Many distributors are finding it difficult to grow revenues and maintain margins while meeting the rising expectations of customers. Hiring and retention challenges, sharp demand variability, uncertain supply lead times, shortages, and inflationary pressures may seem like the new normal.
But opportunities abound for those who know where to look: distributors can meaningfully improve operational excellence to create more value for shareholders, customers, and suppliers.
In our inaugural survey of operations leaders in more than 80 North American distributors across more than a dozen subsectors, we identified many operations shortfalls—along with improvements that are helping about one in ten distributors outperform the industry by…