Orgill, Inc. is the world’s largest independently owned hardlines distributor, with annual sales exceeding $3.7 billion. Orgill provides products and services to over 12,000 stores throughout all fifty US states, all provinces and territories in Canada, and in over 50 additional countries. The businesses served by Orgill include a balanced mix of retailers who operate hardware stores, home centers, pro dealers, and farm stores.
Orgill’s subsidiaries include Orgill Canada, the Canadian segment of Orgill’s distribution network; Central Network Retail Group (CNRG), a multi-format, multi-brand retailer operating 144 hardware stores, home centers, and lumberyards throughout sixteen states across the US; and Tyndale Advisors, a management, consulting, and marketing firm that primarily serves Orgill dealers.
Company Profile
$3.7b+
ANNUAL SALES
12,000
stores served across the world
6,800
EMPLOYEES
8
distribution facilities
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
Years of Experience
16
Fast Facts
Current recipient of the
HSB Dealer Top Women in Hardware & Building Award, Class of 2023 Rising Star.
Alisha Gray
Purchasing manager – home products
Alisha Gray, purchasing manager at Orgill, discusses how the pandemic changed her purchasing strategy
Read on
“Our department aims to stay ahead of the curve by anticipating when it may be necessary to switch our focus due to the varying challenges encountered”
Alisha Gray,
Orgill
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Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
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Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
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SERVING CANADA'S HOME IMPROVEMENT INDUSTRY
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Throughout the challenges and the constant need to adapt, Gray has maintained her dedication to her job and to supporting others. Ultimately, the pandemic provided her with the opportunity to explore new approaches, with which she has seen success – as witnessed by her inclusion in the list of top women in the 2023 class of leaders and rising stars in the hardware and building-supply industry.
“It's a little surreal, and I say that because I'm the type of person who always had the mindset that you do the job that you’re given, and you do it at 100 percent. It’s not in me to do less than that, because if I do, I never feel good.”
Making an impact
This goes hand in hand with an emphasis on communication with both vendors and customers to ensure that everyone’s needs are met. For Gray, this consists of following up with vendors to ensure that orders are fulfilled on time, and finding solutions if the vendor runs into constraints in obtaining certain products. It’s her belief that she and her vendors work together as a team so she can relay necessary information back to her customers.
“If we can’t communicate and get the product we need, then it’s not a very collaborative relationship,” Gray said. “So, for me, communication is the most important thing – and that applies to our vendors and customers, and to our sales force.”
Prior to the pandemic, Orgill’s inventory operated at a 96 percent service level; COVID-related supply-chain issues caused this number to drop below the company’s usual standards. Gray played a key role in returning Orgill to that standard, working tirelessly to ensure that orders were placed, shipped, and received by the company's distribution centers with minimal disruption to customers.
The experience has made Gray more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to orders. Each purchase order placed with a vendor has specific due dates for Orgill’s distribution centers, and if order delivery exceeds those due dates, Gray ensures that she follows up with vendors to understand the situation so she can stay on top of Orgill's inventory levels.
With this approach also came the realization that, when it came to certain vendors or categories, Orgill needed to be nimble in seeking new outlets for inventory. Orgill has used these experiences to become more cognizant of the need for diversification or consolidation in select lines and categories.
“The pandemic forced us to, in many instances, go to additional lengths to find products for our customers. A vendor’s inability to get us key items required us to diversify our vendor offering. In many instances, we used a number of vendors, because not everyone had the same constraints.”
The post-pandemic approach to purchasing
“The pandemic definitely caused some challenges, but it did allow us to see the supply chain as a whole and to re-evaluate sourcing,” Gray said.
Within just one year of starting in the purchasing department of Orgill Ltd., Alisha Gray’s perseverance and potential earned her an advanced promotion to purchasing manager of the home products category.
As purchasing manager, Gray is responsible for replenishing levels of home goods products, ensuring the company has the correct levels of inventory to serve customers nationally and globally, which entails forecasting, monitoring which products come in and out, and working with vendors to ensure customers are well served.
Joining the department in March 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that Gray experienced firsthand the impact the pandemic had on the supply chain and, ultimately, the company. As the supply chain took a hit, Gray encountered issues when it came to acquiring the right quantities of product from vendors, who often had minimum purchase requirements, making it “very challenging” to place orders to meet the needs of Orgill’s customers.
The art of post-pandemic purchasing
Spotlight
Published 04 Dec 2023
Key advice:
“Have faith in yourself, take the risk, and don’t be afraid of change and uncertainty, because it lands you in a place that you didn’t think possible”
“The pandemic certainly brought about challenges, but it also provided us with the opportunity to identify underlying issues within the entire supply chain”
Alisha Gray,
Orgill
Despite the supply chain and business practices returning to relatively normal levels, Gray has seen some purchasing trends linger.
In the home products division, three years after COVID’s height, she is still seeing a
Pandemic purchasing trends continue
demand for products that spiked during the pandemic, like canning jars, pressure cookers, and outdoor-living products. Gray has worked to ensure that she is meeting customers’ needs by being attentive to demand spikes and reacting accordingly.
March 2021
January 2022
July 2022
2022
2023
Joined Orgill’s purchasing department as an associate category manager
2021
March
Transferred to replenishment team, assuming the role of associate purchasing manager
2022
January
Promoted to purchasing manager
2022
July
Home products category was recognized as Category of the Year 2022
2022
Received HBS Dealer Top Women in Hardware & Building Award, Class of 2023 Rising Star
2023
Milestones
Joined Orgill’s purchasing department as an associate category manager
2021
March
Transferred to replenishment team, assuming the role of associate purchasing manager
2022
January
Promoted to purchasing manager
2022
July
Home products category was recognized as Category of the Year 2022
2022
Received HBS Dealer Top Women in Hardware & Building Award, Class of 2023 Rising Star
2023
March
2021
January
2022
July 2022
2022
2023
Milestones
Joined Orgill’s purchasing department as an associate category manager
2021
March
Transferred to replenishment team, assuming the role of associate purchasing manager
2022
January
Promoted to purchasing manager
2022
July
Home products category was recognized as Category of the Year 2022
2022
Received HBS Dealer Top Women in Hardware & Building Award, Class of 2023 Rising Star
2023
March
2021
January
2022
July 2022
2022
2023
Milestones