Month: October 2020

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide (CO2). It is used extensively as a cooling agent in a variety of applications such as food chilling and freezing, vaccine cooling, expendable refrigeration, blood and tissue sample preservation, heat treating of metals, and many more. It is also sometimes used to create special effects such as fog for events or stage presentations. Dry ice is extremely cold (−109.3 °F / −78.5 °C) and rapidly sublimates, or converts, into carbon dioxide gas at room temperature. It is critical that users read and follow the instructions and safety precautions provided by their…

TSA Extends Exemption for Expired Hazardous Materials Endorsements.  The Transportation Security Administration has extended the exemption from Renewal of the Hazardous Materials Endorsement (HME) Security Threat Assessment for CDL drivers which was scheduled to expire on October 30, 2020.  The exemption is now effective through December 31, 2020. Under this exemption, states may extend the expiration date of HMEs that expire on or after March 1, 2020, for 180 days, due to restrictions and business closures in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If a state grants an extension, the individual with an expired HME must initiate the process…

GAWDA extends its condolences to the friends and family of Jillian Leanne Brown, who tragically passed away at the age of 16 in a car accident on October 20, 2020. Jillian worked at her father, Johnathan Brown’s, company U.S. Tank and Cryogenic. She will be missed. For a full obituary, read below or click here. Jillian Leanne Brown, a beautiful 16-year-old light in this world, lost her life tragically as a passenger in a car accident on October 20, 2020. Jillian entered this world on February 26, 2004, in Sarasota, Florida to her parents Jonathan and Jennifer Brown. Jillian was…

GAWDA held its first ever virtual Annual Convention on Friday, September 25, 2020. The hour-long virtual event was the “Business Session” of the Convention, which was supposed to have been held in Phoenix, Arizona. Members of GAWDA’s Executive Committee, including Abydee Butler Moore, Bob Ewing, Gary Halter, Robert Anders, Brad Peterson, and Ned Lane, as well as GAWDA Executive Director John Ospina were on camera and spoke during the event. Abydee welcomed members to the event, saying, “When I stood before you in fall 2019 in Washington DC, I laid out our 2020 VISION for this year.  That vision included…

I have had the privilege of working with some very bright Millennials (born 1980 through 1994), individuals who have excelled in their use of effective sales tools. Among them, a select few have shown the passion and skill set necessary to become “best in class” sales managers. There was one person, in particular, who I felt was very talented. Her goal was to develop a career in executive distribution management at the regional level. To achieve that, we worked together on sharpening her expertise in the areas necessary for success as a next generation sales manager. Here are some of…

There are so many possibilities to open with, so many stories to tell, so many lessons learned from the unimaginable turmoil this year has turned to. Unpredictable and unprecedented are understatements. Who in their wildest dreams could have seen this coming? The business world was still and quiet for a while but thank goodness it’s picking up again. We’ve learned our lessons and discovered new ways to move forward. New customer buying habits are being created, but “business as usual,” or the way it was before, is not likely to resurface anytime soon, if ever. Virtual and cloud options have…

Read the full press release from nexAir below. nexAir announced Friday that it has acquired the business operations and customers of Atlanta Medical Gases, LLC (“Atlanta Medical Gases”), a medical gas supplier located in the Atlanta, Georgia area.  The healthcare customers of Atlanta Medical Gases will complement nexAir’s strong medical gas presence in the greater Atlanta area and will benefit from a broad range of offerings nexAir provides to ensure the success of its customers. “The addition of the strong customer relationships at Atlanta Medical Gases to our current healthcare-related services and operations will be beneficial to everyone and expand…

I have spent the last year writing articles for Welding & Gases Today talking about my experiences working in the gases and welding industry and specifically working within the dynamics of a family business. In my last article, “Tips for Young People Considering Joining the Family Business,” I spoke at length about the transition process for a family business. As we all know, family businesses make up a huge percentage of GAWDA’s memberships and the transition process can be a difficult thing for both the younger and older generation to go through. As I said in my last article, working…

by Sean Coyle, CEO of Sandler Training Our businesses, people, families and lives have experienced unprecedented difficulties in 2020. That is not under debate. How leaders address these difficulties now, and in the future, will forever measure their lasting impact on their organizations. Twenty percent of leaders have tackled their situation head on, attacking the market, focused solely on getting better than they were in March. Twenty percent of leaders have buried their heads in the sand, waiting for things to get back to normal, waiting out the storm. Sixty percent of leaders want to attack, but haven’t yet figured…

