As these words cascade from a keyboard during the last week of January, the industry is still buzzing about Home Depot's acquisition of Hughes Supply a few weeks ago. You can't get into a conversation without it coming up.
There are two kinds of people in the business world. We all recognize Type 1 as the vaunted “people person” who parlays a winning personality into lasting business relationships. All of us also have encountered Type 2, who might be labeled the “numbers cruncher.” To them, personalities are irrelevant.
Master distribution is a testimony to entrepreneurial inventiveness in a free economy. Our industry's manufacturer-distributor channel serves as the best way to get bulk goods to market, but it doesn't work all that well for dealing with oddball items, short orders, imports, repair parts and other specialty goods that don't fit snugly into this channel's normal stream of commerce. Master distributors popped up to fill the gaps.
Is there anyone reading this who doesn't rank hiring, retention and training as among the thorniest business issues? Ask the manufacturers who need engineers to help them design products and processes, and intelligent production workers capable of operating computerized machinery. Talk to the distributors who constantly scramble to develop everyone from managerial ranks to reliable warehouse workers.