“Patriotic Employer” Award To Platt
Platt Electric Supply (based in Beaverton, Ore.), which numbers 171 military
veterans among its 800 employees, has won a national “Patriotic Employer” award
for its efforts, according to The
Oregonian.
In the article, Harvey Platt, chairman, was asked if having employees leave
the company suddenly for military service was a problem. His answer: “A headache
is a relative thing. They're over there to dodge bullets and IEDs and everything;
we need to fill in for someone in shipping.”
Platt’s hiring philosophy is to look for people with good attitudes, according
to blog. From Harvey Platt: “Military people always show up on time. And their
attitude is generally pretty good. They say ‘Yes sir, No sir or Yes ma’am, No
ma’am.’”
Distributor Awards—supplyFORCE
supplyFORCE, the national MRO sales network, held its 2010 National Meeting
Feb. 3-4. Included among the Electrical Supply division’s award winners were
the following:
Excellence in Sales Leadership: State Electric Supply (Huntington,
W. Va.) and Stanion Wholesale Electric (Pratt, Kan.)
Owner-Member of the Year: Werner Electric Supply (Neenah, Wis.)
Best Conversion: The Reynolds Company (Fort Worth, Texas)
Photo & caption from supplyFORCE—from left: Dave Duco,
sF’s vice president for the Electrical Division; Dan Barlow, Reynolds’ national
accounts leader; John Eggleton, sF’s president/CEO; and Steven Guidry, director
of supplier relations and marketing for Reynolds
THD Writes HDS Investment Down
How much is Home Depot Supply worth? The Home Depot—the former parent, which
retained a small interest in HDS—has now, according to the Feb. 23 Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, written the value of HDS (on THD’s books) down…to
zero.
From Joe DeAngelo, HDS’s CEO, as quoted by the newspaper: “Zero is a bad number…I
hated it. I looked at it and said, ‘Come on, guys.’ To me, it’s not remotely
probable that it should be zero…I’m the largest personal investor [in HDS] on
the leadership team. The company is worth less than when I invested; I got that.
But I’m certainly confident I’ll get it back. It’s my coin on the table.”
At one time, THD build HDS (via acquisition) into a $12 billion (sales) business.
When times went bad for the parent, it sold HDS off for $8.5 billion to a triumvirate
of owners. Those companies are Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group, and Clayton
Dubilier & Rice (which also has a significant ownership interest in Rexel
SA).
Other facts from the AJC story:
- HDS’s sales fell about $5 billion in three years.
- THD initially valued its ownership in HDS at $325 million (it’s a 12.5%
minority stake).
- HDS is now “talking to banks about extending more than $3 billion in credit
facilities that come due in 2012. One of the loans—for about $1 billion—is
secured by THD.”
- The other investors in HDS “also have written down their investment,” according
to DeAngelo, as quoted. But their write-downs took the value of their HDS
ownership down “to $.20 to $.40 on the dollar.”
Graybar Reorganizes
A March 2 release from Graybar noted major changes at the top of the organization:
- Richard Offenbacher is now senior vice president for U.S. business. The
42-year company veteran had most recently been senior vice president—sales
and marketing for the electrical business.
- Kathleen Mazzarella is now senior vice president for sales and marketing.
With 30 years of company experience, she most recently was senior vice president—sales
and marketing for the datacom business.
- Dennis DeSousa has retired as senior vice president for U.S. business,
which means Offenbacher is now in his old position. Mazzarella now fills both
the position Offenbacher had as well as the datacom slot in which she had
served. She and Offenbacher are both members of Graybar’s board of directors.
From Robert Reynolds Jr., chairman, president and CEO: “These appointments
will help Graybar strategically leverage growth opportunities and strengthen
our position with customers and suppliers nationwide.”
CableOrganizer.com Claims 7% Sales Gain
It’s not audited data (as far as TedMag.com can tell), but CableOrganizer.com,
which sells cable, wire, and more via a website—and is a member of NAED—issued
a release on Feb. 2 claiming 7% year-over-year sales growth in 2009. Total sales
claimed: $14 million.
That follows a 30.5% sales increase in 2008 and 225% growth in the 2005-2008
period, the company said. It’s the seventh straight year of higher sales.
Other factolitos in the CableOrganizer.com release:
- Inventory SKUs—35,700-plus, up 15%
- Unique monthly site visitors—up 30.5% in 2009
- Order intake—up 8.19% last year.
From Paul Holstein, COO: “In 2009 we increased our new product development
initiatives while concurrently enhancing and refining our mission-critical website
content. We also worked closely with our various vendors to develop programs
that deliver the best value for our customers’ dollar.”
Metro Electric Supply Is A STAR!
Metro Lighting (a unit of Metro Electric Supply, St. Louis) will be honored
next week at the Energy Star award ceremony in Washington, D.C with the 2010
“Excellence in Retailing” award.
An Energy Star partner since 2007, according to a release, the company offers
“a wide selection of energy-saving and Energy Star-rated products.” It also
has a bulb and battery recycling program, a company-wide (internal) recycling
program, and more.
From Nick Frisella, special projects manager at Metro Lighting: “More and more
of our customers are looking for products that save money and protect the environment…we
are working to fulfill our customers’ needs while helping address climate change.”
Elsewhere In Distribution
Grainger honors top 25 suppliers—among them, GE Lighting, Klein
Tools, and Philips Lighting. See Purchasing.com report.
Grainger’s Jan. sales—up 6% in the United States, it said.
Interline Brands’ year—for the year ended Dec. 25, 2009, Interline
Brands posted $1.06 billion in sales, down 11.4% from FY08. Q4 sales ($254.6
million) were down 8.3%. Release.
Online marketing webinar series—from HARDI. More.
Walmart To Apply Bigger Green Pressure
As February drew to a close, Walmart said it would produce a big reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions by, according to The
New York Times, “pressing its suppliers [in popular merchandise categories]
to rethink how they source, manufacture, package, and transport these goods.”
In other words, Walmart won’t be doing much of anything at all, except applying
the same kind of super-vise-like pressure it has applied to suppliers all along—just
in a new avenue.
Those who made it down to the 10th paragraph in the NYT story
found a quote from a critic: “You can’t argue with asking companies to reduce
packaging,” said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local
Self-Reliance, an advocacy group. “But if durability is not part of what matters
in retailing anymore—and Walmart arguably has been the leader in making that
the case—that’s something we have to grapple with.”
Fan-mail-type perspective, from GreenBiz.com:
- “This
is real leadership” (from the Environmental Defense Fund, which apparently
is deeply involved with the huge retailer).
On the other hand, an
opinion piece on Grist.org included this, which may actually include something
closer to the truth:
One of the significant consequences of Walmart’s rise and radical
reshaping of the global economy has been a steep decline in the life span of
many products. We wear out clothing, toasters, DVD players, and even furniture
at a pretty rapid clip these days. It’s part of the reason Americans are now
creating twice as much trash as we did 20 years ago.
Faced with relentless pressure to lower costs in order to keep
their wares on big-box shelves, producers have cut corners. Even storied brands
like Levi’s, once synonymous with durability, have been brought to their knees
by Walmart and forced to redesign their products to be cheap and short-lived.
So, on the one hand, you have Walmart’s sustainability program,
which proposes to reduce the emissions associated with some of the products
its sells. And, on the other hand, you have Walmart’s core business model, which
ensures that we have to replace those products far more often.
© 2012 The Electrical Distributor. All rights reserved.