Vallen Distribution is planning to acquire Wesco Integrated Supply, the industrial supplies arm of Wesco, in a deal set to reshape the industrial maintenance, repair and operations distribution sector. The $350 million deal includes Wesco's North American and Europe industrial MRO integrated supply business, which reported $784 million in 2023 sales. Vallen is bolstering its MRO market presence with the deal, while Wesco is focusing on its core electrical, electronics, utility and other businesses.

Government data shows the number of strikes in the United States reached a two-decade high in 2023, driven by a strong labor market that empowered workers and unions to take a harder line in negotiations. While recent strikes focused on the service sector, labor conditions and upcoming contract expirations suggest the manufacturing sector could see a further wave of high-profile disruptions in the year ahead.

Many B2B marketing initiatives fall short because of "siloed data, insufficient technology, and a lack of internal skills or knowledge," reports Forrester Consulting after a study commissioned by Zoovu, a product discovery software company. Another major problem boils down to "treating e-shops merely as digitized versions of their former print catalogs."

Americold Realty Trust is planning a 335,000-square-foot temperature-controlled warehouse in Kansas City, Mo., as part of an earlier announced agreement with Canadian Pacific Kansas City. Americold is investing $127 million in the project and plans to create almost 190 jobs. "Combining our cold storage capabilities with CPKC's extensive rail network enables Americold to deliver a differentiated offering to support more customers across North America," says Americold CEO George Chappelle.

Humanoid robots are primarily in the testing phase at warehouses and will require lengthy trials, incremental rollouts and acceptance among human workers before becoming mainstream, writes Ash Sharma, Interact Analysis managing director. The eventual rise in humanoid robots "will be dependent on the success of early pilots, whether ethical concerns can be overcome, and whether other robotics technology is found to be better suited to specific tasks."

J.B. Hunt Transport is purchasing Walmart's intermodal container and chassis fleets for an undisclosed amount, expanding existing relationships for both firms and securing volume commitments from the retailer as part of the deal, according to company announcements. J.B. Hunt announced plans in 2021 to increase its container fleet by 40% and has also been investing in transloading facilities near large ports and an intermodal service with BNSF Railway.

Supply chain disruptions caused by global conflict can be mitigated and avoided by finding vulnerable pressure points, diversifying those suppliers and strategically stocking inventory, writes Katherine East, an associate solicitor at Irwin Mitchell. Procurement teams should also check on contracts for exclusivity, time, force majeure clauses and global sanctions to ensure it's possible to diversify, East notes.

Walmart has loosened delivery benchmarks set during the pandemic as demand for products soared, supply chain challenges grew and stores increasingly doubled as online fulfillment centers. The retailer is now requiring vendors to deliver shipments on time 90% of the time and in full 95% of the time, down from 98% for both, and Walmart US CEO John Furner said during a recent earnings call that "store managers and associates have back rooms that are quite under control."

Humanoid robots designed to carry out warehouse functions are making strides, but are in no way poised to produce a mass takeover of jobs, writes Ash Sharma, managing director of Interact Analysis. Two significant barriers remain, Sharma notes: The high cost of humanoid machines and the way they strike humans as a "personification" of replacing their roles.

The use of mascots in business-to-business marketing has fallen despite research showing they increase market share, with prime examples being Geico's Gecko, Hootsuite's Owly or Mailchimp's Freddie, writes Matthew Kilgour, head of creative strategy at Earnest. "No one seems to want a mascot. Which, from where I'm sitting, means it's the right time to get working on one," Kilgour writes.

Distribution veteran Frank Hurtte joins the "5 Minutes With ID" podcast to discuss how newcomers to sales can navigate the rapidly changing landscape of pricing pressures, new products and ecommerce. Hurtte is the author of "The New Sales Guy Project."

Research confirms that we like to talk about ourselves—a lot—with some people turning down money to stop doing so, writes Jeff Haden, a keynote speaker and ghostwriter, who urges leaders to use this information to perform some "social jiu-jitsu" using open-ended questions to get to know more about your direct reports. When your team feels like you understand and support them, the research shows they'll like you and want to keep working for you, Haden notes.

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