Cregger Co. is starting to feel it. Blackman Supply hopes it permeates on the floor of McCormick Place in Chicago April 24-26 at the annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. The “it” is optimism.

Greg Reyneke has what he calls a “scary scale” to rank the level of difficulty for the jobs he works on. A recent water treatment project in Uganda received a perfect 10 on the scary scale.

From time to time, I’m asked to write about an outstanding showroom operation. I love doing these in-depth articles.

It sounds like pie in the sky, yet one of my clients is considering implementing extensive automation to avoid the ever-escalating costs of labor. His vision would still involve some people, not a totally peopleless warehouse - one in which, day and night, all physical movement of items is handled by automated equipment controlled by software.

Regardless of the industry, there comes a point where a changing of the guard occurs from one generation to the next.

Numbers can be quite revealing - and educational. For instance, since 2006 nearly a quarter-billion people in the United States have been affected by a federally declared weather-related disaster. Think about that - four of every five people.

Bay Plumbing Supply walks the walk and talks the talk in energy-efficient wholesaling.

Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the trade-show floor at the recent 2012 AHR Expo in Chicago was a large ceiling fan.

Leading PHCP wholesalers talk about customer relationships, social media and health care reform in the second of a two-part series.