Year: 2019

Thomas Kuo, founder-CEO of Genstar Technologies Company, founded Genstar in 1969. He saw an opportunity for growth in the area of industrial regulators and cutting equipment. “His idea was to make a good quality product at a reasonable price and to give good quality service,” says Larry Meyers, national sales manager at Genstar. “People were looking for an alternative to the other major players in the market and Thomas figured out that if he could provide a great product with great service, he could be very successful.” Over the next 50 years, Genstar has emerged as a global company, with…

In 1969, Walter Welsch was working at 3M as an abrasives’ salesman when he developed the original Dynafile Abrasive Belt Tool. The tool improved the task of hand-filing metals and other hard surfaces. It was then that Welsch decided to strike out on his own and Dynabrade, Inc. was formed. “The vision that Walter set forth in the beginning has always been the driving force behind our success,” says Ron Veiders, Dynabrade’s director of marketing. “That entrepreneurial spirit and devotion to innovation and high-quality.” Entrepreneurial spirit has especially been a hallmark of Dynabrade’s history, as the company is partially owned…

Acme Cryogenics was founded as a general machine shop in 1969 under the name H&B, serving the Lehigh Valley. A few years later, the company changed its name to Acme Screw Machine Products as several partners, including Rod Fink, entered the business. In 1977, the CGA released standards on a liquid transfer fitting that Acme was manufacturing. This provided the inroad to the industrial gas industry. By that time, Fink had become the sole owner of the company, and began growing the company through new products acquisitions. As the business grew and expanded, the name was changed again to Acme…

Oxygen Service Company was founded in 1959 by Bill Huber and Bill Lund. The company was originally called Wagner Welding before changing its name to Oxygen Service Company in 1965. One of the company’s most important moments came in 1993, when Bill and Bill decided to sell the business to its employees and Oxygen Service Company became a 100% employee-owned company. “Bill and Bill really felt that they had dedicated employees that they wanted to reward for their dedication,” says Oxygen Service Company President and CEO Ryan Diekow. “They said, ‘You helped us build this and we want to reward…

Beginning in 1959, a group of stake holders launched the North American Sales Company [Nasco] with a primary focus to serve the welding industry. Years later and several states away Oklahoma Rig & Supply [ORS] was founded with a mission to provide products supporting the industrial and oilfield industries. The two wholesale companies merged in 2003 forming ORS Nasco and positioning the master distribution company for strategic growth through geographic expansion and product diversification. Throughout its 60 years, ORS Nasco has adapted to evolving business environments and technology advancements contributing to the success in supply chain. “We strive to streamline…

Kaplan Industries was officially founded in 1959 as the A-M Fire Equipment Company. But the roots of the company go back even further than that. “In the late 1940s, after the second World War, my dad, Morris, and his brother, Albert, had what we would call today a recycling business,” says Dean Kaplan, CEO of Kaplan Industries, Inc. “They would collect cardboard boxes from the Philadelphia Navy Yard for recycling. But inside the boxes were decommissioned fire extinguishers from battle ships. They had so many fire extinguishers that they ended up acquiring UL approval, which allowed them to sell these…

While today, Gullco International has locations in six countries and distributors in more than 80, selling cutting-edge welding and cutting automation products, the company’s origins are much more modest. When Jack Gully started the company, as The Gully Company, it sold welding electrode ovens. When Mike Harris and his business partner purchased the Gully Company in 1954, they changed the name to Gullco and set the company on the path it still travels today. “At the time, there was the emerging ship building industry and Canada needed some form of welding automation to help with ship building,” says Nick Drake,…

Middlesex Gases & Technologies, Inc. is a family-owned, third-generation distributor of high-pressure cylinders, microbulk and bulk gases, including rare and specialty gases, medical, cryogenic, and electronic gases, as well as all gas-related equipment. The company was founded in 1949 by Joseph Martin, who had a clear vision, “To create and operate a strong independent distributorship that would sell quality products at a fair price and back them up with excellent service.” The company began with a single pickup truck for deliveries and used upside down milk cartons for chairs at the original Everett, Massachusetts location. As the company continued to grow,…

The Cavagna Group was founded in 1949 by Paolo Cavagna and his children. Today, Cavagna is a global company with more than 1,000 employees in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, as well as a 25-person operation in North America. But through all that growth, The Cavagna Group remains a family-owned company and major decisions within the company are reached by consensus. The group consists of 11 vertically integrated production companies in Italy and seven others spread across five continents. The group sells in more than 145 countries through a distribution network consisting of 15 fully owned additional distribution companies. Cavagna’s mission…

Weiler Abrasives was founded by Karl E. Weiler in 1944 as the Weiler Brush Company in Long Island. Weiler began the company with just $50 and a dream. Now, 75 years later, the Weiler Abrasives Group has grown from a small jewelry polishing brush business into a global abrasives leader with 1,300 employees across eight different countries. But even as the company has grown by leaps and bounds, it remains true to its original key values: integrity, customer focus, accountability, learning and competence, and passion. Today, Weiler continues as a fourth-generation privately owned company under the leadership of CEO Chris…

