快扣 (FAST) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Fastenal 2023 Annual and Q4 Earnings Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Fastenal 2023 年度和第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Taylor Ranta of Fastenal Company. Please go ahead, Taylor.

現在我很高興將電話轉給 Fastenal 公司的 Taylor Ranta。請繼續，泰勒。

Welcome to the Fastenal Company 2023 Annual and Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. This call will be hosted by Dan Florness, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Holden Lewis, our Chief Financial Officer. The call will last for up to 1 hour and will start with a general overview of our annual and quarterly results and operations, with the remainder of the time being open for questions and answers.

歡迎參加 Fastenal 公司 2023 年年度和第四季財報電話會議。本次電話會議將由我們的總裁兼執行長 Dan Florness 主持；和我們的財務長霍爾頓劉易斯。電話會議將持續長達 1 小時，首先將概述我們的年度和季度業績及營運情況，其餘時間則開放提問和回答。

Today's conference call is a proprietary Fastenal presentation and is being recorded by Fastenal. No recording, reproduction, transmission or distribution of today's call is permitted without Fastenal's consent. This call is being audio simulcast on the Internet via the Fastenal Investor Relations homepage, investor.fastenal.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website until March 1, 2024, at midnight Central Time.

今天的電話會議是 Fastenal 專有的演示，並由 Fastenal 錄製。未經 Fastenal 同意，不得錄製、複製、傳輸或散佈今天的通話。本次電話會議透過 Fastenal 投資人關係首頁 Investor.fastenal.com 在網路上音訊聯播。該網路廣播的重播將在 2024 年 3 月 1 日中部時間午夜之前在網站上提供。

As a reminder, today's conference call may include statements regarding the company's future plans and prospects. These statements are based on our current expectations, and we undertake no duty to update them.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議可能包括有關公司未來計劃和前景的聲明。這些聲明是基於我們目前的預期，我們不承擔更新它們的義務。

It is important to note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from anticipated results are contained in the company's latest earnings release and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and we encourage you to review those factors carefully.

值得注意的是，公司的實際結果可能與預期有重大差異。可能導致實際結果與預期結果不同的因素包含在公司最新的收益報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期文件中，我們鼓勵您仔細審查這些因素。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Dan Florness.

我現在想把電話轉給丹‧弗洛內斯先生。

Thank you, Taylor, and good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Q4 Fastenal earnings call.

謝謝泰勒，大家早安，歡迎參加第四季 Fastenal 財報電話會議。

I'm going to go right to the foot book, and on Page 3, we have a handful of slides here. So 2023 has seen 2 struggles in our organization. One, since November of 2022, so for 14 consecutive months, we've seen a sub-50 PMI that when you operate very heavily in the industrial space, that's a big deal for you.

我要直接看腳書，在第 3 頁上，我們有一些投影片。因此，2023 年我們的組織經歷了兩次掙扎。第一，自 2022 年 11 月以來，連續 14 個月，我們看到 PMI 低於 50，當您在工業領域大量運作時，這對您來說意義重大。

And there's many benefits as to having Holden part of our organization, and one is his career before joining Fastenal, he has access to -- he's forgotten things about stuff that I don't even know. And so I asked him. I said, "Hey, how often does a period like this happen?" And he said, "Well, back to 1970, it's happened 6x that it's been sub-50 for an extended period of time, most recent being the Great Recession in the '08, '09 time frame. But it's a pretty tough period." And I said, "Okay." And so it's been pretty tough and you could look at that.

讓霍爾頓成為我們組織的一部分有很多好處，其中之一是他在加入 Fastenal 之前的職業生涯，他可以接觸到——他忘記了我什至不知道的事情。所以我問他。我說：“嘿，這樣的時期多久發生一次？”他說，“嗯，回到 1970 年，在很長一段時間內低於 50 的情況發生過 6 次，最近一次是 08 年、09 年的大衰退。但這是一個相當艱難的時期。 ”我說：“好吧。”所以這非常艱難，你可以看看。

But the second item, the second struggle is we've executed better. And in 2022, and we put up good numbers. Inflation helped some. The rebounding economy from COVID helped some. The fact that we're pretty good at supply chain, and we were able to find stuff and keep people supplied helped because if you can't get it anywhere else, you come and get it from us.

但第二個問題，第二個困難是我們執行得更好。到 2022 年，我們取得了不錯的成績。通貨膨脹對某些人有幫助。新冠疫情帶來的經濟反彈幫助了一些人。事實上，我們非常擅長供應鏈，我們能夠找到東西並保持人員供應，這對我們很有幫助，因為如果你在其他地方找不到它，你就可以從我們這裡得到。

And -- but there was some stuff under the hood that we weren't executing as well as we'd like to see. And we made some leadership changes earlier in the year. And I think we're poised really well as we go into 2024. But those are a couple of things that challenged the year.

而且 - 但在幕後有一些東西我們沒有執行得像我們希望看到的那樣。今年早些時候，我們進行了一些領導層變動。我認為，在進入 2024 年時，我們已經做好了充分的準備。但這些是這一年面臨的一些挑戰。

Despite all that, in the fourth quarter, we grew our daily sales 3.7%. The team did a really nice job managing expenses. We had a few things that -- sometimes you have a few things that go your way. Sometimes, you have a few things that go against you. On par, things were generally favorable, and we grew our EPS 8.5% to $0.46.

儘管如此，第四季我們的日銷售額成長了 3.7%。團隊在管理費用方面做得非常好。我們有一些事情——有時你會有一些事情按照你的方式進行。有時，你會遇到一些對你不利的事情。總體而言，情況總體良好，我們的每股盈餘成長了 8.5%，達到 0.46 美元。

If I think of our growth initiatives, kind of uneven. We've continued to see nice development in our installed base of on-site locations, maybe not as fast as we'd like. FMI devices, we did a really nice job. And we continued to increase our Digital Footprint that we've talked about in recent years.

如果我想到我們的成長計劃，那就有點不平衡。我們繼續看到我們的現場安裝基礎取得了良好的發展，但可能沒有我們希望的那麼快。 FMI 設備，我們做得非常好。近年來，我們不斷增加我們所談論的數位足跡。

Operating cash flow was a record at over $1.4 billion of operating cash that we generated, and it was a 52% increase of what we did in 2022. Now on the surface, that's a little bit misleading because 2022, and I'll touch on that in a second, consumed a lot of working capital because we were ensuring a reliable supply chain for our customers.

我們產生的營運現金流量創歷史新高，超過 14 億美元，比 2022 年增長了 52%。從表面上看，這有點誤導，因為到了 2022 年，我將談到一秒鐘就消耗了大量的營運資金，因為我們要確保為客戶提供可靠的供應鏈。

That brings us to the final bullet on the page, and we paid out a fifth dividend. We paid out $0.38 per share here in December. That's the fourth time that we've done a supplemental dividend like that since going public back in the late 1980s. The first time was in December of 2008. The world was in free fall. We had cash available. We looked at that cash as being this is owned by our shareholders. We don't know what needs they have for liquidity. We do know we won't need this in 2009 if the economy is doing what it does because our business is countercyclical. And we knew we'd throw off a lot of cash. And we -- and so we paid out a sizable dividend in December of 2008.

這讓我們看到了頁面上的最後一個項目符號，我們支付了第五次股息。 12 月我們支付了每股 0.38 美元。自 20 世紀 80 年代末上市以來，這是我們第四次進行此類補充股息。第一次是在 2008 年 12 月。世界正處於自由落體狀態。我們有可用現金。我們認為這些現金是由我們的股東擁有的。我們不知道他們對流動性有什麼需求。我們確實知道，如果經濟發展正常的話，2009 年我們就不需要這樣做，因為我們的業務是反週期的。我們知道我們會浪費很多現金。我們 - 因此我們在 2008 年 12 月支付了相當大的股息。

December of 2012, there was a lot of uncertainty in the United States. The federal government was having a fight amongst itself about what tax rates should be on dividends. We didn't know if tax rates were going to go up in 2013 and figured we're sitting on a bunch of cash. Let's pay it out to our shareholders, and we don't need it. We'd generate a lot of cash in the future. We'll pay it out and let the folks in Washington D.C. figure things out. It's nice to know that in today's Washington, D.C., things are much more calmer. Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm Midwestern.

2012年12月，美國存在著許多不確定性。聯邦政府內部一直在爭論股利稅率應該是多少。我們不知道 2013 年稅率是否會上漲，並認為我們手頭上有一大筆現金。讓我們把它支付給我們的股東吧，我們不需要它。我們將來會產生大量現金。我們將支付這筆費用，並讓華盛頓特區的人們解決問題。很高興知道今天的華盛頓特區一切平靜多了。抱歉諷刺，我是中西部人。

December of 2020, we pay -- the world was in COVID. We had more cash than we needed, and we paid out a supplemental dividend. This one is different than the other 3. We invested a tremendous amount of cash into inventory in 2021 and 2022, an incredible amount, because supply change became erratic. You can't count -- it was not a reliable time frame of getting containers through ports and getting products.

2020 年 12 月，我們付出了代價──世界陷入了新冠疫情。我們的現金超出了我們的需要，因此我們支付了補充股息。這一個與其他 3 個不同。我們在 2021 年和 2022 年在庫存上投入了大量現金，數額令人難以置信，因為供應變化變得不穩定。你無法計算——這不是一個讓貨櫃通過港口和獲得產品的可靠時間框架。

And we're not a sorry company. We don't say to our customers, "Sorry, couldn't get it." We're a supply chain company. And if we feel that it's going to take an extra 40 or 45 days to get a container, we'll add 50 days of inventory, 6 days of inventory. So we consumed a tremendous amount of cash.

我們不是一家後悔的公司。我們不會對客戶說：“抱歉，無法獲取。”我們是一家供應鏈公司。如果我們認為需要額外 40 或 45 天才能獲得貨櫃，我們將增加 50 天的庫存，6 天的庫存。所以我們消耗了大量的現金。

Fortunately, things have become more stable, and we harvested that cash in 2023. And we'll generate ample cash as we move into '24 and beyond. We didn't need it. We sent it to our shareholders. We feel we have a really conservative balance sheet, and we have plenty of gunpowder for anything that we need to do as we move into 2024.

幸運的是，事情已經變得更加穩定，我們在 2023 年收穫了這筆現金。當我們進入 24 世紀及以後時，我們將產生充足的現金。我們不需要它。我們將其發送給我們的股東。我們覺得我們的資產負債表非常保守，而且在進入 2024 年時我們有足夠的火藥來完成我們需要做的任何事情。

Flipping to Page 4. 58 signings in the fourth quarter of '23. Not a particularly impressive number. Perhaps, the environment came a little bit tougher late in the year for signing Onsite. It's not the strongest of year for many of our customers. Perhaps, we had some district managers that are looking at their expectations for 2024, and maybe some Onsite signings split into 2024.

