W.W. Grainger is helping support diversity in distribution.

The nationwide general-line distributor made a $25,000 contribution to the National Minority Supplier Development Council's Advanced Management Education Program in March. The customized executive program is held annually at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

"Grainger has an ongoing commitment to build relationships with minority suppliers," Richard L. Keyser, Grainger's chairman and CEO, said in a press release. "The NMSDC provides a valuable network for identifying and partnering with minority-owned businesses. We are very pleased to participate in the council's professional development opportunities for CEOs."

The NMSDC program focuses on issues of growth from the minority business owner's perspective. It also aims to give minority business enterprises the tools and skills they'll need to "achieve and sustain accelerated growth."

Kaman Industrial Technologies opened branches in Greenville, Miss., Jacksonville, Fla., and Jonesboro, Ark. ... Industrial Buyers Consortium added Stockhausen, Inc., Protective Industrial Products, Inc. and the Bahco Group as preferred suppliers ... Georgia Duck-Enerka and nine of its top distributors formed the Total Conveyor Service Distributor Network, one-stop shops for belting accessories and vulcanizing ... Interlake Material Handling broke ground on a new rack manufacturing plant in Matamoros, Mexico ... Berk Wiper Converting, LLC, opened in Bridgeport, Pa., operated by the former owners of Disposable Products Co. ... Hodell-Natco Industries, Inc. of Cleveland became a master distributor for Brighton-Best Socket Screw, which also opened a new distribution facility in Quebec City, Quebec, in April ... Lyon Metal Products celebrates its centennial this year and opened a workspace products distribution center in Romeoville, Ill. ... Kapelli Sales & Service Ltd. of Vernon, British Columbia, became a distributor for Resatec's line of universal tensioners, chain and belt tensioners and other products ... General Fasteners Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta added three new warehouses in Calgary; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Kelowna, B.C. ...

Distributor S.B. Simpson Group of Burlington, Ontario, completed the second phase of acquiring Jackson-Robert Industrials Ltd. of Oshawa, Ontario ... Manchester Tool Co. acquired OTM, a Wapakoneta, Ohio-based manufacturer of standard and special indexable insert drills and milling cutters ... Thermoid/HBD Industries acquired the industrial hose product line of BRP Manufacturing Co. ... Building maintenance supplies distributor American Sanitary Inc. signed a letter of intent to acquire operations of Easterday Janitorial Supply Co. in four western states and Texas ...Parker Hannifin Corp. will acquire the Fairey Group's Fairy Arlon Division, which makes hydraulic filters for industrial machinery ...MKS Instruments, Inc. of Andover, Mass., will acquire On-Line Technologies Inc., a supplier of measurement and control products ...

Warren Electric Group of Houston, Texas, received the 2001 Women's Business Enterprise of the Year Award from the Women's Business Council-Southwest ... United Sales Associates recognized Thomas J. Hayward as line group leader, and gave Mark A. Hamilton the Eagle Award ... hardware distributor Bostwick Braun Co. of Toledo, Ohio, named its salespeople of the year, including Roger Moore for industrial sales; Paul Diamond for dealer sales; and recognized Randy Baker as employee of the year ... Airgas chairman and CEO Peter McCausland and president Glenn Fischer were honored by the Compressed Gas Assn. for their work in the past two years to improve the trade group's operations.