Month: March 2022

Welding careers play an integral role in keeping people safe and advancing the quality of life across the globe, yet participation in welding and other skilled trades continues to decrease. Since 1996, the American Welding Society has designated the month of April as National Welding Month to bring awareness to the welding industry and its available career paths. The welding community is vast, and AWS is dedicated to supporting the industry technicians and professionals that work at our shipyards, automotive and appliance assembly plants, pipelines, construction sites and other industries on which our economy depends. “National Welding Month is an…

We are at once delighted and disheartened to announce that Bruce Nuttall is retiring and his last day on the job is March 31, 2022. Bruce started as a Driver/Salesman with Mississippi Welders Supply Co. (MWSCO) 37 years ago, when the company was only 25 individuals strong, with four branch locations. Bruce quickly earned more responsibility as the company began to grow, progressing through the ranks to become the Sales Manager.  In this role, he has not only overseen industrial gas and hardgoods sales, but he has also grown and nurtured a beverage gas division, a fire service division, specialty…

Noble Gas Solutions, a family-owned distributor of high-quality compressed industrial, medical, and specialty gases and welding supplies, announced today that President Colleen Kohler was named a recipient of Albany Business Review’s 40 Under 40 award. The award highlights business professionals who have portrayed exceptional leadership and impressive accomplishments. “I would say that I have been fortunate to have many influential people in my life. After I gave birth to my daughter I had a very encouraging conversation with Air Products past President, Marie Ffolkes. She was very encouraging when she asked about my career aspirations. She told me to never…

Holston Gases is proud to announce that they have signed a letter of intent to purchase Dixie Welding Supply effective May 2nd. Dixie’s locations in Atalla, AL and Oxford, AL increase Holston’s locations in Alabama to 8, and the company totals to 42. Holston Gases President/CEO, Robert Anders, said, “ We are excited to add Dixie Welding employees, customers, and product lines to those of Holston gases. This is a perfect fit. Dixie Welding and the Williams family have an outstanding reputation in north Alabama and we look forward to partnering with them to enhance the offerings they can provide…

Koehler Welding Supply announces new staff promotions. Todd Ungru has been named President and Doug Ungru has been named Vice President effective immediately. This change punctuates the company’s growth realized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Todd Ungru and Doug Ungru have been with Koehler Welding Supply for over 11 years with expertise leading the inside and outside sales teams of KWS. “I am excited for the future of Koehler Welding with Todd and Doug at the helm”, says Dave Ungru, CEO, “the ideas and opportunities they see for the future of our business especially during this challenging time for America will…

By Jay Spielvogel, Venator Sales Group, LLC One of the most common complaints we hear from sales leadership is the challenge with driving consistent usage of the company CRM. No matter the size of the distributorship, sales managers from across the gas and welding industry share the same frustration.  “Our salespeople are treating the company CRM as a glorified rolodex.” “We have invested in expensive technology and our salespeople still aren’t using it properly!” Sound familiar?  At Venator, we have a saying, “You can’t coach what you can’t see, and you can’t manage what you don’t look at.” If we…

Digital transformation involves the strategic adoption of new technologies in the marketplace. It’s used to improve processes and productivity, deliver better customer and employee experiences, manage business risk, and control costs. Myriad tools, solutions, and processes are used in digital implementation and today, we are all unavoidably part of the transformation. With past experience in helping to grow a distributor business from $10M to $65M, I am now a consultant to small and mid-size businesses (SMBs). I find that digital transformation can seem daunting to this group. Smaller companies often feel they are at a competitive disadvantage to larger distributors, who…

By McKinnon Shisko, Indian River Consulting Group In April 2019, a large national consulting firm surveyed 1,000 executives of large firms (classified as having 500+ employees) with the intent of discovering key points about their ability to leverage data in making business decisions. Their study found that 37% of respondents considered their companies to be highly mature on the Insight-Driven Maturity Scale while 63% of respondents were “aware of analytics but lack infrastructure, are still working in silos, or are expanding ad hoc analytics capabilities beyond silos.” Interestingly, “among the 37% of companies in the survey with the strongest analytics cultures, 48%…

by Thomas J. Armitage, site-seeker, inc. Here’s a fun game. In your next meeting, ask the group how they prefer to communicate with companies. It seems like a simple question, but as you’ll find out, there are lots of answers.  Form fill? Email? Phone call? Live chat?  It will be different for everyone, since many factors come into play, like who the company is, what the needs are, and how quickly the buyer needs a reply.  Although it’s used in our personal lives daily, text messaging is so often overlooked by businesses as a method of communication and customer service.…

