Author: GAWDA MEDIA

S.J. Smith Company S.J. Smith Company (Davenport, Iowa) is celebrating its 70th Anniversary in 2020. The company was established in 1950 by Sylvester and Helen Smith. Prior to opening S.J. Smith, Sylvester had experience in the industry selling welding supplies and gas for AIRCO. After AIRCO exited the distributor business, Sylvester and Helen continued to serve smaller accounts, while AIRCO handled the larger industrial accounts. In 1966, S.J. Smith bought the remaining welding supply business from AIRCO. In 1969, Richard Smith, Sylvester and Helen’s son, joined the company and eventually took over when Sylvester retired. Rich continued to expand the…

Fronius “I have opened a specialist repair shop for radios and electrical equipment at the Rankleiten hotel. All repairs are carried out by me personally at any time, both in my workshop or at your premises. I ask my valued customers to turn to me with complete confidence.”  With those simple words, Gunter Fronius marked the beginning of a journey that has encompassed the next 75 years. Fronius was started on June 20, 1945, in the Austrian market town of Pettenbach, where its headquarters still reside today. From its roots as a simple one-man radio repair shop in 1945, Fronius…

American Torch Tip Company In October 1940, Jack Walters, Sr. and his brother-in-law saw the need for quality replacement Torch Tips and created a new company called American Torch Tip Company. Walters was working as a plant manager for a competitor in Pittsburgh at the time when he decided to strike out on his own. To make his dream a reality, Walters sold torch tips during the day and went to work at the American Bridge Company at night. Today, American Torch Tip is in its third generation of family ownership. “Every generation has added to the company,” says Jack…

by Caroline K. Reff Forty years ago, your father and mother started a family business. They worked hard, and the business grew. Maybe, as a child, you helped behind the counter or as a teen started to learn some of the skills required on the production end of the business. Your three siblings did the same. At some point, however, you and your siblings each had to decide whether to make the family business a career. Maybe your parents influenced you, pressuring you to stay with the business or conversely deciding that you needed to go to college and/or work…

by Patrick Lencioni These days, virtually no one will tell you that teamwork isn’t important when it comes to an organization achieving its goals. Even cynics understand that groups of people who are willing to put their individual interests aside for the good of the team will outperform groups of people who do not. Having said that, there is something that often happens after a team succeeds that suggests many of us might be discounting the real power of teamwork. A great example of this happens in the world of professional sports. With the football season having just wrapped up,…

By Bill McCloy, Managing Director, AmWINS Program Underwriters, Welding DistributorPro Insurance Program Your business has suffered a loss – a natural disaster or a fire.  So much of how you respond after a loss is predicated on how well you’ve prepared prior to a loss.  Ask yourself these questions: Have you developed an Emergency Response Plan or Disaster Recovery Plan?  Do you have inventory lists, plot maps, vehicle registrations, accounts receivable and payable, or key contact information documented and backed up?  Is your back-up secured off site?   Do you have a dedicated individual accountable for coordinating the response if…

By Mike Marks, Managing Partner of Indian River Consulting Group Back in the day, the path to distributor growth was to sell service with excellent people. Sales reps sold themselves first and customers bought from reps that had earned their trust based on their past performance. A key driver in the customer value proposition was their relationship with their own sales rep, not the company. Supply chains were unreliable and heroic recoveries were visible and common. The reps were paid a commission on the gross margin they generated so they could “eat what they killed.” The sales force was self-directed…

This year’s Spring Management Conference was scheduled to take place Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had to cancel this event. However, we look forward to the GAWDA Convention scheduled to take place September 25-28 in Phoenix, Arizona, which is sure to be three days of non-stop educational opportunities and takeaways. Those opportunities, combined with the unparalleled networking that GAWDA events facilitate, make the SMC and Annual Convention must-attend events for everybody in the gases and welding industry. But between all the professional development, GAWDA members have always known how to have a great time! Here is…

GAWDA Spring Management Conference is cancelled due to the growing COVID-19 threat. The GAWDA Spring Management Conference, which was scheduled to start on April 5th in Austin Texas, has been cancelled over COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic concerns. GAWDA has been monitoring the CDC, World Health Organization and John Hopkins websites for the past few weeks. During this time, we have been in communication with the facilities in Austin to assess what options we were available. Large conferences like the SMC are planned years in advance, with the facilities, as well as careful coordination with the city, after multiple inquires, we learned that…

GAWDA’s Spring Management Conference (SMC) will take place April 5-7, 2020, at the JW Marriott Austin in Austin, Texas. This year, the association has opted for a new format that we hope will be more inclusive for management at all levels of the company. As this is the first year of the new format, we have received questions from the membership about the new-look SMC. 2020 GAWDA President Abydee Butler Moore addressed these FAQ’s below. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to GAWDA headquarters or visit gawda.org/spring-management-conference. What was the reason for the change…