Grainger continues to expand product line with launch of new plumbing specialty catalog
By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 3/5/2007 12:13:00 PM
With the launch of another new specialty catalog, Grainger has expanded its product line yet again—this time, by adding an offering of plumbing products and supplies.
More than 16,000 plumbing products—12,000 of which are new to Grainger—are listed in the catalog. They include water heaters and coolers, pipes, valves, fittings, fixtures, faucets and water filtration systems.
A year ago, Grainger announced the biggest product expansion in its history in an exclusive interview with Purchasing. Then, the company increased nine-fold (30,000) the number of fasteners it offers in its catalog.
“Our customers count on us to be a one-stop shop for a broad selection of maintenance, repair and operating supplies so they can efficiently maintain facilities,” says Kevin Peters, senior vice president of supply chain management. “We bolstered our offering in several key categories this year including plumbing, material handling, fasteners and security products and [now] we have a dedicated plumbing catalog to serve even more of our customers’ needs.”
With its ongoing product expansion, Grainger is making it more convenient for customers to source the products they need, Peters says. In addition to a new, larger Grainger catalog with more products and information released earlier this year, the company has introduced new search and selection tools on grainger.com to assist customers in narrowing their selection to the right product based on factors relevant to the product or application. Advanced cross-referencing tools and employee product training will also help customers save time in sourcing the right product for their applications.
With 2006 sales of $5.9 billion, Grainger is a leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products serving businesses and institutions in Canada, China, Mexico and the U.S.
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