Industrial Distribution

1 week ago | inddist.com | Anna Wells

Distributors are at various stages of their AI journeys – some finding actionable ways to create value within their organization and others barely dipping a toe in. And while the latter group are often interested, they struggle with common pitfalls like change management challenges, application conundrums, a lack of digital foundation – even fear of failure.

2 weeks ago | inddist.com | Brian Fitzgerald

The tech industry strives continuously to advance AI innovation for manufacturers – but the problem isn’t easy, and the stakes are high. Quality, efficiency and even safety are at stake, and if we’re going to use AI solutions in manufacturing with confidence, we need to find the right mix of tools and understand what’s needed to make them trustable.

2 weeks ago | inddist.com | Nolan Beilstein

Chasing perfection can do more harm than good, according to Ozgur Tohumcu, the general manager of automotive and manufacturing at Amazon Web Services. In this Q&A with Manufacturing.net, Tohumcu explains how manufacturers can make calculated decisions based on the best available information, rather than waiting for a perfect opportunity. Ozgur Tohumcu (OT): Perfection should not be viewed as a prerequisite needed for innovation to begin.

2 weeks ago | inddist.com | Andy Szal

Randy Velarde has seen a lot during his decades in the chemical distribution sector, but nothing, he says, like the “self-inflicted” upheaval of early 2025. The president of Houston chemical distributor the Plaza Group says that his industry tends to mirror the economy as a whole, and that while he’s not ready to run up a “red flag” on the latter quite yet, he’d put out a “yellow flag” — reflecting a precarious position that seems to shift almost by the day.

3 weeks ago | inddist.com | Andy Szal

It’s difficult enough for any company – let alone distributor – to try to navigate a new and endlessly shifting world of tariffs in just a few short weeks. But for Optimas Solutions, things get even more complicated: the suburban Chicago-based fastener and Class-C components distributor also has manufacturing facilities and engineering services — not to mention a footprint of 29 locations spanning nine countries across the globe.