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The past three years have been difficult for all of us. From the depths of the pandemic, we returned to in-person business, but the “new normal” changed the way we worked. And now, as we deal with the fallout from the pandemic, including unprecedented inflation, supply chain issues, and labor shortages, it has, at times, been difficult to find things to celebrate. But through the gloom, GAWDA members have continued to persevere and thrive. This year, we recognize those GAWDA members who are celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2022. Reaching these incredible milestones is impressive at any time. But it’s especially…

By McKinnon Shisko, Indian River Consulting Group In April 2019, a large national consulting firm surveyed 1,000 executives of large firms (classified as having 500+ employees) with the intent of discovering key points about their ability to leverage data in making business decisions. Their study found that 37% of respondents considered their companies to be highly mature on the Insight-Driven Maturity Scale while 63% of respondents were “aware of analytics but lack infrastructure, are still working in silos, or are expanding ad hoc analytics capabilities beyond silos.” Interestingly, “among the 37% of companies in the survey with the strongest analytics cultures, 48%…

In late 2021, the American Welding Society launched a new online course called “Solution Selling for Welding.” As the world of welding, manufacturing, and fabrication continues to evolve and become more competitive, the success of any organization often hinges on the strength of its salesforce. The Solution Selling for Welding Course was designed to help develop highly knowledgeable and effective sales personnel. Created in tandem with welding industry experts with decades of sales and engineering experience, this course focuses on two key aspects: foundational welding concepts and the “solution selling” methodology. Collectively, this provides welding salespeople with a strong, well-rounded…

Former GAWDA Presidents Share Advice on Getting the Most out of Convention and SMC Networking is one of the greatest benefits of being a GAWDA member. And the two national meetings each year provide the best opportunity to combine networking and education. However, attending these national meetings means time away from your business. It means paying for hotels and flights. 2021 GAWDA President Abydee Butler Moore stressed the importance of bringing real take-home value home from each meeting that would justify the time and money invested in the trip. We had the opportunity to speak with five former GAWDA Presidents…

As part of its continued push to help GAWDA members get the most out of their membership dues in the association and stay on the front lines of emerging industry trends and hot-button issues, GAWDA has several volunteer committees devoted to specific areas of the industry. The volunteer committees include: Government Affairs, Human Resources, Industry Partnering, Insurance Trustees, Leadership Development, Member Services, Safety, Women of Gases and Welding, and Young Professionals. This new feature in Welding & Gases Today will update readers on the latest news and events from each committee. We thank all the committee chairs for their help…

Ask Your Board is a new feature that will run in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quarter issues of Welding & Gases Today. 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 QUESTION How has your communication, both internal and external, evolved over the past year? Are there any changes that were made that you anticipate continuing long-term?…

GAWDA’s consultants discuss how to prepare for an audit as well as other recent trends in the gases and welding industry By Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd, Rick Schweitzer and Steve Guglielmo The GAWDA Consultant Program is a GAWDA member benefit that is included as part of your member dues to the association. It is consistently rated as one of the most valuable member benefits that GAWDA provides. Between the four of them, GAWDA’s consultants bring more than 150 years of industry-specific experience to the association. For this issue, we spoke with the consultants about a variety of topics,…

What are the things that I need to do to hire a driver? How fast can I put a new driver on the road? What items do I need to have in my hands before letting a driver go out on the road? What should I look for on the motor violation records when deciding to hire a driver? What minimums should I have for hiring a driver? These are some of the questions that I get when someone is trying to put on a new driver. The following guidance assumes that you want a driver for loads requiring placards.…

How GAWDA consultants can help GAWDA members avoid costly mistakes By Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd, Rick Schweitzer and Steve Guglielmo The GAWDA Consultant Program is a GAWDA Member Benefit that is included as part of your annual dues to the association. It is consistently rated as one of the most valuable member benefits that GAWDA provides. Between the four to them, GAWDA’s Consultants bring more than 100 years of industry-specific experience to the association. For this issue, we spoke to the Consultants about specific examples of times where they were able to help GAWDA members save money and…

By Paul Bernier and David O’Guin With many years of experience in the Industrial Gas/Welding supply industry, I have learned that many companies do not truly offer safety services and supplies in their product mix. It is understandable, since the margins are not in line with what we enjoy in gases. But, if you are not providing safety products to your industrial customers, who is? Our main marketing objective is to try and provide as many products as possible to our customers, adding more line items to our invoices, truly striving to be a one-stop provider, as much as possible.…