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NWSA President 1992-1993 Butler Gas Products By Jack Butler In my GAWDA (then NWSA, National Welding Supply Association) President Year of 1993, time was the currency and speed was the base, as the internet was rapidly accelerating business methods and Peter McCausland was consolidating our association membership under the Airgas marquee. We had the initial wave of Baby Boomers joining the industry, and I had the honor and fun of serving NWSA alongside Jack Dammann, Randy Squibb, Dan Paris, Jim Robertson, Gary Armstrong, Bill Higley, Chip Valentine, Dave Mahoney, and current GAWDA Hall of Famers Bob Roberts and Wally Brant.…

Like 2024, GAWDA’s suppliers are expecting robust growth in 2025. But unlike 2024, they don’t have the same concerns about a potential election-year surprise looming at the end of it, tempering their expectations. While some suppliers noted that things like tariffs and inflation could dull growth this year, there was a universal expectation of a strong pro-business environment and growth across the board for GAWDA members in 2025! The following are responses from GAWDA suppliers across North America about their expectations for this year. We thank all of the suppliers who participated in this year’s forecast. Be sure to check…

GAWDA Distributors Forecast Gases & Welding Economy for 2025 Every year, the first quarter issue of Welding & Gases Today sets the tone for the coming year with the forecast issue. Not only do we speak with our distributor and supplier (page 58) members, but we also have our sister organizations like the American Welding Society (page 78) and Compressed Gas Association (page 80) contribute their thoughts on the upcoming year, to be combined with the quarterly ITR Economic Forecast (page 88). This issue also features the first look at this year’s Spring Management Conference, which will set the theme…

Looking Ahead to 2025 In a New Regulatory Environment Following the 2024 Elections, what can GAWDA members expect from a regulatory standpoint in 2025? By Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd, Rick Schweitzer, and Steve Guglielmo Much of the First Quarter Issue of Welding & Gases Today will discuss the impact of the 2024 Elections on the GAWDA Membership. GAWDA members discussed the economic impacts at length in the distributor and supplier forecasts, which can be read on page 58-69. But from a regulatory perspective, the next four years will look very different than the last four, as the Trump…

By Dave Mahoney NWSA President, 1999-2000 | Noble Gas Solutions Becoming involved in GAWDA was one of the smartest decisions I ever made. It is surely one of the significant highlights of my career. In the Spring of 1980, I attended my first Spring Management Conference. I will never forget Bill Sturgeon running up the center aisle and jumping onto the stage in a Canadian hockey jersey. He was excited and immediately got my attention. I loved it! From that point on, all Presidents would sit in the front row and, when introduced, they would walk to the stage to…

Newcomers’ Reception After making the difficult decision to move the Newcomers Reception inside due to the more than 100-degree heat, the Newcomers Reception kicked the Convention off in style, as more than 100 GAWDA New Members, Past Presidents, and members of GAWDA’s Member Services Committee gathered in the Wildflower Ballroom to mix and mingle and show off their hand in a fierce putting contest. Winners from last night’s putting contest will even bring home some hardware and be recognized from the stage during tomorrow’s Opening General Business Session, so stay tuned! Thank you to all who came and all who…

The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]

By Gary Halter and Steve Guglielmo Gary Halter officially took the oath of office as GAWDA President in Maui, Hawaii in 2023. Since then, he has devoted each day as President to fulfilling his promise of “Leading with Purpose and Serving with Heart.” When he took the office of President, Gary laid out his agenda as President, coming back to the acronym IMPACT Leadership. Now, as Gary prepares to hand the baton of President off to Eric Wood in Phoenix, we had the opportunity to speak with Gary during the Northeast Regional Meeting as he reflected on this long and…

Craig Wood GAWDA President 2012-2013 O.E. Meyer Company Obviously, this is a very special year for our entire family at the 2024 Annual Convention. It’s an honor to have this opportunity to share my thoughts as one of a long list of Past Presidents who have unselfishly served in this role. Back in 1997, Rod Belden and I made a trip to Wisconsin, hosted by Bill Higley on a fact-finding mission, while we were preparing to break ground on a new facility. We spent a couple of days with Bill. He was clearly instrumental in our master plan! As he…

