Shaped Up, Shipped Out

Refined Focus

Early in 2002, they refined the catalog's focus to just the metal-cutting tools niche of the MRO business. They also began selling off some of the companies that J&L had acquired in the '90s, such as ATS Industrial Supply and Strong Tool Co.

"The company was in a tremendous level of flux, which led to a high [order-taking] error rate," Wessner says. "The retail model didn't make a lot of sense, because it's not a retail-type business. We needed more centralized inventory. The metal-working business is a long-tailed business, requiring thousands of SKUs."