Crane Co. has agreed to acquire Trillium Flow Technologies’ U.S. pump business for approximately $240 million, expanding its presence in the municipal water and wastewater markets.

Stamford, Connecticut-based Crane said the transaction includes the Floway, Wemco, Roto-Jet and WSP brands. The acquired business, part of First Reserve-backed Trillium Flow Technologies, is expected to generate approximately $115 million in revenue in 2026.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Crane plans to add the business to its Process Flow Technologies segment. The acquired brands provide pumps used primarily in municipal water and wastewater applications.

The deal also gives Crane a larger installed base of pumping equipment that requires service, repairs, retrofits, and replacements throughout its operating life. That creates an aftermarket business extending beyond the original equipment sale.

“These brands are an excellent strategic fit that enhances the quality, durability, and growth profile of our Process Flow Technologies segment,” Crane CEO Alex Alcala said.

Alcala said the acquisition will broaden Crane’s position in engineered pump technology while increasing its exposure to municipal water and wastewater spending.

“It expands our position in highly engineered pump technologies, increases our exposure to resilient water and wastewater markets, and brings a large installed base that generates recurring aftermarket demand,” Alcala said.

Crane also said it plans to combine the acquired brands and technologies with its existing product development, operating, and commercial capabilities.

For distributors serving municipal water systems, wastewater facilities, utilities and related industrial customers, the transaction brings four established pump brands under Crane’s Process Flow Technologies business. The size of the installed base could create additional demand for replacement pumps, components, and other aftermarket products.

Crane did not disclose whether the acquisition will result in changes to existing distributor agreements, sales territories, or channel strategy.

Crane has approximately 8,300 employees in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through two primary business segments: Aerospace & Advanced Technologies and Process Flow Technologies.

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Salsify and the Industry Data Exchange Association, or IDEA, have launched an integration that allows electrical manufacturers to use Salsify’s product information management system to send product data directly to IDEA Connector.

The companies announced the integration on Sept. 16. It replaces a process that could require manufacturers to export, reformat, and manually transfer product information before submitting it to IDEA Connector.

IDEA Connector provides standardized manufacturer product information to subscribing electrical distributors. Under the new integration, manufacturers using Salsify can map their product information to IDEA’s requirements and send validated updates directly from Salsify’s product information management, or PIM, system.

The connection is available through an early access program for Salsify customers.

The integration uses two prebuilt channels: one for core product information and another for category-specific attributes. Manufacturers map their data into the established structure once. Updates that meet applicable requirements can then flow directly into IDEA Connector without requiring a custom Salsify support process, according to the companies.

For distributors, the change could affect the product information feeding ecommerce sites, enterprise resource planning systems, quoting tools and other applications used to sell and manage products.

The announcement comes as electrical manufacturers and distributors continue to address gaps in product information.

IDEA’s data standards are designed to give electrical manufacturers and distributors a common structure for exchanging product information. Manufacturers still must ensure that their information meets IDEA’s formatting and attribute requirements before it is published.

The Salsify integration is intended to automate more of that process.

Incomplete or inconsistent product attributes can create problems downstream for distributors, particularly when the information is used for ecommerce, product search, quoting and other digital sales processes.

 The Salsify channel also helps Atkore keep its product attributes aligned with IDEA Connector requirements.

Before the integration, manufacturers using Salsify either had to reformat exports to meet IDEA requirements or work with Salsify support personnel to build and maintain a custom channel as those requirements changed, according to the companies.

The new connection is designed to eliminate those additional steps by connecting the systems directly.

Michael Wentz, IDEA’s vice president of sales and marketing, said the integration is intended to reduce work for manufacturers while preserving the standards distributors use.

The integration also comes as distributors and manufacturers put more emphasis on structured product data for ecommerce, search, and artificial intelligence applications.

AI-powered search and purchasing tools can use product specifications, dimensions, applications, and other attributes to identify and compare products. Incomplete or inconsistent underlying data can limit those systems’ ability to return useful results.

Salsify is positioning the IDEA integration partly around that shift, although the immediate purpose of the connection is to automate the exchange of standardized product information between manufacturers and distributors.

The integration is intended to help manufacturers keep their information aligned with IDEA standards while reducing the manual work involved in delivering it to distributors.

For electrical distributors, the integration does not replace IDEA Connector or establish a new product data standard. Instead, it changes how manufacturers using Salsify can submit information to the existing IDEA system.

The potential benefit will depend in part on how broadly manufacturers adopt the connection and whether it results in more complete and timely product information. Salsify and IDEA did not disclose how many manufacturers are participating in the early access program or provide data on how much time the integration could save.