翻到第 4 頁。23 年第四季簽下 58 名球員。這並不是一個特別令人印象深刻的數字。或許，今年底簽約 Onsite 的環境變得更加艱難。對於我們的許多客戶來說，這並不是一年中最強勁的。也許，我們有一些地區經理正在考慮他們對 2024 年的期望，也許一些現場簽約會分散到 2024 年。

We're up 12.3%. We finished the year with 1,822 locations. Our older Onsites had a pretty tough year. That speaks more, I believe, to the PMI index than anything else. And -- but we still anticipate 375 to 400 signings next year. We think we're poised to do that. We think the energy is behind it, and we think the team is really focused on it. And that speaks back to some of our execution issues I mentioned on the prior page.

我們上漲了 12.3%。今年年底，我們的營業地點達到 1,822 個。我們較老的現場人員度過了相當艱難的一年。我認為，這比其他任何因素都更能說明 PMI 指數。而且 - 但我們仍然預計明年會有 375 到 400 名簽約。我們認為我們已經準備好這樣做。我們認為它背後有能量，我們認為團隊確實專注於它。這又回到了我在上一頁提到的一些執行問題。

FMI Technology. We had a good year with FMI. We did a nice job of signing. If I look at just below the bullet where we say we signed 24,126 MEUs, you divide that by 253 days, that's 95 per day over the span of the year.

FMI 技術。我們與 FMI 度過了美好的一年。我們的簽約工作做得很好。如果我看一下項目符號下方，我們說我們簽署了 24,126 個 MEU，那麼將其除以 253 天，即一年中每天 95 天。

One thing we've talked about a number of years ago was building our infrastructure to support signing 100 devices a day, and that was a long way away from what we were doing at the time, but that was kind of the number we had in our head. And I'm pleased to say that the team has essentially gotten there, and it came in at 95 per day for the year. Our intention for next year is to sign 26,000 to 28,000. It's a big number. I believe the team is up to it.

多年前我們討論過的一件事是建立我們的基礎設施來支援每天簽署 100 台設備，這距離我們當時所做的還有很長的路要走，但這就是我們擁有的數字。我們的頭。我很高興地說，該團隊基本上已經實現了這一目標，而這一年的產量為每天 95 個。我們明年的目標是簽下 26,000 至 28,000 名球員。這是一個很大的數字。我相信團隊有能力做到這一點。

e-Commerce continues to grow well. A lot of that, obviously -- we're not growing 28%. So a lot of that is customers are changing how they engage with us, and we're not unique to that. And so I believe e-Commerce as a percentage of our business is about 25% of sales now. If I go back not too many years ago, it was 5% of sales. So it continues to grow.

電子商務持續保持良好發展動能。顯然，其中很多——我們的成長率不是 28%。因此，很大程度上是客戶正在改變他們與我們互動的方式，而我們並不是獨一無二的。因此，我相信電子商務在我們業務中所佔的比例現在約為銷售額的 25%。如果我回到幾年前，那是銷售額的 5%。所以它繼續增長。

And then finally, our Digital Footprint. That's where we engage electronically with our customer. It might be we deploy FMI. So a vending device, a bin with technology embedded, a mobility scanned bin, whatever it might be, but we engage with our customer, and then we added the e-Commerce on top of that, removed the double coning. And in January of 2020, that was 36% of sales. A year later, it was 38%. A year later, it was 46%. A year later, it was 53%. And now we ended this year at 58%, 59% type of neighborhood.

最後是我們的數位足跡。這就是我們與客戶進行電子互動的地方。我們可能會部署 FMI。因此，自動販賣設備、嵌入技術的垃圾箱、行動掃描垃圾箱，無論它是什麼，但我們與客戶互動，然後我們在此基礎上添加了電子商務，消除了雙錐體。 2020 年 1 月，這一比例佔銷售額的 36%。一年後，這一比例為 38%。一年後，這一比例為 46%。一年後，這一比例為 53%。現在我們今年結束時的社區類型為 58%、59%。

Flipping to Page 5. This is the last time you're going to see this chart. We started it a number of years ago. Back in -- so we have about 3,419 in-market locations. It's up 3.5% from where we were a year ago. Back in 2015, about 9% of our in-market locations were what we call an Onsite.

翻到第 5 頁。這是您最後一次看到此圖表。我們幾年前就開始了。回到我們的市場，我們大約有 3,419 個地點。比一年前成長了 3.5%。早在 2015 年，我們約 9% 的市場地點就是我們所說的現場地點。

Now an Onsite might be we're physically inside the customer's facility. We are operating in a facility down the street from the customer that's dedicated to that customer. We might be operating a facility that's in the back of a branch because the customer doesn't have enough room for us to put everything in there, and we only put some stuff in there. And we backfill -- our backroom is the back of the branch. But it's where we engage in a discrete business with the customer, and it ramps up our ability to grow.

現在，現場可能是指我們實際位於客戶的設施內。我們在客戶所在街道的一家專門為該客戶服務的設施中運作。我們可能會在分行後面經營一個設施，因為客戶沒有足夠的空間讓我們把所有東西都放在那裡，而我們只在那裡放了一些東西。我們回填——我們的後室是分店的後面。但這是我們與客戶開展離散業務的地方，它增強了我們的成長能力。

As we really look at this as being not just something that had happened once or twice back in the '90s. And the first one was, frankly, we couldn't find a building to rent in town. And the customer said, "I have some room," and then we moved in. So it was more borne out of necessity.

因為我們確實認為這不僅僅是 90 年代發生過一兩次的事情。坦白說，第一個問題是我們在城裡找不到可供出租的建築物。顧客說，“我有一些房間”，然後我們就搬進去了。所以這更多的是出於必要。

But as we realized this was really a business model that could help us grow, it prompted us to revisit our branch network. And so we peaked out in 2013. At that point in time, we estimated we were within a 30-minute drive of 95% of the manufacturing base in the United States, with our 2,600-or-so stores or branches, and that included our U.S. and Canadian network.

但當我們意識到這確實是一種可以幫助我們成長的商業模式時，它促使我們重新審視我們的分支機構網絡。因此，我們在 2013 年達到了頂峰。當時，我們估計美國 95% 的製造基地都在 30 分鐘車程內，我們擁有大約 2,600 家商店或分支機構，其中包括我們的美國和加拿大網路。

But we looked at it and said, if we pulled that back a bit, because some of the business that would be in a branch is going to be an Onsite over time, what would it look like? And we settled on a number of about 1,450. At 1,450 locations, that 95% access to the manufacturing base drops to about 93.5%. And we know if there's customers that are outside that 30-minute window and they're Onsite customers, the fact that our branch is 4 to 5 minutes away doesn't matter. So we saw this as the right density.

但我們看了之後說，如果我們把這一點撤回一點，因為隨著時間的推移，分支機構中的一些業務將成為現場業務，那麼它會是什麼樣子？我們最終確定了 1,450 個左右的數量。在 1,450 個地點，製造基地的通行率從 95% 降至 93.5% 左右。我們知道，如果有客戶在 30 分鐘窗口之外，而且他們是現場客戶，那麼我們的分行距離我們 4 到 5 分鐘的路程這一事實並不重要。所以我們認為這是正確的密度。

And I'll use some -- I'm always -- one beauty about being an organic grower of the year is all of our systems are in 1 system. You have access to a tremendous amount of information. And I did look at our oldest 4 states in the company. And if I go back to 2007, in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, we did just under $400 million in revenues. It's about 19% of our sales.

我會使用一些——我總是——成為年度有機種植者的一個優點是我們所有的系統都在一個系統中。您可以存取大量資訊。我確實研究了公司最古老的 4 個州。如果我回到 2007 年，在明尼蘇達州、愛荷華州、威斯康辛州和伊利諾伊州，我們的收入略低於 4 億美元。這大約占我們銷售額的 19%。

We had 236 branch locations in those 4 states. We had 20 Onsites. In the next decade, that business -- those 4 states, we grew -- our CAGR was about 5.7% a year. And as you can appreciate, it's a nicely profitable business. It's above the company average by a few hundred basis points. And about 18% of our revenue was Onsite.

我們在這 4 個州設有 236 個分公司。我們有 20 個現場。在接下來的十年裡，我們在這 4 個州的業務不斷成長，年複合成長率約為 5.7%。如您所知，這是一項利潤豐厚的業務。它比公司平均高出幾百個基點。我們約 18% 的收入來自 Onsite。

Since 2017, we've closed -- since 2013, we've closed a bunch of locations, but we opened a bunch of Onsites. In fact, we've gone from 200 -- we peaked out at 263 branches. Currently, we have 191, so we're down about 30% from our peak.

自 2017 年以來，我們已經關閉了——自 2013 年以來，我們關閉了許多地點，但我們開設了許多現場地點。事實上，我們的分公司數量已從 200 家增加到 263 家。目前，我們有 191 個，比高峰減少了約 30%。

Our Onsite count says over -- is 221, so we have more Onsites than we have branches. In the last -- since 2017, that area has a CAGR of not 5.7%, it has a CAGR of 8.2%. So we took an old, mature, profitable part of the Fastenal business and grew it faster.

我們的 Onsite 數量已超過 221 個，因此我們的 Onsite 數量比我們的分店還要多。最後，自 2017 年以來，該地區的複合年增長率不是 5.7%，而是 8.2%。因此，我們繼承了 Fastenal 業務中古老、成熟、盈利的部分，並使其發展得更快。

Today, it's about a $1.1 billion business. It's about 15% of our sales, and about 46% of our sales run through an Onsite. Sorry for taking us down memory lane there, but I thought I'd give a little insight on why we're excited about the rationalization of the branch network and the Onsite and the potential to expand our ability to grow.

如今，它的業務價值約為 11 億美元。這約占我們銷售額的 15%，其中約 46% 的銷售額是透過現場進行的。抱歉讓我們回憶起來，但我想我應該對為什麼我們對分支機構網絡和現場的合理化以及擴展我們的增長能力的潛力感到興奮提供一些見解。

With that, I'll turn it over to Holden.

有了這個，我就把它交給霍爾頓。

Great. Thank you, Dan. Good morning, everybody.

偉大的。謝謝你，丹。大家早安。

I'm going to start on Slide 6. Total and daily sales in the fourth quarter of 2023 were up 3.7%. The quarter finished strong, with daily sales in December being up 5.3% and outperforming historical sequential patterns. Much of this strength relates to our warehousing end market, which represents sales into the fulfillment centers of retail-oriented customers.

