• HVACR Distributors Take on Supply Chain's Biggest Challenges

    Aug. 1, 2006
    HARDI introduced its newest initiative, HARDITek during the recent Mid-Year Business Conference. HARDITek is the HVACR industry's only total solution

    HARDI introduced its newest initiative, HARDITek during the recent Mid-Year Business Conference. HARDITek is the HVACR industry's only total solution package for distributors and manufacturers of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment and supplies that employs technology to take costs out of the supply channel and more efficiently service the marketplace.

    HARDITek's mission is to identify and provide proven, supported and readily accessible technologies for HVACR distributors and the suppliers who support their efforts to ensure wholesale distributors remain the most effective, efficient and profitable method of serving the market.

    HARDITek is comprised of carefully selected and exclusively endorsed service providers of technology solutions to channel processes. Members of HARDI have the opportunity to become preferred users of the HARDITek Partners' services: services that complement one another and provide additional savings and increased efficiencies when bundled together. We selected the three inaugural service provider Partners because of their commitment to streamlining the processes of distributors and manufacturers specifically in the HVACR industry. The Partners most notably streamlined these processes through the development of a central database of products and their characteristics that can be accessed by distributors' management systems. Trade Services Corp.®, Catalog Builder®, and TransLink EDI Solutions® are the first to receive the HARDITek endorsement and have earned seats on HARDI's Supply Chain Technologies committee.

    Finding, quoting, ordering, invoicing, paying for and marketing products are usually the largest expenses incurred between channel partners aside from inventory. These processes are rife with manual keying, errors and corrections, and customization for special orders. HARDITek targets those processes and provides flexible automated solutions to those problems. The HARDITek Solutions Matrix and Partner Summaries on the new HARDITek section of the website (www.HARDInet.org/HARDITek) outline how the inaugural Partners can address and solve some of the most common problems faced by distributors and their suppliers.

    HARDI members who invest in HARDITek Partner services receive exclusive pricings, earn special differentiation and recognition as one of the most committed individuals in the industry to being an effective and efficient channel partner. HARDI believes that through its intense focus on the intricacies of the HVACR industry and its complementary services, HARDITek is a powerful resource for helping manufacturers maximize the wholesale channel and for contractors to have what they need, when and where they need it at the best possible price.