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Ingram Micro is betting that artificial intelligence and automation can reshape how one of the world’s largest technology distributors sells, prices products, serves customers and connects suppliers with the market.

The company outlined the strategy at its inaugural Capital Markets Day on Sept. 15 at NYSE Texas in Dallas, describing a transition from a traditional technology distributor into what it calls an “intelligent operating system” for the business-to-business technology market.

At the center of the strategy is Xvantage, Ingram Micro’s AI-powered digital platform. The company says Xvantage incorporates more than 400 AI and machine-learning models and brings together hardware, cloud subscriptions, personalized recommendations, pricing, order tracking, billing, and other functions.

CEO Paul Bay said Ingram Micro intends to use its scale, data and supplier and customer relationships to connect supply and demand more efficiently.

“Today, we are entering a new chapter as we build on those strengths to create the industry’s B2B intelligent operating system at scale,” Bay said.

The strategy is significant for the broader distribution industry because Ingram Micro isn’t positioning AI primarily as an employee productivity tool. Management is attempting to embed AI and automation into core distribution processes and tie those investments directly to sales growth, operating efficiency, and customer retention.

Ingram Micro’s presentation described the shift more simply as its journey “from distributor to intelligent B2B operating system.”

Ingram Micro targets 4% to 6% annual sales growth

Ingram Micro also put financial targets around the strategy.

For fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2029, the company is targeting compound annual net sales growth of about 4% to 6% and gross profit growth of about 5% to 7%.

Non-GAAP net income is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of about 11% to 13%, more than twice the midpoint of the company’s sales growth target. Ingram Micro also expects annual operating expenses to equal about 4.4% to 4.8% of sales.

The presentation provides additional historical context. Ingram Micro estimates net sales increased at a compound annual rate of 6% to 7% from fiscal 2023 through fiscal 2026, while gross profit grew 3% to 4% and non-GAAP net income increased 8% to 9%.

Chief financial officer Mike Zilis said the objective is for gross profit to increase faster than sales while the company becomes more efficient.

“Our long-term financial framework is built on clear objectives of growing gross profit faster than net sales, driving further operating expense efficiency and leverage,” Zilis said.

The targets are forecasts rather than guaranteed results. Ingram Micro said actual results could differ because of economic conditions, competition, supply constraints, tariffs and trade policy, geopolitical developments, and the company’s ability to continue developing and deploying Xvantage, among other risks.

The problem: Distribution is getting more complicated

Ingram Micro’s case for AI starts with a familiar distribution problem: Too much work still moves through disconnected companies, systems, and employees.

The Capital Markets Day presentation said a single quote can involve three companies, 12 people and 72 hours.

Ingram Micro argues that complexity increases as distributors add cloud providers, hyperscalers, services and AI to the traditional relationship among manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and end customers.

“Complexity is rising faster than the ecosystem can absorb it,” the company said in its presentation.

Management’s conclusion is that adding more individual systems isn’t enough.

“We can’t solve complexity by adding more complexity,” another slide said.

The company contrasted the traditional distribution model, designed primarily to move products through a linear value chain, with a technology market in which information increasingly must move among vendors, customers, logistics providers, cloud companies, financing providers, and service organizations.

Ingram Micro wants Xvantage to become the common technology layer connecting those activities.

Xvantage moves deeper into distribution operations

The scope of Xvantage is broader than ecommerce.

Ingram Micro says the platform combines more than 400 AI and machine-learning models and can use the company’s data to predict, recommend, and automate actions.

“The next era of value creation will be defined by intelligence,” said Sanjib Sahoo, president of Ingram Micro’s Global Platform Group.

“Our platform can predict, recommend, automate, and increasingly take action,” Sahoo said.

Ingram Micro’s 2025 annual report provides additional context for the scale of the technology investment. The company said Xvantage incorporated more than 42 million lines of code and 400 AI and machine-learning models. It said the platform was designed to simplify, automate, digitize, and scale the delivery of products and services.

The company says Xvantage combines areas including pricing, logistics, services, and AI while connecting suppliers and customers. Ingram Micro also offers supply chain, financial, marketing and IT asset disposition services through its broader platform.

That potentially changes the role of the distributor. Instead of operating primarily as an intermediary that buys, inventories, and resells products, Ingram Micro is positioning itself as a platform coordinating transactions and information across the technology supply chain.

Scale gives Ingram Micro a large data base

Ingram Micro says it serves more than 165,000 customers and more than 1,500 vendors worldwide and can reach 90% of the world’s population. Its portfolio spans hardware, software, cloud, and services.

