The Macomb Group number 7 nationally among PVF distributors
Company Achieves Top 10, Top 50 Rankings in National Survey
Dedication, tenacity and commitment by the leaders and employees at The Macomb Group helped cement their spot in the top 10 among national PVF distributors for the annual Supply House Times Premier 150 Rankings.
The 2023 Premier 150 Distributors Survey is conducted annually by Supply House Times and BNP Media Market Research, the parent company. The national publication ranked The Macomb Group number 7 nationally among PVF distributors and in the top 50 nationally for PHCP-PVF wholesaler-distributors overall. The rankings are based on reported sales for the previous fiscal year.
According to Supply House Times, “for the second year in a row, 100% of Premier 150 Survey respondents reported an increase in sales in 2022 when compared to 2021.”
In a recent interview, Keith Schatko, Executive Vice President and Brandon Perilli, Chief Purchasing Officer at The Macomb Group discussed the survey results and the company’s state of business.
Q: How would you describe the year 2022 at The Macomb Group? Was there growth?
Schatko: “Last year was a testament to the strength of our staff and our branch network, as we experienced organic growth just shy of 30%. All seven states where we have branches saw growth. We had record volumes of material coming into and leaving our warehouses, bound for projects ranging from the power grid and reshoring pharmaceutical manufacturing, to electric vehicle and battery production and everything in between. Layer on material availability challenges and it was an exciting year to say the least.”
Q: What were the challenges you faced in 2022?
Perilli: “Supply chain issues were challenging. Overseas container shipping was 6-8 times more expensive than it is today and the ports were jammed. Trying to navigate through all of the COVID related issues made it a challenge to keep up with the demand. Thankfully we had great partners that allowed us to grow during the challenging times.”
Q: The Macomb Group is known for our stellar customer service. Describe one example that comes to mind, where The Macomb Group went above and beyond for the customer in 2022?
Schatko: “These types of situations occur almost daily throughout the company, and the unsung heroes are the members of our warehouse team who open a branch on a Sunday or over a holiday weekend, to pull a mission critical order for a customer. Recently, we had a newer customer who experienced an emergency situation on a Saturday evening well after 11 pm when the call came in to our hotline. The call was answered and immediately dispatched and assigned to our Engineered Product Division response team. The team went to work fabricating a 6” hose assembly that required a welded flange on one end and a male pipe thread on the other. The customer received the finished item within 75 minutes of the incoming call. Customer Service, built to say YES!”
Q: How has price fluctuation affected growth?
Perilli: “One constant is that the price of commodities will always fluctuate. Because of our commitment to our customer base we had to keep inventory on the shelf regardless of price. Although we went into 2022 with hot roll coil around $1600 per ton and closed out the year at just over $600 per ton we knew we had to take the good with the bad and keep product moving at competitive prices.”
Q: What are you seeing so far in 2023 in terms of growth?
Schatko: “As we enter the midpoint of 2023, year-over-year growth is solid and backlog continues to increase, despite softening commodity prices. While we are mindful of the interest rate environment and its continued impact on new project starts, to date the company has benefited from diversification across geographies and end markets. To that end, we recently signed a lease for a 132,000 square foot warehouse in Columbus, OH, home to our newest branch. Additionally, our new merger in April with Deacon Industrial Supply opened the Mid-Atlantic region and brought expertise in new products and end markets that we are working to leverage across our existing branches. It should be another exciting year.”
Q: How are you navigating keeping up with growing demand while managing supply chain challenges?
Perilli: “Thank goodness a lot of the supply chain issues we saw in 2022 have corrected themselves. We are keeping our inventory levels elevated so we can continue to take care of our customers. In doing so we have been placing larger purchase orders more frequently to keep up with the strong demand and to make sure our shelves are always stocked.”
About Supply House Times: Supply House Times is the No.1 media brand reaching wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers’ representatives of plumbing, bath & kitchen, industrial PVF, radiant & hydronics, and HVAC products. As the official publication of the American Supply Association, Supply House Times reaches every member of the ASA.
