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ASA IPD membership offers, among other benefits, a forum to address the business and industry issues affecting your company and exclusive opportunities to interact with industrial and mechanical PVF distributors and suppliers from across the country.

Every industry is dealing with a pending “brain drain” and working hard to find new people to join their teams. Add in the challenges of appealing to a new generation of workers that have unique desires for their nascent careers, and you can be left with a daunting challenge.

When a product niche reaches this level of performance consistency, most manufacturers gravitate toward the same basic product platform. Is a faucet from vendor A really that much different than one from vendors B, C or D?

A recent report by the Together Platform found that 37% of HR professionals say employees are not being supported to reach their full potential. I continue to hear news about mentorship programs in the PHCP-PVF industry, both formal and informal, and the tremendous impact they have on new employees, younger employees and those that are new to the industry.

During an acquisition, the buyer must conduct exhaustive due diligence to ensure that they have a complete picture of the company they are seeking to buy. This involves many steps, but perhaps one of the most important is producing a quality of earnings report.

Marketing’s value is often overlooked, but I think it’s safe to say it might be even more so in this industry. I’ve often attributed this to simple misconceptions or ignorance of marketing’s value in the industry. Perhaps the expensive nature of hiring marketing experts (whether it be in-house or outsourced) also adds to this, which would certainly not be unique to this industry.

There’s long been talk about how to divvy up the heating expenses in buildings that have tenants. Should each tenant have their own meter? Their own boiler? Boilers are a lot smaller than they used to be, right?

I have been back on the road for a while and have just returned from another week-long tour. I would like to report that the decorative plumbing showroom world remains vibrant and as diverse as ever. The question that I am most asked is: How are showrooms and customers reacting to COVID-19 in their business practices in 2022?

What if you were the coach of a football team and someone dropped the opposing squad’s offensive playbook in your lap?

We’ve seen this scenario depicted fictionally on television and movies over the years and have even heard stories of real-life buffoonery where professional and collegiate players have left those books or iPad/tablets with the playbook on them (technological advancements) in places they shouldn’t.

It is a great feeling to experience a member who began an exploration uncertain in a course of action gain the belief that their solution will benefit their company.