The Capital Markets Day presentation also says Ingram Micro has more than 1,200 software engineers, more than 1,000 technical engineers, thousands of technical certifications and more than 200 cloud solutions.

The company’s strategy is to use the information generated across those relationships to improve recommendations and decisions and automate transactions.

Ingram Micro calls the combination of Xvantage and its data a competitive advantage.

The company quoted Steven Dickens of HyperFrame Research as saying Ingram Micro is building a “defensive moat” around its partner ecosystem by integrating reseller workflows into Xvantage.

The potential advantage is straightforward: The more quoting, ordering, pricing, configuration, and other work customers conduct through Xvantage, the more deeply the platform becomes integrated into their everyday operations.

AI is intended to drive sales as well as efficiency

Ingram Micro’s strategy isn’t limited to reducing operating costs.

Management identified AI, cloud, advanced solutions, and lifecycle services as major growth areas through fiscal 2029.

For suppliers, the company says its platform can support demand generation, extend the reach of multivendor solutions, and provide access to small and midsized customers.

For customers, Ingram Micro says automation can allow them to scale with less additional operating expense while product recommendations and expanded offerings can increase sales opportunities.

The company is also expanding services around the traditional product transaction.

Its portfolio includes professional services, financing, managed IT services, technical centers of excellence and lifecycle services. Lifecycle services include supply chain services, IT asset disposition, and reverse logistics.

That gives Ingram Micro additional ways to generate revenue throughout the life of a technology product rather than relying solely on the original product sale.

Technology suppliers see a changing distribution role

Several major Ingram Micro suppliers provided comments for the Capital Markets Day presentation describing a broader role for the distributor.

Cisco chief sales officer Oliver Tuszik said the relationship is evolving “beyond traditional distribution” as AI and security create additional opportunities for Cisco and its channel partners.

Microsoft chief partner officer Nicole Dezen pointed to Ingram Micro’s combination of global reach and data.

“What differentiates Ingram Micro is their ability to combine global reach with actionable intelligence,” Dezen said.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri said Ingram Micro’s global footprint and technical expertise help partners reach new opportunities and bring technology to customers faster.

CDW CEO Christine Leahy said Ingram Micro’s operational and digital capabilities have helped CDW operate more efficiently and scale its business.

A different benchmark for distributor AI

The broader takeaway for distributors is less about Ingram Micro’s specific technology stack than about how management is measuring the transformation.

The company isn’t defining AI progress by the number of pilots underway or employees using generative AI.

Instead, Ingram Micro is tying its technology strategy to core operating measures: faster sales cycles, more automation, greater supplier reach, increased customer spending, services growth, and improved operating efficiency.

The financial framework makes that connection explicit. Ingram Micro expects sales to grow 4% to 6% annually from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2029, but it is targeting 5% to 7% gross profit growth and 11% to 13% non-GAAP net income growth.

That doesn’t mean Ingram Micro’s model transfers directly to every wholesale market. Technology distribution is particularly suited to digital platforms because of its large product catalogs, cloud services, complex configurations, and extensive supplier networks.

But the operating problems Ingram Micro is targeting are common across distribution: slow quoting, manual handoffs, complicated pricing, disconnected data, and employees spending time moving information among systems.

Ingram Micro’s approach is to build intelligence into those processes rather than simply adding standalone AI applications.

The company’s strategy amounts to a broader bet about the future of distribution: Scale, inventory and logistics remain important, but management believes competitive advantage increasingly will depend on how effectively a distributor connects its data, suppliers, customers and workflows and turns that information into faster decisions and automated actions.

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Office Depot is retiring the ODP name from its corporate and business-to-business operations, rebranding The ODP Group as Office Depot Group and ODP Business Solutions as Office Depot Business.

CEO Craig Gunckel announced the changes Sept. 15, saying the company is returning to the Office Depot name across the organization.

“We have a new name!” Gunckel wrote on LinkedIn. “We are no longer The ODP Group. And our distribution business, previously ODP Business Solutions, is now Office Depot Business.”

The move puts the Office Depot name behind the company’s retail and B2B operations. Office Depot Business sells office supplies, furniture, technology, cleaning and breakroom products and other workplace supplies to businesses and institutional customers.

The company’s B2B website has already adopted the Office Depot Business name.

Gunckel said the change is intended to create a clearer identity across the company.

“It’s the same Office Depot you already know from our stores—now the name behind everything we do,” he said.

The rebranding comes nine months after Atlas Holdings completed its approximately $1 billion acquisition of The ODP Corporation on Dec. 10, 2025, taking the company private. Gunckel became CEO when the transaction closed, succeeding Gerry P. Smith.

