin Co.’s Greg Skagerberg with an award for being the top volume WIT
wholesaler in 2011. Photo by Kevin Roquemore/WIT
WIT’s 2012 Distributor/Vendor Conference attracted nearly 700 attendees to the Hilton Anatole in Dallas in early April. WIT officials estimated more than 6,000 individual wholesaler-vendor meetings would take place during the conference.
“Things are very positive and are certainly better than they were last year,” WIT Executive Vice President and COOCharlie Moorheadtold Supply House Times in avideo interview available here.“We’ve experienced double-digit growth coming out of the first couple of months of this year and most manufacturers and suppliers we have talked to are seeing the same thing. There are still spots in the country that are a little bit behind the curve, but overall we’re seeing business much improved in 2012.”
Moorhead added the unusually warm spring weather in parts of the country has played a role in the increased business.
“Work that has started in the Midwest and Northeast would (usually) not have started by now,” he said. “We’re also seeing multifamily and commercial (work increase) and the banks are loosening up a little bit, especially with small businesses.”
In addition to talks fromKeith A. Friedeon health care and keynote speakerTodd Buchholzon the economy and the current political landscape in the United States during the Distributor General Session, WIT revealed its list of top 20 owners in terms of volume for 2011.
Minneapolis-basedGoodin Co.topped the list. The rest of the top 10 includedPlumbing Distributors(No. 10),Wm. F. Meyer Co.(No. 9),Rampart Supply(No. 8),Northside Plumbing Supply(No. 7),Security Supply Co.(No. 6),Canyon Pipe & Supply(No. 5),General Plumbing Supply(No. 4),Cregger Co.(No. 3) andConsolidated Supply Co.(No. 2).
Twenty companies also were honored with a WIT Purchasing Award, given to those companies that exceeded $1 million in 2011.
WIT’s Fall Networking Meeting for distributors will be held Sept. 12-13 at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix. WIT’s 2013 Distributor/Vendor Conference returns to the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, April 1-5, 2013.
