3M Shares 1st Half Insights
Recently I received some information that 3M shared regarding first half insights: The key takeaways are not so much the market, or sales, performance, as that is company-specific and/or projections from Cleveland Research, and the information is as of June. The key is considering market trends. Key “strong” markets are: Aerospace Contractor Food Products Government Medical Mining / Aggregates…
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Fastener Distributor Growth and Exit Opportunities
Are you a fastener distributor, or a distributor with fasteners as a significant percentage of your business and Have ambitions to grow the business but…
Grainger Grows – High‑Touch Momentum, Tariff Rebates, and the Demand Cycle
Grainger, considered the industrial supply industry’s leading distributor, or at least bellwether as it relates to offered services and products, reported 2Q 2026 results on…
2026 Q2 Pulse of Industrial Supply … Organically Flat , Pricing Drives Revenue
Each quarter, Industrial Supply Trends, in conjunction with William Blair, conducts a quarterly Pulse of Industrial Supply survey. We gain input from a wide array…
Honeywell’s “Post‑Spin Pop” With a Strong Q2, Sharper Portfolio, and a Clearer Industrial Story
Honeywell Technologies, after the June 29, 2026, spin‑off of Honeywell Aerospace and the earlier separation of Solstice Advanced Materials, is now a three‑segment industrial automation and…
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2026 Q2 Pulse of Industrial Supply … Organically Flat , Pricing Drives Revenue
Each quarter, Industrial Supply Trends, in conjunction with William Blair, conducts a quarterly Pulse of Industrial Supply survey. We gain input from a wide array of distributors and manufacturers so that we can correlate performance and then share with you the results. Survey respondents received a copy of the results in early July. Industrial Supply Channel … a Mosiac Now…
Honeywell’s “Post‑Spin Pop” With a Strong Q2, Sharper Portfolio, and a Clearer Industrial Story
Honeywell Technologies, after the June 29, 2026, spin‑off of Honeywell Aerospace and the earlier separation of Solstice Advanced Materials, is now a three‑segment industrial automation and technology company with a materially different mix and a higher margin profile than the legacy conglomerate. See the detailed June 11 Investor Day presentation for details. The first test of the “new” leaner and more focused…
How Agentic AI Could Change How Industrial Supplies Are Bought
Amidst the conversation about AI, data centers and the industrial construction market, all of which distributors benefit from, there is another conversation that, as typical, starts on the consumer side and then migrates to B2B. This is how AI is / may change business models … and when Inevitably it does not occur as quickly as the Big 4 consulting…
Motion, DSG – Two Different Approaches to The Distribution Market
Genuine Auto Parts Company (GPC), and Distributor Solutions Group (DSG), are choosing two different ownership paths going forward. Both transactions make sense as each respective entity operates in the distribution space – GPC as part of a larger company, so a spin-off is logical. GPC Spins Off Motion GPC is splitting into two stand-alone companies, with Motion Industries revenue around…
Fastenal Delivers Strong Growth But Exhibits Margin Pressure
Fastenal, best known as the industry’s national distributor of fasteners, announced 2Q26 earnings on July 14. The company delivered another quarter of top-line double-digit growth, but underlying a familiar tension for industrial distributors – can you keep winning share at scale without giving back too much margin? The answer thus far has been “mostly yes,” but with caveats around price–cost,…
3M’s Solid Results Signal Industrial Demand and Pricing Power Driven by Manufacturing Recovery
3M, a multinational conglomerate in the industrial, safety, and consumer goods segments, announced 2Q 2026 earnings on July 21, 2026. Revenue was $6.5 billion, an organic growth rate of 5.4%, driven by broad industrial strength, surging demand in semiconductors and data centers, strong execution and innovation, and a major rebound in China, with Safety & Industrial leading the company at…
The New ISA Board: What It Tells Us About the Industrial Channel
ISA recently announced their 2026 / 2027 Board of Directors to represent the membership and guide the leadership on the member’s needs. Further, with ISA having a small staff (by design), the Board of Directors also is the thought-leadership and idea generation segment of the association … it’s a think tank. So, I decided to use AI for two of…
The Death of “Trust Me” Selling
How One Distributor Turned a Top Performer’s Instinct into a Methodology Their Whole Sales Team Could Use Recently I was talking to Susan Merlo from The Digital Distributor, and we were discussing the industrial distribution market and distributor challenges. One of the topics was how distributors need to adjust their sales techniques in order to differentiate themselves to capture share…
