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- Huyett Marketing Department
- 08/05/2021
- Updated 12/28/2023
The role of a master distributor is critical in maintaining efficient supply chains. They manage the flow of products from one place to another so suppliers and resellers on either end of the chain can focus on providing customer service and quality parts – but what exactly does that entail?
That process includes a range of workflows, from vetting and managing supplier relationships to customizing packaging options for individual customers. Here, we discuss what a master distributor is and how it fulfills its role in the fastener distribution supply chain.
What is a Master Distributor?
A master distributor is a wholesale distributor who sells products to resellers. They have direct relationships with brand owners who recognize them as distributors of their product. Master distributors provide resellers with full access to a wide range of products from those trusted brands without the pain of having to manage multiple relationships or meet specific criteria required by brand owners.
What are the Benefits of Working with a Master Distributor?
The unique market position of master distributors enable them to offer benefits that help their customers develop efficient workflows and focus on customer satisfaction. From virtual warehousing to industry analytics, the benefits listed below help resellers simplify their supply chains in several ways.
Virtual Warehousing
Manufacturers and brand owners often require high order minimums, forcing resellers to purchase more products than they actually need. Master distributors purchase inventory from brand owners in large quantities, which allows the master distributor to sell that inventory in lower quantities. Lower order minimums help resellers order only what is necessary to satisfy their customers.
This benefits the customer in two ways:
- Lower upfront inventory costs frees up cash to finance other projects.
- The master distributor carries the inventory, which frees up warehouse space and reduces the chance of spoilage or obsolescence associated with non-moving inventory.
Access to Industry Leading Products
Many manufacturers and brand owners gate their products by selling only through a select group of master distributors or other wholesalers. This creates a barrier that many modest size resellers cannot overcome. Partnering with a master distributor opens access to those products at a lower cost than can typically be found elsewhere in the market.
As the owner of that brand relationship, master distributors also have a direct line to brand owners. This helps resellers communicate feedback from their customers back to the brand owners, which can drive innovation that can drive additional customer value and lower defects.
Breadth and Depth of Selection
As an exclusive distributor for brand owners, master distributors tend to have access to a broader range of both standard and niche products. Master distributors can serve as a one-stop shop to consolidate vendors or as a partner to help resellers source hard to find specialty products.
Shorter Lead Times
Sometimes working directly with a manufacturer or brand owner results in long lead times, especially if there are extensive shipping windows from overseas vendors. Domestic master distributors act as an inventory buffer that provide a stable supply with faster delivery times.
Flexible to Meet your Business Needs
Manufacturers tend to focus on making products with standardized processes to reduce costs and will often limit the number of customers they support to stay focused on what they do well – make products. Master distributors support distribution, which makes them nimbler than manufacturers to provide solutions. Most master distributors handle much smaller orders than manufacturers, often being able to ship products for prototypes, samples, repair operations, or large production runs.
Advises on Industry Trends
Master distributors are experts in their industry. They provide product recommendations and share demand forecasts to take the uncertainty around planning orders. This allows resellers to focus on growing their own business by taking care of the needs of their customers. As experts, distributors keep a watchful eye on industry dynamics and trends to ensure that inventory is consistently on hand for customers. This lessens the risk of negative impact to the supply chain from external circumstances like shipping container shortages.
More Efficient Supply Chain
Partnering directly with master distributors remove steps out of the supply chain, which reduces overall costs of the product. Fewer links in the supply chain means fewer hands touching the products, which means fewer overhead costs that get passed on to the customer.
Huyett as Your Master Distributor of Industrial Fasteners
Huyett specializes as a master distributor and manufacturer of
industrial fasteners, power transmission components, and premium lifting & rigging hardware. As such, we fully understand the complexity of getting parts from the source to the end user. Developing relationships with multiple suppliers, consistently delivering high-quality parts, managing shipping, and ensuring customer satisfaction along the way takes time and resources that you as a reseller should be able to devote to your customers.
industrial fasteners, power transmission components, and premium lifting & rigging hardware. As such, we fully understand the complexity of getting parts from the source to the end user. Developing relationships with multiple suppliers, consistently delivering high-quality parts, managing shipping, and ensuring customer satisfaction along the way takes time and resources that you as a reseller should be able to devote to your customers.
With over 100 years of experience, we know what it takes to build a business: simple processes, a trusted community of suppliers, and a genuine investment in people. That’s why a
distributor partnership with Huyett comes with a complete line of services that set the stage for you to become your customers’ top supplier of high-quality fasteners.
distributor partnership with Huyett comes with a complete line of services that set the stage for you to become your customers’ top supplier of high-quality fasteners.
How do we do it? Simply put, it’s Supply Chain Simplified.
What is Supply Chain Simplified?