At the time, the company said it employed more than 16,000 people and operated Office Depot and OfficeMax stores along with a B2B distribution network across North America.

The latest change effectively removes the ODP name from the company’s corporate and B2B identities and extends the better-known Office Depot brand to the distribution business.

Gunckel said the move represents more than a corporate name change.

“This represents much more than a simple name change,” he said.

Office Depot has more than 40 years of operating history. Its business now combines an omnichannel retail operation with a B2B distribution platform serving businesses and institutional customers.

The B2B operation extends beyond traditional office supplies into categories including technology, furniture, cleaning, breakroom, and other workplace products.

That makes the rebranding particularly relevant to distributors. Office Depot Business competes for corporate and institutional purchasing across product categories served by office products, janitorial and sanitation, technology, and other business products distributors.

Under Atlas, management has been developing strategies for the company’s retail and B2B businesses, with an emphasis on customer service, local market execution, and growth.

The new branding gives those operations a common identity rather than maintaining separate Office Depot and ODP names.

“Office Depot is a brand with more than 40 years of history behind it—the kind of recognition that can’t be built overnight, only earned over decades by showing up for our customers and communities,” Gunckel said.

The rebranding marks another step in Office Depot’s transition under Atlas as the privately held company works to strengthen its retail and B2B distribution operations.

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United Natural Foods Inc. is expanding artificial intelligence, automation, and other technology across its distribution network as the company increases investment in supply chain operations following a return to profitability in fiscal 2026.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based distributor plans to spend about $300 million in fiscal 2027 on capital and cloud implementation projects, including targeted automation, enterprise resource planning deployment, and other technology initiatives.

The spending follows a fiscal year in which UNFI completed the rollout of an AI-powered supply chain and procurement planning platform across its distribution centers, expanded automation at its Joliet, Illinois, distribution center, and deployed lean daily management at 44 distribution centers.

UNFI CEO Sandy Douglas told analysts on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call that those investments are central to the distributor’s effort to improve its operating performance.

“We also completed the rollout of our AI-powered supply chain and procurement planning platform to all DCs in our network,” Douglas said. The technology is “helping to steadily improve fill rates and inventory management,” he said.

UNFI’s investments come as the company reported lower sales but sharply improved bottom-line results.

Fourth-quarter net sales declined 0.7% to $7.64 billion from $7.70 billion a year earlier. UNFI reported net income of $35 million, compared with a net loss of $87 million in the year-earlier quarter. Because the company moved from a loss to a profit, UNFI reports the year-over-year percentage change in net income as not meaningful.

For the full fiscal year ended Aug. 1, net sales declined 2% to $31.15 billion from $31.78 billion. Net income was $84 million, compared with a $118 million net loss in fiscal 2025. Here again, a percentage increase in net income is not meaningful because UNFI moved from a loss to a profit.

The company’s natural products business moved in the opposite direction from overall sales. Fourth-quarter natural products sales increased 6.6% to $4.26 billion, while full-year natural products sales increased 7% to $17.13 billion. Conventional products sales fell 8.6% in the quarter and 11.5% for the year.

UNFI said fourth-quarter sales were affected by planned distribution network changes and the end of temporary project work. Management said underlying wholesale sales grew at a low single-digit rate after accounting for those factors and the comparison with the previous year’s cybersecurity incident.

Douglas said UNFI is concentrating on two areas: adding value for customers and suppliers and making the company more efficient.

“We are improving effectiveness and efficiency across the business through next-generation supply chain, technology and productivity initiatives,” Douglas said. Those initiatives are “steadily improving safety, quality and delivery accuracy for our partners while reducing our operating costs.”

AI moves into inventory and procurement

UNFI’s AI strategy is increasingly focused on operational problems that directly affect product availability and inventory.

The company has implemented RELEX across its distribution system and is using AI to improve purchasing, inventory planning, and fulfillment.

Douglas said fill rates remain one of UNFI’s biggest opportunities for improvement, particularly in natural products, where the number of products, slower-moving items and frequent introductions make inventory management more complicated than in conventional grocery.

“We consider improving it to be at the top of the most important things we can do for our customers,” Douglas said of fill rates.

The objective, he said, is to understand demand, ordering patterns and promotions while working with suppliers to position the right amount of inventory.

UNFI is also using its technology investments to support those decisions.

Douglas said the company is using RELEX “to leverage AI to make sure that we are continuing to order and fulfill in the most technology-supported way.”

“We are making some progress, but we continue to see it as the biggest improvement opportunity we are working on,” he said.

