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ITW Announces Food Equipment Group Organizational Changes

Troy, OH – August 31, 2010 – ITW today announced organizational changes to the ITW Food Equipment Group. Effective immediately, Chris O’Herlihy is appointed President, Food Equipment Group Worldwide, which includes responsibility for all Food Equipment Group operations globally. 

“We are consolidating leadership responsibility for the Food Equipment Group on a worldwide basis to position the organization to fully leverage its technical, operational, and organizational capabilities globally in order to take full advantage of the Group’s significant future growth potential,” said E. Scott Santi, ITW Vice Chairman. “Chris’s proven global leadership capabilities, developed over the course of his 21-year career with ITW, position him well to lead the ITW Food Equipment Group forward.”

Over the course of his career with ITW, O’Herlihy has served in a number of functional, managerial, and leadership roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Group President, Food Equipment Group International.  

Due to this change in the Food Equipment Group’s leadership structure, the Group President, North America and Group President, International positions are being eliminated.  As a result, John McDonough, currently Group President, North America, has decided to leave the company.

“On behalf of the entire organization, we thank John for his many leadership contributions and years of dedicated service to the company, and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Santi. 

Posted 8/31/10

MAFSI Business Barometer Reports Second Quarter Contraction Less Severe
Reps expect third quarter to improve but still at -2.7%

Overall sales for Q2/10 contracted by -3.3%, which was less severe than the past three quarter contractions of -5.3%, -12.8%, and -11.5% respectively.

Although the marketplace has still not turned positive, the numbers are improving. Nevertheless, this marked the tenth consecutive quarter of negative growth and fourteenth quarter of the current slowdown. Foodservice Equipment Reports estimates that from peak to troth, the market contracted 21% from $9.1 billion in 2007 to $7.2 billion in 2010 By geography, overall sales ranged from -5.1% in the West, -4.9% in the South, -3.8% in the Midwest, and  -2.4% in the Northeast. Once again, Canada showed growth of 2.2%.

By product category, equipment was down by -4.5% (versus -7.5% last quarter), tabletop was down -1.5%, furnishings was down -0.4%, while supplies grew by 0.4%. Once again, we see that smallwares is improving while equipment still lags. Reps are predicting less contraction this next quarter with an expected performance of -2.7% for Q3/10. It would appear that we are still a couple of quarters away from true growth as only 40% of reps report that they are quoting more work and only 23% see more consultant activity.

Fed chairman Bernanke recently described the economic outlook as "unusually uncertain." With the unemployment ranks at 14.6 million, a significant recovery remains doubtful. In fact, the National Restaurant Association's (NRA) restaurant performance index has now declined for three consecutive months. As is usually the case, some segments are healthier than others, led by schools, universities and healthcare while B&I, casinos, and country clubs lag.

Posted 8/17/10

Review of Revit

By Rick Ellingson, Bargreen Ellingson

If you have not heard much about it, you will be in the not so distant future. Revit is a very robust tool being driven by architectural and engineering communities. It will replace AutoCAD for designing buildings. Revit is very powerful and efficient. It is 3-D and is like virtual reality.

None of the AutoCAD symbols work with Revit. All existing symbols must be re-drawn in 3D. In addition, they must be imbedded with data (mechanical requirements, dimensions etc.)

The symbols in Revit are called families that have to have similar properties (kind of like DNA). If all manufacturers create their own proprietary families, we will have hundreds of incompatible families in the same kitchen configuration.

Most architects do not understand the commercial kitchen and most engineers don’t care. But because they are driving the bus on this movement, we must learn to play by their rules.

AutoQuotes is involved in the initial phases of getting some standards identified. It is critical that the foodservice equipment industry gets behind some form of open architecture that grows into some smart standards.

A few companies in the industry are using it now. There is an industry committee, with primarily FCSI and NAFEM participation. FEDA is soliciting a seat at the table. Stay tuned, as there is more to come. Posted 7/13/10

LMI Freight Rate - Glassware Disposition

Click here to read the Disposition Bulletin

Interior Design Protection Council

The Interior Design Protection Council has been at the forefront of the pro-freedom movement, having assisted in defeating or derailing nearly 100 attempts to expand or enact new interior design regulation since 2006. You can find the details of all these bills on the Legislation page on the website (www.IDPCinfo.org). There you will find the most comprehensive information including details of states already regulated, all twelve government reports concluding that interior design regulation would add absolutely nothing to protect the public beyond measures already in place, and a plethora of media pieces.

End-of-the-Year Analysis by Al Bates

Every year the Profit Planning Group prepares a comparison analysis across lines of trade in distribution.  Both the Word file and Excel file are a part of the process.

The results are particularly important this year.  There are some valuable insights into what happens to performance when an industries enters a recession.  There are some lessons to be learned for future recessions.

R&I 20 Menu Trends for 2010

The ingredients, recipes and strategies that will drive menus in the year ahead.
By Allison Perlik

Click Here to read the full article.