There’s a saying I like to use when it comes to designing systems: “Engineering is the art of best guess.”

The kitchen and bath industry is a small but booming one, dedicated to improving the lives of clients with great products, personalized service and expert advice

While some may claim the word “luxury” has been overused, it is still the best way to identify a trend that continues to gain momentum and sustain priority with leading designers.

What is the future? Five minutes, five weeks, five months or five years from now? Ready or not, it’s coming to you.

In our first installment, we reviewed the “ugly” numbers of distributors as online commerce grows; only 2 in 10 distributors show sustainable online progress.

The inherent message of the Zen Farmer is that one can never really know where the winds of prosperity will blow or even how they will chart one’s course — or how those winds may guide one’s future.

Over the past several years, I have focused on helping distributors become more profitable than they ever thought possible. In this mission, I realized how important the operational managers are to the success of the organization.

For Ipswich, Mass.-based United Pipe and Steel Corp., logistics is how it provides value to the pipe, valves and fittings supply chain.

As 2018 nears a very successful U.S. business comeback surge, both in the economy as well as the equity markets that set a record bull market length, the 2019 follow up faces a tough momentum challenge.

The primary supplier is the customer’s go-to supply house, much like the coffee house visited at the start of every day. In our industry, the primary supplier gets the first stop, the first call, the first web visit and the last look when the job is being quoted.