我將從幻燈片 6 開始。2023 年第四季的總銷售額和每日銷售額增長了 3.7%。該季度表現強勁，12 月的每日銷售額成長 5.3%，表現優於歷史連續模式。這種優勢很大程度上與我們的倉儲終端市場有關，該市場代表著面向零售客戶的履行中心的銷售。

This end market has grown significantly for us since the pandemic, helping to diversify our end market exposure and representing 3% to 4% of sales in 2023. It also grew 45% in the fourth quarter and roughly 60% in December. So strength in this end market was a significant contributor to the performance of our other end markets and our safety products categories in the period.

自疫情爆發以來，這個終端市場對我們來說顯著成長，有助於我們的終端市場業務多元化，佔2023 年銷售額的3% 至4%。第四季成長了45%，12 月成長了約60%。因此，該終端市場的實力對我們其他終端市場和安全產品類別的表現做出了重大貢獻。

Now if you remove warehousing, our sales results continue to reflect sluggish demand. For example, our manufacturing end market continues to grow, but at moderating rates, while our fastener product line experienced contraction in MRO and, for the first time this cycle, OEM products.

現在，如果去掉倉儲，我們的銷售結果將繼續反映出需求疲軟。例如，我們的製造終端市場持續成長，但成長放緩，而我們的緊固件產品線在 MRO 方面經歷了收縮，並且在本週期中首次出現 OEM 產品。

Trends in these markets and product categories tend to be more reflective of cyclical trends and are being impacted by PMI readings that remain sub-50 and soft industrial production, particularly for key components such as fabricated metals and machinery.

這些市場和產品類別的趨勢往往更能反映週期性趨勢，並受到 PMI 讀數仍低於 50 和工業生產疲軟的影響，特別是金屬製品和機械等關鍵零件。

This setting is matched by muted feedback from regional leadership. But if conditions didn't get better in the fourth quarter of '23, they didn't get worse either. If we adjust warehousing out of our November and December daily sales rates, then the months would still have been very slightly ahead of normal sequentials.

這項設定與地區領導層的低調回饋相符。但即使 23 年第四季情況沒有好轉，也沒有變得更糟。如果我們根據 11 月和 12 月的日銷售率調整倉儲，那麼這幾個月仍將比正常情況稍微提前。

As was the case in the third quarter of 2023, pricing was consistent and positive and within a typical range of 0% to 2%, with modest deflation within our fastener line. With the usual caveat that our forward vision is limited, we are constructive about 2024 with easier comparisons, channel inventories being in good shape and generally favorable customer outlooks from regional leadership. Entering the year, though, business activity remains subdued.

與 2023 年第三季的情況一樣，定價保持一致且積極，在 0% 至 2% 的典型範圍內，我們的緊固件產品線出現適度通貨緊縮。儘管我們的前瞻性願景有限，但我們對 2024 年持建設性態度，因為比較更容易，通路庫存狀況良好，而且區域領導層對客戶前景普遍看好。然而，進入今年，商業活動依然低迷。

Now to Slide 7. Operating margin in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 20.1%, up 50 basis points year-to-year and achieving a 33% incremental margin. We view this as solid execution against the backdrop of soft growth and low seasonal volumes. Gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 45.5%, up 20 basis points from the year ago period.

現在轉到投影片 7。2023 年第四季的營業利潤率為 20.1%，年成長 50 個基點，實現 33% 的增量利潤。我們認為，在成長疲軟和季節性銷售較低的背景下，這是堅實的執行力。 2023年第四季毛利率為45.5%，較去年同期成長20個基點。

We had year-over-year margin drag from product and customer mix, though the effect did moderate sequentially. This was offset by slightly higher fastener product margins and freight margins, though the impact of the latter moderated meaningfully from the prior quarter, and we had slightly positive price/cost.

產品和客戶組合對我們的利潤率造成了同比拖累，儘管這種影響確實有所緩和。這被緊固件產品利潤率和運費利潤率略有上升所抵消，儘管後者的影響較上一季明顯減弱，而且我們的價格/成本略有上升。

Our view of price/cost is unchanged from what we described in the third quarter of 2023. It does not reflect any incremental pricing actions in the most recent quarter, but rather, the recapture of the negative price/cost that we had discussed in the fourth quarter of 2022. Our objective remains to be price/cost neutral over time.

我們對價格/成本的看法與我們在2023 年第三季所描述的沒有變化。它並不反映最近一個季度的任何增量定價行為，而是反映了我們在2023 年第三季討論的負價格/成本的重新出現。2022 年第四季。我們的目標仍然是隨著時間的推移保持價格/成本中立。

SG&A was 25.3% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2023, improved from 25.7% in the year earlier period. This amounts to small improvements in a lot of areas, rather than significant improvement in just one or a few areas. For instance, more favorable comparisons and good expense discipline produced flattish costs and modest leverage around selling-related transportation, information technology and spending on travel, meals and supplies.

SG&A 佔 2023 年第四季銷售額的 25.3%，高於去年同期的 25.7%。這相當於在許多領域進行小幅改進，而不是僅在一個或幾個領域進行重大改進。例如，更有利的比較和良好的支出紀律導致了與銷售相關的運輸、資訊科技以及旅遊、餐飲和用品支出方面的成本持平和適度的槓桿作用。

We experienced modest occupancy leverage as a result of vending devices used in a past lease locker program passing their depreciable lives. These were joined by contributions stemming from improvements in our supplier contribution -- collaboration programs. The Blue Team did a nice job tightening spending over the course of the year as business activity continued to slow. Putting everything together, we reported fourth quarter 2023 EPS of $0.46, up 8.4% from $0.43 in the fourth quarter of 2022.

由於過去租賃儲物櫃計畫中使用的自動販賣設備的折舊壽命已過，我們的入住率較低。這些貢獻也來自於我們供應商貢獻－協作計畫的改進。隨著商業活動持續放緩，藍隊在這一年中在緊縮支出方面做得很好。綜合考慮，我們報告 2023 年第四季每股收益為 0.46 美元，比 2022 年第四季的 0.43 美元增長 8.4%。

Now turning to Slide 8. We generated $354 million in operating cash in the fourth quarter of 2023 or 133% of net income, and $1.43 billion in operating cash for the full year of 2023. Both dollar amounts represent record operating cash generation that was driven by reduced working capital needs.

現在轉向幻燈片8。我們在2023 年第四季產生了3.54 億美元的營運現金，佔淨利潤的133%，在2023 年全年產生了14.3 億美元的營運現金。這兩個金額都代表了創紀錄的營運現金產生量透過減少營運資金需求。

This produced strong cash balances that allowed us to pay a supplemental fifth dividend in December of 2023, putting cash returned to shareholders through dividends at $1.02 billion for the full year. Even with this, we finished 2023 with a conservatively capitalized balance sheet, with debt being 7.2% of total capital, down from 14.9% of total capital at the end of 2022.

這產生了強勁的現金餘額，使我們能夠在 2023 年 12 月支付第五次補充股息，全年透過股息向股東返還的現金為 10.2 億美元。即便如此，我們在 2023 年結束時的資產負債表資本化仍保守，債務佔總資本的 7.2%，低於 2022 年底佔總資本的 14.9%。

Working capital dynamics were similar in the fourth quarter of 2023 to what we experienced throughout the full year. Accounts receivable were up 7.3%, which is primarily a combination of total sales growth and a shift in mix towards larger customers, which tend to have longer terms.

2023 年第四季的營運資金動態與我們全年的情況相似。應收帳款成長了 7.3%，這主要是總銷售額成長和向大客戶（這些客戶的期限往往較長）轉變的結果。

Inventories were down 10.3%, owing primarily to the effects of slower customer demand, the unwinding of inventory layers built a year ago to manage supply constraints, our field and hub operations sustainably streamlining inventory processes and modest inventory deflation.

庫存下降了 10.3%，這主要是由於客戶需求放緩、一年前為管理供應限製而建立的庫存層的解除、我們的現場和樞紐運營持續簡化庫存流程以及適度的庫存通貨緊縮的影響。

Net capital spending in 2023 finished at $161 million, little changed from the $162 million in 2022 and below our forecasted range of $180 million to $190 million. This shortfall has less to do with deliberate project deferrals than it does the slower business activity, reducing the need for certain investments to support immediate growth and timing delays outside our control for certain expenditures.

2023 年淨資本支出為 1.61 億美元，與 2022 年的 1.62 億美元相比變化不大，低於我們 1.8 億至 1.9 億美元的預測範圍。這種短缺與其說是由於故意推遲項目，不如說是由於業務活動放緩，從而減少了對某些投資的需求，以支持直接增長和超出我們控制範圍的某些支出的時間延遲。

Our net capital spending expectations in 2024 is a range of $225 million to $245 million, which reflects catch-up spending for hub automation and capacity, the substantial completion of an upgraded distribution center in Utah, an increase in FMI spend in anticipation of increased signings and information technology.

我們對 2024 年淨資本支出的預期為 2.25 億美元至 2.45 億美元，這反映了樞紐自動化和產能的追趕支出、猶他州配送中心升級的基本完成、FMI 支出因預計簽約數量增加而增加和資訊技術。

2023 had its successes. While acknowledging that we didn't hit all our goals, we nonetheless closed the year with a higher installed base of Onsites and FMI devices and a greater proportion of our sales moving through our Digital Footprint. The organization adapted to 1 less selling day and slower growth than originally anticipated, effectively controlling expenses and defending our operating margin.

2023 年取得了成功。儘管我們承認我們沒有實現所有目標，但在這一年結束時，我們的現場和 FMI 設備安裝基數有所增加，而且我們的數位足跡所佔的銷售額比例也有所提高。該組織適應了比最初預期少 1 個銷售日和較慢的成長速度，有效地控制了費用並捍衛了我們的營業利潤率。

We improved our balance sheet and produced record operating cash, which allowed us to return record capital to our shareholders. Where we fell short of our expectations was in our ability to generate stronger sales growth. However, we are enthusiastic about the leadership changes made to our sales operations in 2023 and, regardless of macro conditions, expect these to lead to improved market share gains in 2024.

我們改善了資產負債表並產生了創紀錄的營運現金，這使我們能夠向股東返還創紀錄的資本。我們未能達到預期的地方在於我們實現更強勁銷售成長的能力。然而，我們對 2023 年銷售業務的領導層變動充滿熱情，並且無論宏觀條件如何，預計這些變動都將導致 2024 年市場份額的成長。

With that, operator, we'll turn it over to begin Q&A.

這樣，操作員，我們將把它移交給開始問答。

Before we start Q&A, there's a few items I thought I'd share from a conversation we had this morning with our senior leadership from throughout the company. And part of it was sharing with them a little bit of a recap of our Board meetings over the last couple of days and some thoughts on the quarter and some thoughts on 2024, and I just thought I'd share.

