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THE QUESTION: This year’s Annual Convention theme is “The Renaissance of the Human Advantage – 250 Years of Ingenuity.” As America celebrates 250 years of ingenuity, what innovation, advancement or application from the gases and welding industry do you believe has made an especially important contribution to the country? How is your company carrying that same spirit of innovation and resourcefulness forward today?
Allison Earlbeck
President, Earlbeck Gases & Technologies
Welding and industrial gases touch nearly everything, so this is a tough question to answer. Throw a dart in almost any direction, and you will find something remarkable that our industry helped shape!
For me, though, one of the clearest examples is the transformation of American manufacturing and shipbuilding during World War II.
Baltimore, where Earlbeck is headquartered, was a major center of the American war effort. Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard produced Liberty Ships that helped sustain Allied supply lines, while Glenn L. Martin was building
B-26 Marauder bombers nearby in Middle River.
Shipbuilding and heavy manufacturing had traditionally utilized riveting. But, as German submarines sank cargo ships at an alarming rate, the United States had to find a way to build ships faster than the enemy could destroy them. Welding offered a quicker alternative, so wartime demand dramatically accelerated its adoption.
That rapid transition also exposed new engineering challenges. Some early Liberty Ships suffered serious brittle fractures, particularly in cold conditions. Investigating those failures forced engineers and manufacturers to deepen their understanding of metallurgy, material toughness, residual stress, and weld quality. The lessons learned helped make welded structures safer and more reliable, which influenced the use of welding for generations to come.
That history is also personal for me. My grandfather was a World War II-era welding engineer involved in Liberty Ship production in support of the war effort. The challenges his generation helped solve ultimately shaped the direction of our family business for generations through weld inspection, training, and engineering.
To me, that is one of the clearest examples of what our industry has contributed to this country. Welding helped America build on a completely different scale and speed. Just as importantly, the lessons learned along the way improved the safety and reliability of welded structures and permanently changed the way America builds
KEVIN FALCONER
President-Elect, CM2 Supply
When I think about the greatest innovation our industry has contributed, I don’t think of a single product or breakthrough. I think it’s our ability to keep evolving and meet our customers’ challenges as they change.
That’s the mindset we’re trying to build at CM² Supply.
This past year has been about positioning our company for the future. We’re investing in technology, expanding our capabilities, and creating an organization that’s stronger than the sum of its parts. Most importantly, we’re investing in people and building a culture that’s willing to adapt, learn, and embrace change.
NICOLE KISSLER
First Vice President, Norco
As America celebrates 250 years, one of the most significant contributions from the gases and welding industry has been its role in strengthening and supporting manufacturing across the United States and supporting the great industries that make our country great. From building critical infrastructure to supporting energy, agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing, welding equipment and industrial gases have helped drive economic growth not just recently but for generations.
At Norco, we are carrying that same patriotic spirit forward by supporting the resurgence of manufacturing in our local markets, serving as a trusted resource and solution provider for customers bringing industry to the USA. We are committed to helping businesses find solutions, grow, and succeed while celebrating America’s legacy of achievement. Across our company, our team is unifying around a shared message of pride, patriotism, and dedication to supporting the industries that continue to shape our nation’s future.
JUSTIN JOHNSON
Second Vice President, Keen Compressed Gas Company
As you track our industry over the last few decades, it would be hard not to recognize the innovation and advancement in our product offerings. Those advancements, ranging from welding equipment evolving from transformer technology to more computer-based designs, to innovation in gas plants including automation, validation, and production efficiency. Our industry continues to rise to the challenge of innovating and evolving from the comfortable to the uncomfortable. One technology that has reshaped our industry and how we serve customers is cylinder tracking. This technology has offered transparency to our customer base and provided a pathway to discrepancy resolution. Accountability and awareness of some of our most valuable assets have increased profitability and efficiency. Our organization is in the process of moving through this long journey, but we are excited to get closer with each passing day.
ERIC WOOD
First Past President, O.E. Meyer Co.
I believe the advancement from stick welding to MIG welding made a significant contribution to American manufacturing. MIG welding was first developed for aluminum and other nonferrous metals. The later adoption of more affordable shielding gases made it practical for welding steel and helped expand its use throughout American manufacturing.
The continuous wire feed system allowed welders to work faster, produce cleaner and more consistent welds, and spend less time changing electrodes and removing slag. MIG welding also provided better control of heat, making it easier to weld thin sheet metal with less risk of burn-through, warping, or distortion. This was especially important for the automotive, appliance, and sheet-metal industries, where production speed and weld quality were critical.
MIG welding also created a path toward automated and robotic welding. Today, robotic welding systems can produce consistent welds at high speeds while reducing worker exposure to heat, fumes, and repetitive tasks. The progression from stick welding to MIG welding and eventually robotic automation has helped America build its infrastructure, strengthen its manufacturing base, and remain competitive around the world.
O.E. Meyer Co. continues to carry that same spirit of innovation forward by helping our customers evaluate and adopt new welding processes, equipment, and automation. We work closely with manufacturers to understand their operations and recommend solutions that improve weld quality, productivity, and worker safety. This includes everything from upgrading traditional welding equipment and introducing new processes to implementing
collaborative robots and fully automated welding systems.
BEN BLACK
Vice President, Butler Gas Products
The gases and welding industry has always been built on solving problems, and that hasn’t changed. At Butler Gas Products, we’re carrying that tradition forward by helping manufacturers, healthcare providers, research facilities, and fabricators improve safety, productivity, and reliability through technical expertise and dependable gas supply. We believe innovation isn’t just about new technology—it’s about finding better ways to serve customers and being a trusted partner when it matters most.