UNFI also added AI-enabled features to its UNFI Insights platform during fiscal 2026. Douglas said the additions are intended “to make it easier for our suppliers to assess store-level performance, improve demand planning and achieve their goals.”

Automation expands in Joliet

Automation is also becoming a larger part of UNFI’s distribution center strategy.

During the fourth quarter, the company consolidated its Racine, Wisconsin, operation into its expanded Joliet distribution center, which UNFI equipped with full-case automation.

President and chief operating officer Matteo Tarditi said the project is part of a broader strategy that combines automation with lean management, technology, and engineering standards.

“Automation is inside a suite of capabilities and functionalities that we have to become more effective and efficient,” Tarditi told analysts.

UNFI is looking for opportunities to modernize its distribution network by moving into larger facilities and adding technology where management believes the investment can support customer growth.

Tarditi compared the Racine-to-Joliet transition with an earlier distribution center consolidation in which UNFI moved operations into a larger, highly automated facility.

“That is the same playbook that we are playing with the Racine-to-Joliet transfer,” Tarditi said.

He cautioned that the Joliet transition remains in its preliminary stages.

“As with every transfer, there are a little bit of growing pains,” Tarditi said. “We are very aware of that, and we are working very hard to fix them.”

UNFI said it has already seen broader improvements across its distribution network. The company recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year gains in fill rates, on-time deliveries, and throughput during the fourth quarter.

Lean management moves to next phase

UNFI has also completed the initial deployment of lean daily management at 44 distribution centers and is preparing to move the program into a second phase.

Tarditi said the first stage has produced “green shoots of improvements in fill rates, on-time delivery, throughput,” but added that UNFI still sees “a very large opportunity in front of us.”

The next phase will focus more heavily on management routines, problem-solving, data management, and continuous improvement.

Tarditi said teams at the 44 distribution centers are already meeting to review operating measures and that the company now wants to go deeper into identifying problems and developing corrective actions.

The second focus will be continuous improvement, including eliminating waste and increasing operating efficiency, he said.

UNFI has not disclosed which distribution centers will receive the next major automation investments.

Douglas said the company has a multiyear technology and operations road map but is not ready to provide details.

“With each passing implementation, whether it is technology like RELEX or Samsara going systemwide last year, we are growing in our confidence relative to the ability to put technology and lean and process improvement together to drive capability,” Douglas said.

UNFI plans about $300 million in fiscal 2027 spending

UNFI expects approximately $300 million in capital and cloud implementation spending in fiscal 2027, up from $217 million in capital expenditures in fiscal 2026. The planned investments include targeted automation, ERP deployment, and broader technology initiatives.

Tarditi said the company intends to move deliberately rather than deploy new technology across the network at once.

“We will take a methodical paced approach to technology investments,” he said, “focusing on targeted implementations first, then a broader deployment.”

For fiscal 2027, UNFI expects sales of $31.2 billion to $31.8 billion and net income of $105 million to $145 million. The company expects sales to remain under pressure early in the year as it finishes cycling previous distribution network changes, with a return to growth expected later in the fiscal year.

Fuel costs are another focus as UNFI looks for additional distribution efficiencies.

Tarditi said the company is using fuel hedges and contractual mechanisms with customers and suppliers to offset some of the pressure. But he said the company’s most important response is reducing fuel consumption through better transportation planning.

“The most important is a continuous focus on route optimization,” Tarditi said.

The goal, he said, is to “continue to reduce miles per delivery and optimize routes so the whole system benefits from lower fuel consumption.”

The investments show UNFI increasingly tying AI and automation to specific distribution measures rather than treating the technologies as stand-alone projects. Fill rates, inventory management, on-time deliveries, warehouse throughput, and miles per delivery are among the measures management says it is targeting as the company puts more technology into its distribution network.

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U.S. manufacturers grew more optimistic about their business prospects in the third quarter, with expectations for sales, production, hiring and capital investment all improving from three months earlier, according to a new survey from the National Association of Manufacturers.

The NAM Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey found 78.9% of respondents were  positive about their company’s outlook, up from 74.2% in the second quarter. The reading was the highest since the second quarter of 2022 and topped the survey’s historical average of 74.3%.

The survey, conducted Aug. 11-27, included responses from 220 manufacturers. Small manufacturers accounted for 18.6% of respondents, medium-sized manufacturers 45% and large manufacturers 32.3%. The remaining 4.1% did not disclose their size.

The more optimistic outlook was reflected across several measures of expected business activity.