Making Their Customers’ Cup Runneth Over How Leonard’s Syrups has become a one-stop shop  While Leonard’s Syrups was technically founded in 1965, the origins of the company stretch back much, much further than that, to a college dorm room in Columbus, Ohio. When Leonard Bugajewski Sr. was enrolled at the Ohio State University, he got the idea to open his own soft drink bottling brand. During his junior year, Bugajewski and his roommate left Ohio State to open the Clio-Cola bottling plant. The company, however, was short-lived, and was dissolved in 1940 due to the product label and name being…

Ask Your Board is a new feature that will run in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quarter issues of Welding & Gases Today. The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]  THE QUESTION As the industry is facing a “labor shortage,” what has your company done to combat this issue? How have you found success in recruiting and…

How listings management can benefit your company By Steve Guglielmo By now, we are all aware of just how important having a strong internet presence is for our businesses. Even if you don’t have an e-commerce platform, it is important that your company be visible online. Think about it, as a consumer, what is the very first thing you do when you need to buy virtually any new product? You search for it online. But what if you can’t find the information you need when you search? Or, worse yet, you find some information, but it’s inaccurate? Chances are, you’ll…

In late 2021, the American Welding Society launched a new online course called “Solution Selling for Welding.” As the world of welding, manufacturing, and fabrication continues to evolve and become more competitive, the success of any organization often hinges on the strength of its salesforce. The Solution Selling for Welding Course was designed to help develop highly knowledgeable and effective sales personnel. Created in tandem with welding industry experts with decades of sales and engineering experience, this course focuses on two key aspects: foundational welding concepts and the “solution selling” methodology. Collectively, this provides welding salespeople with a strong, well-rounded…

Former GAWDA Presidents Share Advice on Getting the Most out of Convention and SMC Networking is one of the greatest benefits of being a GAWDA member. And the two national meetings each year provide the best opportunity to combine networking and education. However, attending these national meetings means time away from your business. It means paying for hotels and flights. 2021 GAWDA President Abydee Butler Moore stressed the importance of bringing real take-home value home from each meeting that would justify the time and money invested in the trip. We had the opportunity to speak with five former GAWDA Presidents…

By Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd, Rick Schweitzer and Steve Guglielmo The GAWDA Consultant Program is a GAWDA member benefit that is included as part of your member dues to the association. It is consistently rated as one of the most valuable member benefits that GAWDA provides. Between the four of them, GAWDA’s consultants bring more than 100 years of industry-specific experience to the association. In the first quarter issue, we spoke with the consultants about a variety of topics that will impact your business in 2022. From recently passed or upcoming legislation, to the continued impact of COVID,…

According to an article in the Butler Gas company newsletter: The Butler Gas Family salutes industry visionary Ken Thompson, and we thank him for his decades of service as Facilitator of our Buying and Information Group (BIG). A special evening was enjoyed by all as three generations of Thompson Family joined BIG Members in Charleston, South Carolina to celebrate the career of our group patriarch, Ken. Pictured, Jack Butler, Butler Gas Chairman, gives a toast to Ken. BIG is a best-practices group of twelve independent companies across the country. Butler Gas and our eleven company peers gather multiple times each…

Sales is a team sport. Let that soak in and repeat, sales is a team sport. Just coming out of the 2022 Winter Olympics and watching solo events where individual members are competing, rest assured there is a strong team surrounding them. Coaches, trainers, parents, and more. Nobody reaches the pinnacle of their sport alone. It does take a village. And not to be swayed that selling is a solo event, you won’t be successful as an individual, but must embrace the whole team around you and the team will win or lose together, not the individual. So where do…

Holston Gases is proud to announce the following promotions. Joe Baxter has been appointed Senior VP, taking on company-wide responsibilities. Mr. Baxter spent the last four years as the Kentucky region VP and has been with Holston for over 12 years. Replacing Mr. Baxter as the Kentucky region VP is Jason Blair.  He is a 26-year Holston veteran who comes to the Kentucky region after a very successful stint as the VP of the Alabama region. Matt Bird has been named the Alabama region VP.  Mr. Bird has over 15 years of industry experience and has been pivotal in the…