JOSH DAVIDHIZAR
Vice President, Indiana Oxygen Company
With the continued retirement of experienced welders, our industry has shifted from replacing skilled workers with new hires to replacing many repetitive welding tasks with advanced technology. Modern robotic welding systems now utilize AI-assisted seam tracking, laser vision sensors, adaptive welding parameters, and real-time quality monitoring, among other innovations. This transformation has had a significant impact on the manufacturing industry by enabling customers to optimize their operations, improve production efficiency, and maintain consistent, high-quality results. As manufacturers continue to face labor shortages and increasing demands for productivity, these technologies have become an important part of remaining competitive.
At Indiana Oxygen, we have also been intentional about identifying opportunities to improve our own operations through technology. Implementing truck routing software to optimize deliveries and leveraging AI to assist in drafting policies, procedures, and other business documents are just two examples of how we are embracing innovation to increase efficiency and better serve our customers. Ultimately, these initiatives reflect our commitment to continuous improvement. We are never content with the status quo; instead, we challenge ourselves to think creatively, embrace new technologies, and continually refine our processes. By pushing the boundaries of innovation, we strive to make the best use of our people, resources, and opportunities while delivering greater value to our customers.
TIMM EVANS
Vice President, CK Supply, Inc.
“Together We Build.” That phrase captures the story of our industry and the role it has played in America’s ingenuity. From the iconic 1932 photograph of ironworkers having lunch high above New York City, to the Model A being produced at roughly 20 vehicles a day, to today—where a new pickup truck can roll off the assembly line every 52 to 53 seconds—our industry has been there helping America build.
Gases and welding touch so many different facets of what America is about. They are fundamental to manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, transportation, energy, healthcare, and countless other industries. What makes our industry especially unique is our ability to continually adapt. Application advancements happen every year, and improved processes, automation and new technologies have become major contributors to the way our customers operate and compete.
At CK Supply, we are carrying that same spirit of innovation and resourcefulness forward by focusing on solving problems rather than simply selling products. We are investing in technology, expanding our technical capabilities, developing our people, and looking for better ways to serve our customers. From specialty gas applications and cryogenic systems to automation, cobots, and data-driven tools, we are constantly asking ourselves, “Is there a better way to do this?”
As an employee-owned company, we believe innovation is not limited to a particular department or a select few people. Every employee has the opportunity—and the responsibility—to identify opportunities, solve problems and make CK Supply better. That is what we believe the human advantage is all about.
We know technology will continue to change our industry. But the greatest advantage we have is still our people—their experience, resourcefulness, relationships, and willingness to find the right solution for our customers to benefit from.
ERICH HAUN
Vice President, Haun Welding Supply
If I had to pick one innovation from our industry that shaped this country, it would be oxy-fuel welding and cutting. When American producers scaled acetylene and oxygen supply in the early 1900s, they handed manufacturers a tool that helped build the 20th century, from Liberty ships welded together during wartime to the interstate highways, pipelines, and skyscrapers that came after. What’s remarkable is that it was never a single breakthrough. It’s been a hundred years of steady refinement: safer cylinders, better regulators, new shielding gases, and now ultra-high-purity gases feeding electronics, healthcare, and research. It’s an old idea that keeps reinventing itself for whatever America needs to build next.
That’s the same spirit we try to carry forward at Haun. Our job has always been reliability of supply: making sure a fabricator, hospital, or manufacturer has the gas or equipment they need when they need it. Today, that means expanding into specialty and high-purity gases as our customers’ work gets more technical, modernizing how we manage inventory and territories so we can grow without losing the personal relationships that built this business, and pursuing certifications like DLA Joint Certification so we’re ready to support the country’s supply chain when it matters most. It’s the same resourcefulness the industry was built on, just pointed at the problems in front of us now.
DAVE LAMBERT
Vice President, Miller Electric
For me, the story of our industry is really one of human ingenuity, people continually finding better ways to build things that previously weren’t possible. Welding and industrial gases have enabled generations of American progress, but the technology has always been most powerful when paired with the skill, creativity and resourcefulness of the people applying it.
That same philosophy guides us at ITW Welding today: innovate close to the customer, use technology to amplify human capability, and help manufacturers solve problems that matter.
Among the industrial gases industry’s most significant contributions to the United States is the development and widespread use of carbon dioxide and dry ice in the nation’s cold chain. These products have transformed the safe transport of food, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and other temperature-sensitive goods. During the COVID-19 pandemic, dry ice was essential to distributing ultra-cold vaccines nationwide, underscoring the industry’s critical role in public health, food security, and commerce.
Carbon dioxide is also vital across a wide range of industries, including beverage carbonation, food processing, manufacturing, agriculture, water treatment, and environmental applications. Its versatility makes it a foundational industrial gas that supports the American economy.
At Reliant Distribution, we advance that same spirit of innovation and resourcefulness by delivering reliable carbon dioxide and dry ice solutions that help customers address real-world challenges. We provide dependable supply, responsive service, and customized support for industries that rely on precise temperature control and high-quality CO₂. From food preservation and cold-chain logistics to healthcare, dry ice blasting, and emergency supply needs, we help customers operate efficiently and confidently.
We also recognize that today’s innovation means making better use of existing resources. By supporting the beneficial use of recovered carbon dioxide streams and continuously improving our production and distribution processes, Reliant Distribution helps customers reduce waste, strengthen supply chain resilience, and improve efficiency. As demand grows for reliable cooling and sustainable logistics, we remain committed to practical, forward-thinking solutions that keep businesses running and communities served.
