Advantage Distribution Holdings has acquired cfm Distributors, expanding the company’s HVAC distribution footprint across the Midwest and adding one of the industry’s longstanding independent York distributors.

The acquisition adds six branch locations and a distribution center serving Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. Following the transaction, Advantage Distribution Holdings, or ADH, said it operates 13 locations across six states in the Southeast and Midwest.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 1969, cfm distributes HVACR equipment, parts, and supplies to residential and commercial contractors. The company is led by Lauren Roberts, who also serves as chairwoman of HARDI, the HVACR industry trade association.

The distributor has represented the York brand since 1978 and is a member of BLUE HAWK, a member-owned cooperative of independent HVAC distributors.

ADH said the acquisition aligns with its strategy of partnering with founder- and family-owned HVAC distributors while maintaining local operations and branding.

“ADH was built on the idea that independent distributors don’t need to change who they are to compete,” ADH co-founders Zach Katz, Alex Gatof and Andrew Och said in a joint statement announcing the transaction. “By bringing together strong operators, we are able to expand what each business can do while keeping them rooted in their local market.”

As part of the transaction, ADH said all cfm employees will receive equity participation in the combined company, extending the platform’s employee ownership model to the acquired business.

Roberts said the transaction allows cfm to maintain its independent operating culture while gaining access to additional resources and investment.

“ADH felt like a natural extension of that legacy,” Roberts said in a statement. “They share our belief that independents are the backbone of this industry.”

The acquisition builds on ADH’s earlier partnership with CTC Supply and reflects broader consolidation trends across HVAC distribution, where private equity-backed platforms and larger distributors continue to pursue regional independents with established contractor relationships and local scale.

The HVAC distribution market remains fragmented despite increasing acquisition activity. Distributors are facing growing pressure to invest in inventory management, digital tools, contractor support and regulatory compliance as equipment complexity and market competition increase.

ADH said it plans to continue pursuing acquisitions and partnerships with independent HVAC distributors across the United States.

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Marco Sealing Solutions, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners, has acquired Pride Seals Inc. as the company continues expanding its engineered sealing products platform through acquisitions.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pride Seals has operated for 30 years as a distributor and service provider of specialty sealing products for industrial customers. The company adds inventory capacity, fulfillment operations and customer relationships across multiple industrial markets, according to Marco.

“For 30 years, Pride Seals has built its reputation on strong customer relationships, responsive service and solving critical sealing challenges,” Michael Durham, founder and owner of Pride Seals, said in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with Marco and look forward to continuing the same level of integrity and service our customers expect.”

The acquisition is Marco’s eighth since partnering with Align Capital Partners, which invests in lower middle-market companies across specialty manufacturing, distribution, technology and business services sectors.

Founded in 1980 as Marco Rubber & Plastics, Marco Sealing Solutions supplies engineered rubber, plastic and metal components used in industrial applications. The company provides sealing products, engineering support, sourcing services and digital product search tools to customers across industrial end markets.

Chad Smith, CEO of Marco, said the acquisition strengthens the company’s engineered sealing capabilities and expands its ability to support industrial customers.

“They have built a strong reputation for quality and responsiveness, and their capabilities complement our existing offering in a meaningful way,” Smith said in a statement. “Together, we are even better positioned to solve sealing challenges and support our customers’ most demanding applications.”

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The company said the move aligns leadership titles with operational responsibilities already in place within the organization. SPI said its president had been handling the responsibilities associated with the CEO position for several years prior to the formal announcement.

Under the transition, Tremblay will continue supporting the executive leadership team and overseeing the company’s strategic direction as executive chairman of the board.

“I would like to recognize Kim’s outstanding contribution over the past several years,” Tremblay said in a statement. “Her judgment and consistency have helped guide the organization with clarity and discipline, while strengthening trust across our teams.”

SPI said the leadership changes will not affect company strategy, governance or day-to-day operations.

Founded in 1972, SPI distributes occupational health and safety products and services across Canada, including personal protective equipment, consulting, training and technical safety services. The company serves customers across industrial, construction, manufacturing and commercial sectors.

