AI & Automation
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Your Best People Are Retiring, But Your Best New Hire Is AI
The distributors, wholesalers and merchants that frame AI this way are already pulling ahead. The ones still running AI primarily as an IT project risk losing twice: first the people, then the knowledge they take with them.
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Lowe’s Reshuffles Executive Team as It Pushes Pro, AI Growth
Lowe’s has been building out its Pro capabilities with expanded product access, digital quoting and purchasing tools, job-lot quantities, and direct-to-jobsite delivery.
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AI, Reshoring Fuel New Wave of U.S. Industrial Demand
Morgan Stanley Real Assets said the U.S. industrial market appears to be moving from a cyclical recovery toward another growth cycle, with demand accelerating while development remains constrained.
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The Two-Quarter Window: Why European Distribution Leaders Have to Move on AI Now
The next two quarters provide enough time to do something tangible: Choose a bottleneck, establish ownership, put a use case into production, and measure the result.
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AI Moves into the Distributor Order Desk as New Tools Target Manual Work
The common thread is significant for distributors. Rather than asking employees to use a separate AI assistant, the technology is increasingly being built into the systems where orders are received, customers are managed and transactions are processed.
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Toolbx Launches AI Order Entry for Building Supply Distributors
Dealers can train the system to recognize their products, customers and internal shorthand, and the matching rules adjust as the system processes additional material lists.
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TD SYNNEX Expands Digital Commerce Platform with AI and Sales Automation
TD SYNNEX is also expanding the reach of artificial intelligence assistants that can perform routine sales and customer service functions. After initially launching an AI assistant in Microsoft Teams, the distributor has added assistants to Slack and Webex.
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The Decision Dividend: Why AI ROI in Distribution Is Bigger Than Labor Savings
A high-speed engine bolted to a bicycle just wrecks faster. The discipline is knowing which decisions AI can make on its own and which still need a human in the loop.
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TrueCommerce Expands AI Focus with New Product Leadership
Anthony Gallo will oversee product strategy, management, and design, with priorities including AI-based B2B commerce, enterprise system integration, and data governance.
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Grainger Buys AWM Technology Assets for $210 Million to Expand Inventory Management
Adroit Worldwide Media, or AWM, develops technology that uses artificial intelligence, computer vision, and sensors to automate inventory tracking and replenishment.