AD, the contractor and industrial products wholesale buying/marketing group, announced today the merger with IDC-USA, effective January 1st, 2019. This merger brings together the two largest independent Bearings & Power Transmission buying/marketing groups in the United States. IDC-USA adds 76 new members with 250 branch locations to the AD family, as well as redistribution centers in Indiana and Nevada and 27 employees.

Chris Hughes, board chairman of IDC-USA and president of Transmission & Fluid Equipment Inc. said, “Voting to join AD was an easy decision for me, as I suspect it was for the majority of my fellow IDC independents. Frankly, with AD’s recent transition to a member owned organization, it made the decision that much easier. By merging IDC into AD, we get the best of both worlds; programs and services we value from IDC, expanded supplier and member relationships, and the multi-divisional scale and infrastructure of AD.  It’s a win–win for all independent distributors.”

Ryan Watts, AD Bearings & Power Transmission board chair and president of Apex Automation LLC commented, “This merger certainly helps to strengthen the industry on many fronts. The critical mass of our combined membership will enable us to support our supplier partners even more than we already do. In addition, the opportunity to network and share best practices with so many quality independent distributors provides perhaps, the most powerful aspect of being with AD.”

As a part of the merger, IDC-USA President & CEO George Graham will take on the role as president of the AD Bearings & Power Transmission Division. “I am very pleased to have helped bring about this unification of great independents. The Bearings & Power Transmission industry is highly consolidated with strong national chains that we highly respect. But there’s a place in this industry for independent distributors too, and there always will be. In fact, we hope that distributors not currently aligned with a group will consider joining this new AD Division,” said Graham. “Personally, I am excited to join the AD team and the engaging culture they work so effectively to build. AD Industrial President, Jack Templin and AD Chairman & CEO, Bill Weisberg handled this merger with total respect and professionalism. Everyone I meet at AD has the single focus to help their members, supplier partners and associates to grow and prosper.”

Bill Weisberg, AD chairman & CEO, said, “We are honored to welcome IDC-USA members, suppliers and staff into the AD family. A major component of our strategy is to provide value added services to support the overall growth of our members and suppliers. Over the last 37 years, we’ve done six startups and now eight mergers and the resulting scale brings real value to our owner members and partners. I continue to see solid growth in the years ahead – both in terms of our footprint, as well as our range of services.”