By Jay Spielvogel, Venator Sales Group, LLC “I am a face-to-face type of salesperson” “I don’t do well on the phone vs. physically meeting with people” “I like to press the flesh and sell in-person” Sound familiar? These are common responses to management when salespeople are asked why they fail to leverage the phone for selling. As a response to virtual selling during the pandemic, webinars and articles abound, presenting tips and tricks for even the most seasoned salespeople on how to sell in the virtual world. “Be energetic; ask how they are impacted by COVID; use video when engaging…

In the 4th Quarter 2019 issue of Welding & Gases Today, we debuted a new feature called “Search Engine Trends for the Gases & Welding Industry.” This feature is designed to help readers understand the terms and searches that are ranking highly in Google Trends. Part of developing a comprehensive digital marketing campaign is understanding how customers and potential customers are using the Internet to find your products and your website. The graphs and information below all come from Google Trends, which analyzes the popularity of search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The graphs scale “Interest…

by Mike Marks and Dan Horan,  Indian River Consulting Group As practices continue to shift, there are two trends distributors should be paying close attention to in today’s market. One is understanding the role of technology, and the other is attracting and retaining talent. Attracting and Keeping Talent Recruiting qualified talent is no easy task. There is always a generational tension between the way “things used to be” and “how it is today.” The tensions between mature leaders and young professionals remain the same. Distributors must revisit their recruitment strategies to reflect these different perspectives. Training and education opportunities must…

The federal government has updated its extensions of a number of COVID-related waivers.  Many of these affect GAWDA member companies and their commercial motor vehicle drivers. Emergency Declaration. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has further extended its emergency declaration through December 31, 2020; this exempts drivers and carriers from the hours of service regulations and all of 49 CFR Parts 390-399 when transporting certain emergency relief products in response to COVID-19 crisis.  The exemption applies to transporting: medical supplies and equipment related to the testing, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19; supplies and equipment necessary for community safety, sanitation, and…

The other day, I unpacked a box from storage and came across four old iPhones. I replaced them because the batteries stopped holding a charge, they started running slow, and because I really wanted a better camera and larger screen size. The decision to upgrade my phone was relatively easy; but what about the decision to replace a website? Below are six reasons why you should replace your website. 1. It’s over three years old. As a general rule, a website should be replaced every three years. In that time, the technology available to give your customers and prospects a…

There is a school of thought that COVID-19 has not so much created new business trends and norms, as much as accelerated trends that were already coming. One of those trends is the importance of having a comprehensive digital strategy. With state and local governments across the country shutting down businesses and unnecessary travel, it became paramount for customers to be able to find distributors and buy goods and services online. While not universal, a very common theme among companies who were forced to shut their doors for good was that they did not have a strong and strategic plan…

By Steve Guglielmo, John Ospina, Abydee Butler Moore, Bob Ewing, Gary Halter and Robert Anders We have spent 2020 celebrating GAWDA’s 75th Anniversary. We have shared fun memories, reflected on GAWDA’s founding, its road to independence and everything in between. But 75 years is not the end of GAWDA’s story. Not by a long shot. As we near the end of 2020, we asked GAWDA’s current President Abydee Butler Moore, Executive Director John Ospina, and the next three presidents in line, to answer some questions about GAWDA’s history and what they expect to see as we continue our march forward.…

Oxygen Service Company was founded in 1959 as Wagner Welding. The company was founded by a group of owners including Bill Lund and Bill Huber. In 1965, the ownership group decided to go their separate ways with Lund and Huber taking full ownership of the company and rebranding it as Oxygen Service Company. More than 60 years later, the foundational tenets that Lund and Huber put in place still carry through today. “I think the philosophy that our original owners had has carried through the 60 years of being in business,” says Ryan Diekow, President and CEO of Oxygen Service…

Knowledge management and succession planning are both vital to the continued growth and success of our industry. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one-third of the U.S. science and engineering labor force will turn over in the next 10 years. Coupled with economic growth, that retirement rate is projected to create more than 511,000 job openings in science and engineering fields. While the gases industry represents a small portion of the national figure, those statistics hold true for Compressed Gas Association (CGA) committee participants, as well as our industry at large. As Hector Villarreal, President…

COVID-19 has impacted all of our businesses in some way, shape or form. What lasting impacts will this experience have on our industry and the regulatory agencies that oversee it? By Steve Guglielmo, Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd and Rick Schweitzer As we enter the Fall, it seems like we have lived with COVID-19 for several decades, not six months. We have moved on from this being a novel threat to dealing with the reality of this being a part of our day-to-day lives. As we experience this “New Normal” and continue to work toward getting back to where…

Weldstar Company, headquartered in Aurora, IL, is announcing their newest store in Kenosha, WI. Weldstar Company 5416 46th Street Kenosha, WI 53144 Phone: 262-771-1177 Fax: 262-771-1178