Manufacturers expect sales to increase 4.3% over the next 12 months, up from a 3.3% forecast in the second quarter. Expected production growth increased to 3.8% from 3%, while projected full-time employment growth rose to 1.8% from 1%.

Sales expectations reached a four-year high. About 72% of manufacturers expect sales to increase during the next four quarters, including 50.5%, which anticipate growth of at least 5%. Just 8.3% expect sales to decline, while 20.2% expect no change. Medium-sized and large manufacturers forecast sales growth of 4.4%, compared with 3.5% among small manufacturers.

Production expectations also reached a four-year high. About 67% of respondents expect production to increase during the next year, while 8.7% anticipate a decline and 23.9% expect output to remain about the same.

Capital spending plans strengthened as well. Manufacturers expect capital investment to increase 2.6% during the next 12 months, up from 1.8% in the second quarter and the strongest forecast in four years. Half, 49.3%, expect to increase capital spending, compared with 37.1% in the previous quarter. Another 39.4% expect spending to remain unchanged, while 11.3% anticipate reductions.

The combination of higher sales, production and capital spending expectations could support demand for distributors supplying machinery, electrical equipment, automation products, fabricated metals and maintenance, repair, and operations products.

Cost pressures, however, remain widespread.

Increased raw material costs were cited by 80.8% of manufacturers as a current business challenge, making it the most frequently cited concern. Rising health care and insurance costs followed at 72.3%, with trade uncertainty at 62.4%, attracting and retaining workers at 54.9%, transportation and logistics costs at 52.1% and supply chain challenges at 44.6%. Respondents could select more than one challenge.

Manufacturers expect raw material prices and other input costs to increase an average 5% during the next 12 months, although that is down from the 5.8% increase forecast in the second quarter. 90% expect input costs to rise, and 48.1% anticipate increases of more than 5%.

At the same time, manufacturers expect prices for their own products to increase 3.7%, down from the 4.2% forecast in the second quarter. About 77% expect to raise prices during the next year, while only 1.9% anticipate price declines.

The survey also points to continued demand for industrial machinery despite uncertainty surrounding trade.

Among manufacturers that gave a definitive answer, 63% said they plan to import industrial machinery, including parts and components, during the next year to support existing or planned manufacturing operations. Among those planning imports, 69.2% said the equipment would be used to upgrade or replace existing machinery, while 63.6% cited new or expanded manufacturing operations. 32% expect to import parts or tools for maintenance and repair.

Trade uncertainty is already affecting some of those purchasing decisions. Among manufacturers that adjusted their industrial machinery import strategies, 41.3% said they sourced machinery from alternative suppliers or countries. Another 36.5% delayed planned orders, 19.1% decreased orders and 12.7% canceled planned orders.

Transportation costs are another continuing pressure on manufacturers.

99% of respondents said their companies or suppliers use trucks. Ocean or maritime transportation was used by 57.1%, air cargo by 37.7%, rail by 28.8% and intermodal transportation by 21.7%.

Among manufacturers reporting transportation problems, 77.3% cited freight rates as affecting their ability to move goods efficiently and 74.1% cited fuel costs. Driver availability was cited by 29.7%.

Manufacturers also indicated they plan to continue investing in their digital operations. About 31% said they will place significant emphasis on digital transformation during the next 12 months, and another 30.1% said they will place moderate emphasis on it. About 11% said they plan to put no emphasis on digital transformation.

The third quarter results point to manufacturers preparing for stronger business activity while continuing to manage substantial cost and supply chain pressures. For distributors, rising production, capital spending and machinery investment could provide opportunities for higher demand, but customers are likely to remain focused on pricing, sourcing flexibility, inventory management, and transportation costs.

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SYSPRO is rolling out an artificial intelligence platform designed to give manufacturers and distributors AI agents that can identify operational problems, recommend responses, and carry out approved actions within existing business systems.

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provider launched SYSPRO Torque on Sept. 2. The company said the platform is designed to connect AI directly with ERP, inventory, warehouse, and other operating systems rather than function primarily as a stand-alone chatbot or assistant.

Torque entered controlled availability in August with manufacturers and distributors in the food and beverage, industrial equipment, and fabricated metals sectors, according to SYSPRO. Participants range from midsize companies to distributors with more than $2 billion in revenue.

SYSPRO did not identify the distributors participating in the program.

The launch comes as software providers increasingly develop agentic AI systems capable of performing defined business tasks instead of simply generating information or recommendations. For distributors, that could extend AI into functions including inventory management, procurement, customer service, planning and finance.

SYSPRO said Torque can combine information from orders, inventory, suppliers, and operating schedules to identify problems and determine potential responses. The platform is designed to work with different ERP systems, although SYSPRO said it provides deeper integration with the company’s own software.