David S. Pearl, Sr. opened Uniweld Products, Inc. in 1949 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pearl, who was originally from Pittsburgh but was stationed in Fort Lauderdale in the U.S. Navy, purchased farmland in the Dania Beach area and used the original farmhouse as the first Uniweld factory, manufacturing torches and regulators. Today, the company remains a USA manufacturer located in Fort Lauderdale but have since vastly outgrown that original farmhouse and operate out of a 100,000 sq. ft. facility as one of the major manufacturers in the welding, HVAC/R, plumbing and alloy markets. Even as the company has grown and…

“Necessity is the mother of all invention,” says HIAB USA Vice President of Sales and Service Barry McGrane. Three-quarters of a century ago, deep in the forests of Sweden, a ski manufacturer named Eric Sundin needed a solution to simplify the loading and unloading of wood. Sundin designed a hydraulic crane that cleverly used his truck’s engine for power to load the wood. “He didn’t realize it at the time, but he had just created a device that has driven a 75 year industry,” McGrane says. Seeing the potential of this new invention, Sundin started Hydrauliska Industri AB. His innovation…

Atlas Welding Supply Company was originally founded as Temerson & Son in 1944. The Temerson family had a scrap business and found that many of their suppliers needed gases and cutting materials to cut the scrap. Temerson became an Airco distributor and planted the seeds for what would eventually become Atlas Welding Supply Company. The company officially changed its name in 1978 when the Temersons sold the business to an employee, Jack Englebert. Jack, who approached his largest customer, Cain Steel, run by J.M. Cain, to partner in the transaction, changed the company name to Atlas Welding Supply Company…

The history of A-OX Welding Supply Company can be traced back to two separate companies: Dakota Welding Supply, which was founded in eastern South Dakota in 1944, and A&B Welding Supply, which was founded in 1959 by Harold and Bob Elliott in western South Dakota. Harold was a traveling welder and, after trouble finding a secure source of wire as he worked around the country, he finally decided to start his own company.  He founded A&B from his home garage with his son, Bob, and his son Don later joined the company in 1961.  In 1964 they bought Dakota Welding…

Mississippi Welders Supply Company was founded in 1939 in Mondovi, Wisconsin, as Mississippi Welders & Auto Supply. The company had a network of dedicated driver-salespeople that served customers in southeastern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa. With so much territory to cover, the company expanded to include a Winona, Minnesota store in 1966, which today serves as the company headquarters. Don Peterson began his career in the industry working for Airco in 1960, calling on distributors in the Midwest. In 1973, the opportunity arose for Don to purchase Mississippi Welders Supply. Don purchased the business with two partners, who were…

A boat’s engine problems laid the unlikely foundation of Huber Supply Company. Elmer Smith was on a boat trip on Lake Erie one weekend when his boat developed engine trouble. He was stranded at a boat works outside of Port Clinton, Ohio, that wouldn’t be open until the following Monday. However, Nelson Schmidt, who was the son of the owner of the boat shop, worked all day and night to help get Smith’s boat up and running. Elmer was so impressed that he told Nelson that if he was ever in Minneapolis looking for work as a welder to look…

Dale Oxygen, Inc. has been a family owned and operated business since the company was founded in 1939. Harry W. Bennear founded the company after working as a welder in the Pittsburgh area during the 1930s. In 1937, Bennear moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to work alongside a relative for the Air Reduction Company. Through connections made at the Air Reduction Company, Harry became an authorized Airco distributor and opened Dale Oxygen, Inc. in the Dale section of Johnstown. He began by selling and delivering Oxygen and Acetylene gas cylinders, oxy/fuel torches and welding electrodes for welding and cutting applications. In…

Robert Norman Goss founded R.N. Goss Gas Products during the Great Depression in 1934 in Oil City, Pennsylvania. Just one year prior, unemployment had risen from 3% to 25% of the nation’s workforce. The original site of Goss Gas was on Seventh Street in Oil City. At the time, no propane or welding cylinders were filled on site. Goss Gas moved to its current location in Reno, Pennsylvania in 1960, shortly after N. Grant Goss joined his brother in business. Together, they operated Goss Gas until the early 1970s. The third generation of the family joined the business in 1974,…

Maine Oxy-Acetylene Supply Company was founded in 1929 in Auburn, Maine, by Joseph W. Albiston under the name Maine Gas Service. The company provided sales and service to home propane customers. Throughout its history, Maine Oxy has been dedicated to providing quality products at competitive prices, superior safety solutions and exceptional customer service. Since its founding, the company has expanded outside of Auburn to include several locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. In 2015, Maine Oxy acquired three locations in Canada, under the name VAC Oxy. In total, the company now operates 19 retail locations throughout New England…

“You’re only as good as your last interaction with a customer.” That’s the attitude that Delille Oxygen Company has adopted as it celebrates its 95th anniversary in 2019. President Josh Weinmann does not want the company to rest on its laurels as it heads toward its centennial anniversary. “What has made Delille successful these past 95 years has been being able to provide solutions to our customers and being innovative,” Weinmann says. “Being able to produce gas and the immense gas knowledge we have been able to provide has gotten us here. To move forward for the next 95 years,…