The US wholesale distribution industry currently consists of more than 300,000 companies and employs nearly one in 20 Americans, providing merchandise to retailers, commercial, and institutional users, among others.
Traditionally, wholesalers have focused on distributing products from manufacturers and suppliers to retailers. But in today's market, this is no longer enough. Vendors see less benefit in having a middleman just to ship products.
Thus, the wholesale distribution industry has never been so challenging and complex. Customers and suppliers have become more demanding. More products are becoming commoditized, and margins are shrinking. As a result, wholesalers are taking a more active role in supply chain management. Relying on distributors to handle supply chain management and technical support has driven vendors to seek national wholesale operations. The need to operate on a national level has driven industry consolidation.
A client that is a world-wide leader in the distribution of products for maintenance and repair for industrial companies of all sizes enlisted Thomas Group's help. This company's customers include more than 1.7 million businesses and institutions across North America and China. While each customer has a unique facility to operate and a different problem to solve, each shares the same requirement – when they need one of our client's products, they often need it right away.
With more than 16,732 knowledgeable employees, our client and its associates work closely with customers to better understand their challenges and provide cost-saving solutions. Client employees serve customers more than 115,000 times every day through multiple channels.
With 2005 sales of $5.5 billion, our client is a Fortune 500 company and a perennial member of Fortune magazine's Most Admired Companies list. Thomas Group's engagement with them was focused on four major deliverables with the following results:
The increase in inventory turns alone was responsible in freeing more than $100 million in cash flow. Even successful companies can increase profitability and benefit from partnering with Thomas Group.
Thomas Group offers a strong and reliable network of dedicated industry experts. Our mission is to help our clients extract value from their distribution operations, develop a competitive advantage throughout the value chain, and ensure that all corporate stakeholder expectations are recognized and met. Helping you build brand trust, growth, and effectiveness within your organization is the purpose of our practice. We use a variety of tools such as Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM), Hoshin Kanri, and Lean tailored to fit your unique situation.
Our methodology assists our clients in generating:
Thomas Group is helping distribution companies around the world create differentiating, value-adding solutions while reducing the overall cost of holding and shipping products. A relentless customer focus, as well as a drive to bring efficiency to the entire supply chain, creates value and higher margins for those companies willing to be proactive.
Thomas Group works with distributors throughout the world to help them achieve high performance at lower cost.