在我們開始問答之前，我想從今天早上與全公司高階領導層的對話中分享一些內容。其中一部分是與他們分享過去幾天董事會會議的一些回顧、對本季的一些想法以及對 2024 年的一些想法，我只是想分享一下。

First, some thoughts on the P&L., and Holden touched on some of these, but I thought I'd present it maybe in the way we talked about it with our own team internally. First one was when I think of 2023 and then going into 2024, so this is the last year that we've had -- that we'll have some branch closings.

首先，關於損益表的一些想法，霍頓談到了其中的一些，但我想我可能會以我們與自己團隊內部討論的方式來呈現它。第一個是我想到 2023 年，然後進入 2024 年，所以這是我們的最後一年——我們將關閉一些分支機構。

Branch closings do 2 things for us. They do free up a little bit of occupancy. What we've found over time is, typically, when we're consolidating 2 locations into 1, some of that occupancy savings is spent on maybe a larger location for the 2 locations because the business doesn't fit. Or as we've seen in the last -- during the COVID period, a lot of buildings that we operated in became really attractive buildings for a lot of local distribution points for a lot of e-commerce. So there was some competition for the space, and competition doesn't make it cheaper.

關閉分支機構對我們來說有兩件事。他們確實釋放了一點佔用空間。隨著時間的推移，我們發現，通常，當我們將 2 個地點合併為 1 個地點時，部分佔用節省可能會花在這 2 個地點的更大地點上，因為業務不適合。或者正如我們在過去所看到的那樣，在新冠疫情期間，我們經營的許多建築物對於許多電子商務的許多本地分銷點來說變得非常有吸引力。因此，對於這個空間存在一些競爭，但競爭並不會讓它變得更便宜。

But with that said, there's -- we've benefited from some occupancy savings there. Those benefits are going to be behind us, and we need to be thoughtful about that as we enter in 2024.

但話雖如此，我們已經從那裡節省了一些入住率中受益。這些好處將成為過去，當我們進入 2024 年時，我們需要認真考慮這一點。

There's a flip side of that coin. Consolidating 2 locations in 1 is a heck of a lot of work, and it's a big distraction to the business, to our customers. And that distraction of our own selling energy, our own local energy is now behind us. And the challenge we put in front of everybody is to make sure that's translated into selling activity to grow the darn business.

這枚硬幣還有另一面。將 2 個地點合併為 1 個地點是一項艱鉅的工作，而且會極大地干擾我們的業務和客戶的注意力。我們自己的銷售能源、我們自己的本地能源的分散注意力現在已經成為過去。我們擺在每個人面前的挑戰是確保將其轉化為銷售活動以發展該死的業務。

The second, we had the benefit in 2023 of some lower bonus payouts, benefit to the P&L, not a benefit to the recipients. But 2022 was a really good year for us, and a lot of our folks are incented off of simple growth in earnings. And we grew earnings tremendously in 2022. With that falling off as we went into 2023, that contracted the bonuses. We won't -- we don't anticipate having that benefit in 2024 because we don't anticipate the P&L doing what it did in 2023. And that means we need to be really dialed in on everything else we do, so that can re-expand.

第二，我們在 2023 年獲得了一些較低的獎金支付的好處，這是對損益表的好處，而不是對接收者的好處。但 2022 年對我們來說確實是美好的一年，我們的許多人被簡單的收入成長所激勵。 2022 年，我們的收入大幅成長。隨著進入 2023 年收入的下降，獎金也隨之減少。我們不會——我們預計不會在 2024 年獲得這種好處，因為我們預計損益表不會像 2023 年那樣。這意味著我們需要真正投入到我們所做的其他一切事情上，這樣才能重新擴展。

The final piece, and Holden touched on it, some vending depreciation. We had a runoff and then benefited the fourth quarter. The beauty of that is it will also benefit the first quarter and the second quarter and the third quarter until we anniversary that. So that will give us some benefit in 2024.

最後一塊，霍爾頓談到了它，一些自動販賣貶值。我們進行了決勝，然後在第四季度受益。這樣做的美妙之處在於，它也將使第一季、第二季和第三季受益，直到我們週年紀念為止。因此，這將在 2024 年為我們帶來一些好處。

The next one was a challenge to everybody on that call. Whether you're in sales or not is our focus has to be on everything we're doing. It's helping our branch and Onsite locations hit their goal. In fact, I had to laugh after -- certainly after the call, and I suspect I need to thank John Soderberg for this. But out on the printer, there's a sign, "Help our branch and Onsites hit their sales goals in 2024." Thanks for that, John.

下一個對參加電話會議的每個人來說都是一個挑戰。無論您是否從事銷售工作，我們的重點都必須放在我們所做的一切上。它正在幫助我們的分支機構和現場地點實現他們的目標。事實上，我不得不笑——當然是在電話之後，我想我需要為此感謝約翰·索德伯格。但印表機上有一個標語：“幫助我們的分公司和 Onsites 實現 2024 年的銷售目標。”謝謝你，約翰。

And -- but that's where our head is at. We didn't feel good about 2023, and the best way to feel better about it, it may grow a little faster. The -- my compliments to our team that worked on ESG. A few years ago, we were probably a little bit slower to it, primarily because our operating style, frugality is naturally conserving. And as we stepped into the ESG world, what we really learned is we needed to do a better job telling our story.

而且——但這就是我們的想法。我們對 2023 年感覺不太好，而讓感覺更好的最佳方法是它可能會成長得更快一點。我對我們從事 ESG 工作的團隊致以敬意。幾年前，我們可能會慢一些，主要是因為我們的經營風格，節儉自然是節約的。當我們踏入 ESG 世界時，我們真正了解到的是我們需要更好地講述我們的故事。

And I've been pleased to say that while we've maybe formalized up some of our public-facing policies and things like that, most of the efforts we put into it is understanding what we do. It's a lot of work quantifying some things that we do, but really telling a better story.

我很高興地說，雖然我們可能已經正式製定了一些面向公眾的政策和類似的事情，但我們投入的大部分努力都是為了了解我們所做的事情。量化我們所做的一些事情需要做很多工作，但真正講述一個更好的故事。

And here in January, I'm pleased to say, for those of you who are familiar with EcoVadis, that's a rating agency per se for ESG. We had a bronze in the past. Here in January, we were upgraded. We now hold a silver in EcoVadis. I'm not aware of any other North American distribution businesses that have silvers. Perhaps, there are some. I'm not aware of any. So my compliments to the team for doing a great job telling our story.

一月份，我很高興地告訴你們，對於熟悉 EcoVadis 的人來說，這本身就是 ESG 評級機構。我們過去曾獲得銅牌。一月份，我們進行了升級。我們現在在 EcoVadis 持有銀牌。我不知道其他北美分銷企業擁有銀牌。也許，有一些。我不知道有什麼。因此，我對團隊出色地講述我們的故事表示讚揚。

Finally, earlier this week, I had an opportunity to tour our shop, and I say an opportunity. I've done it before. Tim Borkowski has led a big piece of our manufacturing for 29 years. He retired this week. And Tim is famous for giving you a 20-minute tour, but taking 60 minutes to do it because he loves what he does. He loves to explain it. He loves to describe it. Must be an engineering background thing.

終於，本週早些時候，我有機會參觀我們的商店，我說有機會。我以前做過。 Tim Borkowski 領導我們製造業的重要部分已有 29 年。他本週退休了。提姆因給你一個 20 分鐘的遊覽而聞名，但他花了 60 分鐘去做，因為他熱愛他所做的事情。他喜歡解釋它。他喜歡描述它。一定是有工程背景的。

But I had a really nice visit with him with a handful of us that are touring it. And one challenge I put out to our regional leadership today is I said, during COVID, we wore them out with virtual tours. And that's kind of gone radio silent in the last 2 years.

但我和他以及我們幾個正在參觀的人進行了一次非常愉快的訪問。我今天向我們的地區領導層提出的一項挑戰是，在新冠疫情期間，我們透過虛擬遊覽讓他們疲憊不堪。在過去的兩年裡，這種情況已經消失了。

And I said to the group, I said, "When customers see our capabilities, it sells itself." We have 1,822 Onsites. We plan to sign close to 400 in the next 12 months. Well, I would think there's -- if just the Onsite each did a tour over the 253, 254 days of the year, that's 7 a day. Let's wear them out. And -- because right now, our own internal manufacturing capabilities represents between 9% and 10% of our fastener sales. We're really quite good at it. And when customers see that, that makes us special in their eyes.

我對團隊說，“當客戶看到我們的能力時，它就會自我推銷。”我們有 1,822 個現場。我們計劃在未來 12 個月內簽署近 400 份合約。嗯，我想如果只有 Onsite 每個人在一年中的 253、254 天裡進行一次巡演，那就是每天 7 次。讓我們把它們磨掉。而且，因為目前我們自己的內部製造能力占我們緊固件銷售額的 9% 到 10%。我們真的很擅長。當客戶看到這一點時，我們就會在他們眼中變得特別。

With that, I'm going to shut up and open it up to Q&A.

說到這裡，我要閉嘴並開始問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today is coming from Michael Hoffman from Stifel.

（操作員說明）今天我們的第一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Michael Hoffman。

So one of the things about looking at data inventories less orders would suggest PMI should be over 50. So when you look at your end markets, can you see pockets where this is starting to validate that thesis?

因此，在查看庫存資料（減去訂單）後，其中一件事表明 PMI 應該超過 50。因此，當您查看終端市場時，您能看到開始驗證這一論點的地方嗎？

For the most part, no. The feedback from the regional leadership has been fairly consistent through much of the year, much of the back half of the year, which is that our customers remain cautious. They remain fairly tight with their spending.

大多數情況下，不會。在今年大部分時間、下半年的大部分時間裡，地區領導層的回饋相當一致，這就是我們的客戶保持謹慎。他們的支出仍然相當緊張。

I will say that I think that when I asked the leadership about what their customers are saying about 2024, I would say that the forward-looking statements are probably on balance, more optimistic than the current statements.

我想說的是，我認為當我向領導層詢問他們的客戶對 2024 年有何看法時，我會說前瞻性陳述可能總體上比當前陳述更為樂觀。

I also suspect that's always true. But the -- if I look at the markets that are sort of shared with me through regional leadership, in general, I don't think there's been much of a change over the past 3 to 6 months.

我也懷疑這總是正確的。但是，如果我看看透過區域領導層與我共享的市場，總的來說，我認為過去 3 到 6 個月沒有太大變化。

Okay. And then you all have consistently talked about sort of price of 0% to 2%. Market share is 5% or better. We've had a little bit of metals inflation at the end of the year. Do we trend to the higher end of that 0% to 2%? And then what is your confidence about 5% or better in market share?