Torque also can connect with warehouse systems and other operational technology and operate across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments, according to the company.

A key part of the platform is determining how much authority an AI agent receives.

Companies can require human approval before an agent takes an action or authorize it to execute established, repeatable workflows automatically. SYSPRO said actions are logged along with the business rules and data used to reach a decision, providing a record of how the system reached and executed its conclusions.

SYSPRO said employees also can use plain-language instructions to describe the work they want an AI agent to perform. Torque then creates the agent without requiring the employee to write the underlying code.

That approach could make it easier for distributors to apply AI to specific operating processes without requiring managers to develop their own software. The extent to which companies allow those agents to act without human approval, however, remains under their control.

SYSPRO said Torque incorporates a manufacturing knowledge graph based on nearly five decades of industry practices. The platform can also connect with manufacturing execution systems, warehouse hardware, and other operational data sources.

Companies participating in the controlled rollout are working with SYSPRO to determine which decisions Torque should recommend, which actions agents can execute and how the results should be measured.

The company said Torque uses usage-based pricing, allowing customers to begin with a single workflow and expand to additional agents.

For distributors, the more significant test will be whether AI agents can move from limited pilots into routine operating processes while maintaining controls over the decisions they make and the actions they take.

The participation of distributors with more than $2 billion in revenue gives SYSPRO an opportunity to test that model in larger and more complex distribution operations.

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GrubMarket is expanding its use of artificial intelligence in food distribution with a new tool designed to help produce wholesalers make pricing and purchasing decisions using U.S. Department of Agriculture market data.

The San Francisco-based company has launched USDA Pricing AI Analyst, the latest addition to its GrubAssist AI platform. The tool allows distributors to ask questions about fruit and vegetable prices and, when connected to their internal systems, compare market benchmarks with their own sales and purchasing data.

The system draws pricing information from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. GrubMarket said users can ask questions in natural language rather than manually searching government databases, downloading files, and analyzing spreadsheets.

That could make the tool particularly useful in produce distribution, where prices can change quickly and vary by product, location, size, and packaging.

A distributor, for example, could ask how avocado prices are trending during the week or compare strawberry prices in California and New York. When connected to the distributor’s enterprise resource planning system, the tool can also compare those market benchmarks with actual transactions.

GrubMarket said distributors could use the system to identify orders sold below USDA shipping-point prices, determine whether their prices are above or below market levels and compare supplier costs with USDA benchmarks.

The tool also can analyze pricing by customer and sales representative, compare purchasing prices by supplier and buyer, track market price movements and compare prices across geographic markets, according to the company.

Users access the system through GrubAssist’s desktop or mobile chat interface and can type or speak their questions. If GrubAssist is connected to a distributor’s ERP system, the AI analyst can use the company’s sales and purchasing records in its comparisons.

USDA Pricing AI Analyst joins several specialized applications already available through GrubAssist, including Business Analyst, Inventory Analyst and Cash Flow Analyst.

GrubMarket said the underlying platform uses large language models, natural-language processing, semantic data mapping, generative AI, predictive analytics, and agentic workflows developed for food supply chain operations.

CEO Mike Xu said the tool is intended to simplify access to market information that distributors traditionally have had to gather and analyze themselves.

The product represents a more targeted use of AI in distribution than general-purpose chatbots or productivity applications. GrubMarket is applying the technology to pricing, purchasing and supplier analysis, functions tied directly to a distributor’s cost of goods and selling margins.

But the company has not yet disclosed results showing the financial impact of the new tool. Its announcement did not include customer adoption figures, pricing for the product or examples quantifying improvements in selling margins, purchasing costs or sales.

That leaves the business case to be demonstrated. Technology can make USDA and internal transaction data easier to analyze, but GrubMarket has not yet provided evidence showing how much that capability improves distributor financial performance in practice.

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Ingram Micro is putting artificial intelligence at the center of a multiyear strategy to change how the global technology distributor operates and interacts with customers and vendors.

The company said Sept. 15 that its Xvantage digital platform incorporates more than 400 AI and machine-learning models designed to automate processes, generate recommendations, and improve interactions between Ingram Micro and its business partners. The company outlined the strategy at its inaugural 2026 Capital Markets Day in Dallas.

Ingram Micro is positioning Xvantage as the foundation of a broader effort to transform the company from a traditional technology distributor into what management calls a “B2B intelligent operating system” for the global information technology market.

The company said Xvantage brings its AI and machine-learning models together on a single platform intended to reduce friction in transactions and improve business performance for Ingram Micro, its customers, and vendors.

