WINTER 2021

THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 101
GLOBALFASTENERNEWS.COM IFE PANELIST KERR: ROBOTS ‘PERVASIVE’ BY 2030 from page 36
The pandemic has made IT personnel the most
valuable, Kelly noted.
Most manufacturing can not be working from home,
Kelly said.
Parker was fortunate to be moving from a 30,000
sq ft building to 68,000 sq ft, allowing some spacing
of equipment as part of following CDC guidelines, Boyd
said. Parker also spread out shifts. And Parker added a
cafe in the facilities so “no one has to leave to get food.”
No vendors come to the Parker facility, he said.
The pandemic has given the manufacturer “more
time to look internally,” Boyd said. “Where can we do
better in business?”
Also through zoom calls he found they actually “got
closer to the customer.”
What Parker would have spent on exhibiting at the
IFE in Las Vegas could be spent in other ways, Boyd said.
In direct contact, Boyd spent more individual time with
customers rather than being interrupted on a trade show
floor.
Parker sales are up “just slightly” for 2020, Boyd said.
Kerr acknowledged he is “not a fan of remote work,”
but added that “the way work is done is going to be
different.”
More than steel prices, has been currency exchange
rates with the U.S. dollar getting weaker due to Covid
restrictions, Kerr said.
Boyd finds trucking costs increasing more than
materials.
Boyd said Parker has been able to hire 18 people
this year. Parker favors hiring people without experience
and having the company train them.
Kerr Lakeside relies on temporary services for hiring,
Kerr said.
Worse than finding employees is having a “plant full
of people and no jobs to do,” Kerr said.
GLOBALFASTENERNEWS.COM
All Integrated Solutions (AIS), a division of
MSC Industrial Supply Co. today announced the
expansion of its distribution center network to
Atlanta, Georgia. This expansion provides a strategic
growth platform for AIS’s production hardware
business in the Southeast and leverages MSC’s
existing customer fulfillment center in Atlanta.
The 800,000-square-foot facility will enable
AIS to meet the production hardware needs of
manufacturing customers in the Southeast with
the same customized packaging, kitting and
vendor managed inventory services delivered to
manufacturers throughout the Midwest.
“As we continue to provide our customers
with additional services and products, we found
the need to expand in the Southeast,” said Nick
Ruetz, president of AIS. “MSC’s existing customer
fulfillment center in Atlanta provides a unique
opportunity to expand our reach across existing and
new manufacturer customers.”
The addition of the Atlanta facility represents
AIS’s ninth distribution center, joining locations in
Franksville, Wisconsin; New Brighton, Minnesota;
Fargo, North Dakota; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Grand
Rapids, Michigan; Traverse City, Michigan;
Connersville, Indiana and Monterrey, Mexico.
AIS, which was founded in 1962, is a leading
value-added distributor of industrial fasteners and
components, assembly tools, and maintenance,
repair, operations and production supplies (MROP). In
2018, AIS was acquired by MSC as the platform for the
company’s OEM fastener and components strategy.
AIS has seven locations in six Midwestern states.
Founded in 1973 as Prince Corporation, Motus
is a tier-one supplier of automotive interior products
to the global auto industry. Holland, MI-based
Motus has 2,000 employees producing headliners,
interior door and console armrests and instrument
panel trim components at nine locations in the
U.S., Germany, China, Mexico and Japan.
For more information contact All Integrated
Solutions at 8625 Industrial Drive, Franksville, WI
53126. Tel: 262-770-3305, email: info@allintegrated.
com or visit them online at www.allintegrated.com.