Supply Chain Simplified is Huyett’s complete list of services and benefits – outlined on our
Supply Chain Simplified webpage – that help our fastener distributors customize their partnership with simplified processes. Our services are:
Supply Chain Simplified webpage – that help our fastener distributors customize their partnership with simplified processes. Our services are:
Leaning Up the Supply Chain
Distribution Support
Custom Packaging Solutions
Ease of Use
Master Distribution
Global Sourcing
Supplier Consolidation
Complete In-House Manufacturing
Engineering Support
By utilizing these Supply Chain Simplified services, you get a wholesale distributor who confidently manages the complexities of being a single-source provider of high-quality products. Your business partnership will allow you to improve efficiency in your supply chains in a number of ways.
Consolidate Orders and Shipping for Multiple Brands
Huyett helps you consolidate products from multiple brands into one order, which means you benefit from cost-efficient shipping, fewer pack lists, and less time spent processing small orders. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, which is why we offer customer-driven consolidation options for distributors. You decide when and how we ship your orders – every Thursday, once a month, after combined orders exceed a pre-defined weight, when an order qualifies for freight shipping, when an order reaches a pre-defined number of parts – and we’ll make sure we hold the order until it meets your threshold.
Leverage Low Order Minimums
Many top-of-the-line suppliers produce parts in large quantities. However, many resellers don’t need large quantities of a single product and typically want smaller quantities of many different products. Huyett uses our strong relationships with these high-quality suppliers to purchase large quantities, so you don’t have to. We also take advantage of bulk order pricing and pass on the savings to you.
Reduce Inventory Holding Costs
Customers expect distributors to provide a wide range of products quickly at competitive prices, which traditionally required resellers to house significant inventory amounts. Master distributors act as a “virtual warehouse” for distributors, reducing those warehousing costs. We keep a wide range of
industrial fasteners and lifting & rigging hardware in stock in strategically located warehouses across the U.S, allowing you to meet your customers’ expectations without incurring a huge warehousing bill.
industrial fasteners and lifting & rigging hardware in stock in strategically located warehouses across the U.S, allowing you to meet your customers’ expectations without incurring a huge warehousing bill.
Take Advantage of Our Expert Sales Support
Huyett’s
Distribution Support Team consists of highly-trained Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) strategically stationed throughout North America. Our RSMs regularly visit distributors in person to ask questions that go beyond the parts you need and get to the heart of your business. What product line would help you expand your reach? What are your customers currently struggling with? Are there ways to elevate your warehouse efficiency? Your Huyett RSM will bring strategic suggestions to the table using data-based analysis so you can target the most viable opportunities for your business.
Distribution Support Team consists of highly-trained Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) strategically stationed throughout North America. Our RSMs regularly visit distributors in person to ask questions that go beyond the parts you need and get to the heart of your business. What product line would help you expand your reach? What are your customers currently struggling with? Are there ways to elevate your warehouse efficiency? Your Huyett RSM will bring strategic suggestions to the table using data-based analysis so you can target the most viable opportunities for your business.
Access Specialist Manufacturing Capabilities and Custom Products
When you need parts with specifications that go beyond off-the-shelf-options, it’s helpful to have a preferred partner who will work with you to take your ideas from concept to completion. At Huyett, we do that by offering
manufacturing capabilities for custom parts.
manufacturing capabilities for custom parts.
Our manufacturing capabilities include:
- Cutting: Our metal-cutting band saws cut metal up to 3” square from multiple materials – including carbon steel, stainless steel, Monel™, Inconel™, Carpenter™ 20, and other alloys – into custom sizes of key stock, machine keys, and metal bars.
- Turning: Turning is one of the many functions of our lathe. The lathe rotates the part as a cutting tool runs laterally along the part’s edge to remove material. This process can consistently produce simple or highly-complex precision parts with surfaces that are straight, tapered, contoured, polished, and more.
- Milling: Get tight tolerances with precision for your parts with our milling capabilities. This function consists of running a high-speed precision cutting tool over the surface of your part to produce tight-tolerance results, form shapes, drill holes, and deburr parts.
- Drilling: If your parts require drilling – whether as through-holes or to specific depths – we have the capabilities to perform this function as a stand-alone process or in-line along with other machining operations quickly with precise results.
- Threading: When your part needs threading, we can help you find the right process to customize your product. Huyett can handle internal and external threading with either thread-cutting or thread-rolling capabilities to inch and DIN standards.
- Surface Grinding: This process is used to grind parts down to exacting precision. Similar to sanding, a grinding wheel removes small amounts of material to meet your exacting specifications.
- Laser Cutting: When you need small, detailed cuts for unique shapes and materials, Huyett offers laser cutting as a cost-effective alternative to tooling. This process uses a high-energy beam to melt, vaporize, or combust material.
- Forming: Forming is a material-saving process that shapes your material by rolling, extruding, die forming, forging, or indenting. It offers quick, high-quality, and cost-efficient results.
- Wire Forming: Much like forming, wire forming shapes your wire parts – like pins – into hundreds of different standard forms. If standard doesn’t fit your needs, we can customize a form to meet your specifications.
- Stamping: When you have small parts that need stamped, punched, or indented, Huyett’s stamping capabilities provide a range of simple functions to progressive dies that accommodate complex designs.
