AD Spotlights Independent Distributors at North American Meeting
The AD Bearings and Power Transmission division gathered for its annual North American Meeting on March 8-11, giving AD members and supplier partners a chance to celebrate a year of growth and new opportunities.
The division’s success tracks with exceptional growth across all of AD. In his keynote address, AD Chairman and CEO Bill Weisberg said an 18–20% increase in members’ same-store sales indicates that independent distributors are growing faster than the overall market. Weisberg also shared that total AD member sales had grown 39% to a record $58.5 billion—a figure he said was once unimaginable.
Weisberg noted that the growing trend towards consolidation marks an inflection point in the industry, with independents uniquely positioned to capture more market share.
“What’s happening in the industry creates a tremendous opportunity for the AD community to leverage the business strategies that make them so effective,” Weisberg said. “Investing in people, customer service, knowledge and solutions is what makes independents so attractive to suppliers who are looking for true business partners.”
During the meeting, AD leaders shared updates on programs that are adding additional value to the BPT community including supplyFORCE that joins together independent distributors to provide full-service solutions for national customers, opening up national accounts to regional AD members. During the member business meeting, supplyFORCE’s Executive Vice President of Channel Management, Jim Curran, shared a number of program enhancements.
In line with AD’s commitment to equip independent distributors with superior technical expertise, Davenport announced that the BPT division will bring back in-person training via the AD Education Center in 2022. Classes had been postponed during the pandemic.
