ASSOCIATIONS

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 12/1/2000

BSA e-commerce survey results in. Enhancing the image of their businesses is the top e-business priority for both distributors and manufacturers responding to the Bearing Specialists Assn.'s first Quarterly E-Commerce Survey, conducted in June.

The second priority for distributors was to increase channel efficiency, and for manufacturers the second priority was to add value to current sales.

Distributors responding to the survey were asked to compare overall and e-business performance to the prior three months and the same period of 1999. Sixty-three percent of distributors rated overall business higher against the past three months, and 76 percent rated it higher against the same period the previous year. Only 36 percent rated e-business higher against the past three months and 32 percent rated it higher against the same period last year.

The survey will be repeated on a quarterly basis to generate an annual "state of e-business survey."

In other news, BSA awarded the Certified Bearing Specialist designation to: Lon Hedglin, Randall James, James Canfield, Toby Stinson, Mark Lee Corbin, Greg Dovel, Randy Mills, Stephanie Reay, Bill Mauldin, Lance Hornberger, Manny Lema, Gerry Benoit, Ken Anderson, Josip Ban, Scott Greenwood, John Hunter and Steve Ellstrom.

For more information, contact BSA at (630) 585-3838.

ASMMA accepting American Eagle Award entries. Entries will be accepted until January 31, 2001, for the American Eagle Program Awards, sponsored by the American Supply & Machinery Manufacturers' Assn.

The awards honor ASMMA and Industrial Distribution Assn. members that demonstrate to their employees and communities the benefits of America's free enterprise system. Awards are granted for outstanding programs in support of government, employees, communities, educational institutions and the environment, as well as for the best overall programs.

The winners will be announced in Hawaii, May 19-21, at the 2001 ASMMA/I.D.A. Spring Convention. Convention attendees are encouraged to register early for the Spring Convention in order to take advantage of affordable airfare, competitive hotel rates, and discounted registration fees.

For more information, contact ASMMA at (216) 241-7333.

PTDA and AHTD point-of-sale guidelines now available. The first standardized guidelines for point-of-sale information sharing between industrial distribution channel partners have been developed jointly by the Power Transmission Distributors Assn. and the Assn. for High Technology Distribution.

Now available, the Point-of-Sale Information Guidelines for the Industrial Distribution Industry were created to streamline the exchange of sales data, while making the process mutually beneficial and efficient for distributors and manufacturers/suppliers. The guidelines cover: policies and ethical practices for sharing proprietary POS data; a uniform format for POS data organization and exchange; differences in current and new systems; sample confidentiality agreements; a matrix of POS data; and standardized electronic data transmission protocols.

The guidelines are available for download at no charge at www.ptda.org/posguidelines. Copies may also be obtained by calling PTDA at (312) 876-9461 or AHTD at (215) 564-3484.

NFDA's December-only, risk-free membership offer. Anyone who joins the National Fastener Distributors Assn. before the end of December and attends two consecutive meetings will be refunded 100 percent of their initiation fee if they are not completely satisfied with their membership.

"We are so confident in the value NFDA provides to its members that we have no hesitation in offering a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee," says Jim Ruetz, NFDA's president. "If members are active in the association and participate in our annual spring and fall city meetings, we know they will appreciate the business advantages NFDA brings."

In addition, anyone who joins by Dec. 31, 2000, will receive one free delegate registration to attend the next two NFDA meetings.

For more information, call NFDA at (216) 579-1571.