Articles by Mike Miazga

Supply House Times recently interviewed Forte President Doug Hermance at the decorative plumbing and hardware buying group’s 2014 conference at Trump National Doral outside Miami. Hermance is the president of Houston-based Westheimer Plumbing & Hardware, which features two showroom locations (Houston and The Woodlands) and a warehouse operations center.

The Omni and Luxury Products Group buying groups had good news to report at their recent spring meetings held at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, Fla. Omni President Bob Hoff told the more than 1,000 attendees that group sales were up 10% over 2012 levels and total sales to vendor partners had again moved over the much-sought-after $1 billion barrier.

Forte Shareholders Report increased sales.

PVF Roundtable sets another new attendance record.

In this high-tech, hustle-and-bustle day and age, a phone call to businesses in many walks of life likely will include dealing with some form of nonhuman interaction.

One of my three beagle dogs recently lost a portion of her ear after an attack by a neighborhood dog. Fenway (my wife’s a huge Red Sox fan; we had another beagle named Boston) had to undergo emergency surgery to save/reconstruct the ear.

In last month’s issue, a panel of leading PHCP executives made its feelings known on a variety of issues related to government regulation and how the current political climate is affecting the industry. In the second of this two-part series, the group delves into issues related to the everyday workings of its companies, including staff growth, e-commerce and attracting young talent into the industry.

Bill Bootz, owner of Houston-based industrial PVF master distributor Team Alloys, didn’t know much about the business when he first started as an outside salesman back in the 1980s. “My first sales call to SMS of Texas was on Sept. 18, 1989,” he recalls in vivid detail. “They told me my price was higher than domestic. I said, ‘What’s domestic?’ I knew absolutely nothing about the business — completely zero.”

Trends and forecasts always are frequent topics of discussion in the PHCP/PVF industry. That definitely holds true for the master distribution end of the equation. A group of master distribution executives recently spoke with Supply House Times on a variety of topics related to their companies’ roles in the industry.

Business is starting to heat up in 2014.