The Patel brothers founded Waymade Healthcare in 1984, building off of the pharmacy business began by Vijay Patel in 1975. You might think the Patel brothers have it made in a big way, but they're not resting on their laurels. The owners of Waymade Healthcare, Vijay and Bhikhu Patel grew up impoverished in Kenya, but today oversee one of the UK's leading pharmaceutical distribution firms. Waymade Healthcare supplies pharmacists and hospitals in the UK and abroad with branded and generic prescription drugs. Its subsidiary Amdipharm (launched in 2002) develops novel pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceutical distribution company Mediq (formerly OPG Groep) is involved in both commercial wholesaling and consumer retailing of drugs and other health care supplies. In the Netherlands, the company has about 200 retail pharmacies (through Mediq Pharmacy) and operates drug and medical supply wholesalers that serve other pharmacies as well as hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes. It also provides related technology and logistics services. Mediq's international operations include wholesale and retail businesses in Poland, as well as other European countries and the US. It entered five new countries and greatly enhanced its medical device offerings with the 2010 buy of Oriola-KD for about $108 million.

PCB operating under the Pharma Belgium name, plays intermediary between drug makers and pharmacies. The company distributes wholesale pharmaceuticals throughout Belgium through distribution centers located across the country. In addition to its wholesales distribution services, Pharma Belgium provides client pharmacies with a variety of merchandising consulting services including environmental design, displays, and space management. Pharma Belgium serves nearly 2,500 clients making more than 4,200 deliveries each day. Pharma Belgium is part of German Healthcare Group Celesio's Wholesale division.

Holiday Wholesale services most of south and central Wisconsin with confections, tobacco products, paper goods, and food products. The company's customers are primarily convenience stores and other small businesses. Holiday Wholesale also offers consultation services, including a demographic study of the customer's location, estimate of foot traffic, and evaluation of proposed floor plans. In addition to its wholesale business, the company also sells a number of its products (at wholesale prices) to the general public through its Showroom Store location. The company was founded in 1951 when it began operating out of a one-car garage.

Bassett & Walker International, Inc. is an international trade firm that specializes in agricultural commodities such as meat and dairy products. BWI acts as principal buyer and seller of these goods, and handles all trade-related issues, such as foreign exchange, documentation, and international finance. It also offers logistical and fulfillment services. Clients include food producers and processors, as well as pharmaceutical and industrial companies in more than 55 countries. BWI operates from offices in Brazil, Canada, and the US.

Airgas, Inc.(NYSE: ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related hardgoods, such as welding supplies. Airgas is also a leading U.S. distributor of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants and ammonia products.Airgas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter McCausland founded the company in 1982. Through approximately 400 acquisitions and internal growth, Airgas has built the largest national distribution network in the packaged gas industry. More than 14,000 employees work in more than 1,100 locations includes branches, cylinder fill plants, production facilities, specialty gas laboratories, and regional distribution centers to serve a diversified customer base. Airgas markets through multiple channels, including its own branches and outside sales force, a Strategic Accounts Team focused on large customers, distributors and resellers, telesales, catalog and eBusiness channels.

The Charles C. Parks Company is a grocery distributor that primarily supplies convenience stores in more than half a dozen Southern states. It distributes a variety of food items and dry goods, as well as beverages, cigarettes, candy, and general merchandise. The company also offers support programs for in-store delis and other quick-service food operations. Carl C. Parks, Jr., started the family-run business in 1934.

Omnicare, Inc., a pharmaceutical services company, provides pharmaceuticals and related pharmacy and ancillary services to long-term healthcare institutions. Its Pharmacy Services segment distributes pharmaceuticals and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services, data management services, and medical supplies to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, retirement centers, independent living communities, hospitals, hospice, and other healthcare service providers. It purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non prescription pharmaceuticals; provides computerized medical record-keeping and third-party billing services; and offers consultant pharmacist services. This segment also provides intravenous medications and nutrition products, respiratory therapy services, medical supplies and equipment, clinical care planning and financial software information systems, electronic medical records systems, pharmaceutical informatics services, retail and mail-order pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care management for hospice agencies, and product support and distribution services for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as offers pharmaceutical case management services for retirees, employees, and dependents who have drug benefits under corporate-sponsored healthcare programs. As of December 31, 2009, it served long-term care facilities, and chronic care and other settings comprising approximately 1,377,000 beds in 47 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The company’s Contract Research Organization Services segment offers product development and research services to client companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics industries, as well as provides support for the design of regulatory strategy and clinical development of pharmaceuticals for its client’s drug development programs. Omnicare, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in Covington, Kentucky.

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. distributes various industrial products in North America. The company distributes bearings, power transmission components, industrial rubber products, linear components, tools, safety products, general maintenance products, and various mill supply products, as well as fluid power products, such as hydraulic, pneumatic, lubrication, and filtration components and systems. It also operates regional fabricated rubber shops, which modify and repair conveyor belts and make hose assemblies in accordance with customer requirements; and rubber service field crews to install and repair belts and rubber linings at customer locations. In addition, the company assembles fluid power systems, performs equipment repairs, and offers technical advices to firms, which purchase for maintenance, repair, and operations needs, as well as for original equipment manufacturing applications. Applied Industrial Technologies sells its products to various industries, including agriculture and food processing, automotive, chemical processing, forest products, industrial machinery and equipment, mining, primary metals, transportation, and utilities, as well as to government agencies. It offers industrial products through a network of service centers; and sells fluid power products directly to customers. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

Southeast Frozen Foods supplies ice cream and other frozen and refrigerated food products to independent grocery stores and supermarket chains to 22 states and the District of Columbia. It has distribution centers in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Virginia. It also offers cold storage and logistics support. Through its Southeast Wholesale Foods unit, the company delivers wholesale dry groceries to customers in Florida, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. It was founded by Lawrence Udell in 1958 as a frozen poultry supplier in Miami.

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