CED

February 2013

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Management be simulated back to financials for ROI analysis. The fact that equipment distributors are unique means the best practices are less obvious and maybe more complicated to implement. This is actually good news, however, since fewer competitors will be able to mimic what you do. Complexity = Opportunity. Fact is, this stuff is hard. To get it done, you must educate your team and develop a metrics-driven discipline. You must measure the best practice, test it in advance, prove ROI, implement, continue measuring, and update the value proposition to stakeholders as you do to stay the course. IT and Best Practice Again? The first computer users were folks like me. We at first feared the infernal machine then came to love it for its ability to make things easier. We learned over time what it could do and worked around the rest. We became the first generation to be "computer enabled." The current generation is "computer dependent." Those of you with teenagers can relate. At my house, when the Internet goes down, I put my laptop aside and watch TV or read a book. Upstairs (in my kids' rooms), chaos has broken out. My generation used the computers until we hit a constraint, then we used human processes. Their generation will demand that the system be fixed to overcome the constraints (as it should be). Distributors are giant information machines. Everything they do is about knowledge management – and problems with sales, financials, and even inventory only exist due to information failures. The technology revolution isn't maturing for distributors; it's just getting started. Best practices will leverage the IT revolution to implement better ways and measure them (something IT systems do very well). Your value propositions for customers, investors, and internal stakeholders will be measured, updated, and presented on a continuous basis. Stop and consider what your workforce will have to look like. It is no accident that the primary method we used to overcome best practice resistance was education. Best practice is not a mystery. Nobody has a secret you can't find out. Most information systems are driven by Economic Order Quantities (EOQ), which was created in 1914. The most advanced forecasting techniques are from the 1960s. Inventory stratification, customer stratification, pricing optimization all had their roots before the 1980s. The Does It Feel Like the Tax Code is a Moving Target? • New tax opportunities for both 2012 • $95 per computer site for AED members Dr. Barry Lawrence holds the Leonard and Valerie Bruce Leadership Chair, and he is the program director of the Industrial Distribution Program, director of the Thomas and Joan Read Center, and director of the Global Supply Chain Laboratory at Texas A&M University. Subjects will include: Better Get the Facts. The Tax Facts. Webinar: Making the Most of 2013 Tax Opportunities AED Financial Updates Webinar for CEOs & CFOs Feb. 22, 2013 | 10 a.m. CST Presented by: Steve Pierson, Seldon Fox Ltd. and Garry Bartecki, AED's Vice President of Finance problem has been and continues to be implementation. Under the "new normal," wasting assets in underutilized equipment, dead inventory, slow-paying accounts receivable, idle staffs, and especially continuous failures in best practice implementations will not be sustainable. The next generation of solutions is here and adoption has to work right the first time. The only reason it's not working is because we don't measure and we don't train. We have to stop investing so much in assets (inventory, facilities, accounts receivable) and invest much, much more in our human resources. Every company I ever worked for said, "Our people are our most important resource." Since none of them measured results, educated us on how to implement and sustain best practice, I have to say none of them meant what they said. But maybe I am getting bitter again.n • and 2013 as a result of the Fiscal Cliff legislation – content of this segment will be useful for dealer marketing efforts to educate customers about tax advantages available to them. Obamacare tax on investment income is a threat to dealer cash flows. Enough said. Revisiting "Dual Use" Standards – Dealers with both rent-to-sell and rent-to-rent transactions should attend this presentation to learn how recent changes affect their tax positions and cash flow. Register at www.aedu.org February 2013 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 25 22_Comp_Advantage_Feature_KP.indd 25 1/30/13 3:47 PM

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