Grainger welcomes nearly 10,000 attendees at the annual Grainger Show in Orlando. Scheduled through March 2, the event brings together thousands of customers, product and service suppliers and Grainger employees from across the country to discuss emerging trends in areas such as mobility, inventory management, sustainability and safety. And, for the first time, Grainger will be hosting technical education students and graduates from The Grainger Tools for Tomorrow Scholarship Program to raise awareness of the importance and opportunities associated with jobs in the industrial trades.

“The Grainger Show is an opportunity for facilities professionals to come together to discuss the issues that are most important to them and learn how to implement best practices within their operations,” said Deb Oler, Vice President and General Manager, Grainger Brand. “It is an honor to host this dialogue and provide the resources and expertise to help our customers take cost out of their business and become as productive as possible.”

In its eighth year, the 2012 event is the largest Grainger Show to date and includes an expanded trade show, with more than 475 supplier booths as well as two full days of educational seminars, discussions groups and training sessions.

Highlights of the event include:

• Grainger.com Mobile Website – Grainger has launched a new mobile website that is accessible from any smart phone and is featuring it prominently during the show. Recognizing the shift in the way businesses buy maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies, Grainger developed its new mobile web site to give people more streamlined access to Grainger.com no matter the location – job site, truck, plant floor, garage or maintenance shop. Grainger’s customers can find out if a product is available in real-time, log into their accounts, view pricing, approve pending orders and check out using the new mobile website.
• Skilled Labor – Grainger continues its focus on technical education and announced during the event its ongoing commitment to support industrial trade students.  For 2012, Grainger has committed $400,000 to support 200 scholarships for students pursuing careers in the industrial trades. The scholarships are available at 100 community colleges across the country. This commitment brings the company’s total investment in technical education to nearly $2 million since 2006. Current and former recipients of the Grainger Tools for Tomorrow scholarship program are also onsite to help raise awareness of the skilled labor shortage as well as the opportunities for employment in the industrial trades.  In his opening remarks, Grainger CEO, Jim Ryan, spoke about the importance of strong workforce to the vitality of the industries and communities that Grainger serves.    
• Emergency Preparedness – New for 2012 event, Grainger is featuring its Public Safety trailer onsite for attendees to discover how Grainger can support the needs of First Responders. Piloted in 2011, the Wi-Fi enabled, climate-controlled trailer provides support for disaster drills. Drill participants are able to check out and return essential products for drills using Grainger’s KeepStock inventory management solutions, while drill leaders use the meeting space as a command center for operations. In addition, the American Red Cross is participating in the Grainger Show to discuss emergency preparedness issues and will highlight their award-winning partnership with Grainger and the Ready When the Time Comes™ program.
• Grainger Town – Featured on the main supplier tradeshow floor in past event years, attendees will now experience Grainger’s services and solutions in a separate, interactive, 14,000 square foot “town” setting. Called “Grainger Town,” the exhibit features Grainger’s solutions to common business issues like inventory management, safety, sustainability and emergency preparedness (EP). Customers will circulate through the town visiting the “Public Works” building to learn more about sustainability, the “General Store” to see inventory management options, the “Hospital” and “Police/Fire Station” to learn more about safety and EP solutions, in addition to much more.