Articles by Mike Miazga

ASA has seen that firsthand with the popularity of what we call our best practices roundtable sessions. These usually hour-long sessions, where ASA members share their boots-on-the-ground experiences, gained original traction with our Emerging Leaders group and its annual EMERGE conference.

The 63-page report is produced for ASA by Industry Insights, the association’s long-time business intelligence partner.

In its fourth decade of being produced by ASA business intelligence partner Industry Insights, the OPR is a nearly 100-page book stuffed with data to compare your PHCP-PVF distributor company against other firms in the industry.

CONNECT offers a solution that provides professionals in 10 vital job functions an ability to meet online in monthly peer-to-peer-facilitated sessions led by The Distribution Team’s Jason Bader and Marshall Jones to discuss common challenges, gain insight and practical solutions, and learn from peers on critical topics. Available CONNECT communities include: accounts receivable managers, finance managers, human resources managers, operations managers, technology managers and training managers. These six communities are open to all ASA member companies (distributors, manufacturers, reps and master distributors).

Supply House Times did a quick spot check with a few valve manufacturers to get their take on the commercial/industrial landscape heading into the new year and beyond.

In terms of trends, Rick Wentzell, marketing division executive at Bonomi North America, says designers, engineers and industrial end-users are now looking to ensure the valves they order are chemically correct.

Do you want the OK news first or the bad news first? How about we try to stay somewhat positive out of the gates. ASA recently released findings from its second special compensation/benefits study that it commissioned business intelligence partner Industry Insights to conduct in the latter part of 2021.

Water heater manufacturer Rinnai America Corp. has been working for the last three years with a state department of corrections to upgrade the water heating systems in five prison facilities. This initiative, Jason Tuttle, Rinnai America’s commercial business manager for the North Central region, notes, had a goal to increase the facility’s overall efficiencies.

There are certain world/U.S. events that you can recall exactly where you were when they happened. The first in my upbringing was the attempted assassination of President Reagan. I was walking up to our front porch after getting off the school bus when my mom told me about it. The Space Shuttle tragedy: I was in school that day. If my memory serves correctly, we had a grainy TV on that was on one of those huge school AV carts.

The topic of labor has been front and center for quite some time now inside and outside of this industry. But it wasn’t until the recent Thanksgiving holiday break that it really hit home as to just how bad the current situation is. While waiting for my daughter to finish a recent fitness class, I decided to run a quick errand to mail a package. While driving down this road in an industrial park setting, business after business had roadside signs looking for labor — virtually every business on this busy road.

The American Supply Association’s Fred V. Keenan Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor that can be given to a member of our industry’s national trade association.