The executive transition comes as specialty distributors across industrial markets continue reshaping leadership structures to support operational growth, long-term planning and evolving customer demands.

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The data tells a different story.

DSG’s 2026 research on agentic AI in wholesale distribution surfaces a pattern that does not match the prevailing narrative. The companies pulling ahead are not the ones with the largest AI budgets or the most aggressive vendor partnerships. Something else is separating leaders from the field, and the divide is opening at a pace that should sharpen every distribution executive’s attention.

DSG will not give the whole picture away here. The findings deserve a deeper conversation, which is why DSG is walking through them inside the Best Practice Series. But there is enough in the data to flag where the industry is heading and why the next 18 months matter more than the last five.

From Productivity Tool to Platform

For most of 2024 and 2025, agentic AI sat in the experiment column for distributors. Pilots ran in customer service, quoting, inventory exception handling and content generation. Useful. Isolated. Manageable. The framing was productivity — faster turnaround, leaner operations, lower cost per transaction.

That framing is now obsolete.

Agentic AI is becoming the buyer interface in business-to-business distribution. Procurement agents are starting to negotiate, source and transact on behalf of customers. When the buyer is an AI agent, the distribution playbook changes in ways most operations were not built to absorb. Pricing exposure shifts. Catalog accuracy becomes existential. Sales relationships get filtered through machine logic. Service expectations recalibrate against algorithmic patience, not human patience.

The distributors who recognize this as a platform shift are organizing around it differently. The distributors who do not are running productivity pilots while their customer interface quietly rewires itself.

What the Research Surfaced

A significant share of distributors report being committed to AI. A much smaller share have moved past exploration into anything resembling scaled execution. That gap is not new. What is new is that the gap is no longer driven by capability or budget. The research points to a different set of variables, and the implications are uncomfortable.

The data surfaces patterns in how distributors are organizing for agentic AI, where execution stalls, what separates companies scaling pilots from companies stuck running them, and what kinds of leadership profiles are actually producing results. The directional shifts in adoption, governance and customer-facing deployment from 2025 to 2026 are sharper than most distribution leadership teams have benchmarked themselves against.

DSG will walk through the specifics inside the Best Practice Series session.

Themes Worth Watching

Several threads will be unpacked with attendees.

The hidden operational blocker. Most distributors think their AI execution problem is technical or talent-related. The data suggests the actual blocker sits somewhere else entirely — and it is the same blocker across most of the companies surveyed.

Why pilots are not scaling. The pilot-to-production failure rate in distribution AI is high. A specific structural reason shows up consistently in the responses, and it is not the reason most executives cite when asked.

The leadership capability gap. The research surfaces a profile of distribution leaders moving faster than peers. It is not the profile most boards are recruiting against.

The widening gap between experimentation and execution. Two distributors of similar size can sit at radically different points on the readiness curve, and that gap is starting to show up in customer retention, gross margin and sales productivity metrics.

The personas. The data clusters distributors into a small number of distinct AI maturity profiles. Each faces a different set of moves, and the most common profile is not the one most executives assume their company occupies.

Questions Worth Asking Before Registering

These serve as a self-check before joining the session.

Is your organization structurally prepared for AI-mediated commerce, or is it still optimizing for human buyers? Who owns AI strategy inside your company, and does that person have the operational authority to scale what works? Are current pilots designed to scale, or are they engineered to produce a successful demo and stop there? What operational weaknesses become visible the moment an AI agent becomes your customer’s buying interface? Are peers and competitors investing in capabilities that will be difficult to replicate in 12 months?

If those questions do not have clear answers, the gap to the front of the pack is wider than it looks.

Why This Session Matters

Distribution Strategy Group’s Best Practice Series is built around one principle: distribution executives do not need more content. They need a structured forum to pressure-test strategy against what peers and the data are actually showing. This session puts the 2026 agentic AI research in that format.

DSG will walk through the findings, the personas, the implementation patterns and the strategic implications most distributors are not preparing for. Attendees get the data, the frameworks and direct access to the analysts who ran the research.

