You ever meet someone who sounds like they’re running a tech startup… but then they tell you they sell bearings and belts?
That’s Shane Araujo.
He’s not your typical supply chain exec. And 3BG Supply isn’t your grandpa’s parts catalog company. If you listen closely to his episode on Manufacturing Runs The World, you’ll hear it: the ONE THING that sets Shane apart is this—
“Distribution is a data game now.”
That’s it. That’s the tweet.
Forget the beige warehouses and sleepy sales cycles—Shane is out here turning SKU data into strategy.
Wait, isn’t distribution just about moving parts from Point A to Point B?
Not anymore.
According to Shane, the winners in industrial distribution won’t be the ones with the biggest warehouses. They’ll be the ones who:
- Know what you’re going to order before you do
- Use software to optimize every transaction
- Treat data like gold instead of dust in a spreadsheet
Think of it like this:
Legacy distributors wait for the phone to ring. Shane’s platform sends you a quote before you realize your gearbox failed.
The Mic-Drop Moment
At one point in the interview, Shane says (paraphrasing):
“We don’t just sell parts. We give customers procurement intelligence.”
Procurement intelligence. That’s like calling your mechanic a “vehicle uptime specialist.”
It sounds wild—until you realize it’s exactly what modern manufacturers need.
What You Should Steal From Shane’s Playbook
If you’re in B2B sales, here’s what Shane is doing that your company probably isn’t:
- Real-time pricing and availability baked into the buying experience
- Automated quoting using customer behavior and historical trends
- People who code AND know torque specs on the same team
- A company culture that rewards iteration, not inertia
Bottom Line
Shane Araujo isn’t trying to “disrupt” distribution with buzzwords.
He’s doing it with clean data, custom tech, and a mindset that belongs in a startup pitch deck—not a parts catalog.
So if you’re still emailing PDFs of quotes and thinking a Net30 invoice is innovative, you might want to hit play on Shane’s episode.
Because the future of distribution isn’t logistics.
It’s intelligence.
