Episode #108
Wholesale Change: Fastenal's Secret AI Buy, Watsco's Plumbing Play, and Diesel Hits $6.28
Hosts Ian Heller and Mark Brohan dig into a busy week in wholesale distribution and what it means for industry leaders. We start with Fastenal's quiet acquisition of Rampp.ai, an agentic AI platform the industrial distributor has never formally announced, and what it signals about building AI capability in-house rather than waiting on ERP vendors. We also break down Watsco's move to acquire The Granite Group, a $500 million Northeast plumbing and HVAC distributor, its second major deal of the year following Jackson Supply Co. Then we get into diesel prices, which hit a record $6.285 a gallon, and how Builders FirstSource, Grainger, MSC Industrial, Ferguson, Sysco, Performance Food Group and US Foods are each absorbing the hit differently. Plus, a new ransomware report shows midmarket distributors are the real targets, and Office Depot retires the ODP name nine months after Atlas Holdings took the company private. It was a big week in distribution. We break down what matters and why.
