Austin Hardware: 2024 Year in Review

As December comes to a close, you’ll see a surge of Year in Review articles and blog posts, and Austin Hardware is no exception. This year, we've made several improvements to our services and initiated additional projects that will culminate in 2025. Our aim is to provide more value to our customers and help them achieve greater success.

Here’s a look back at 2024 with an eye toward 2025 and beyond.

Implementation of Market Dojo

Market Dojo is now the primary platform for our purchasing department to send Requests for Quotations (RFQs). Vendors receive an invitation from us to bid on an RFQ through Market Dojo and are required to submit their bids via the Market Dojo portal. The advantages of using Market Dojo include streamlining our sourcing process and allowing us to receive bids more efficiently. Most importantly, it helps us identify the best suppliers and negotiate the most favorable deals, ultimately resulting in lower costs for our customers.

Implementation of eTurns TrackStock

To further enhance our Vendor Managed Inventory and Customer Managed Inventory programs, we implemented eTurns TrackStock, a user-friendly turnkey, auto-replenishment software solution with the full spectrum of point-of-use inventory management features. It is the next-gen software for streamlining point-of-use replenishment. Some of the enhancements of eTurns TrackStock include:

• - Assisting with creating pulls, orders, and receives
• - Allows users to set min/max levels​
• - Optimizes replenishment to help reduce inventory, carrying costs, and procurement labor
• - Works ten times faster than replenishing using spreadsheets or e-commerce
• - Provides VMI team with enhanced reporting for increased efficiency

Construction of a Climate-Controlled Addition to our Lee’s Summit, MO Warehouse

We recently completed a 6,500-square-foot, temperature-controlled expansion of our Lee’s Summit, MO warehouse. It was built specifically to store our wide selection of chemical products, such as sealants and adhesives. The added space allows us to stock more products appropriately per manufacturer recommendations.

Most chemical products must be stored in a climate-controlled environment to preserve longevity and effectiveness. For example, many single-component sealants/adhesives are moisture-curing; therefore, managing humidity while in storage is essential. This expansion is an example of our commitment to providing top-of-the-line products and to being the most reliable, conscientious partner for our customers and suppliers.  

Continued Focus on Hiring the Best

At Austin Hardware, we are dedicated to providing exceptional service to our customers, and this begins with having the best team. We are constantly on the lookout for talented and driven individuals who share our passion for excellence and innovation. By attracting top talent, we ensure that we consistently meet and exceed our customers' expectations, delivering the outstanding experiences they deserve. In 2024, we continued to strengthen our Purchasing and Sales departments, as well as our warehouses, to ensure we are effectively sourcing, servicing, and shipping products for you.

California Location Moves to a New Home

In 2024, our California location relocated 14 miles northwest of Mira Loma to a new facility in Ontario. Our exceptional California team successfully moved a 10,000-square-foot facility, which housed over 700 different part numbers, to the new location in just 2 days. This transition was completed on time and without any negative impact on our customers. The new location is 17,000 square feet, providing an additional 7,000 square feet of space. This expansion allows us to maintain a larger inventory and better serve our customers in the West.

New Website Coming in 2025

We are excited to announce that we are working on the first major upgrade to our website in several years. The upgrades will offer a range of exciting benefits for our customers, enhancing your shopping experience to be smoother, faster, and more enjoyable. You can expect improved speeds and streamlined navigation for effortless browsing. Enhanced search and filtering tools will allow you to quickly find exactly what you need.

The new mobile-friendly interface will provide a seamless experience on any device, enabling you to explore and make purchases anytime, anywhere. More personalized recommendations, clearer product details, and faster checkout options will allow our new website to deliver the convenience you’ve come to expect from modern online shopping.

We anticipate ongoing growth and improvements in our product lines and services to better serve our customers in the future, and we will keep you updated on these developments. We also wish all our customers and their families a Happy New Year and our best wishes for great success in 2025.

2024 Work Truck Industry Update: Navigating Change and Looking Ahead to 2025

The work truck industry in 2024 has experienced significant changes driven by sustainability goals, regulatory updates, and advancing technologies. Fleet managers are increasingly prioritizing greener operations, adopting smart technology solutions, and responding to economic pressures to remain competitive.

Here's a closer look at the top trends shaping the work truck industry and what we can expect heading into 2025.

