Industrial parts segment powers revenue gains at Wajax | OEMs, fastener distributors benefit from "kitting" | Wholesale e-commerce startup Foundation brings in $3M
Canada-based Wajax reported a 17.4% increase in first-quarter revenue year over year, led by its industrial parts unit. The distributor's other four business segments -- equipment sales, production support, equipment rental and engineered repair service -- also showed revenue increases, and President and CEO Iggy Domagalski said the company is seeing "solid fundamentals across many of our key markets."
The practice of "kitting" by fastener distributors -- that is, the bundling of products and accessories -- has been a positive for original equipment manufacturers. "It's about delivering the fasteners in whatever configuration or packaging is required -- in this case, to speed assembly or supply installation kits with their product to their customers," said Johnny Rose, president of fastener and industrial supply distributor AFT Industries.
Foundation, a business-to-business e-commerce startup founded by former Staples executive Shiv Agarwal, raised $3 million in its seed round. The company offers a platform to streamline transactions and link market participants, including manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
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An exodus of supply chain workers has led to less-experienced teams, fewer strong supplier relationships, more panic buying and costly, longer lead times, Edmund Zagorin of Arkestro writes. Predictive procurement can make a dent in these problems and help procurement teams do more with less, Zagorin explains.
Total cargo volume at the Port of Vancouver dropped 3% year over year in 2022 to total 3.55 million 20-foot-equivalent units, a decrease it attributes to "softening consumer demand coupled with increasingly overstocked inventories." Vancouver Fraser Port Authority CEO Robin Silvester pointed to bright spots from the year, as the port handled the second highest volume on record.
Using artificial intelligence tools can empower sales representatives to make more outside sales by unlocking hidden sales opportunities and helping reps engage with customers, writes Benj Cohen, founder of Proton.ai. "When AI analyzes all of a distributor's important data, including customers' past purchases, online browsing activity and product information, it can provide sales reps with insightful recommendations to inform how they spend their day, who they visit, and what they sell," Cohen writes.
Joanie Mahoney, the president of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, N.Y., says her parents modeled kindness for her, which is something that she continues to prize in leadership, along with long-term vision, clear communication, listening skills and a team focus. "I would encourage anybody who wants to be in a leadership role to every day value the people on their team, show them gratitude, and recognize that without them you're not able to do anything," Mahoney says.
Embracing uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but Suzanne Bates, the managing director of BTS, Boston, writes that when we use it as a reminder to move deliberately, invite input from others and see it as a foundation for strategy and planning, it can be "a healthy quality." "Maintaining a healthy dose of uncertainty lets you learn your way forward and stay agile. When you do this as a team, you unleash the power of everyone's uncertainty to your advantage," Bates writes.
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