The scale of the AI deployment is not new. Ingram Micro’s 2025 annual report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March, said Xvantage incorporated more than 42 million lines of code and 400 AI and machine-learning models. The filing said the company planned to continue investing in digital tools, automation, and AI as part of its growth strategy.

Xvantage also includes IDA, Ingram Micro’s intelligent digital assistant. The company said IDA and its real-time integration capabilities can embed recommendations and actions into systems customers already use, with the goal of accelerating sales cycles and increasing sales wins.

Sanjib Sahoo, president of Ingram Micro’s Global Platform Group, said the company’s strategy extends beyond using AI to generate recommendations.

“Our platform can predict, recommend, automate, and increasingly take action,” Sahoo said.

Ingram Micro said its strategy combines AI with the data, workflows and transactions generated across its global distribution network.

The company serves more than 165,000 customers and works with approximately 1,500 vendor partners, according to its most recent annual report. It operates in 57 countries and serves customers in more than 200 countries.

CEO Paul Bay said the company intends to use that scale and its technology platform to more intricately connect supply and demand.

“We are entering a new chapter as we build on those strengths to create the industry’s B2B intelligent operating system at scale,” Bay said.

The AI strategy is part of a broader growth plan Ingram Micro presented to investors.

For fiscal 2026 through 2029, the company is targeting compound annual net sales growth of about 4% to 6% and gross profit growth of about 5% to 7%. Ingram Micro cautioned that its multiyear financial framework is not guidance for any individual fiscal year.

Ingram Micro also identified higher-value solutions, services, and cloud offerings, along with its Enable AI program, as areas it expects to support growth and market-share gains across its four global regions.

Ingram Micro has already linked Xvantage to business growth. In its first-quarter earnings release in May, the company said “AI-led net sales” increased more than 60% year over year in its largest countries. The company did not disclose the dollar value of those sales in that release.

The Sept. 15 announcement, however, did not quantify how much revenue, profit or productivity improvement is directly attributable to the more than 400 AI and machine-learning models operating within Xvantage.

That leaves a key question for Ingram Micro and other distributors making substantial AI investments: whether embedding AI throughout core sales and operating processes can produce measurable gains at sufficient scale to justify the investment.

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Canadian wholesalers remain among the country’s slowest adopters of artificial intelligence, even as AI use across the broader economy continues to accelerate.

Just 7.9% of wholesale trade businesses reported using AI to produce goods or deliver services during the previous 12 months, according to recent Statistics Canada data. That put wholesale trade ahead of only agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting, at 4.5%, among the industries measured. Construction had the third-lowest adoption rate at 9.2%.

The results show a substantial gap between wholesale trade and the broader Canadian economy.

Overall, 19.2% of Canadian businesses reported using AI in the second quarter of 2026, up from 12.2% a year earlier and more than triple the 6.1% recorded in the second quarter of 2024.

Statistics Canada based the findings on its Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, conducted from April 1 through May 6. The agency received responses from 9,251 businesses from a stratified sample of 21,105.

Information and cultural industries led the country in AI adoption at 42.3%, followed by finance and insurance at 40.4% and professional, scientific, and technical services at 32.4%. The same three sectors also led to adoption a year earlier.

Among Canadian businesses using AI, data analytics was the most common application, reported by 36.6%. Text analytics followed at 34.5%, while 28.2% reported using virtual agents or chatbots.

Company size also tracked with AI adoption. Among businesses with 100 or more employees, 27.8% reported using AI, compared with 19.9% of businesses with one to four employees.

Cybersecurity or privacy concerns were the most cited barriers, reported by 13.4% of businesses. Cost was cited by 10.6%.

Statistics Canada did not provide a separate breakdown of the barriers facing wholesalers or the AI applications being used specifically within wholesale trade. The agency’s forthcoming TechStat program is scheduled to begin publishing dedicated data on AI adoption and its impact in 2027.

For distributors, the latest numbers suggest wholesale trade’s low adoption rate is not simply a one-quarter setback. The sector has trailed information, finance and professional services in every survey cycle since Statistics Canada began asking these questions in 2024, even as AI adoption across Canadian businesses has more than tripled.

The numbers also underscore the scale of the challenge facing distributors. While some large distributors are moving AI into pricing, inventory management, sales, customer service and other operating functions, Canada’s overall wholesale adoption rate remains in the single digits.

Closing that gap will depend not only on what the industry’s largest companies do, but also on how quickly midsize and independent distributors move AI beyond experiments and pilot programs and into everyday operations.

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