SUPPLY CHAIN
The Supply Chain is also called the Route-to-Market. Whatever you call it, the industrial distribution supply chain has been pulled in recent years. It is virtually obsolete for products and even some services where you, the buyer, consider them to be a commodity.
There are good parts in the market and junk parts out there. Same for electric motors. But, how much difference is there between quality motors, quality ANSI pumps and the like? Not that much.
When World War II ended, the United States was the only nation with a manufacturing infrastructure that wasn’t bombed to pieces. Hundreds and later thousands of distributors started up to meet the war-driven pent-up demand for products and services to build. Equip and furnish the houses, schools, churches and business building that were not built during the war years. Not just for the USA but for the entire world.
In addition, President Eisenhower pushed through the Interstate Highway Act to create a coast-to-coast war-ready highway grid, one suitable for moving war materiel and even capable of landing airplanes! More billions of dollars (1950’s dollars) were spent on everything from heavy equipment to work gloves.
Refineries, chemical plants, water and wastewater plants, pharmaceutical plants, food/beverage and dairy plants sprouted. These all needed pipes, valves and fittings, power transmission parts, electrical parts and more. Janitorial supplies, safety equipment (especially after OSHA) and pumps and seals filled the ranks of distributors.
Today, both single location and multi-location businesses need to compete world-wide. Every cost-savings channel has to be maximized. The old model had distributors, regional managers, resellers, reps, offices, headquarters and more built-in legacy costs. There are often too many distributors in one area and none in another. Some did the job well, others didn’t. And, none of them stocked one single item more than they thought they could turn in three months in their own back yard. This is no different than the supply chain the Mom-and-Pop bookstores, video stores and hardware stores had. And “had” is the key word.
OnHandSupply.com (OHS) may be a new name but it’s built on a decades-old industrial distribution foundation. OHS is a 21st century business, a continent-spanning industrial products Internet fulfillment company. This requires a very different mindset and distribution model from 1950’s style distribution.
Today we have to have an overstock of ANSI pump parts in all our warehouses to sell. The same holds for motors, starters and gear reducers.
Today we have to have very competitive prices, dependable quality and fast delivery to all of your locations.
Today, we need the ability to build bare pumps in hours not days or weeks. Yes, this means we’re taking a commodity and adding tangible value like trimming and dynamically balancing impellers and doing the assembly required of bare pump assemblies.
If you, the customer, view an item as a commodity, you either are or will be buying it that way. OHS just wanted to provide the easiest platform and be the easiest partner to work with. Our route-to-market is a straight line; you might say a straight “on-line” from the factory to warehouses to you.
Join the OHS advisory board so we can do even more for your organizations…and you.
