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In response to the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) continues to shift how we operate. We are committed to meeting our members where they are in this moment – whether they’re working from home, in the office, on the road, or on the manufacturing floor. As we move into 2021, we will continue to focus on providing industry leadership in support of our safety mission, while adopting new ways to effectively get our work done and best serve our members, our valued partners including GAWDA, and the compressed gas industry as a whole. The…

By Gary Konarska, Executive Director and CEO of the American Welding Society (AWS) During times of crisis, good business leaders control the factors they can, adapt readily and plan for life post-crisis. Our industry successfully controlled its destiny by ensuring that welding, cutting and related companies were deemed “essential businesses.” As a result, comparatively more workers retained their jobs. One might think the pandemic temporarily alleviated the shortage of skilled welders, but it actually exacerbated it in many instances, such as when one person testing positive required an entire department to self-isolate. Lack of a stable workforce has hindered organizations…

The following are responses from GAWDA suppliers across North America about what they expect to see in 2021. To see video interviews for those suppliers who participated, visit the GAWDA Media channel on YouTube or check buyersguide.gawdamedia.com to see individual company responses with embedded videos. Thank you so much to all who participated! Weldcoa expects sales to be up in 2021. “The disruptions that occurred this year didn’t cancel any projects. It put them on hold,” says President and Co-Owner Hector Villarreal. “In fact, it sped some of them up. But ultimately, I think a lot of projects that were…

I have spent the last year writing articles for Welding & Gases Today talking about my experiences working in the gases and welding industry and specifically working within the dynamics of a family business. In my last article, “Tips for Young People Considering Joining the Family Business,” I spoke at length about the transition process for a family business. As we all know, family businesses make up a huge percentage of GAWDA’s memberships and the transition process can be a difficult thing for both the younger and older generation to go through. As I said in my last article, working…

by Mike Marks and Dan Horan,  Indian River Consulting Group As practices continue to shift, there are two trends distributors should be paying close attention to in today’s market. One is understanding the role of technology, and the other is attracting and retaining talent. Attracting and Keeping Talent Recruiting qualified talent is no easy task. There is always a generational tension between the way “things used to be” and “how it is today.” The tensions between mature leaders and young professionals remain the same. Distributors must revisit their recruitment strategies to reflect these different perspectives. Training and education opportunities must…

Improvements Are Required inCommunications Between Manufacturer, Distributor and the Customer by J. R. (Buzz) Campbell & Ken Thompson In this article, we’ll look at what’s happened in the U.S. economy relative to our Gases and Hardgoods (HG) business, make a quick review of three of the biggest Gas Majors’ first calendar half for 2020 (H1/20) financial reports, review some key products and markets affected by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID), and discuss new challenges in selling and the need for further integration of communications between the manufacturer, distributor and customer in Hardgoods. According to the July 30, 2020, U.S. Bureau of…

In times of economic turmoil, GAWDA members have long turned to the association’s Chief Economist Brian Beaulieu and his team at ITR Economics. ITR, which produces a quarterly report for GAWDA members each quarter (this quarter’s can be seen on pages 106-117), hosted a members-only podcast entitled Looking Past the Fear and The Noise: 2020-2022. Alex Chausovsky, ITR’s Director of Speaking Services, hosted the webinar, a recording of which can be found on GAWDA.org’s Member’s Only section in the ITR folder. Alex spent the hour-long recording explaining the impact that the “Dual Black Swan Events” of COVID-19 and the collapse…

The following is an excerpt from the GAWDA Safety Organizer, a monthly bulletin sent to GAWDA members. For more information on the GAWDA Safety Organizer, or to read past issues, visit the GAWDA.org Members-Only Section Hazards exist everywhere: Viruses, noise, chemicals, falling objects, slippery surfaces/uneven surfaces and sharp objects. Employers are required by regulation to protect employees from known and potential hazards in the workplace. The General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970, 29 USC 654(a)(1), requires employers to furnish to each worker “employment and a place of employment, which are free…

How COVID-19 has impacted GAWDA members and what will need to be done as businesses reopen. By Steve Guglielmo, Tom Badstubner, Marilyn Dempsey, Michael Dodd and Rick Schweitzer By the time that this issue hits your desk, it might feel like the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted forever. It may even be that the economy in your state has largely reopened. But the fallout from this crisis will last far beyond the initial lockdown and reopening. And, though businesses may have returned to some semblance of normalcy, the virus has not been eradicated. We may deal with a “second wave” or,…

Before I get started, I have to come clean. Anybody that is reading the title of this article and expecting something that sounds like it came out of the Harvard Business Review or the Wall Street Journal is going to be very disappointed. I went to Texas Tech, not Harvard or Yale. But what I lack in high-powered, fancy advice, I make up for in experience. I’ve spent 50 years in this ‘bidness’ and I’ve found the five things that I think anybody in our industry needs to do to be successful. I’ve worked in the welding industry since I…