Making the Most out of Networking 360 At the 2022 GAWDA Annual Convention in San Diego, the GAWDA Industry Partnering Committee debuted the “Networking 360” program. The event was conceived as a sort of “speed dating” for GAWDA distributors and suppliers to be able to network in a more controlled and intimate environment than the hustle and bustle of the Contact Booth Program. The Event premiered to great fanfare, as 105 supplier members had the opportunity to spend 5-minute sessions with 53 distributor members who participated. “I would pay my entire dues for the year, just to attend this event,”…

Congratulations to all GAWDA Members celebrating anniversaries in 2024 The past several years have represented a dramatic shift in the gases and welding industry. We’ve seen the industry get leaner, as M&A activity continues to shrink the industry, while the internet, and the rise of AI and other technology makes the entire world smaller and more connected. But, in a larger sense, the fundamentals of the business remain the same. This industry remains a relationship business. While the X’s and O’s may look different today than they did 100 years ago, the overall playbook remains very similar. And there’s a…

The purpose of Ask Your Board is to ask common business questions that all GAWDA members might be dealing with and to see how GAWDA’s Board of Directors are dealing with these issues within their own companies. To submit a question for GAWDA’s Board Members to consider, please email [email protected]

The Southwest Regional Meeting took place near Houston from May 20-21. Nearly 100 attendees were on-hand at the South Shore Harbor Resort & Conference Center to see presentations from from Jesse Thompson from the Federal Reserve of Dallas, Chuck McConnell from the Center for Carbon Management in Energy and an incredibly motivational presentation from Nick Scott a two-time world powerlifting champion and wheelchair bodybuilder. Thank you to Regional Co-Chairs Ashley Madray and Gary Degenhardt for organizing this year’s event and to everyone who attended. Click the button below to see pictures from the event. If you attended this year’s event…

Keeping tabs on one’s competitors is not a bad idea, particularly when they come from alternate channels and are somewhat out of sight. Welding and Packaged Gases distributors began seeing some industry specific SKUs slip into alternate channels with the emergence of e-Bay. Managers would become distressed when a customer would appear in one’s showroom, sight a machine sitting on the floor, and remark that they had just purchased the identical product from an e-Bay site. At that point, terms like B2C and B2B were not even in our vocabulary.  We learned quickly that Amazon, and a whole group of…

Lead with Purpose, Serve with Heart Held Friday, April 19 – Sunday, April 21, 2024Grand Hyatt San AntonioGAWDA continues to raise the bar each and every year, as the 2024 Spring Management Conference in San Antonio, Texas, set yet another new attendance record. This year’s SMC saw a record 808 attendees who gathered for a whirlwind weekend from April 19-21st. With a theme of “Leading with Purpose, Serving with Heart,” gratitude, culture and service were the names of the game. Those “soft skills” which Main Stage Presenter Adrian Gostick rebranded as “Power Skills” combined with the weekend’s musical theme had…

GAWDA Distributors Object to Calls for Economic Instability, Project Robust Growth Across the Board: Standing athwart negative headlines and consumer sentiment, GAWDA distributors expect a big year Each year, the first Quarter Issue of Welding & Gases Today is our Annual Economic Forecast Issue. We speak with GAWDA Distributors, Suppliers (page 64), sister organizations like the American Welding Society (page 70) and Compressed Gas Association (page 72) and combine them with the quarterly ITR Economic Forecast (page 77) to paint as complete a picture of the economic outlook of the industry as we possibly can. One of the biggest lessons…

For decades, companies across industries would seek out manufacturing possibilities around the world – taking advantage of less expensive labor, cheaper rents, and relaxed regulations. However, over the last 10 years or so, the tide has begun to turn, and companies are gradually bringing back more of their manufacturing operations to the U.S. There are several reasons driving this shift including the shrinking delta in labor costs between U.S. vs. overseas locations, rising transportation costs, IP theft, and several others. But severe supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, which resulted in shortages of supplies coming from overseas, mostly due to…

Is your Company Celebrating an Anniversary in 2024? If you are not listed below, and are celebrating a company anniversary in 2024, please contact us to be featured in our third quarter issue of Welding & Gases Today.  Contact Us Member Name Founded Year PFERD Inc. 1799 Roengten USA 1899 ESAB Welding & Cutting 1904 Federated Insurance 1904 Hartman Brothers, Inc 1904 City Carbonic LLC 1909 The Harris Products Group 1914 Arcos Industries, LLC 1919 Earlbeck Gases & Technologies 1919 Keen Compressed Gas Company 1919 DeLille Oxygen Company 1924 JAZ Brush USA 1924 Rexarc International Inc. 1924 Rocky Mountain Air…