Lab Safety, Grainger combining supply lines

GazetteXtraJANESVILLE In an effort to prop up an underperforming Lab Safety Supply, company officials said Wednesday they will combine the business with another that operates warehouses across the country. What that means for employment levels at one of Janesville's largest employers is unclear. Officials of Chicago-based W.W. Grainger, which bought Lab Safety Supply in 1992, told industry and financial analysts Wednesday that the company will combine its Lab Safety Supply and Grainger Industrial Supply businesses. While it doesn't manufacture anything, Lab Safety markets and distributes safety and other products to more than 800,000 customers in North America through