The Biden-Harris Administration announced plans to advance protections from lead in drinking water and other sources on Dec. 16. 

Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) announced the hiring of Zachary Perge as the organization’s first vice president of distribution strategies. Perge comes to HARDI from Deloitte Consulting where he was senior consultant, consumer M&A division. Perge was the integration lead for a $38 billion merger of two semiconductor companies, developed a $30-$50 million cost reduction program for a Fortune 500 consumer company, and generated more than $46 million in new projects for Deloitte during his time there.

While the overall kitchen and bath industry continues to show healthy growth for the year, the overall index is down 4% quarter over quarter as lingering issues caused by the pandemic seem to be catching up to consumer sentiment. Despite this, the industry is coming off of a record-breaking quarter of growth in Q2, which has fueled projections for the year at around 12% growth in sales year-over-year, with many members still encouraged about future growth in 2022.  

The latest people news within the PHCP-PVF industry and supply chain.

Winsupply has completed the purchase of both H2O Supply locations" One in Dallas, Texas and one in Fort Worth, Texas.

The annual competition among Heating Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) members recovered 239 pounds of mercury from 70 member companies, increasing more than 16 pounds from last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, more than 380 branch locations returned collection bins during the contest period, from May 1 to October 31.

There are very few work-related emergencies that carry more risk and danger than fire events. Many regulations related to fire prevention have been developed to protect workers and facilities with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) being responsible for many of them.

The Valve Manufacturers International (VMA) membership elected the 2021-2022 Board of Directors, following the announcement of the slate of candidates at its Annual Meeting, which took place in October. VMA’s Chairman of the Board for the 2021-2022 year is Ron Warren, president/COO of Bray International, based out of Houston.

The end of a year is always a good time to reflect and plan for the year ahead, and this is especially true when that year (or two) has been particularly challenging. When reflecting on my last year, one stand-out moment was getting to hear Shark Tank’s Daymond John speak at ASA’s NETWORK conference in Las Vegas this November.

Congressman Smucker toured the new distribution facility and was one of the first to see APR’s latest implementation of warehouse automation. While on site, Congressman Smucker took time to address the APR warehouse 1^st shift teammates, along with the corporate and leadership teams.