Author: Steve Guglielmo

FMCSA Opens Registration for Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has opened registration for motor carriers and drivers to participate in the agency’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.  The clearinghouse final rule goes into effect on January 6, 2020. On and after that date, all companies that use drivers who have a Commercial Driver’s License or a Commercial Learner’s Permit must do four things: Register with the FMCSA to use the clearinghouse.  Registration is now available on the FMCSA website. Upload information to the Clearinghouse on any drug or alcohol violations by any CDL driver that your…

Absolute Air, LLC, a consortium of independent gas companies including A-OX Welding Supply, Huber Supply Company, Minneapolis Oxygen Company, Mississippi Welders Supply Company and Toll Gas & Welding Supply with coordination and support from the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC), broke ground on its new, state-of-the-art Air Separation Plant, located just south of Minneapolis in Faribault, Minnesota, on Thursday, September 19, 2019. The event was attended by officials from the city of Faribault as well as Mayor Kevin Voracek. Also attending were representatives from the five companies involved with the consortium and the IWDC. Members from these companies each had…

Central Welding Supply will be hosting a Customer Appreciation Event at its Lynnwood, Washington location on October 4, 2019, from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Make plans to stop by the event so that Central Welding Supply can say THANK YOU! Customer Appreciation Day October 4, 2019 – 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Central Welding Supply 19227 Hwy 99 Lynnwood, WA 98036 LUNCH TO BE SERVED: Smoked brisket, chili, coleslaw, cornbread and a beverage! Get a close-up look at the U-11 and G-55 Hydroplanes that will be on-site! See Location Details for directions and contact information. Other October 1 Connection Items: Absolute…

On 13 September 2019, Messer held its annual Safety Day across all of its sites. The focus of this year’s event was on labour’s protection discipline, because many accidents happen as a result of habitual or casual behaviour. Messer has been raising employee awareness of health, safety, environmental protection and quality assurance within the framework of an annual health and safety day since 2013. But no matter whether the topic in question is safe driving, safe handling of gases or something else: the priority for Messer is the individual and his or her health. “We want everyone to return home to…

The Morris Gold Award was presented to Gordon Edwards of Praxair Canada Inc, during the 2019 CGA Canada Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, September 10-11. The award was presented in recognition of Gordon’s outstanding and long-term contribution and leadership to the compressed gas industry and CGA Canada. Gordon has actively contributed to Compressed Gas Association committee work for more than 20 years. Currently, he serves on a number of CGA Committees, including the Canadian Pressure Vessels and Piping Systems Committee (Chair 2003-2005), Canadian Medical, Food and Beverage Gases and Equipment Committee (Chair 2011-2013 & 2017-2019), Food Gases Committee, Medical…

Linde announced that it has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in its first year as a new company since the merger between Linde AG and Praxair, Inc. was finalized. The DJSI World comprises the top ten percent by sector of the 2,500 largest companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index. Inclusion in the DJSI Indices is determined by asset manager RobecoSAM. To be listed, the companies must demonstrate continuous improvement in a variety of economic, ecological and social criteria. Linde was evaluated at the 97th percentile (3rd highest) in the chemicals sector and scored highest…

Xiris is pleased to celebrate its 30th anniversary as of September, 2019. Founded 30 years ago by Cameron Serles, the business was initially set up to commercialize the budding technology of machine vision, where cameras are used to acquire images of manufactured goods and send them to computers for processing. Back in 1989 when the company started, most manufacturers were highly skeptical of the success of using cameras to measure the size or shape of their manufactured goods. As a result, the first few years were tough until the technology slowly gained acceptance, initially in the automotive and semiconductor industries,…

“Cylinders that are 100 years old will be good for another 100 years if they are properly taken care of and maintained,” says Hydrostat Inc. Owner and CEO Stacy Schraut. “The beauty of the packaged gas industry is that we have assets that are 100 years old that can continue to generate revenue. How many other industries can say that?” Compressed Gas Cylinders are over-engineered, due to the critical nature of their purpose, according to Airgenics, Inc. COO Jonathan Balbi. When properly maintained, these cylinders should last for hundreds of years. The key to this is proper maintenance coupled with…

Iwatani Corporation (Tokyo Stock Exchange code: 8088) announced that Joseph S. Cappello has been named Executive Officer of Iwatani Corporation and also appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Iwatani Corporation of America (ICA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Iwatani Corporation. Mineharu Okamoto, president of Iwatani Corporation of America, will assume the additional title of Chief Operating Officer. In this new role, Cappello will lead the expansion of ICA’s total businesses including hydrogen and industrial gases across the Americas and have the additional responsibility for mergers and acquisitions in the region. Cappello has served as Executive Advisor to Iwatani Corporation…

Airweld is thrilled to announce that in partnership with Swift-Cut and Hypertherm, it is setting up a fully operational demo-room at the company’s Farmingdale training center. This will include a Swifty44 4′ x 4′ automated cutting table and a Hypertherm Powermax™ 65. Customers will be invited to see the system in operation including the ease of programming and superior cut quality. This new compact addition to the Swift-Cut line is ideal for smaller shops, educational institutions and training centers. We will be doing an email blast when the demo-room is ready and our sales team will invite customers to witness…