好的。然後你們都一直在談論 0% 到 2% 的價格。市佔率達5%以上。今年年底我們出現了一點金屬通膨。我們是否會趨向於 0% 到 2% 的較高端？那麼您對於 5% 或更高的市場佔有率的信心是多少？

Yes. In terms of inflation, I mean, we keep track of various steel indices. I would say that sort of the Chinese and Taiwanese industries are probably more relevant to us than, say, the U.S. or European ones are.

是的。就通貨膨脹而言，我的意思是，我們追蹤各種鋼鐵指數。我想說，中國和台灣的這類產業可能比美國或歐洲的產業與我們更相關。

In general, yes, there's been some wiggle and some movement, but if you take the longer view, that wiggle and movement is kind of within the context of, I think, fairly stable steel pricing over the last 6 to 12 months. So I haven't heard anything suggesting that we believe that steel pricing is a catalyst to incremental price increases going forward.

總的來說，是的，確實出現了一些波動和波動，但如果你從長遠的角度來看，我認為這種波動和波動是在過去6 到12 個月鋼鐵價格相當穩定的背景下發生的。因此，我沒有聽到任何表明我們認為鋼鐵定價是未來價格增量上漲的催化劑的消息。

The other thing to remember, Michael, is when you think about the total value of a fastener, only about, I believe, 30% of that is actually in the raw material itself. By the time you sort of wrap on to it the cost of transportation and various other elements of value add...

另一件要記住的事情是，邁克爾，當你考慮緊固件的總價值時，我相信，其中只有 30% 實際上是原材料本身。當您將運輸成本和各種其他增值要素納入其中時...

Processing.

加工。

Yes, processing, it's just not a huge piece. So I'm not hearing anything to suggest that the environment is moving back to an inflationary one, with possibly one exception.

是的，加工，只是不是很大的一塊。因此，我沒有聽到任何跡象表明環境正在回到通膨環境，可能有一個例外。

We're -- I think that there's been a lot of global conflict around the Suez Canal. I hear about a lot -- about very little water in the Panama Canal. And we are beginning to see shipping costs start to tick up again. I don't know how durable that will be. I don't know how far that will go. It's not creating any actions today, but that is something that we're watching fairly closely.

我認為蘇伊士運河周圍存在著許多全球衝突。我聽過很多關於巴拿馬運河水量很少的消息。我們開始看到運輸成本再次開始上漲。我不知道它能有多耐用。我不知道這會走多遠。今天它沒有採取任何行動，但這是我們正在密切關注的事情。

One thing that was an interesting update we had this week, our Head of Transportation, we've done a lot of work over the last several years to improve our own ability to track product.

本週我們進行了一次有趣的更新，我們的運輸主管在過去幾年中做了很多工作來提高我們自己追蹤產品的能力。

So if I'm in a branch, I can pull up a screen now. And if I'm looking for some product, I can look at it and say, "Oh, the truck that's bringing that is in the middle of Nebraska. And it's going to be here in 30 minutes, it could be here in 3 hours. Or it might be on a container." And we've gotten to the point now where we're tracking it, where we're seeing it at the container level.

因此，如果我在分支機構，我現在可以拉起螢幕。如果我正在尋找某種產品，我可以看著它並說，“哦，運來的卡車在內布拉斯加州中部。它會在 30 分鐘內到達這裡，可能會在 3 小時內到達這裡。或者它可能在一個容器上。”現在我們已經到了追蹤它、在容器層級看到它的階段。

So we can -- so he pulled up the screen the other day and the number of dots you saw on the map that went around the Southern tip of Africa were meaningful. And I didn't see any dots that went through the Suez Canal on the product we were moving. And that just was a snapshot at that point in time in the information.

所以我們可以——所以前幾天他打開螢幕，你在地圖上看到的圍繞非洲南端的點的數量是有意義的。我在我們要運送的產品上沒有看到任何經過蘇伊士運河的點。這只是訊息中那個時間點的快照。

Yes, so something to watch. And then as it relates to market share, this year has been unusual in that we didn't achieve market share at the levels we expect of ourselves. I don't think it reflects a change in our cultural attitude. We think that, ultimately, gaining market share is what we're here to do.

是的，所以值得一看。然後，就市場份額而言，今年是不尋常的一年，因為我們沒有達到我們預期的市場份額。我不認為這反映了我們文化態度的改變。我們認為，最終，獲得市場佔有率才是我們的目標。

Structurally, we still have the tools to be able to do it. And I think we made changes to our approach and our leadership in the past 6 to 8 months, which have us very enthusiastic that we're going to kick that market share machine back up in 2024. So we expect it of ourselves, let me put it that way.

從結構上來說，我們仍然擁有能夠做到這一點的工具。我認為我們在過去 6 到 8 個月裡改變了我們的方法和領導力，這讓我們非常熱衷於在 2024 年重新啟動市場份額機器。所以我們對自己有這樣的期望，讓我這麼說吧。

Our next question today is coming from David Manthey from Baird.

今天我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的大衛曼蒂 (David Manthey)。

First question, I did want to ask you about these shipping containers. Clearly, we've seen an uptick. But is that -- is it primarily -- or is it focused on those containers that are coming through the Red Sea or Panama Canal? Or is there any impact that rolls over on those containers coming directly from Asia to California, say? Just thinking about where your main exposures are and how we should think about that if it does extend.

第一個問題，我確實想問你有關這些貨櫃的問題。顯然，我們已經看到了上升。但這是——主要是——還是專注於那些通過紅海或巴拿馬運河的貨櫃？或者說，對那些直接從亞洲運往加州的貨櫃是否會產生任何影響？只需考慮一下您的主要風險敞口在哪裡，以及如果風險確實擴大了，我們應該如何考慮。

Yes. I think you may have caught me with a question that's more granular than I studied, to be honest. What I can tell you is we've seen an uptick in recent weeks, a meaningful uptick in the cost of a container. How that looks route by route, I don't know.

是的。老實說，我想你可能給我提出了一個比我研究的更具體的問題。我可以告訴你的是，最近幾週我們看到了貨櫃成本的大幅上漲。我不知道這看起來怎麼樣。

Yes. A lot of our products, Dave, does come in through the West Coast. In recent years, as our volumes have grown, we have more containers that would -- we'd bring in to the East Coast, so bringing it into our North Carolina facility, our Atlanta facility because when you're bringing full containers in. But historically, a lot of our product comes into the West Coast.

是的。戴夫，我們的許多產品確實是透過西海岸進口的。近年來，隨著我們產量的增長，我們有更多的貨櫃，我們會把它們運到東海岸，所以把它運到我們的北卡羅來納州工廠，我們的亞特蘭大工廠，因為當你運來滿載的貨櫃時。但從歷史上看，我們的許多產品都進入西海岸。

And I think -- this is probably some speculation, but I would say that the disruption moving from China to the West Coast ports is less than things moving the other direction. But if the existing capacity is going to be consumed on trips for a longer period of time, that's going to stress the entire global network, which is going to impact ultimately our cost as well. And that's what we've begun to see. Again, it's very early. We don't know how this plays out, but it's something we're watching.

我認為——這可能是一些猜測，但我想說，從中國到西海岸港口的干擾比其他方向的干擾要小。但如果現有的運力將在較長一段時間內被消耗在旅行中，這將對整個全球網路造成壓力，這最終也會影響我們的成本。這就是我們已經開始看到的情況。再說一次，時間還很早。我們不知道事情會如何發展，但我們正在關注這一點。

Yes. Fair enough. And then second, on -- via our channel work, we've been hearing about some suppliers cutting the number of distributors they deal with directly. And I'm wondering, have any of your suppliers actively consolidated their distributor partners that you know of?

是的。很公平。其次，透過我們的管道工作，我們聽說一些供應商削減了與他們直接打交道的分銷商數量。我想知道，據您所知，您的供應商是否積極整合其經銷商合作夥伴？

I'm not aware of any, but it wouldn't surprise me. And -- because if you look at where the outgrowth is coming from, it's coming from fewer and fewer. So it wouldn't surprise me, but I'm not aware of any, David.

我不知道，但這不會讓我感到驚訝。而且──因為如果你看看成長的來源，你會發現它來自越來越少。所以這不會讓我感到驚訝，但我不知道有什麼，大衛。

And I would say that over time -- so I can't speak to -- I don't know what period of time you're hearing about. It sounds like it's probably more recent. Over time, you have seen gradual consolidation just in terms of who we spend with and engage with.

我想說的是，隨著時間的推移——所以我不能說話——我不知道你聽到的是哪一段時間。聽起來可能是最近的。隨著時間的推移，您已經看到我們與誰一起消費和接觸的人逐漸整合。

It's an extensive list, but obviously, you have tiers. And I would say our higher tiers has consolidated slightly over time, and that's by design just as relationships evolve. But I haven't necessarily heard of anything that is a recent and deliberate initiative on the part of a lot of suppliers to consolidate. I haven't heard anything in that regard.

這是一個廣泛的列表，但顯然，你有層次。我想說，隨著時間的推移，我們的高層已經略有整合，這是隨著關係的發展而設計的。但我不一定聽過許多供應商最近有意進行整合的舉措。我還沒聽到這方面的消息。

Next question is coming from Chris Dankert from Loop Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 Loop Capital Markets 的 Chris Dankert。

I guess, Onsite sales growth during the quarter was only slightly ahead of company average rate, which is a notable slowdown versus past performance here. I mean, do you think that's kind of a one-off due to some of the customer plant shutdowns exiting the year? I guess, how much or how little should we really make of that lower Onsite sales growth rate in the quarter?

我猜想，本季的現場銷售成長僅略高於公司平均水平，與過去的業績相比明顯放緩。我的意思是，您認為這是否是一次性的，因為一些客戶工廠在今年結束時關閉？我想，我們到底該從本季較低的現場銷售成長率中獲得多少收益？

Yes. It's relevant. And I think what you're seeing is we've talked about how our signings this year were not at the level that we expected them to be. And I think that at the beginning part of the year, you were benefiting from the signings rolling through earlier that were greater than the year prior to that, which is being affected by the pandemic, right?

是的。這是相關的。我想你看到的是我們已經討論過今年我們的簽約沒有達到我們預期的水平。我認為，在今年年初，您從早期的簽約中受益，這些簽約比受疫情影響的前一年還要多，對嗎？

And so as you get the benefit of those, but then you have -- you layer in another year where your signings are slower, you're going to naturally have that effect roll through.

因此，當你從這些中受益時，你會在另一年的簽約速度較慢的情況下分層，你自然會看到這種效果。

So I think in many respects, it feels to me like it has a lot more to do just with the signings cadence, which, again, I think we've suggested we love the fact that our Onsite continues to grow in the mix. We love that the installed base continues to grow, but the signings pace has not been what we expected it to be. And I think what you're seeing is a byproduct to that.

