How AWG has grown and evolved for three-quarters of a century
“On behalf of the more than 860 teammates of AWG across 23 states, our thanks to GAWDA for the opportunity to share some of our history, parts of our strategy and our outlook for the future. We have a very strong teammate-focused leadership team and culture. We thought it would provide better insight into our business by letting you hear directly from them. They and their teams are the ones that deliver the results we have come to expect.” – Jason Krieger, AWG President and CEO.
American Welding & Gas Has Humble Roots
American Welding & Gas is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024. Like any company that can trace its roots back three-quarters of a century, its journey to 75 years is long and winding. The company’s story began with two separate companies, which were both, ironically, founded in 1949: Valley Welders Supply, Inc., which was founded in Billings, Montana, and Scott-Gross Company, Inc., which was founded in Lexington, Kentucky.
Scott-Gross was started by Bob Gross and Woodrow Scott, both World War II veterans, as Bourbon Implement Company. The company began selling tractors and farm equipment, but quickly shifted its focus to gases and welding supplies and changed its name.
Valley Welders Supply initially operated out of one location in Billings, before opening a second branch in Sheridan, Wyoming, and then a third branch in Great Falls, Montana, in 1984. After his success opening the Sheridan and Great Falls branches, Ron Adkins became the president in 1993. Ron led the growth of the company through acquisition and green starts to be over 30 locations by 2014. That growth included the company’s growth into the bulk propane market.
American Welding & Gas See’s Massive Growth
In 2014, a watershed event in the company’s history took place, when American Welding & Gas, Inc. (the company had rebranded in 2008), acquired Scott-Gross Company, Inc., exponentially increasing its footprint to 67 locations. The newly integrated company rebranded itself as AWG Gases and continued to acquire other independent distributors including:
- Norton Welding Supply (2016, Georgia)
- CO2Air (2017, Georgia)
- Compressed Gas Solutions (2018, Florida)
- Continental Welding (Indiana, 2020)
- F&M Mafco (Ohio, 2022)
Since 2018, AWG has focused on the rapidly expanding Texas markets, with acquisitions in Houston (2020, Bestway Gases), Beaumont (2023, Coastal Welding Supply) and San Antonio (2024, Speed Industrial Gases). AWG’s purchase of Coastal Welding from the Mazoch family dramatically expanded the AWG reach, adding 14 locations along the Gulf Coast stretching from Sulphur, LA to Corpus Christi, TX.
Chuck Mazoch, former owner of Coastal and current Vice President of AWG says, “On May 1, 2023, Coastal Welding Supply joined AWG. Our choice of direction has been a smooth and solid transition. AWG has provided our family and associates with a great future while maintaining the core values of the Mazoch family legacy. By combining our strengths, we have been able to continue to grow the business and expand into exciting new markets. We look forward to our future.”
Since 2014, AWG has closed thirteen acquisitions while also staffing and funding eight green field locations. During this ten-year period, AWG has more than tripled its yearly revenue and earnings. More importantly, the company has added new teammates who have strong connections to the many local areas it now services.
“AWG prides itself on its long history of successfully closing acquisitions that benefit all those involved. We look for solid independent organizations that value both their employees and customers,” Sean Bennett, Vice-President and CFO says. “AWG offers the independent distributor an alternative that preserves their legacy while also valuing the distributor’s employees who helped build their investment.”
AWG’s CEO, Jason Krieger, reflected, “Our growth through acquisitions remains highly strategic and only starts and ends where we find partners that have similar cultures and a sincere focus on their people. Throughout the history of our industry’s consolidation, there have been only a couple of options for owners and their families. AWG is a strong example that, big or small, there is a peer option, one that genuinely protects the legacy and people.”
American Welding & Gas Culture
The safety of its teammates, customers and the communities where it operates is AWG’s number one goal. This year, the company is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Though it has experienced exponential growth, AWG still operates on the core tenets it was founded on. AWG is an independent family and management owned company that has the resources to provide the services offered by the “majors” while maintaining the flexibility and service it has always offered in its many small locations.
“We have an experienced team of cryogenic technicians who can install, service and supply all types of bulk gases in AWG-owned tankers, tube trailers and bulk gas containers,” the company says. “AWG’s close relationships with a number of gas manufacturers gives AWG the flexibility to supply gases in a growing number of geographies across the U.S. Our Coastal Welding Supply and Tier 5 Labs specialty gas plants are known for their accuracy and speed in filling spec gas orders. Our CO2Air division gives AWG the ability to source carbon dioxide from a number of suppliers across the Southeast. AWG’s Silvertip Propane division is the largest independent propane distributor in Montana and Wyoming. AWG has also expanded its ability to design, install and support automation and robotics since 2020. We continue to do all of this while still maintaining our ability to supply all types of traditional welding, construction and safety supplies from our 106 locations in 23 states.”
In recognition of its 75th anniversary, AWG has created special anniversary branding, sharing its history with its customers and employees and inviting its teammates to help share their ideas on what makes AWG special.
Part of what makes AWG special is its culture. The leadership teams across the U.S. came together, in more than 10 meetings, to create the strategy that will guide leadership across the business. The teams were asked to describe the “What, Why, and How” to lead across the business.
“Spending time with each leadership team across the business offered an invaluable insight for the Senior Leadership team,” says Vanjia Thomas, Vice President of Human Resources. “We were able to take the feedback we received during the meetings and build a comprehensive map to grow our business and, in turn, grow our teammates for AWG’s long-term success.”
During the leadership strategy sessions, AWG also invited customers to assist the company in better understanding what makes a supplier “best in class.” The customers met with some of AWG’s customer facing teammates and gave feedback on their expectations of its service and the teammates were able to ask clarifying questions to be able to offer the best customer service possible.
“We see our Leadership Strategy and Customer Service Best Practices as great additions to our culture within AWG and we believe they will help us to continue to grow as a family-oriented team,” says Krieger. “Developing our teammates has been a core value for AWG for some time. We have a focus on building careers of the women in AWG. We have actively promoted our internal Women’s committee through different types of training through GAWDA and other training and development opportunities within the business. We have also supported GAWDA’s Women in Gases & Welding committee, including by seeding the WGW Annual Scholarship initiative with a $30,000 donation over its first three years so that women of GAWDA would have the opportunity to attend the University of Innovative Distribution.”
American Welding & Gas Is Ensuring Continued Growth
AWG is not content to sit on its laurels. It knows that to continue to be a market leader it must continue to innovate. Productivity and continuous improvement are integral parts of AWG’s culture. Not just in operations but in sales, as well. The company focuses on three main objectives to drive productivity. First, the company makes it easier for teammates to do their jobs. Second, the company makes it easier for customers to do business with AWG. And finally, the company works to positively impact the bottom line and quality of its earnings.
“What truly drives our productivity focused operations is our people. Our teammates lead and sponsor initiatives daily. They drive local initiatives and share them globally to accomplish our goals of making things better,” says Denver Ockerman, AWG’s Vice President of Operations.
Today, AWG has 860 teammates who work at one of the more than 106 different locations across 23 states. The company’s geography stretches from Montana to Florida, and it continues to grow. AWG continues to invest in technologies that improve the customer and vendor experiences with AWG from ordering product, deliveries, and processing/paying invoices. The company will soon be launching a new website and ecommerce platform that will showcase all of these attributes as an additional option for customers.
In summary, Jason Krieger says, “We have a robust long-term plan for AWG. We could not achieve these results without all of our teammates, our more than 70,000 customers, and the support of our suppliers and industry groups like GAWDA.”
