Author: Steve Guglielmo

The “skills gap” is an issue that all companies in our industry, as well as many of our customers, face every day. The nation-wide shortage of qualified welders and fabricators is certainly not a new phenomenon. We discussed what many GAWDA members are doing to address this issue in the spring issue of Welding & Gases Today, in an article entitled “Attacking the Skills Gap.” Today, a high school in Syracuse, New York, is doing its part to prepare students to fill that gap. Corcoran High School last year introduced a welding program as part of its 27 Career and…

Holston Gases, Inc. (Knoxville, Tennessee) was originally founded as the Holston Oxygen Company in 1958. Pat Baxter and Bob Walsh had worked together at National Cylinder Gas (NCG) and decided to strike out on their own to start the Holston Oxygen Company in Knoxville. Baxter and Walsh grew the business one account at a time, as customers were attracted to the personal attention and superior effort that the company made to satisfy their needs. In 1976, Baxter bought out Walsh’s interest in the company to become the sole-owner of Holston. What had started as a two-man operation began to grow…

Kaplan Industries is increasing its capacity to service their growing distributor base and has just installed two new 11,000-gallon bulk tanks at their Ohio facility. These new tanks will go alongside their existing instrument grade N-Butane tank at its state-of-the-art, filling and cylinder cleaning facility. The tanks will contain Instrument Grade Propane and Isobutane at a purity above 99.5%. With the addition of the 2 tanks, Kaplan will be better able to continue providing distributors with premium packaged gas for the expanding Industrial Hemp and Cannabis markets. “It’s an exciting time here at Kaplan Industries,” says Devon Goodman, Specialty Gas…

Flame Technologies presented Samantha Farr, founder and CEO of Women Who Weld, a check for $4,000 during FABTECH. The proceeds were raised from the sale of Women Who Weld branded merchandise. Flame Technologies President Shawn Toops was on hand to present the check. After the check presentation, Farr stayed at the Flame Technologies booth to take part in an interview on the Arc Junkies podcast with influential Instagram welder Rae Ripple. Flame Technologies initially announced their support for Women Who Weld in December 2018, and have been selling tee shirts through their FTMerch.com to raise money for the worthy cause.…

FABTECH 2019 enjoyed record attendance for the event held November 11-14, 2019, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Despite the unexpected winter weather, the 2019 event closed with record attendance, marking a 7% increase over the previous FABTECH Chicago. A total of 48,278 attendees from 95 countries participated in four full days of product evaluation, education and collaborative discussions on key industry issues. Three massive exhibit halls full of more than 500 new products and 1,700 exhibitors highlighted the emerging trends and technologies influencing the future of manufacturing. For the first time, FABTECH expanded into the Lakeside Center with early access…

3M Hosted “Clash of the Grinders 2019” at FABTECH. The event featured 12 metalworking pros going head-to-head grinding 4-inch welds to see who the fastest grinder in America is. The event took place at 3Ms booth at FABTECH on November 12, 2019. The prizes included: First place: – 3M™ Speedglas™ Welding Helmet 9100, 06-0100-30iSW, with ADF 9100Xxi – 3M™ Grinder 28824, T27 4-½ in. 5/8-11 External 1.5hp – 3 cases of 3M™ Cubitron™ II Abrasives Average Retail Value: $2,707.03 Second place: – 3M™ Speedglas™ Welding Helmet 9002NC – 4 cases of 3M™ Cubitron™ II Abrasives Average Retail Value: $1,286.60 Third…

IWDC celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a novel art auction event that generated more than $30,000 for Workshops for Warriors. “We wanted to do something special and, through generous Vendor partner support, we were able to commission an artist who crafted a one of a kind oil painting on steel titled ‘Warrior to Welder'”, stated Frank Kasnick, President & CEO of IWDC. “We held a live auction during the closing dinner that included a silent auction and some games that had everyone on their feet having a blast supporting this great cause.” The IWDC would like to thank Dave Mahoney…

Anova announced that it has merged with Silicon Controls, provider of the Gaslog solution and a key player in the global LPG & propane industry. This merger is motivated by a shared approach to customer engagement, innovation and global engineering capabilities in tank telemetry, telecommunications, cloud applications and mobile platforms. The combined capabilities uniquely position Anova to help its customer base transform logistics and redefine consumer services, ultimately driving greater profitability for propane distribution. This accelerates Anova’s strategy of connecting the industrial world ‘for the better’. With over 25 years of proven experience providing end-to-end solutions in remote telemetry, Silicon…

Thank you so much to Messer, who hosted members of GAWDA Media at their CO2 Production Facility in Fulton, NY, on Tuesday, November 19. The facility, built in 2007, produces more than 700 tons of clean CO2 per day. It is located next to an Attis Biofules ethanol plant and cleans the waste gas to produce food and medical grade CO2 for consumption. The team was given a tour of the plant as well as a crash course in how the Carbon Dioxide goes from the ethanol plant, through the cleaning process and out for delivery. View a photo gallery…