Channeling value in Dallas

I.D.A. and ASMMA members charge into Dallas rarin' to go

By -- Industrial Distribution, 5/1/2000

What could be more fitting than hearing former President George Bush ponder the next century, attending workshops on the critical issues facing distribution and then networking at the conference booth program?

By any measure, this year's Spring Convention of the American Supply and Machinery Manufacturers' Assn. and the Industrial Distribution Assn. in Dallas offers it all. Dubbed "Focus 21: Channeling Value Into the Millennium," the convention takes place May 6-8 at the Wyndham Anatole, with the conference booth program held at the Dallas Convention Center on May 8.

While President Bush's keynote address undoubtedly represents a coup for both organizations, it won't be the only one. Bush will deliver a look at "the American Century" and analyze the century to come, plus provide some election year insights.

ASMMA and I.D.A. once again have assembled an impressive roster of management sessions that address today's core issues facing the distribution channel. Topics to be covered include best practices in managing inventory and customer relationships; a point-counterpoint discussion of the big issues shaping industrial distribution; strategies for integrated supply; sales compensation; cost-effective tools for implementing technology and more.

Prior to the convention, a leadership change at I.D.A. made some news of its own. Bruce Baker, then-I.D.A. second vice president, was named incoming president in March after Mark Fuller, I.D.A.'s first president and first in line to lead the association for the coming year, withdrew.

Fuller says he made the move because of commitments to Industrial Distribution Group, Inc. He is president of IDG New England, and his Boylston, Mass.-based company, Refco, Inc., was one of the founding IDG companies.

"The change is based on the recognition that I have increased responsibilities to participate with our new president in every other month meetings in Atlanta as the head of one of IDG's 13 business units," Fuller says. "I need to put my time into IDG first as we have to improve our performance."

Baker, who is vice president at Shively Bros., Inc., in Wyoming, Mich., says he is honored to step into the leadership role a year earlier than expected. He says top executives at Shively Bros. are supportive of his role within I.D.A., which began 19 years ago when Baker volunteered for his first committee.

"I'm glad the people I work for recognize the value of I.D.A. and allow me the opportunity to do it," Baker says. Acknowledging the time constraints and pressures Fuller faced with dual roles, Baker said, "The days when everyone who was an I.D.A. member ran his own company are gone."

ASMMA's incoming president is Jim Packard, president of Regal-Beloit Corp. in South Beloit, Ill.

Management session highlights

Starting on Saturday afternoon, May 6, management sessions will address the critical issues facing distributors and their suppliers.

Among those is a hands-on discussion of distributor best practices led by Dr. Don Rice, professor emeritus of Industrial Distribution Management at Texas A & M University. Providing a comparison to practices at some of America's top companies, Rice will focus on inventory management and strategic planning techniques-what's average, good and what's better. The goal is to provide participants a way to evaluate various practices and see how important they will be to the long-term well being of their companies.

In another session, "The Big Issues Shaping Industrial Distribution 2000," distribution consultant Dr. William McCleave will lead an industry panel in what promises to be a charged discussion. The panel will be a firing line for points and counterpoints on topics like integrated supply, the Internet, company size and inventory.

Other key forums address sales issues from various sides. One, "The Changing Role of Selling," will emphasize the dependent relationship among manufacturers and distributors, and address the benefits of documenting the completion of a specific "selling skills curriculum." A second, "Team Compensation 101," will examine basic and advanced sales compensation tools to help managers design compensation plans that link the behavior, performance and incentives of various selling functions charged with accomplishing a common goal.

Other seminars include one on containing costs-focusing on service elimination, cost activity analysis and operating productivity. Dr. Albert Bates of the Profit Planning Group will also identify appropriate measures to ensure that gross margins are maintained at proper levels in the face of new competition.

Tax and financial expert Dr. Bart Basi will also detail steps to successfully complete the buying and selling of a business.

Two other sessions will address distributors' and manufacturers' roles in integrated supply. "Proactive Strategies for Managing Integrated Supply," led by Jeff Baden of industry consultant Frank Lynn & Associates, will provide concrete strategies to manage the opportunities and risks of entering contracts. Another, "Integrated Supply: Opportunities & Threats-1999-2004," led by Thomas Glenn of Kline & Co., another consulting firm, will present findings from a study that critically assesses supply chain management programs, with a forecast on how those programs will develop during the next five years.

In addition, continuing a tradition that began three years ago, the Small Distributor Task Force will host a five-hour workshop on Saturday for distributors with sales of $5 million or less, which includes breakfast and lunch. Once again, the session is open to distributors who register prior to the start of the convention.

Pushing value-add

Incoming I.D.A. and ASMMA presidents Baker and Packard say the convention is chock-full of seminars to help participants improve their companies. An overarching charge of both associations is to help members demonstrate the added value they bring to end users-which of course is the theme of the Value Added Partner promotional campaign.

Both Baker and Packard say they expect the VAP campaign that began last year to gain momentum in 2000.

Packard says that for the VAP program to be a success, distributors must really run with it. "I'm about 50 percent happy with it," he says. "It's gotten off to a slow start. It was really developed to be put in the hands of distributors, to let them tell people they sell to that they add value."

I.D.A. officials have pledged to "run harder with it" this year and deliver the message to more distributors that they need to actively promote their value-added services with end users, Packard says. Baker says to accomplish that, a joint task force is being formed to communicate more directly with distributors' salespeople the need to promote VAP. That may include e-mail and print newsletters and regional seminars for salespeople later this year.

"The key is to tell the salesman that he can go out and talk to the customer about value instead of price," says Baker. "The VAP program is commercialized for promoting and documenting the fact that distributors and manufacturers add value. I think the thing is many of us have been doing it for a while, especially those doing integrated supply. That's what those programs are based on."

Schedule of Events