Wal-Mart seeks U.S. suppliers’ pitches

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is summoning current and would-be suppliers to the first-ever “Open Call Summit” at its home office in Bentonville, asking them to show up with their best ideas for manufacturing more goods in the United States.

The July 8 event is said to be a supplier’s dream come true: a chance to meet face to face with senior leaders, buyers and Wal-Mart’s merchant leadership about products that can wind up on the retailer’s shelves.

“I think they’ll be swamped,” said Scott Winchester, who manages the team that sells Blue Rhino Corp. products to Wal-Martand Sam’s Club. The company offers products such as grilling tools and exchangeable propane tanks for grilling.

“Any time when you’ve got the world’s largest retailer saying, ‘Hey, our doors are open - come tell us about your products,’ that’s a good thing,” Winchester said.

In January 2013, Wal-Mart announced it will buy an additional $50 billion in American-made products in 10 years to foster increased U.S. manufacturing and encourage the creation of U.S. jobs.

For this first summit,” current suppliers who wish to present new product categories will be featured alongside suppliers with U.S. manufacturing capabilities who are not currently doing business with Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon declared the company’s Made in USA commitment, “there’s a lot of energy around looking for U.S. options from our suppliers,” said Cindi Marsiglio, vice president over U.S. manufacturing for Wal-Mart.

In March, Wal-Mart said it was working on 140 projects in the area of U.S. manufacturing, an increase from 100 the previous month, said Stewart Samuel, program director with food and grocery industry experts IGD Services Canada.

“P rior to Wal-Mart’s high-profile commitment to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of U.S.-made goods, many of our supplier clients had already made the decision to move their production back to the U.S. just by doing the simple, compelling math,” said Cameron Smith, founder of supplier recruiter Cameron Smith & Associates.

“The allure of offshore production has eroded due to the Chinese currency appreciation and labor costs. Suppliers are finding they can profitably produce certain goods at home that they once made offshore,” he said. “Additionally, Wal-Mart is helping other suppliers contact economic officials who can offer tax breaks and other incentives.”

Wal-Mart will be able to buy goods closer to distribution centers and stores with lower shipping costs while gaining good will by selling more goods made in the U.S., Smith added.

“We’re going to work with our current suppliers, to purchase more from them of what they’re making in the U.S. We’re going to work with our current suppliers to re-shore [operations] from overseas to the U.S. where the business opportunities made sense, and look for new suppliers who are already making products in the U.S.,” Marsiglio said.

A general session will be held from 9-10 a.m. July 8 in the home-office auditorium and be simulcast in an overflow room. She said the meeting would “take over the home office” and would need all the space it could get.

“If I’ve got a space problem, I’ve got a great problem,” Marsiglio said.

Off-site parking and shuttle service will be available. Registration can be made at madeinusaopencall.com

Business, Pages 23 on 05/06/2014

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