所以我認為在很多方面，我覺得這與簽約節奏有更多關係，我認為我們已經表明我們喜歡我們的 Onsite 繼續在混合中增長這一事實。我們很高興安裝基數持續成長，但簽約速度並未達到我們的預期。我認為你所看到的只是其副產品。

One thing, I think I've shared in prior calls, I have conversations with all of our district managers throughout the course of the year. And one thing that I've seen that's changed is our average DM has the opportunity for about 60 Onsites.

我想我在之前的電話中分享過一件事，我在這一年中與我們所有的地區經理進行了對話。我看到的一件事發生了變化，我們的 DM 平均有大約 60 個 Onsites 的機會。

And so we're having these conversations. You could tell the ones that were really dialed in and the ones that aren't. The ones that are really dialed in are sitting there with, "Hey, here's my number of potential. Here's what we have, that's hot, that's warm, that's warming." And how good they are at communicating that tells me, "Hey, do they have a plan that you feel comfortable come into the year their pipelines is going to give them a couple of Onsites?"

所以我們正在進行這些對話。您可以分辨哪些是真正撥入的，哪些不是。那些真正撥通電話的人坐在那裡，“嘿，這是我的潛力。這就是我們所擁有的，那是熱的，那是溫暖的，那是溫暖的。”他們的溝通能力有多強，這告訴我，“嘿，他們是否有一個讓你覺得舒服的計劃，他們的管道將在今年為他們提供幾個現場服務？”

With 240 district managers, if a high percentage have a really good plan to give them a couple of Onsites, maybe some have 3, maybe some have 1. But consistently, a couple of Onsites, you're at your number with cushion and you feel good about what's your pipeline.

擁有240 名地區經理，如果其中大部分人有一個非常好的計劃，可以為他們提供幾個Onsite，也許有些有3 個，也許有些有1 個。但始終如一，有幾個Onsite，你就可以在自己的數量上有緩衝，並且您對您的管道感覺良好。

I might also say that Dan started off his comments talking about how the year was marked by 2 things. One was difficult markets. The other was execution. I think I described the part of it that was the execution.

我還可以說，丹在評論開始時談到了這一年如何被兩件事所標記。一是市場困難。另一個是執行。我想我描述了執行的部分。

The other thing to think about is if you look at where industrial production has weakened, it's really weakened in sort of the machinery and fabricated metals parts of the industrial production spectrum. And those are areas that are relevant to us as a company, but they're particularly relevant...

另一件需要考慮的事情是，如果你看看工業生產疲軟的地方，你會發現工業生產領域的機械和金屬製品部分確實受到了削弱。這些都是與我們公司相關的領域，但它們特別相關...

Extremely relevant.

極為相關。

In that Onsite world. And what we saw in the third -- in the fourth quarter, to give you a sense, is all year, we've had a fairly significant gap between OEM fastener growth and MRO fastener contraction, which is a reflection of the Onsites coming on.

在那個現場世界裡。我們在第三季和第四季看到的情況是，整年，我們在 OEM 緊固件成長和 MRO 緊固件收縮之間存在相當大的差距，這反映了 Onsites 的出現。

In the fourth quarter, that gap narrowed appreciably. And I think what you're also seeing is simply the relative weakness in the machinery and fab metals is having a disproportionate impact on areas that disproportionately impact the Onsites. And so I think, again, it's a combination of market and our own execution.

第四季度，這一差距明顯縮小。我認為您還看到的是機械和工廠金屬的相對弱點對對現場產生不成比例影響的區域產生了不成比例的影響。所以我再次認為，這是市場和我們自己執行力的結合。

Got it. That's really helpful color. And I guess, maybe just touching on that last point. As those growth drivers impact gross margin, we saw mix was better this quarter. If these current trends hold, I guess, I would assume kind of the same story for '24. I guess, how do you think about the impact of mix on gross margin in this year kind of as you see it today?

知道了。這真是有用的顏色。我想，也許只是觸及最後一點。由於這些成長動力影響毛利率，我們看到本季的混合情況更好。如果目前的趨勢持續下去，我想，我會假設 24 世紀也會出現同樣的情況。我想，正如您今天所看到的那樣，您如何看待今年的混合對毛利率的影響？

Yes. I think I try to predict what mix will be every year. It's a fairly thankless effort, to be quite honest. But I think I've used like 50 to 70 basis points in the past. I think it will be less than that, and I think it will be less than that for a few reasons.

是的。我想我會嘗試預測每年會是什麼樣的組合。老實說，這是一個相當吃力不討好的努力。但我認為我過去使用過 50 到 70 個基點。我認為它會比這個少，而且我認為它會比這個少，原因有幾個。

One, we talked about fewer branch closures. If we have fewer branch closures, I think the rate of attrition in our smaller customer set will also slow. So you won't have the same order of magnitude impact from that.

第一，我們討論了減少分行關閉的情況。如果我們關閉的分行較少，我認為我們較小的客戶群的流失率也會減慢。所以你不會受到同樣數量級的影響。

We have had slower Onsite signings. And again, that ripple effect, I think at least in the earlier part of the year, that's going to put less pressure on the channel mix impact.

我們的現場簽約速度較慢。再說一次，我認為至少在今年早些時候，這種連鎖反應將減輕對通路組合影響的壓力。

I would also point out that over the balance of this year, you've had a dramatic difference in growth between fasteners and non-fasteners. And maybe there's a little element of both comparison and market here. But I would wager that next year, that gap is not going to be as wide. And that would relieve some pressure off of the product mix element as well.

我還想指出，在今年剩餘的時間裡，緊固件和非緊固件之間的成長存在巨大差異。也許這裡有一些比較和市場的因素。但我敢打賭，明年這個差距不會那麼大。這也將減輕產品組合元素的一些壓力。

And so I still think mix will be negative. It's just the nature of our growth drivers. But I don't think it will be as negative as that as sort of the normal 50 to 70 that I've talked about in the past. I think it could be narrower than that.

所以我仍然認為混合會是負面的。這就是我們成長動力的本質。但我認為它不會像我過去談到的正常的 50 到 70 那樣負面。我認為它可能比這更窄。

Next question is coming from Ken Newman from KeyBanc Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Ken Newman。

Just wanted to touch on the color on some of the warehousing demand that you saw this quarter. Just curious what really drove that increase. Is that really new customer acquisition? Is it gaining market share with existing customers? I know it's small for you now, but just where do you think that could go in terms of mix longer term?

只是想談談您本季看到的一些倉儲需求的顏色。只是好奇是什麼真正推動了這種成長。這真的是新客戶獲取嗎？它是否正在贏得現有客戶的市場份額？我知道現在對你來說還很小，但你認為從長遠來看，這會走向何方？

Well, for really about the last 5, 6 years, we made a really concerted effort to go after that business. Because with our vending platform and our strength in the safety area, it's a natural fit for us to be a great partner to that type of customer. And we saw really nice growth in it.

嗯，在過去的五、六年裡，我們非常一致地努力追求這項業務。因為憑藉我們的自動販賣機平台和我們在安全領域的實力，我們自然會成為這類客戶的優秀合作夥伴。我們看到了它非常好的成長。

And when I think of, like, when COVID hit, that ends in our government business. And our access to safety products were a lifeboat to helping us get through that very successfully because the industrial business was just hammered when we went through that period.

當我想到新冠疫情來襲時，我們的政府事務就結束了。我們獲得安全產品是幫助我們成功度過這段時期的救生艇，因為當我們經歷那段時期時，工業業務剛剛受到重創。

And so it's become an ever larger piece. If I think about it discretely now, there's a number of things going on. There's -- we had -- I won't attribute it to necessarily customer acquisition. We're always adding locations with those customers because they're growing.

所以它變得越來越大。如果我現在仔細思考的話，我會發現有很多事情正在發生。我不會將其歸因於客戶獲取。我們一直在增加這些客戶的營業地點，因為他們不斷成長。

And -- but it continues to be deeper penetration, and we had examples where -- some other suppliers couldn't get stuff to them, and we stepped up to the plate and helped, which always helps our position to be a stronger partner and to gain market share with that customer because you rely on people you can rely on.

而且 - 但它仍然是更深層次的滲透，我們有一些例子 - 其他一些供應商無法向他們提供產品，而我們挺身而出並提供幫助，這總是有助於我們成為更強大的合作夥伴，並且獲得該客戶的市場份額，因為您依賴可以信賴的人。

And so those things really helped us. And they have a strong business environment themselves, and they're using more products. And we had some examples where there were some products they needed that we were uniquely situated to help them with. Sometimes, it was for the safety of their employees. Sometimes, it was moving some product around. And things just call us really well in the quarter.

所以這些事情確實對我們有幫助。他們本身擁有強大的商業環境，並且正在使用更多的產品。我們有一些例子，其中他們需要一些產品，而我們擁有獨特的優勢來幫助他們。有時，這是為了員工的安全。有時，它會移動一些產品。本季的情況顯示我們的情況非常好。

I would point out maybe a couple of things. One, prior to the pandemic, that warehousing sector was less than 1% of our sales. And so oftentimes, you get asked, like what -- can you show that you actually have improved your business coming out of the pandemic? This is an example of a market where we retained business coming out of the pandemic that we gained because of what we were able to do there. And so again, we think it's -- we love having that customer set involved.

我可能會指出幾件事。第一，在疫情爆發之前，倉儲部門僅占我們銷售額的不到 1%。很多時候，你會被問到，例如你能證明你的業務在疫情後確實有所改善嗎？這是一個市場的例子，我們保留了從大流行中獲得的業務，因為我們能夠在那裡做一些事情。所以，我們再次認為，我們喜歡讓客戶群參與其中。

The other thing I think I would point out, I think I sort of indicated that market was up 60% in December. Christmas doesn't come every month. President's Day doesn't have the same commercial value. I just wouldn't expect that kind of order of magnitude from that customer set as we go forward into 2024 that we experienced over the most recent holiday period.

我想我要指出的另一件事是，我想我暗示市場在 12 月上漲了 60%。聖誕節並不是每個月都會到來。總統日沒有同樣的商業價值。我只是沒想到，當我們進入 2024 年時，客戶群會出現我們在最近的假期期間經歷的那種數量級。

Right. No, that makes sense. That's helpful. Just for my follow-up here. Just looking at the seasonal benchmark for this year, just assuming that '24 follows that seasonal benchmark as a baseline. It does imply quarterly ADS steps up pretty strongly here and, call it, the high single-digit range in the back half.

正確的。不，這是有道理的。這很有幫助。只是為了我的後續行動。只看今年的季節性基準，假設 24 年遵循該季節性基準作為基準。它確實意味著季度ADS在這裡大幅上升，並稱之為後半部分的高個位數範圍。

Just outside of the comps and the normal seasonality, I'm just trying to weigh that against maybe the slower Onsites and how that maybe ramps through the year. Is there anything to suggest that sales wouldn't necessarily follow those trends that we should be kind of aware of?