We also provide a number of secondary processes:
- Heat Treating: Sometimes, your parts need to be fortified with extra hardenability, machinability, corrosion resistance, and more. Huyett offers materials that have been heat treated in multiple ways, including annealing, baking, and quenching, to provide you with the material your application requires.
- Plating: Plating offers cost-effective, light corrosion resistance for parts that just need a little more protection. We facilitate zinc electroplating, chrome finishes, and more.
- Coating: If your parts need corrosion resistance for harsh environments, coating offers several options that provide protection against elements like saltwater and heavy use in automotives and machinery.
- Marking: Marking offers several ways to customize your parts with unique information. Whether by company name or part number, this function makes your parts unmistakably identifiable as yours, eliminating potential channel conflict.
Drop Ship Products Direct to Your Customers
Your business is growing, and your time is better spent elevating your inventory strategy rather than processing shipments. Huyett offers shipping customizations and configurations that help you streamline your orders, minimize process times, and manage your customers’ shipments.
Each of our three pack list options also provides a unique advantage, depending on your end shipment location and customization preferences.
- Standard: Our
standard pack list displays the Huyett logo in the top left hand corner and provides the number of boxes in your order, the quantity of parts in each box, tracking numbers, special instructions, and more. This is a popular option for distributors who want to ship parts directly to their warehouse. - Default Drop-Ship: Our
default drop-ship pack list provides the same information as our standard pack list, but displays a generic “Industrial Parts” logo at the top. When distributors want to ship parts directly from the Huyett warehouse to their customer, this pack list offers a quick solution that eliminates any recognition of Huyett to diminish channel conflict. - Custom Blind Drop-Ship: Our custom drop-ship pack list is similar to our default drop-ship pack list, but it displays your company’s logo at the top. This provides a personal touch that allows your customers to associate the order directly with
your
brand, keeping
you
top-of-mind. To request a custom list:- Click the “Send Us Your Logo Now!” button at the bottom of
this page - You will be prompted to attach your company’s logo to an email addressed to Huyett’s Marketing Department
- Send the email
- Confirm with your Sales Representative that you would like your pack list to include your logo
- Click the “Send Us Your Logo Now!” button at the bottom of
Get Data Analytics and Market Forecasting
These days, receiving the parts you need isn’t always as clear cut as it used to be. Huyett’s Supply Chain Team keeps tabs on market trends, material availability, and inventory management history to paint a contextual picture of when and where products are needed. We also actively monitor global events and their impacts on relevant supply chains for current and future orders. We distill this information into realistic product and product line suggestions and reliable lead times that help you develop and maintain an inventory your customers can depend on.
Have Peace of Mind with Quality Assurance
When it comes to your customers’ orders, nothing is more important than delivering the right order with quality parts on time.
Supplier Quality Assurance
To ensure your products are made from high-quality material and meet or exceed all industry standards, we start by qualifying our suppliers. We take this step very seriously and conduct initial vendor assessments on all potential partners. This is followed by regular reviews of all suppliers with extra bi-monthly reviews of major suppliers to assess performance, lead times, customer sentiment, and future opportunities to improve customer experience.
Product and Process Quality Assurance
When you place an order with Huyett, your part specifications pass through two departmental checkpoints before it even arrives at our door. Our Sales Team meticulously reviews orders and confirms them with you before moving the process forward. Our Purchasing Team confirms the order and sources your parts directly from approved and vetted suppliers with proven track records of consistently delivering high-quality products.
When our Receiving Team accepts products, we measure and test the parts to ensure the dimensions and materials match the specifics of your order. If at any point a part fails an inspection, it is removed from the order and quarantined as “nonconformant” while management identifies the source of the nonconformance to avoid future issues. From Receiving to Shipping, each Huyett team member that handles your order is trained in product identification to ensure you receive exactly what you need. This process helps us achieve a 99%+ customer satisfaction rate.
Experience Industry-Leading Customer Communication
Huyett is committed to communicating with you consistently and honestly at every point in your journey. We relay information pertaining to your order quickly and completely and encourage you to provide feedback through:
- Personal discussions
- Reseller rating reviews
- Our unique RSM-initiated customer scorecards
- Any way you feel comfortable sharing your opinions about your experience
Getting Started
If you’re ready to start your partnership with Huyett, all it takes is two simple steps:
- Talk to your Distribution Support Team Regional Sales Manager or
contact our Sales Team to discuss moving forward with those services - Become a Huyett Distributor
If you’d like more information about our processes and services before speaking with a Huyett team member, take a look at our resources:
- Process Education –
Manufacturing and
Production and Design - Supplier Education –
Master Distributor - Product Education –
Catalogs and Literature,
Blogs, and
Product FAQs - Distributor Resources –
Fastener Distributor Benefits and
Online Account Training
As always, our friendly Customer Service and Inside Sales teams are ready to answer any questions you may have regarding potential business, products, orders, quotes, and more. Call
(785) 392-3017 or email us at
sales@huyett.com.
(785) 392-3017 or email us at
sales@huyett.com.