Bug-O Systems
In 1943 the Livesay Multipurpose Machine was invented by Everett Livesay to increase the production of ships and landing craft at Higgins Shipyards in Louisiana. Five years later, H. Edward Cable, a consultant to the welding industry, and four business partners founded the company D&R Electric Company, Inc. on April 6, 1948. By 1958, the company had changed its name to Weld Tooling Corporation and Herbert E. Cable had joined the company as the company acquired the original patent rights to the Livesay Multipurpose Machine. Development and redesign work began, and the BUG-0 was the original model number of the newly updated machine. The original intention was for future machines to go up numerically (BUG-1, BUG-2, etc.) but the name BUG-O stuck.
“Our core values revolve around family, integrity and adaptability with a focus on customer service and service to our community,” says President Matt Cable. “We do our very best to take care of our employees. We have a lot of people who have stayed with us for many years because of this. The average length of time for all of our current employees is over 14 years, which we are incredibly proud of and grateful for.”
For 75 years, the company has operated on the tenets that H. Edward Cable laid out.
“Over the years we have developed machines and systems to solve a multitude of applications. When we come across a unique request and develop a solution, we search for other fabricators who may have similar challenges,” says Cable. “Products develop from a special one-off design into different types of standard equipment. We also work towards developing products that meet a need we see in the market. My grandfather, Herb Cable, developed the international market for BUG-O over several years of travelling to different countries and working with different distributors.”
Today, BUG-O operates out of Canonsburg, PA, and has 44 employees. To celebrate this momentous milestone, BUG-O held a party for all of its employees at a local bowling alley. It has also been doing Throwback Thursday posts on social media celebrating different pieces of the company’s history.
Going forward, the company is “working on plans to expand our business over the next ten years and to consolidate and modernize our product range and increase our product offering while incorporating new technology into our products to make customization for applications much easier,” says Cable.
Congratulations to all GAWDA members celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2023.
GAWDA members represent the best-of-the-best companies in the gases and welding industries. Each year in the Summer issue, we recognize those GAWDA Members celebrating milestone anniversaries. In the Q3 issue’s President’s Column, GAWDA President Robert Anders explored the three C’s of longevity. We want to add a fourth C for this column: Congratulations to all those GAWDA members celebrating anniversaries this year! And if you have a milestone anniversary coming up in 2024 and would like to be featured in this column next year, please reach out today at steveg@gawdamedia.com
