Articles by Natalie Forster

With distributors now offering same and next-day delivery, online ordering and more value-add services than ever before, it’s sometimes hard to picture the humble beginnings many independent distribution businesses started from. For Craig Norlin, co-owner of Wautoma, Wisconsin-based Mid-State Supply, it’s not difficult to recall at all; he remembers his father — Austin Norlin — delivering product out of the family’s station wagon with a four-wheel farm wagon towing behind in the 1960s.

On Feb. 1, NIBCO announced it has acquired Matco-Norca and its subsidiary SVF Flow Controls.

In 2022 more the 4 million people left their jobs each month in the U.S. This ongoing mass exodus was coined “The Great Resignation” in 2021 by Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of management at University College of London. The Great Resignation was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the way it changed how people think about how, when, where and why they go to work. Klotz recently told CNBC Make It that he expects quitting and company turnover to slow down in 2023 — hopefully good news for businesses nationwide struggling to staff their companies.

When you think warehouse safety, you think of safe handling of forklifts, heavy materials, chemicals, fall prevention and so on. While these things are always a top priority, safety in the workplace has ventured down new avenues over the past several years.

Sustainability and water conservation were two of the main trends seen at the 2023 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas earlier this year. One Canadian-based company is tackling water efficiency starting with the top water guzzling appliance in the home — the shower.

Since 1949, Lee Supply has provided the highest-quality plumbing, HVAC, water treatment, appliances, lighting products and services to customers throughout the Midwest. Whether providing the newest products or implementing the latest technologies, Lee Supply prides itself on a willingness and ability to adapt, putting them at the forefront of innovation.

The plumbing industry is full of rock star individuals. People that go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their peers and the people coming in behind them have a better industry than what it was before. InSinkErator’s Rebecca Falish is the epitome of an industry rock star. In fact, to hear retired InSinkErator Vice President Joe Maiale say it, Falish “is a rock star turned superstar,” in the industry.

KBIS drew one of its largest crowds in the show’s 60-year history. Trends from the show floor include mixed metal finishes, pops of color in fixtures and faucets, steam showers, soaking tubs, ease-of-installation and of course, smart technology enabled products. 

Although it has a reputation of being a male-dominated industry, the PHCP-PVF supply chain is full of impactful women. Celebrating Women’s History Month, Supply House Times is highlighting 10 influential women who are leading the industry to great success.

Each week, the BNP Media Plumbing Group delivers five of the PHCP-PVF industry’s latest headlines in five minutes or less in its Plumbing Group Pipeline news recap.