This is not a marketing event. It is a working session for executives who need to understand where the industry is moving and what their leadership teams should be doing about it before the end of the third quarter.

The competitive window in distribution AI is not closing. It is narrowing. The companies that build execution capacity in the next two quarters will be operating in a different competitive environment than the ones that wait.

Join us for: State of Agentic AI in Distribution Rise of the Autonomous Assistant, Wednesday, May 27 9:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM EDT

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Packaging distributor Veritiv has completed its acquisition of Orora Packaging Solutions, expanding its North American packaging, automation and supply chain operations as consolidation accelerates across the distribution sector.

Veritiv said the acquisition adds Orora Packaging Solutions’ network of packaging manufacturing, distribution and visual merchandising operations across the U.S. and Mexico, along with 3,000 employees. The transaction was first announced in September 2024 and closed in December 2024.

Australian packaging company Orora Limited valued the deal at approximately $1.2 billion. Prior to the sale, Orora Packaging Solutions generated $3.3 billion in annual revenue and operated 66 locations across North America.

Veritiv CEO Sal Abbate said the acquisition strengthens the company’s ability to provide custom packaging, automation, design, and logistics services to large commercial customers. The company said the deal expands its “design-to-delivery” packaging capabilities and broadens its scale in value-added supply chain services.

The acquisition reflects broader consolidation trends across packaging and industrial distribution, where larger distributors are expanding beyond commodity product sales into engineered packaging, automation, and integrated logistics services.

Packaging distributors have increasingly invested in automation, warehouse optimization and custom packaging systems as customers seek fewer suppliers capable of handling broader supply chain functions.

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Ferguson Enterprises is moving to address a skilled trades workforce gap that threatens the construction and infrastructure projects wholesale distributors depend on, committing to connect 50,000 young people to trades careers by 2030 through education partnerships, hands-on programs, and community initiatives.

The Newport News, Virginia-based distributor, which posted $31.3 billion in calendar year 2025 sales, is anchoring the initiative in a set of structural realities: the average U.S. home is now more than 40 years old, the country remains millions of housing units short of current demand, and more than 80% of contractors report actively seeking skilled workers for housing and infrastructure projects.

The program spans plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, water systems, and other essential trades. Ferguson said it is pursuing the goal through partnerships with the ACE Mentor Program of America, Trades for Tomorrow, Tools, and Tiaras and the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. Those partnerships deliver funding, mentorship, job shadowing and access to tools and technology.

A principal component is the Explore the Trades Skills Lab, a Ferguson-supported program that provides schools with industry-grade tools and equipment to give students direct exposure to the trades before they make career decisions. Melissa Hazelwood, director of social impact at Ferguson, said the foundation of the effort is access. “A strong workforce starts with providing real opportunities, support and clear industry entry points,” Hazelwood said.

Ferguson said its local branches are creating experiential learning opportunities in their communities, including a recent visit to a Ferguson Ship Hub in southern Idaho where students saw firsthand how distribution supports construction operations.

The trades workforce shortage is not a new challenge for distributors, but its scope is intensifying. Residential construction depends on a consistent supply of qualified plumbers, electricians and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians — the same professionals who specify, purchase, and install the products distributors sell. When that labor supply tightens, project timelines extend, new construction slows and demand for repair and replacement work on the aging U.S. housing stock backs up.

Ferguson’s 50,000-person target reflects both social investment and a supply chain calculation. The company operates in more than 1,700 locations across North America and employs approximately 35,000 associates. Its core residential and nonresidential construction markets represent a combined addressable market the company estimates at $340 billion. The availability of trained tradespeople is a prerequisite for growth in both.

The construction sector is also contending with broader pressures. Ferguson noted that tariffs, labor shortages, commodity costs, and economic uncertainty are affecting demand and operating conditions across the building products industry. In that environment, distributor-backed workforce development programs carry added weight as a lever for sustaining project activity.

For distributors, Ferguson’s commitment signals a broader shift in how large-scale distribution companies are beginning to define their role in the supply chain ecosystem. Workforce development, once considered a contractor or trade association responsibility, is becoming an area where major distributors are investing directly, recognizing that the pipeline of trained tradespeople is as critical to long-term revenue as product availability or digital commerce capability.

