Dispatch from the annual
http://ow.ly/1IlWe - Dave Johnson
Safety Marketing Group (SMG) meeting
For three days in mid-April, safety supply distributors trekked from vendor suite to vendor suite along a corridor on the tenth floor of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas for brief, substantive 15-minute business meetings as part of the Safety Marketing Group's (SMG) annual conference.
ISHN was at the meeting to talk with safety distributors and suppliers to assess the current state of the safety market industry.
The Safety Marketing Group, located in Brooksville, Florida, is a network of industrial safety equipment distributors in North America - independent entrepreneurs, owned and operating on a local level. SMG is a corporation, organized as an industry cooperative, which is focused on group purchasing and group marketing of quality safety equipment products. SMG represents 60+ distributor members (with purchasing power of $900 million) and 50+ preferred and associate suppliers.
Fifty-two SMG suppliers were represented and 61 SMG distributors were in attendance at this year's conference; 250+ safety specialists from these companies were on hand for the annual business meeting, mini trade show, distributor principal benchmarking session, and awards ceremony and banquet on April 20th.
Almost every vendor told ISHN business is rebounding in 2010. Replenishing distributor stocking shelves is a prime reason. Inventory levels shrunk during the recession as distributors did not want to tie up cash in slow-moving product lines.
Respiratory protection proved to be an exception. Sales were robust, thanks to demand triggered by pandemic H1N1 flu fears.
High-visibility apparel - including vests, tee shirts, jackets, pants and helmets with reflective tape - was one of the stronger product lines last year as the recession clamped down on U.S. industrial activity. A vendor assessed the current market value at $160 million in sales, rising to $280 million by 2012.
Flame-resistant (FR) clothing to meet National Fire Protection Standard 70E requirements has been another dynamic market, according to vendors. End users include military, law enforcement, firefighter and industrial personnel confronting arc flash hazards.
But a number of distributors and vendors told ISHN their businesses have yet to see a positive impact from the federal government's infrastructure rebuilding stimulus monetary package. Some safety businesses experienced sales declines anywhere from 10-30+ percent in 2009, which one vendor called "the year of triage."
Many safety business people at the Las Vegas meeting expect it will take years before sales revenues return to the pre-recession highs of 2007 and 2008. Some doubt those go-go years will ever be repeated.
The nation's unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in March, 2010. Employment levels directly impact the number of boots, gloves, hearing protectors, respirators, helmets and safety eyewear sold. The construction industry, a critical market for personal protective equipment (PPE) sales, had lost an average of 72,000 jobs per month in the prior 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate in construction was 24.9 percent in March, 2010.
Still, the overall tone of this safety industry meeting, representing a broad cross-section of vendor product lines (everything from head-to-toe PPE to safety flags, flooring, flashlights, signage, first aid kits, ergonomics products, safety cans and cabinets, automated electronic defibrillators, skin care products, anti-fatigue drinks, and welding and electrical safety gear) was optimistic.
"After all," as one vendor said, "it can't get worse than last year."
A number of distributors and vendors said they saw monthly sales increases (compared to year-earlier figures) either starting late last year, or in the early months of 2010.
Another sign of returning health: You will see a number of new products come on the market at trade shows this year, such as the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo (Denver, May 22-27), the American Society of Safety Engineers annual conference (Baltimore, June 13-16), and the National Safety Congress and Expo (San Diego, October 4-6).
Look for new eyewear; hearing protection; fall protection systems; respirators; high-viz clothing; FR clothing; traffic safety products; and products for the energy, process industry, food, construction and green (windmill farms, etc.) construction markets.
Slowly but inevitably green products are expanding throughout the safety market. Comfort, durability and stylish design remain the key characteristics driving research and development in many PPE areas. OSHA's recent hex chrome standard is one agency requirement driving new end-user demand for safety products.
SMG members have combined annual sales in excess of one-half billion dollars and operate from more than 133 stocking locations through North America.
The SMG network carries close to 100,000 different items in inventory and does business with hundreds of manufacturers.
When safety product needs demand total customer service on a local level, customers should be dealing with a member of the SMG, according to the organization. With in-house technical experts in all the safety products an operation may require, SMG members provide answers and products when needed.
You probably recognize some of the following SMG distributors and vendors, honored as performance leaders at the SMG annual meeting:
Rich Harper Award - Eagle
• Radians
Most Growth
• OBBCO Safety (Distributor)
• Underwater Kinetics (Supplier)
John Cal Murray Award - Eagle
• Rayco Safety
JMA (Joint Marketing Agreement) Award
• Safety Products Inc (Distributor)
• Radians (Supplier)
Supplier of the Year: Top 5 Peak Performers
• Accuform Signs
• Capital Safety (DBI-Sala)
• Eagle Manufacturing
• Radians
• Tingley Rubber
Distributor of the Year: Top 5 Peak Performers
• Guardian Fire & Safety
• Medsafe
• Mettam Safety
• Safety Products Inc
• Stauffer Glove & Safety
Gold Suppliers
• Accuform Signs
• Radians
• Tingley Rubber
• Capital Safety
• Eagle Manufacturing
• Gasco
• Cortex
• Lakeland Industries
• Se-Kure Domes
• Tenacious Holdings
• Safety Zone
• Protective Industrial Products
• Kimberly Clark & Jackson Safety
• Wells Lamont
• Superior / NoTrax
Gold Distributors
• Safety Products Inc
• Mettam Safety
• Stauffer Safety
• Fremont Industrial
• Medsafe
• Guardian Safety
• Lone Star Safety
• Rayco Safety
• Safety Today
• Mid Continent
• Wise Safety
• SafetyWear
• Industrial Safety Supply
• Calolympic Safety
• Safety Services
• Arbill Safety
• OBBCO Safety
• Wayest Safety
• Premier Safety
• Industrial Safety Products
• Pro-Am Safety
• National Safety
• Dooly Tackaberry
• Safety Source NE
• Northern Safety
• Quad City Safety
• Scientific Sales
• Olympic Safety
- Reported by Dave Johnson, johnsond@bnpmedia.com
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