Familiar names continue to dominate the top tier of this year’s Distribution Trends Top 50, all ringing up HVACR sales of more than $200 million in fiscal year 2019.

Managing inventory has reemerged as a hot topic to simultaneously achieve the trifecta of improved service, accelerated cash flow, and increased profit.

How do the HVACR manufacturers and distributors working in the market today rate their current supply chain partnerships and the future of two-step distribution?

Five years ago, the Top 50 HVACR Distributors survey revealed that 96 percent of respondents had achieved increases in their HVACR sales in the latest fiscal year. This year’s survey nearly matched that phenomenal growth, with 95 percent of all respondents reporting increased HVACR sales.

Finding strategies to stand out from the crowd is no longer innovative; it’s required to survive.

At the 2018 HARDI Annual Conference, Dec. 1-4 in Austin, Texas, six industry veterans shared decades of distribution acumen during a roundtable discussion that examined the moments that shaped their careers, what they’d change if they were given a mulligan, and more.

Bobby Yu has been promoted to commercial sales manager, Bill Davis was named director of sales branch operations, and Kevin Locke was promoted to director of procurement of ECCO Heating Products Ltd.

What “used to work” might no longer be sufficient. Have you prepared for these needs?

How can service organizations better brand their companies and their open positions in a way that really speaks to and attracts younger talent that has different needs, goals, and drivers?

“I always disliked being called the middleman," said Mike Riley, president, Riley Sales. "If that is what a manufacturer and/or the contractor thinks of a wholesale distributor, then the relationship will always be bad."