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Distribution Strategy Group is expanding its Applied AI for Distributors event series with two new events: a regional one-day forum in Atlanta on Aug. 12 and an international edition of the event in Birmingham, England, on Oct. 15.

The Atlanta event will be held at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. This is designed as a shorter, more accessible version of DSG’s annual Applied AI for Distributors conference in Chicago, which the firm has produced for four years.

DSG said the regional format extends that programming to senior distribution leaders who could not attend the full Chicago Applied AI for Distributors conference as well as those who did and wanted continued engagement with applied AI content closer to home.

“The demand for in-person AI content in distribution has grown faster than one annual conference can serve,” said Ian Heller, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Distribution Strategy Group. “Atlanta gives us the opportunity to bring the same quality of practitioners, case studies and honest conversations about what is actually working to a new group of distribution leaders who deserve access to that content.”

The Atlanta program is intentionally designed as a single-day format that is structured for depth, according to DSG. The agenda will include general keynote sessions with industry leaders guiding attendees through their AI journeys, 25-minute AI Solution Sessions presented by technology vendors to the full audience, and an exhibit hall where sponsors can demonstrate AI-powered products and solutions.

DSG said the format is intentionally intimate, putting attendees in one room with the practitioners, case studies and technology leaders who are producing measurable AI outcomes in wholesale distribution. A speaker lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.

Sponsorship for the Atlanta event is available at three tiers. Presenting sponsors pay $12,500 and receive a 25-minute presentation to the full audience, an exhibitor table, two sponsor badges, the post-event attendee list with contact details and the option to submit a two-minute promotional video for pre-event distribution. A Distributor Leader Panel sponsorship is available at $10,000 and includes everything in the Presenting sponsor except for the 25-minute presentation.

This sponsorship is given time at the beginning of the Distribution Leader Panel to address the audience. Expo Hall sponsors pay $7,500 and receive a table, two sponsor badges and the pre-event video option but no attendee list or presentation slot. All tiers include a 60-second introduction by a company subject matter expert following the opening keynote. DSG said all Presenting Sponsors materials are vetted in advance and vendor sales pitches are not permitted during the AI Solutions Sessions to preserve the value for distribution attendees.

The U.K. event, AI Forum: UK|EU, is set for Oct. 15, at the National Conference Centre in, Birmingham, UK. The event can serve over 100 attendees from senior leadership at independent distributors and merchant groups across the U.K., Ireland, and mainland Europe. Attendance is priced at £995 ($1,386) for the first registration from an organization, £795 for each additional registration.

DSG identified the UK and EU distribution markets as key areas to expand AI education. These markets are currently underserved and feature no live AI events designed specifically for distribution. By bringing the content crafted from four years of hosting the Applied AI For Distributors Conference, DSG is creating a way for these companies to jump start their AI initiatives, avoid the mistakes made by U.S. distributors, and build proven AI roadmaps designed specifically for their companies.

“The U.K. is at that same inflection point right now,” Heller said.

The U.K. program follows the same practitioner standard DSG applies to its U.S. events: speakers must present real implementations from the previous 12 to 24 months with measurable business outcomes, and all materials are reviewed in advance. A full speaker lineup and agenda are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

U.K. sponsorship is available at two tiers. Presenting sponsors pay $10,000 and receive a 25-minute presentation slot, an exhibitor table, the full post-event attendee list, and promotional support before the event. Expo Hall sponsors pay $5,000 and receive a table and introductory speaking time but no attendee list or presentation slot. Presenting and expo slots are each capped at six.

Sponsorship inquiries for both events can be directed to:

Dave Cappelli –  dcappelli@distributionstrategy.com

Mark VanRyn – mvanryn@distributionstrategy.com

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Motivate, a software company based in Bend, Ore., has launched Motivate OS, an artificial intelligence automation platform designed to handle order intake, quoting, pricing and financial workflows for small and midsize wholesale distributors.

