ASA 2010 Year in Review

In 2010, the American Supply Association continued to assist our members in achieving prosperity and furthering the interests of the PHCP and PVF industry by focusing efforts in four core areas.

Advocacy

The year 2010 saw ASA take action in advocacy and social responsibility in the following ways:

Members supported the expansion of ASA’s advocacy efforts by contributing additional dues to facilitate the hiring of a full-time Washington, D.C. staff.

Ongoing participation in 12 coalitions, working with other organizations to influence legislation and regulations that would have an impact on our industry.

Expanded our leadership in working to pass the W.A.T.E.R. Act, which will provide consumers with tax incentives to retrofit their homes with water-conserving products.

Continued our efforts in passing Copper Theft legislation, defeating the LIFO Repeal and union-backed Card Check.

ASA’s member-driven Safety Committee continues to strengthen the association’s formal alliance with OSHA through industry awareness and free training for ASA members, such as free and interactive safety webinars, Toolbox Talks, a monthly column in ASA News, and other resources on more than 30 safety topics.

NetworkASA 2010 featured political strategist Karl Rove as the speaker for the Future Trends Lunch, and public policy expert Joan Woodward conducted a seminar on the impact of the mid-term elections.

Upgraded ASA Insights to a weekly e-newsletter, providing timely and topical information on ASA activities and expanded industry content.

Education

In 2010, ASA Education Foundation staff reprioritized their time to both deliver solid training programs and build the resources to support our strategic goal in the following ways:

Focused expertise to the conversion of our current book-form content into online, interactive learning modules to significantly enhance the delivery options of the ProductPro® and Essentials brands. To date, a total of 44 courses of ASAEF-developed content are available in ASAU Online.

Debuted ASAU Online as a Learning Management System (LMS) and FREE member benefit, thanks to the generous support of the Karl E. Neupert Endowment Fund.

Conducted informational webinars to industry members and groups on the ASA Education Foundation programs and services and the benefits of using ASAU Online as a go-to spot for managing company training programs.

Sponsored several regional workshops to introduce the new Essentials of Profitable Warehouse Operations© certificate course.

Further developed the ASA University model with the creation of a core competency model and initial curricula for the College of Leadership/Executive Management and the College of Sales/Sales Management.

Further enhanced the 3D Residential Schematic© online training tool with the addition of six training modules, providing students with an overview to help them visualize and understand what tasks these hidden systems perform, as well as basic knowledge about how each system works.

Water Supply System
DWV System
Hydronic Heating System
Cooling System
Sub-soil Drainage System
Gas Supply System

Continued development of a 3D Commercial Schematic© housed within a hospital, with the assistance of the Industrial Piping Division.

Educational program support provided for NetworkASA 2010: THRIVE, ASA’s annual convention, as well as additional support for regional and special interest group educational events.

Continued support of the Industrial Careers Pathway, an initiative that addresses the need for a skilled industrial distribution and manufacturing sales and customer service workforce.

Overall update and revision of the ProductPro® course Fixtures & Faucets© as a fully interactive course with the assistance of members from the Plumbing Division Council.

Sponsored the University of Industrial Distribution, the distribution industry’s most comprehensive and multi-disciplined institute of workshops.

ASAEF staff continues to serve as a training resource for the industry by assisting members with the creation and implementation of their training plans, sharing ideas on how to inspire employees to participate, identifying next steps to maintain progress and more!

Networking

In 2010 ASA expanded our capacity to serve the industry by providing many networking opportunities:

NetworkASA 2010: THRIVE showcased an updated convention program that brought manufacturers and distributors together in myriad situations to connect and do business.

The continued influence of the Vendor Member Division (VMD) has guided ASA on how all supply chain partners can be more effective in working together.

Expanded ASA’s Special Interest Divisions to include Plumbing, Hydronics and HVAC industry segments.

Volunteer-led committees for safety, marketing and membership provided opportunities to connect with others and guide ASA to better serve our members and industry.

Professional Peer Networking Councils for trainers, HR, warehouse and operations managers, and CFOs continued to provide growth opportunities for professionals in these job functions.

A Spring Forum presented by the Young Executives Division (YE) that brought together the future leaders of our industry from both distributors and manufacturers.

Continued working partnerships with Affiliated Distributors, Embassy Group, and WIT & Co., and established new partnerships with OMNI and Equity Plumbing Group to share our resources in order to strengthen the distributor members in all the organizations.

ASA’s Board Meeting, where volunteer leaders came together to refine and update ASA’s Strategic Plan.

Benchmarking

The year 2010 saw ASA provide a return on membership investment with the following resources:

The ASA Supplier Partner program successfully redefined ASA’s traditional sponsorship model and realigned supplier support with the association’s strategic values, goals and objectives.

The ASA Intelligence Reports, each addressing a specific need:

IPD Commodity Reports now produced quarterly
Updated the Employee & Executive Compensation Report
Monthly Sales Report
Monthly Materials Market Digest
Operating Performance Report
Confidential Business Valuation Appraisal

ASA’s Premier Vendor Program recognized 128 industry manufacturers, vendors, and independent manufacturer representatives for their unique contributions to the success of the association and the advancement of the PHCP industry.

The IPD Award of Excellence was presented to Dr. Donald R. McNeeley of Chicago Tube & Iron Corp.