EXECUTIVE FORUM.

The article offers the opinion of several executives of distributor companies on issues. According to Tim Croakley, senior vice president of merchandising of DBL Distributing, distributors is significant in the supply chain, both to manufacturers and independent retailers. AE Distributing General Manager John Haynes stated that distributors allow retailers to be in business with little inventory. DSI Systems President Doug Robison mentioned that his company provides their own warehouses to retailers and consider them theirs.