Paul Molitor, the president of IDEA since 2014, announced he is stepping down from his role later this month. According to IDEA’s press release the departure is for personal reasons. “The IDEA Board and the entire organization thank you for […]
Paul Molitor, the president of IDEA since 2014, announced he is stepping down from his role later this month. According to IDEA’s press release the departure is for personal reasons. “The IDEA Board and the entire organization thank you for […]
With a tight economy, tight labor market and tight margins, increasing productivity is more important than ever, especially for warehouse operations where finding qualified staff that can meet HR requirements is harder than ever. And one of the reasons is […]
In an age of analytics and process automation, two industry-focused companies have recently come together to enhance services for the industry … SPA (Strategic Pricing Associates) and Jigsaw Systems. SPA historically has been focused on improving distributor profitability through improved […]
IDEA’s eBiz conference was held last week in Philadelphia and had a record attendance of almost 200 data management and IT people from distributors, manufacturers and service providers attended seminars, heard the future direction of IDEA and the launch of […]
SPAs, special pricing agreements, were originally conceived to ensure the integrity of local market into stock, and “street” pricing while providing distributors and manufacturers with a targeted sales pricing tool to deploy on an account-specific basis. The definition of “account-specific” […]
IDEA, founded about 25 years ago in a joint venture by NAED and NEMA, with the primary objective of being helping manufacturers and distributors improve product data-driven transactions and processes via development of a central repository of product data, is […]
Many industrially-oriented distributors lament that they can’t compete versus Grainger for MRO business at their accounts. They say “we now the ‘decision’ makers and can beat them on price but we can’t get the business. The same occurs with large […]
Serious about utilizing technology in your business? Then you need to be at IDEA’s eBiz. Technology is becoming more and more a critical component of a distributor and manufacturer’s business. Not only is it the software and hardware, it is […]
For a word that wasn’t part of the national conscience, it is now front and center and bringing disruption to business. Tariffs. In an industry where price increases occurred annually, where pricing was stable except for copper, companies have now […]
The article we had last month introducing Greenwing Technology as a punchout / e-Procurement resource and a new ElectricalTrends advertiser generated much feedback. Part of the reason is it is perceived that “punchouts” is “old school” and perhaps reserved for […]


David Gordon
Channel Marketing Group
919-488-8635