1985 founder bob hillis headquarters milwaukee wisconsin united states area served global products equipment & furnishings development services building management procurement automation technology solutions number of employees 1 300 website www.directsupply.com direct supply is an employee owned company that specializes in providing equipment ecommerce and service solutions to the senior living industry . founded in 1985 and headquartered in milwaukee wisconsin the company offers a variety of products and services to skilled nursing and assisted living communities throughout the united states . today direct supply employs more than 1 300 people on its mile long eleven building campus in milwaukee . 1 2 in 2007 the company opened its first international office in china . 3 4 contents 1 history 2 lines of business 3 technology focus 4 community outreach 5 culture 6 references history edit direct supply began as a direct mail supplier of housekeeping and maintenance equipment before finding its niche in senior living . after introducing its first healthcare catalog in 1988 the company defined its corporate mission to enhance the lives of america s seniors through commitment to senior living . lines of business edit direct supply has multiple major lines of business . direct supply equipment & furnishings is the company s flagship division supplying senior living facilities with healthcare equipment clinical equipment rehabilitation equipment foodservice equipment maintenance equipment and furniture . 5 direct supply also owns a variety of propriety brands including panacea attendant maxwell thomas and direct choice . 6 direct supply dssi is an eprocurement system that links more than 10 000 senior living facilities to their supply chain and moves about 2.5 b worth of product per year . 7 8 direct supply tels is a technology based system for delivering life safety asset management maintenance and repair services to building management professionals . direct supply aptura offers services including interior design foodservice design and furniture fixtures and equipment ff & e procurement focusing solely on the senior living industry . 9 technology focus edit direct supply is a virtual distributor of equipment it operates without directly owning warehouses or factories . 10 the company s founder president and ceo bob hillis remarked that direct supply operated through legions of smart people and computers . 11 direct supply partnered with the milwaukee school of engineering msoe in 2012 to open a technology center on the msoe campus . 12 occupying more than 9 000 square feet in the german english academy building on msoe s campus the center has the capacity to hold 60 direct supply computer engineers and technology interns . 13 in 2013 direct supply joined the mgrid consortium a high performance technical computing network that helps public and private partners with technically challenging research problems involving modeling simulation and visualization . 14 the company uses mgrid to do analytics research on large amounts of data . 15 community outreach edit direct supply is involved with numerous local and national charities and non profit organizations . local involvement includes sponsoring and employee volunteering at neighborhood senior living communities seniorfest at milwaukee s summerfest 16 al s run walk for children s hospital 17 milwaukee s hunger task force 18 garfield avenue festival 19 and ymca teen summit . 20 21 nationally direct supply works with organizations to influence senior living policy change in washington d.c. 22 culture edit direct supply is 100 % employee owned and refers to its employees as partners . nearly all direct supply employees hold shares of direct supply stock in their 401 k account . 23 the campus is dog friendly and corporate events are family friendly . 24 references edit http www.jsonline.com business 123420769.html http www.bizjournals.com milwaukee blog 2011 06 direct supply quietly grows in milwaukee.html http www.jsonline.com business 123420769.html http www.directsupply.com about our story.html http www.directsupply.com products services equipment furnishings.html http www.directsupply.com products services ds brands http www.bizjournals.com milwaukee blog 2011 06 direct supply quietly grows in milwaukee.html http www.directsupply.com products services procurement automation.html http www.bizjournals.com milwaukee blog 2011 06 direct supply quietly grows in milwaukee.html http www.bizjournals.com milwaukee blog 2011 06 direct supply quietly grows in milwaukee.html http www.jsonline.com business 123420769.html http biztimes.com article 20120906 enewsletters07 120909939 0 http biztimes.com article 20120906 enewsletters07 120909939 0 http www.jsonline.com business direct supply uwmilwaukee join milwaukee institutes mgrid consortium 3i9jho4 203416121.html http www.jsonline.com business direct supply uwmilwaukee join milwaukee institutes mgrid consortium 3i9jho4 203416121.html http biztimes.com article 20140702 enewsletters02 140709958 0 http onlineraceresults.com race view race.php race id 27675 https www.hungertaskforce.org donate great examples of giving http jammin983.com events garfield avenue festival talent competition https www.facebook.com blackachieversmke posts 635264789854154 http www.directsupply.com about community involvement.html http www.directsupply.com about industry advocacy.html http www.jsonline.com business 123420769.html http www.directsupply.com careers culture.html retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title direct supply & oldid 743559152 categories wholesalers of the united stateseconomy of milwaukeecompanies based in milwaukeehidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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