Sustainability and Green Technology

A Grateful Reflection: Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving always represents a great opportunity to pause, reflect, and express our gratitude. Since our founding in 1960, Austin Hardware has been fortunate to be part of an incredible journey. We want to use this space to express our appreciation for the people who have made it possible: our customers, suppliers, and employees.

Adhesive Canister Systems vs. Bulk Adhesives: Which Is Right for Your Needs?

Introduction to Adhesive Delivery Systems

When it comes to choosing the right adhesive delivery system, understanding the differences between bulk adhesives and canister systems is crucial. These systems vary in terms of scale, portability, and application, making each suited to specific types of projects and environments.

Bulk Adhesive Systems

Efficiency and Productivity Challenges

Bulk adhesive systems are designed for high-volume industrial use. They leverage pumps and shop air to transport adhesives, which can lead to inefficiencies. During delivery, adhesive molecules mix with air, causing significant material loss. Typically, bulk systems operate at only 50-60% efficiency, meaning 40-50% of the adhesive never reaches the target surface.

A Recap of the Fall 2024 RV Show Season

A couple of shows remain in November, but the bulk of the Fall RV show season concluded last week. As always, August and September saw countless regional and “Super” shows around the country, presented by RV and boat industry associations.

Always a major highlight for the RV community, the Hershey RV Show, held September 11-15, attracted nearly 48,000 attendees, a more than 5% increase from 2023, as reported by the Pennsylvania Recreation Vehicle and Camping Association (PRVCA). Billed as “America’s Largest RV Show,” the event, which takes place in Hershey, PA, the home of The Hershey (candy) Company, featured over 1,500 RVs from 40 manufacturers and offered a first look at 2025 models with cutting-edge designs, technologies, and features.

Celebrate National Manufacturing Month This October!

The International Trade Administration and the U.S. government acknowledge October as Manufacturing Month. The official kickoff of National Manufacturing Month is Manufacturing Day, held annually on the first Friday of October. In 2024, Manufacturing Day falls on Friday, October 4.

According to the Manufacturing Institute, Manufacturing Day “ …helps show the reality and future of modern manufacturing careers by encouraging thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation to open their doors to students, parents, educators, and community leaders.”

The wireless access and locks market is growing and appears set to continue, thanks to technological advancements, innovation, and a growing emphasis on security and convenience.

Smart Lock Adoption and Integration

The adoption of smart locks is expanding, particularly in residential applications. This is due to the increasing popularity of smart home technologies. The ability to control locks via smartphones, integrate with smart home systems, and enhanced security features have attracted residential consumers, whether they own or rent their homes.

More and more smart locks are becoming compatible with wireless communication protocols, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Z-Wave. These integrations allow seamless connectivity with other smart devices and enable remote locking/unlocking features, real-time alerts, and voice control.

Residential applications are not the only market segment showing growth. Specific commerce sectors, such as hospitality and real estate, where security and convenience are paramount, are also experiencing significant growth.

Through the first half of 2024, the truck and trailer market continues to show signs of stabilizing. The market recovery from the excess capacity that originated during the pandemic due to an increase in new trucking companies has been slow. While there has been a reduction in the number of operating carriers, the adjustment and recovery have been slow. According to an article by Trailer/Body Builders, “The good news: The pandemic disruption and recovery have largely run their course, and traditional market cycles seem to be falling into place. The bad news: The freight cycle bottomed out in 2023, and the rebound remains on the horizon; that means that the heavy-duty trailer and truck markets can expect a down year in 2024.”

Companies are encouraged to focus on new trends as the market recovers to maintain competitiveness. Chris Bouchard writes, “The trailer industry is undergoing a transformative period, marked by innovative designs, technological advancements, and a heightened focus on sustainability. Encompassing recreational trailers to tractor trailers, several trends are shaping the future of this essential automotive industry sector.”

OSHA requirement 1910.38 lays out a business’s obligations regarding emergency action plans. These plans must be in place to protect employees, including preparing for severe weather.

Every plan needs to be customized to suit an individual business's specific needs and circumstances. However, here is a general overview of what you may need to consider when developing a plan for your business.

One of the first things every business should do is form an emergency response team to be responsible for developing and implementing the company’s emergency action plan (EAP).

Once established, this team should assess the risk of different severe weather events that are likely to apply to your business’s location. Specifically, an evaluation of the level of vulnerability to various types of weather hazards, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and blizzards.