Eric Smith

Brady Industries, a Las Vegas-based full-line janitorial supply, equipment and foodservice distributor, this week announced the acquisition of Topmost Chemical & Paper, Memphis, Tennessee. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Founded in 1977 and led by owner Lynn Proffer, pictured right, Topmost distributes janitorial supplies and equipment in the tri-state region of Tennessee, Arkansas, […]

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Seattle, announced it is bringing eight new buildings across the state of Nevada to support customer fulfillment and delivery operations. The sites are expected to create more than 2,000 permanent full- and part-time jobs. The news comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement to hire more than 100,000 seasonal jobs in the U.S. and Canada to help […]

Gases supplier Air Products (NYSE:APD), Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, announced that Brian Galovich has joined Air Products as senior vice president and chief information officer. Galovich will report to Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products’ chairman, president and CEO, and he’ll be responsible for the strategic oversight of technology-driven solutions and the integration of technologies, people, information and processes that “deliver […]

A wide range of topics caught the eye of MDM readers last month, including our behind-the-scenes look at two industry-leading distributors (Ferguson and Grainger), analysis of the chaotic consolidation happening in building materials, the unveiling of the 2021 class of Future Leaders and what Amazon does better than anyone else. Click the headlines below for […]

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector declined in November, but the overall economy grew for the seventh consecutive month — after it had dipped significantly in the early stages of the coronavirus — according to the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The November PMI registered 57.5%, down 1.8% from the […]

Construction spending during October 2020 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,438.5 billion, 3.7% above the October 2019 estimate of $1,386.8 billion and 1.3% above the revised September estimate of $1,420.4 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. During the first 10 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,189.6 billion, […]

Bearings manufacturer The Timken Co. (NYSE: TKR), North Canton, Ohio, said Tuesday it has acquired Aurora Bearing Co., Montgomery, Illinois. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Privately owned and operated since its founding in 1971, Aurora manufactures rod ends and spherical plain bearings for a variety of industrial sectors, including aerospace and defense, […]

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring all but stopped M&A in wholesale distribution, but companies aren’t letting the latest surge in cases and corresponding state lockdowns prevent them from seeing their deals reach the finish line. November, with 18 deals reported, wound up being the busiest month for activity since the coronavirus began […]

BMC Stock Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: BMCH), Raleigh, North Carolina, announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire TW Perry, a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based building materials distributor that serves the Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., markets. BMC in August announced it was merging with Dallas, Texas-based Builders FirstSource Inc. in a $2.5 billion deal. “We look […]

The U.S. Census Bureau this week released advance indicators showing that the international trade deficit increased while and wholesale inventories decreased in October. The international trade deficit was $80.3 billion in October, up $0.9 billion from $79.4 billion in September. Exports of goods for October were $126 billion, $3.4 billion more than September exports. Imports […]

New orders for manufactured durable goods in October increased $3 billion, or 1.3%, to $240.8 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase, up six consecutive months, followed a 2.1% September increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.3%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 0.2%. Transportation equipment, up five of the last six months, led […]

Paints, coatings and specialty materials supplier PPG (NYSE: PPG), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Monday announced that it has agreed to acquire Ennis-Flint, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based manufacturer of coatings, for $1.2 billion. Ennis-Flint boats a broad portfolio of pavement marking products, including paint, thermoplastics and other advanced traffic technologies. “The acquisition of Ennis-Flint will further expand […]

Fresh off a record third quarter for both revenue and earnings — driven in part by sales of pandemic-related products — Systemax Inc. has no intention of slowing down, even when the coronavirus finally does. Systemax is the Port Washington, New York-based, publicly traded parent of such businesses as Global Industrial, No. 24 on MDM’s […]

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 33.1% in the third quarter of 2020, according to the “second” estimate released Wednesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 31.4%. The GDP estimate released Wednesday is based on more complete source data than were available for the […]

Swiss fastener distributor The Bossard Group has invested a 40% stake in the startup company MultiMaterial-Welding AG, Stansstad, Switzerland. The company said the move is part of its “long-term strategy is investing in innovative and forward-looking technologies. This latest investment brings the Bossard Group closer to its vision of being the world’s leading reference for […]

Emerson, St. Louis, Missouri, announced it has completed the purchase of 7AC Technologies, Inc., a Beverly, Massachusetts-based technology startup whose air conditioning technology enables energy savings and sustainable air management. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Emerson said it has been collaborating with 7AC to “commercialize a new technology that enables customers such as […]

The recent forecast from JPMorgan paints a troubling picture of the U.S. economy as we head into the final month of 2020. While this year will thankfully and mercifully come to a close, our financial woes will not. “This winter will be grim, and we believe the economy will contract again in 1Q,” the company […]

Technology distributor Avnet Inc. (NASDAQ: AVT), Phoenix, Arizona, announced Monday that the company’s board of directors has named 37-year Avnet veteran Phil Gallagher, pictured below, as its CEO, effective immediately. Gallagher, who has been in the role of interim CEO of Avnet since August 2020, has also been appointed to the board. “The board of directors […]

Led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) increased to +0.83 in October from +0.32 in September. Three of the four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made positive contributions in October, and three of the four categories increased from September. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, […]

Industrial distributor MSC Industrial Supply Co. (NYSE: MSM), Melville, New York and Davidson, North Carolina, on Friday announced it has appointed Mark Pickett as vice president, cross-channel growth. In this newly created role, Pickett will have responsibility for leading and driving a consistent brand experience for customers across all of MSC’s platforms and channels, including […]