A Course to the Top

When it comes to integrating, School Specialty moves quickly. “We bought ABC School in August and by mid-January, it was completely integrated. We put that company together with one we already owned, Childcraft, which also focuses on the early education market,” he says. Both companies had manufacturing plants, distribution centers (DCs), sales forces and catalogs. “We integrated all of those operations, and within four months, closed a DC and a plant, and combined back-end operations.”