Author: GAWDA MEDIA

The history of Saf-T-Cart can be traced back to April 1, 1969, when Jimmy Walker, Sr. opened Walker Welders in Clarksdale, Mississippi. While Walker Welders grew and expanded, Walker saw a need in the industry for a self-contained oxy/acetylene unit with the gauges completely enclosed. However, Walker was unable to find manufacturers to produce the cart, so he decided to buy used equipment from local auctions and build them himself. With that, in 1986, Saf-T-Cart was born. “Saf-T-Cart really grew out of Walker Welders,” says Jim Herring, vice president of Saf-T-Cart. “Part of the reason for it was that the…

Vern Lewis Welding Supply Inc. was founded in 1969 by Vernon F. Lewis. Prior to opening the company, Lewis served as a district manager for Forney Industries. The company began with Vern selling welders and Lincoln welding rods to farmers and welders in Avondale, Arizona and the surrounding west valley. He later added a business associate, Ron Ruch Sr.  Ruch Sr. has since started his own welding supply distribution business, but Vern and Ron remain close associates after all this time. From a store front in Avondale and a warehouse in Phoenix, Vern Lewis Welding Supply has since expanded to seven Arizona…

While Red Ball Oxygen technically incorporated in 1930, it didn’t begin to resemble the modern company until 1969, when Craig and Lorena Kennedy purchased the company. At the time, Red Ball Battery and Oxygen was a National Cylinder Gas distributor that focused on automotive batteries and tires. The Kennedys set about building an entirely new kind of distributorship with welding and expanded cylinder gas capabilities. Fifty years later, the second and third generation of the Kennedy family now run the distributorship, which has grown into a regional industrial gas and welding supply powerhouse. “I’m standing on the shoulders of what…

Thomas Kuo, founder-CEO of Genstar Technologies Company, founded Genstar in 1969. He saw an opportunity for growth in the area of industrial regulators and cutting equipment. “His idea was to make a good quality product at a reasonable price and to give good quality service,” says Larry Meyers, national sales manager at Genstar. “People were looking for an alternative to the other major players in the market and Thomas figured out that if he could provide a great product with great service, he could be very successful.” Over the next 50 years, Genstar has emerged as a global company, with…

In 1969, Walter Welsch was working at 3M as an abrasives’ salesman when he developed the original Dynafile Abrasive Belt Tool. The tool improved the task of hand-filing metals and other hard surfaces. It was then that Welsch decided to strike out on his own and Dynabrade, Inc. was formed. “The vision that Walter set forth in the beginning has always been the driving force behind our success,” says Ron Veiders, Dynabrade’s director of marketing. “That entrepreneurial spirit and devotion to innovation and high-quality.” Entrepreneurial spirit has especially been a hallmark of Dynabrade’s history, as the company is partially owned…

Acme Cryogenics was founded as a general machine shop in 1969 under the name H&B, serving the Lehigh Valley. A few years later, the company changed its name to Acme Screw Machine Products as several partners, including Rod Fink, entered the business. In 1977, the CGA released standards on a liquid transfer fitting that Acme was manufacturing. This provided the inroad to the industrial gas industry. By that time, Fink had become the sole owner of the company, and began growing the company through new products acquisitions. As the business grew and expanded, the name was changed again to Acme…

Oxygen Service Company was founded in 1959 by Bill Huber and Bill Lund. The company was originally called Wagner Welding before changing its name to Oxygen Service Company in 1965. One of the company’s most important moments came in 1993, when Bill and Bill decided to sell the business to its employees and Oxygen Service Company became a 100% employee-owned company. “Bill and Bill really felt that they had dedicated employees that they wanted to reward for their dedication,” says Oxygen Service Company President and CEO Ryan Diekow. “They said, ‘You helped us build this and we want to reward…

Beginning in 1959, a group of stake holders launched the North American Sales Company [Nasco] with a primary focus to serve the welding industry. Years later and several states away Oklahoma Rig & Supply [ORS] was founded with a mission to provide products supporting the industrial and oilfield industries. The two wholesale companies merged in 2003 forming ORS Nasco and positioning the master distribution company for strategic growth through geographic expansion and product diversification. Throughout its 60 years, ORS Nasco has adapted to evolving business environments and technology advancements contributing to the success in supply chain. “We strive to streamline…

Kaplan Industries was officially founded in 1959 as the A-M Fire Equipment Company. But the roots of the company go back even further than that. “In the late 1940s, after the second World War, my dad, Morris, and his brother, Albert, had what we would call today a recycling business,” says Dean Kaplan, CEO of Kaplan Industries, Inc. “They would collect cardboard boxes from the Philadelphia Navy Yard for recycling. But inside the boxes were decommissioned fire extinguishers from battle ships. They had so many fire extinguishers that they ended up acquiring UL approval, which allowed them to sell these…

While today, Gullco International has locations in six countries and distributors in more than 80, selling cutting-edge welding and cutting automation products, the company’s origins are much more modest. When Jack Gully started the company, as The Gully Company, it sold welding electrode ovens. When Mike Harris and his business partner purchased the Gully Company in 1954, they changed the name to Gullco and set the company on the path it still travels today. “At the time, there was the emerging ship building industry and Canada needed some form of welding automation to help with ship building,” says Nick Drake,…