除了比較和正常的季節性之外，我只是想權衡可能較慢的現場情況以及全年的情況。有什麼跡象表明銷售不一定遵循我們應該意識到的趨勢嗎？

I'm not getting into the business of predicting January, February and March DSRs. Here's I would tell you. Onsites could have an impact. Does it have an impact in January, specifically? I really don't know, right?

我不打算預測 1 月、2 月和 3 月的 DSR。這是我要告訴你的。現場可能會產生影響。具體來說，對一月有影響嗎？我真的不知道，對吧？

I've always said that there's a lot of value, a lot of value and sort of understanding how those trends work. But there's a lot of error variable anytime that you're talking about 20 days of activity and you're trying to apply a lot of meaning to it.

我一直說這有很多價值，很多價值以及對這些趨勢如何運作的理解。但是，當您談論 20 天的活動並且您試圖對其應用很多含義時，就會出現許多錯誤變數。

Onsites, over a multi-month period of time, yes, I think that they may grow a little bit less quickly in the absence of a market improvement because of some of the signings. But I'll tell you, we're also seeing a little bit of an uptick in the sales activity in non-Onsite national accounts. And I think that could also pick up.

在現場，在幾個月的時間內，是的，我認為，由於一些簽約，在市場沒有改善的情況下，他們的成長速度可能會慢一些。但我要告訴你的是，我們也看到非現場國民帳戶的銷售活動略有上升。我認為這種情況也可能會好轉。

So there's just a lot of moving pieces that makes it difficult for me to say with any sort of definitiveness that you should expect us to beat or miss those DSR benchmarks.

因此，有很多變化，讓我很難明確地說我們會超越或錯過那些 DSR 基準。

Probably, the piece that I'd throw out on that, it relates less to the question per se and more to an example. So we had our Board meeting last couple of days. And one thing I ask of all of our leadership team is, hey, be in one of the week of the Board meeting. You spend some time with your teams, with other folks and be here because we participate in the Board meetings in person.

也許，我要丟掉的那篇文章與問題本身關係不大，而與範例關係更大。所以我們最近幾天召開了董事會。我要求我們所有領導團隊的一件事是，嘿，參加董事會會議的一周。您花一些時間與您的團隊和其他人在一起，因為我們親自參加董事會會議。

We had 1 person that wasn't here because he was sitting at an airport in Nashville, Tennessee, and there was 8 inches of snow. And so he participated remotely, and I was sitting with him this morning, and he's kind of freaked out right now because the winter weather has not been our friend in January. And it's not been our industry's friend. It's not been our customers' friend.

我們有 1 個人不在這裡，因為他坐在田納西州納許維爾的機場，那裡有 8 英寸厚的雪。所以他遠程參與了，今天早上我和他坐在一起，他現在有點害怕，因為一月份的冬天天氣對我們來說並不友好。它不是我們行業的朋友。它不是我們客戶的朋友。

In fact, I received a picture the other day. It was actually from a supplier in the Memphis area, so a little bit further West from Nashville. And he had a picture of their warehouse, their distribution facility. And their head of sales sent it over to our traffic manager and said, "Every truck that was coming and picking up product today canceled, except for one." And he said, "There was a blue Fastenal semi that was here 15 minutes ago. I'm sorry it wasn't in the picture, but it was great to see you guys still run it."

事實上，前幾天我收到了一張照片。它實際上來自孟菲斯地區的一家供應商，距離納許維爾稍遠。他還有一張他們的倉庫和配送設施的照片。他們的銷售主管將其發送給我們的交通經理並說：“今天來取貨的每輛卡車都取消了，除了一輛。”他說，“15 分鐘前有一輛藍色 Fastenal 半拖車在這裡。很抱歉它沒有出現在照片中，但很高興看到你們仍在駕駛它。”

And so the weather is hammering the month pretty hard. Well, there's a lot of month left. We'll see how we dig out, no pun intended. But our distribution network is working. That's a beautiful thing, and that truck was there to pick up product.

所以這個月的天氣非常惡劣。嗯，還有很多個月。我們將看看我們如何挖掘出來，沒有雙關語的意思。但我們的分銷網絡正在運作。這是一件很美好的事情，那輛卡車是來接產品的。

Next question is coming from Nigel Coe from Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的奈傑爾·科。

Yes, the weather is not our friend right now, that's for sure. So just going back to the Onsites, and it seems you firmly believe this is more of a cyclical factor. You've called out the networking kind of factor there.

是的，現在天氣對我們不利，這是肯定的。回到現場，您似乎堅信這更多是一個週期性因素。你已經提到網路因素了。

Is there anything structural here that we need to consider, maybe some of the e-Com cannibalization? MSM is talking about their in-plant offerings as well. I'm just curious if there's a bit more, I don't know, pockets of structural headwinds here we need to consider.

這裡有什麼結構性的東西需要我們考慮，也許是一些電子商務的蠶食？ MSM 也在談論他們的廠內產品。我只是好奇是否還有更多（我不知道）我們需要考慮的結構性阻力。

When I think of Onsite, Onsite and e-Com don't even come into play. I could see -- because, really, what the Onsite is about is we're stepping into their shoes and we're operating inside their facility on something that they were probably doing themselves before and didn't really have the expertise or the tools or the visibility into the supply chain that we have to help operate it more effectively, more efficiently.

當我想到 Onsite 時，Onsite 和 e-Com 根本就沒有發揮作用。我看得出來——因為，實際上，現場活動的意義在於，我們正在站在他們的立場上，在他們的設施內進行一些他們以前可能自己做過的事情，但實際上並沒有專業知識或工具。或我們必須幫助更有效、更有效率地營運供應鏈的可見性。

And then we arm that Onsite with all the tools we have in place, whether it be vending machines or technology-embedded bins or areas where we're scanning. It's just a much more efficient way to operate. And that's about logistics as much as it is ordering because, quite frankly, when we were there on Onsite, anything that's gone through FMI, and FMI is a high percentage of Onsite, anything going through FMI, the customers hasn't been really ordering it.

然後，我們在現場配備我們現有的所有工具，無論是自動販賣機還是技術嵌入式垃圾箱或我們正在掃描的區域。這只是一種更有效的操作方式。這既涉及物流，也涉及訂購，因為坦率地說，當我們在 Onsite 時，任何經過 FMI 的東西，而 FMI 在 Onsite 中所佔的比例很高，任何經過 FMI 的東西，客戶並沒有真正訂購它。

And so e-Commerce really isn't the thing there. e-Commerce is probably a bigger thing with smaller customers because oftentimes, smaller customers buy and sometimes the way you and I do. I buy a lot of stuff online.

所以電子商務確實不存在。對於較小的客戶來說，電子商務可能是一件更大的事情，因為通常情況下，較小的客戶會購買，有時就像你和我一樣。我在網路上買了很多東西。

The other part it can play into is -- and we saw this really in 2020, a market change in activity in that when all of a sudden, people started working more remotely, you're ordering more things electronically than maybe you were before because we're delivering product in one of the facilities, they might catch us and order some stuff. They might phone us, and people tend to phone less when they're at home. They tend to do more things on the computer. At least that's what we're seeing.

它可以發揮作用的另一個部分是——我們在2020 年確實看到了這一點，市場活動發生了變化，突然之間，人們開始更遠程地工作，你可能會比以前通過電子方式訂購更多的東西，因為我們正在其中一個設施中交付產品，他們可能會抓住我們並訂購一些東西。他們可能會打電話給我們，而人們在家時往往會少打電話。他們傾向於在計算機上做更多的事情。至少我們現在看到的是這樣的。

And I would say as well, Nigel, I'm not sure I would agree with the underlying premise that there's some competition between Onsites and e-Commerce. I mean, the reality is if we look at our e-Commerce business, if you remember, it's an aggregation of EDI and web sales and a variety of different ways that we engage digitally. Roughly, 50% of our e-Commerce sales are going through Onsites.

我還要說，奈傑爾，我不確定我是否同意 Onsites 和電子商務之間存在一定競爭的基本前提。我的意思是，現實情況是，如果我們看看我們的電子商務業務，如果您還記得的話，它是 EDI 和網路銷售以及我們數位參與的各種不同方式的集合。大約 50% 的電子商務銷售是透過 Onsites 進行的。

So it winds -- I don't believe that there is a one sort of channel approach by the customer set. I think the customer sets are -- the customers are looking for a range of solutions to solve different issues. And I don't think that they're in conflict.

因此，我不相信客戶群有一種通路方法。我認為客戶群是——客戶正在尋找一系列解決方案來解決不同的問題。而且我不認為它們有衝突。

But a high percentage of that e-Commerce you're talking about is EDI.

但您所談論的電子商務中很大一部分是 EDI。

Yes. Although showing me 35% to 40% of our web is also running through Onsites.

是的。儘管我看到我們 35% 到 40% 的網路也是透過 Onsites 運行的。

Okay. That's fair, yes.

好的。這很公平，是的。

Okay. That's really helpful. And then just on the points that, are you seeing pocket competition on Onsite? Again, one of your biggest public competitors does talk about their in-plant offerings.

好的。這真的很有幫助。然後就以下幾點而言，您是否在現場看到了競爭？同樣，您最大的公開競爭對手之一確實談論了他們的廠內產品。

And just thinking about, Dan, you were very honest about the out growth in '23 fell below your expectations. Do you think that in '24, you'd be back to that sort of 5 points-plus of out growth versus the market?

想想，丹，你對 23 年的成長低於你的預期非常誠實。您是否認為在 24 年，您會恢復到與市場相比成長 5 個百分點以上的水平？

Coming into the year, that would be our expectation. And -- but as far as competition, we have competition in everything we do. There's a lot of companies out there that we compete with, that are local businesses that do Onsite.

進入今年，這將是我們的期望。而且——但就競爭而言，我們所做的一切都存在著競爭。我們與許多公司競爭，這些公司都是進行 Onsite 的本地企業。

What they don't have is maybe some of the tools. And a natural strength to our Onsite model is the fact that we have the branch network because what's really difficult and where a lot of organizations fail on pieces of Onsite, we have a natural density of people.

他們沒有的可能是一些工具。我們的 Onsite 模式的一個天然優勢是我們擁有分支機構網絡，因為真正困難的是，許多組織在 Onsite 的某些方面都失敗了，我們有自然的人員密度。

So let's say you have an Onsite with 2 employees. Well, let's say employee is out on maternity leave. Let's say employee is out on vacation. Let's say employee, there's turnover. How do you replace that? Well, if you have 50 Fastenal employees that are in this market, it's Omaha, it's up in the Twin Cities, and we have more than 50 in Twin Cities.

