Late last year, LIXIL made headlines when it announced the acquisition of Basco, a U.S.-based shower door manufacturing company. The acquisition represents an important step in LIXIL’s growth strategy in the Americas region, the company said. Recently at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke had a chance to sit down with Trey Northrup, leader of LIXIL Americas, to discuss the company’s outlook following the acquisition, the current labor shortage, and the pitfalls of sanitation access and LIXIL’s LPP program, a global initiative aimed at tackling America’s sanitation challenges through public and private sector partnerships.

We have all heard of Google and likely search it daily for many things…but are you using it to attract and maintain business? If your customers can’t find you online, they may wind up taking their business elsewhere. Today’s customer realizes that time is money and e-commerce trumps phoning in orders. Separately, if potential customers don’t know you exist, or can’t easily contact you, then growing your business becomes considerably harder. One of the top reasons people get frustrated with a brand is when they are unable to locate a phone number or email to get in touch.

In writing this column month after month, I recognize that while marketing insights and tips are helpful for many, a handful of folks don’t have the desire (or the time) to join in on their business’ marketing efforts. With this in mind, I wanted to think and “write outside the box” to focus on a topic applicable and relevant to all industry professionals and marketers alike. This topic is CREATIVITY.

The U.S. is currently experiencing the largest nursing staff shortage in history with no end in sight. Affecting health care facilities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities alike, lack of resources, ongoing patient care challenges, health and sanitation concerns along with simply being overworked, are all factors fueling this nursing shortage.

In April of 2022, ShowroomMarketing.com and The Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association (the DPHA) agreed to put in motion an online-based, business development program for the residential plumbing distribution world.

With distributors now offering same and next-day delivery, online ordering and more value-add services than ever before, it’s sometimes hard to picture the humble beginnings many independent distribution businesses started from. For Craig Norlin, co-owner of Wautoma, Wisconsin-based Mid-State Supply, it’s not difficult to recall at all; he remembers his father — Austin Norlin — delivering product out of the family’s station wagon with a four-wheel farm wagon towing behind in the 1960s.

Sustainability and water conservation were two of the main trends seen at the 2023 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. One Canadian-based company is tackling water efficiency starting with the top water guzzling appliance in the home — the shower.

Since 1949, Lee Supply has provided the highest-quality plumbing, HVAC, water treatment, appliances, lighting products and services to customers throughout the Midwest. Whether providing the newest products or implementing the latest technologies, Lee Supply prides itself on a willingness and ability to adapt, putting them at the forefront of innovation.

The plumbing industry is full of rock star individuals. People that go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their peers and the people coming in behind them have a better industry than what it was before. InSinkErator’s Rebecca Falish is the epitome of an industry rock star. In fact, to hear retired InSinkErator Vice President Joe Maiale say it, Falish “is a rock star turned superstar,” in the industry.

Although it has a reputation of being a male-dominated industry, the PHCP-PVF supply chain is full of impactful women. Celebrating Women’s History Month, Supply House Times is highlighting 10 influential women who are leading the industry to great success.