The platform captures inbound requests from email, SMS, and unstructured file formats, automatically processes orders and quotes, applies pricing logic, and handles downstream workflows including returns, warranties and accounts payable and receivable. Motivate OS integrates with existing enterprise resource planning and ecommerce systems and does not require replacement of those platforms, the company said.

The announcement centers on a consolidation argument: that most distributors currently rely on multiple disconnected tools to accomplish what Motivate is packaging as a single deployable system. The pitch is aimed specifically at smaller distributors for whom enterprise automation platforms have historically been too costly or complex to implement.

“Distributors don’t need more tools, they need one system that actually runs the business,” said Justin J. Johnson, who has more than 25 years of experience building software for manufacturers and distributors. “Most orders still come in through email and text to the branch, and most of the technology built to automate that has been delivered as separate tools. When you automate that intake and everything that follows in one system, you remove the manual work and give your team time back.”

Jason Bader, principal of The Distribution Team, a distribution industry consultancy, said the platform’s value lies in its consolidation rather than in any single capability. “There are a lot of companies building individual tools, but very few have brought those capabilities together into a single system,” Bader said. “It levels the playing field and allows these businesses to automate manual work and focus more on customer relationships, which is what ultimately drives growth.”

Motivate did not disclose customer counts, pricing, or revenue figures in the announcement.

The launch reflects a broader push by software vendors to target the operational gap between large distributors that have deployed automation across their branch networks and smaller independent operators still processing a significant share of orders manually. How Motivate OS performs in live distributor environments at scale remains to be demonstrated.

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NetPlus Alliance has promoted three executives following the planned retirement of senior vice president of business development Paul Byrnes, who will step down in June after 12 years with the industrial and contractor supplies buying group.

The Lockport, New York-based organization promoted Zach Brado to senior vice president of growth and development, Jennifer McMillan to vice president of human resources, operations and marketing, and Kate Borth to vice president of finance. The promotions took effect May 1.

Brado succeeds Byrnes after previously serving as vice president of development and marketing. He joined NetPlus in 2012 as a marketing intern and later led supplier relations, marketing, programs, and events for the organization.

McMillan previously served as senior director of human resources and operations, while Borth was senior director of finance before her promotion.

NetPlus said Byrnes helped recruit 260 distributor members during his tenure and played a key role in developing the company’s Growth Plus sales and marketing planning program, launched in 2016. The buying group said participating distributors have generated 50% greater purchase growth through the program compared with nonparticipants, though the company did not disclose supporting figures or the measurement period.

Before joining NetPlus in 2014, Byrnes spent 11 years with ORS Nasco as eastern region sales director.

NetPlus President and CEO Jennifer Murphy said the promotions are part of the organization’s succession planning and long-term growth strategy.

NetPlus Alliance represents more than 400 industrial and contractor supplies distributors and negotiates pricing, rebates and purchasing terms with more than 220 manufacturers on behalf of members, according to the company.

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Heritage Distribution Holdings has named Doug Reichert chief commercial officer as the company continues expanding its HVAC/R distribution business and investing in pricing, supplier relationships, and national account growth.

Reichert will oversee pricing, purchasing, marketing, national accounts and private-label operations, the company said. He also will work with operating businesses and field leadership teams on revenue growth, margin improvement, and commercial strategy execution.

“Doug’s appointment reflects our continued investment in being the ‘Fastest, Easiest, and Best’ partner for customers and suppliers,” CEO Alex Averitt said. “His deep industry experience, strategic mindset, and proven ability to drive profitable growth make him an outstanding addition as we continue to scale our business.”

Reichert joins Heritage after serving as region president at Carrier Enterprise. Before that, he spent more than 20 years at Ferguson, where he helped expand the company’s HVAC operations.

The appointment comes as HVAC distributors place greater emphasis on pricing management, supplier partnerships and private-label programs amid continued consolidation and competitive pressure across the market.

Heritage said the move is part of its broader effort to strengthen commercial execution as the company expands its footprint through acquisitions and regional partnerships.

Reichert holds a bachelor’s degree from Radford University and is based in Franklin, Tennessee.

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