Hughes Supply leaves A-D

Hughes Supply, one of Affiliated Distributors' largest electrical distributor members, has mutually ended its affiliation with the buying/marketing group.

Skip Hughes, group president of Hughes Supply's electrical and plumbing group, said the company plans to manage electrical and plumbing manufacturer marketing rebates internally. He and Bob Machaby, senior vice president of vendor development, will head the internal rebate program, along with senior vice presidents who will be responsible for their product lines.

Hughes said the company has already been negotiating rebates with its non-A-D vendors, and will renegotiate programs with the suppliers it had previously worked with through A-D. He said the company, which had been an A-D member since 1993, benefited from its relationship with A-D over the years, but that he believed it was in the company's best interest to mutually end the relationship and move on.

The move by Hughes Supply came just one week after One-Source Distributors, Oceanside, Calif., left A-D to join competitor IMARK Group.

Hughes Supply, ranked by Electrical Wholesaling magazine as the 10th largest supplier in the United States, had $623.7 million in 2002 electrical sales, 102 locations and 1,456 electrical employees.