假設您的現場有 2 位員工。好吧，假設員工正在休產假。假設員工外出度假。比方說員工，有人員流動。你如何替換它？好吧，如果這個市場有 50 名 Fastenal 員工，那就是奧馬哈，在雙城，我們在雙城有超過 50 名員工。

But if you have employees in this market, you have redundancy to support that Onsite. So we have a natural advantage in that marketplace versus not necessarily a local competitor, but a national competitor because we have a footprint.

但如果你在這個市場上有員工，你就有冗餘來支援現場工作。因此，我們在該市場上擁有天然優勢，不一定是本地競爭對手，而是全國競爭對手，因為我們擁有足跡。

And maybe the only other thing I would add, this is largely anecdotal, again, I sort of asked the regionals how things are going every month. And they sort of just freewheeling give me answers. And oftentimes, there's comments about our competitors there. Sometimes, it's favorable to us. Sometimes, it's not favorable to us.

也許我要補充的唯一一件事是，這很大程度上是軼事，我再次詢問地區官員每個月的情況如何。他們只是隨心所欲地給我答案。通常，那裡會有關於我們競爭對手的評論。有時，這對我們有利。有時，這對我們不利。

What I can tell you is I haven't noticed any difference in the cadence of that conversation over the course of this year. So I mean, if part of the question is are you seeing things intensify, I haven't gotten that from the feedback from the field.

我可以告訴你的是，今年以來我沒有註意到這次談話的節奏有任何變化。所以我的意思是，如果問題的一部分是你是否看到事情正在加劇，我還​​沒有從現場的回饋中得到這一點。

Next question is coming from Ryan Merkel from William Blair.

下一個問題來自威廉·布萊爾的瑞安·默克爾。

Congrats on a good quarter. So I had 2 questions, and I'll just ask them upfront. The leadership changes, Dan, what changes did you make? And why are you confident that, that will accelerate the share gains?

恭喜季度表現良好。所以我有兩個問題，我會提前問他們。領導層發生了變化，丹，你做了什麼改變？為什麼您有信心這會加速股價上漲？

And then second question. Can you clarify the tweak to the business model where -- are the front doors open now on all of the branches? And I think the question I'm getting asked is, could that help sales in '24? Or is it not that impactful?

然後是第二個問題。您能否澄清一下商業模式的調整——現在所有分店的前門都敞開了嗎？我認為我被問到的問題是，這有助於 24 年的銷售嗎？或者影響力不大？

First off, we made a number of changes. We moved some -- within our National Accounts team, we moved some folks around. There are some folks that aren't in roles that they had before. We made some changes in our regional leadership. That was probably -- that wasn't necessarily performance. That was more of a case of just some natural -- we all get older and still some natural changes there.

首先，我們做了一些改變。我們調動了一些人——在我們的國民帳戶團隊中，我們調動了一些人。有些人不再擔任他們以前擔任過的角色。我們對地區領導階層進行了一些調整。這可能是——這不一定是表現。這更多的是一些自然現象——我們都會變老，但仍然存在一些自然變化。

I think the fact that we have the U.S. under 1 leader now, over the last 15 years, the East and Western United States have been under dual -- 2 different leaders. And so over time, there's economic reasons why -- how the business changed a little bit, and there's personality reasons why the business changed a little bit.

我認為事實上，美國現在由一位領導人領導，在過去 15 年裡，美國東部和西部一直由兩位不同的領導人領導。因此，隨著時間的推移，有經濟原因導致業務發生了一些變化，也有個性原因導致業務發生了一些變化。

If I were to characterize the Eastern U.S. versus the Western U.S., and I can think back to who's been the leaders of 2 business over time, both incredibly successful businesses. The -- I would say the way they go about being successful is different.

如果我要描述美國東部和美國西部的特徵，我可以回想一下誰一直是兩個企業的領導者，這兩個企業都非常成功。我想說的是，他們取得成功的方式是不同的。

If I think of the Western U.S., I think of a business that they were groundbreaking early on in Onsites and -- particularly in the Midwestern part of the Western U.S. because it was a more mature business and we needed to figure out ways to keep growing. And so I think that part of the business is more -- is better at -- you have a large customer, we're better at getting deeper and deeper into our large customer. Earlier, I talked about our manufacturing division. I suspect there's a disproportionate mix of their business in the Western than there is in the Eastern. And I might be wrong on that. That's just me speculating.

如果我想到美國西部，我會想到他們在 Onsites 早期就開創性的業務，尤其是在美國西部的中西部地區，因為這是一個更成熟的業務，我們需要找到保持成長的方法。所以我認為這部分業務更擅長——你有一個大客戶，我們更擅長越來越深入地了解我們的大客戶。早些時候，我談到了我們的製造部門。我懷疑他們在西部的業務與東部的業務不成比例。我可能是錯的。這只是我的猜測。

The -- if I think of the Eastern, there's nobody better at [Hunton]. Going out and finding new customers and growing their business than our Eastern business unit. And again, it emanates from the leaders that there's been over time. It also emanates from the industrial activity over the time.

如果我想到東方，沒有人比亨頓更擅長。與我們的東部業務部門相比，走出去尋找新客戶並發展他們的業務。再說一次，它來自於長期以來的領導者。它也源自於一段時間內的工業活動。

And as it relates to our business, our front doors are open. And I think -- they weren't closed that long, but -- and they weren't closed everywhere. They were closed in pockets.

由於這與我們的業務相關，我們的大門是敞開的。我認為——它們並沒有關閉那麼久，但是——而且它們並沒有在所有地方都關閉。它們被裝在口袋裡。

There's a couple of exceptions. There's a couple of states where the rules are pretty onerous. And we've just said, you know what, California has too many requirements, so we just say we're keeping them closed. And there's one other state, I forget what it is offhand. I think it's Louisiana.

有幾個例外。有幾個州的規定相當嚴格。我們剛剛說過，你知道嗎，加州有太多要求，所以我們只是說我們將關閉它們。還有另外一種狀態，我忘了那是什麼狀態了。我認為是路易斯安那州。

But we've been operating that way for years in Canada. And it was primarily because as a wholesaler, you just couldn't do retail transactions. So our front doors are open, but we had a much different business. We grow faster in Canada. I hope that answers your question.

但我們在加拿大多年來一直以這種方式運作。這主要是因為身為批發商，你無法進行零售交易。所以我們的大門是敞開的，但我們的業務卻截然不同。我們在加拿大發展得更快。我希望這能回答你的問題。

And I think a couple of pieces of perspective I might add. I mean, Dan touched on it. When we started this process, we had a lot of different experiments in the fields going on, right? Some people closed, other people didn't close. Some people flipped counters, et cetera. Some people stuck with the traditional, the older CSP model.

我想我可以補充一些觀點。我的意思是，丹談到了這一點。當我們開始這個過程時，我們在各個領域進行了很多不同的實驗，對嗎？有些人關門了，有些人沒有關門。有些人翻轉櫃檯等等。有些人堅持使用傳統的、較舊的 CSP 模式。

And I think we wanted to come up with a more consistent model. And so having had the opportunity to evaluate all the different things we were doing, we wanted to sort of consolidate under sort of one approach.

我認為我們想提出一個更一致的模型。因此，在有機會評估我們正在做的所有不同事情之後，我們希望在一種方法下進行整合。

We have a lot of customers in a lot of places that share a company, and we want to make sure that we weren't creating conflict in that regard. So that was part of what went into that.

我們在很多地方有很多客戶共享一家公司，我們希望確保我們不會在這方面造成衝突。這就是其中的一部分。

As it relates to the impact on growth, bear in mind that if you're talking about accounts that are smaller accounts, which tends to be what that walk-in is, because when we're talking about our larger customers, we're typically going to their locations. It represents mid-single digits of our total revenue.

由於它與對成長的影響有關，請記住，如果您談論的是較小的帳戶，這往往是未預約的帳戶，因為當我們談論較大的客戶時，我們通常會去他們的位置。它占我們總收入的中個位數。

So do you get some incremental revenue from that? In all likelihood, we will. I wouldn't overstate the overall impact to growth. It could contribute something at the margin, but I wouldn't overstate the potential on that.

那麼你能從中獲得一些增量收入嗎？我們很可能會的。我不會誇大對成長的整體影響。它可以在邊際上做出一些貢獻，但我不會誇大其潛力。

Most of our revenue don't even know where our location is.

我們的大部分收入甚至不知道我們的位置在哪裡。

Exactly.

確切地。

I don't know if there's any other questions in queue. We're at 3 minutes to the hour, so I think I'll call it there. If anybody got cut off -- if anybody was cut off, I apologize for that.

不知道還有沒有其他問題在排隊。現在還剩 3 分鐘，所以我想我就到此為止。如果有人被切斷——如果有人被切斷，我為此道歉。

I just want to close this one thought. I just got back 2 days ago from a week -- 8-day trip. I was over in Shanghai and Ningbo, China. And there's a lot of nascent level, global level wrangling that occurs in society, and I guess that's just the nature of life. I have to say, I was over there.

我只是想結束這個想法。我兩天前剛結束一週八天的旅行。我去過中國上海和寧波。社會上出現了很多新生的、全球性的爭論，我想這就是生活的本質。我不得不說，我就在那裡。

We celebrated 20 years of Fasco, our trading company, and 20 years of our sales organization over there. The people I met were incredible. I've spent a lot of time with our team right in Shanghai. I spent good time with our Fasco team, our handful of district managers, our RVP over there, our Senior VP that covers the European and Asian business. And I went down and visited a branch in South -- down by Suzhou, and I hope I pronounced that correctly.

我們慶祝了我們的貿易公司 Fasco 成立 20 週年，以及我們在那裡的銷售組織成立 20 週年。我遇到的人都令人難以置信。我在上海和我們的團隊一起度過了很多時間。我與我們的 Fasco 團隊、我們的幾位區域經理、我們那邊的 RVP、我們負責歐洲和亞洲業務的高級副總裁度過了愉快的時光。我去了南方的一家分店——蘇州附近，我希望我的發音是正確的。

And great people and really impressed with what I saw and the dedication they have to what we're about, what our customers are about. And when I think of the -- our branch manager, I met down in Suzhou, what an outstanding young man. And the team he had, really impressive people. And I'm always amazed, their grasp of the English language. It's probably better than my grasp of the English language.

他們都是很棒的人，對我所看到的以及他們對我們的事業、我們的客戶的奉獻精神印象深刻。當我想到我們在蘇州遇到的分公司經理時，他是多麼出色的年輕人。他的團隊非常令人印象深刻。我總是驚訝於他們對英語的掌握。這可能比我對英語的掌握要好。

With that, thanks for your time today. And everybody have a great rest of day. Thank you.

至此，感謝您今天抽出時間。每個人都度過了愉快的一天。謝謝。

That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

今天的電話會議和網路廣播到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。我們感謝您今天的參與。