Changes Proposed to Special Permit Application • The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has published a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise its procedures for applying for a special permit to require an applicant to provide sufficient information about its operations to enable the agency to evaluate the applicant’s fitness and the safety impact of operations that would be authorized in the special permit. 75 Federal Register 43898 (July 27, 2010). In addition, the administration is providing an online application option for special permits.

DOT Audits on the Rise • There has been a definite increase in the amount of DOT audits this year, and many member companies have been visited. Most of the audits were truck and driver safety compliance reviews, a few new-carrier entry reviews, and a few cylinder requalifier audits by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Unfortunately, several of these have resulted in very high penalties. Thankfully, many companies were ready and received satisfactory reviews with no penalties. If you would like to prepare for an audit, please contact GAWDA’s DOT, Security, OSHA & EPA Consultant Michael Dodd at MLDSafety@hotmail.com or 573-718-2887 to receive an audit checklist and a sample filing system.

Industry Beat
(what people are talking about)

ILMO Acquires St. Louis Distributor (Jacksonville, IL) • ILMO Products Company acquired Smitty’s Welding Supply Company, located in St. Louis, MO, and will blend the existing St. Louis branch with Smitty’s Soulard, St. Louis, facility and operations. The acquisition broadens ILMO’s delivery of medical, industrial, beverage and laboratory gases, as well as gas and welding equipment, in the metro St. Louis area. ILMO will retain Smitty’s employees and integrate them into the company.

Chart Acquires Cryotech (Garfield Heights, OH) • Chart Industries’ Distribution and Storage Group acquired Cryotech International, formally known as VBS International. The acquisition includes all products and services sold under Cryotech’s global brand. “Cryotech has excellent sales and service capability in a region in which we are interested in expanding our presence,” says Tom Carey, president of Chart Distribution and Storage.

	Nick Kaplan

Arcet Adds Specialty Gas (Richmond, VA) • Arcet Equipment Company commissioned its new specialty gas plant and laboratory in Chester, VA. Nick Kaplan joins the company as the specialty gas manager, where he will direct the company’s newly added specialty gas division. “This latest development at Arcet enhances and expands our gas capabilities, allowing us to grow with our customers,” says Arcet President Parker Dillard.

Norco Adds Medical Equipment Store (Boise, ID) • Norco acquired Mid-Columbia Healthcare Equipment, a medical equipment supply store in The Dalles, OR, which sells and rents medical equipment and supplies for home or commercial use, including medical oxygen supplies. “We feel good knowing customers can expect the same level of services they have always received from Mid-Columbia Healthcare Equipment,” says Duane Francis, president and CEO of Mid-Columbus Medical Center, the store’s former parent company.

Back to School with Gases and Welding Go inside the original Welding Rodeo and learn how one distributor turned the concept into a reality. Find out how you can get the most out of for-bid educational contracts. Then, head down to the football field and take a page from legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant. It’s all inside the latest issue of GAWDA Edge.

 

Lincoln Partners on Training Center (Cleveland, OH) • Lincoln Electric partnered with Davis Applied Technology College (DATC) to open the Intermountain Training Center in Kaysville, UT. The 5,000-sq.-ft. welding demonstration and training facility enhances the college’s welding program and provides a venue for Lincoln Electric to conduct customer seminars and training for new products, cost reduction, productivity/process improvements, automation and engineering design, as well as for continuing education for existing customers and distributors.

Abbott Welding Achievement Award winners received $50 gift certificates to Abbott Welding Supply.

Abbott Rewards Welding Students (Olean, NY) • Abbott Welding Supply awarded the Abbott Welding Achievement Awards to 7 students from Alfred State College, Seneca Highlands Area Vocational Technical School and three Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) schools in New York State. The awards recognize the student’s growing abilities in welding, as well as their positive attitudes toward a career in the industry. “The award creates a positive atmosphere for welding in our community,” says Abbott Welding Supply President Mike Higgins. “We foster the students’ growth in welding and hopefully they will remember that and do business with us as they grow their careers.”

Linde Commissions CO₂ Plants (Murray Hill, NJ) • Linde North America began production at its new carbon dioxide plant in Fulton, NY. Located at the Sunoco ethanol plant, which is located in a former brewery, the plant will produce 600 tons per day of CO₂ from ethanol emissions that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere. Sunoco’s Fulton plant is the largest ethanol plant in the Northeast, using some 41 million bushels of corn as feedstock to produce approximately 100 million gallons of ethanol a year. The gas produced will be used in food, beverage and chemical manufacturing.

Linde also commissioned a new carbon dioxide purification plant at its electronic gases facility in Medford, OR. The production unit will supply carbon dioxide with purity above 99.9997 percent, primarily for semiconductor and electronics applications. A multiple-stage distillation process produces several grades of CO₂, including an ultra-low hydrocarbon grade for specialized on-wafer CO₂ cleaning operations.

ITW Names Executive VP (Glenview, IL) • Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) named Sundaram Nagarajan executive vice president, with responsibility for the company’s global welding businesses. “Naga’s proven management and leadership skills will serve him well in his new role, especially as ITW’s welding business continues to grow and expand its global footprint,” says David B. Speer, chairman and CEO of ITW. Nagarajan has been with ITW for 19 years in a series of engineering and management roles within the company’s welding businesses.

GAWDA News

Group Insurance Program Continues • July 27 marked the signing of an agreement to continue the MetLife Group Life Insurance Plan for GAWDA members through the year 2011, marking the 52nd year the program has been in place. Dave Irving continues as the Group Life Insurance Consultant for GAWDA. He can be reached by phone at 610-566-4851, or by e-mail at davebarbirving@aol.com. Specific questions about the program can also be directed to program insurance administrator Kristin Olszewski at 215-564-3484, Ext. 2255. She can be reached by e-mail at kolszewski@fernley.com and by mail at Fernley and Fernley Inc., 100 N. 20th Street, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1443.

---

Workshops, Web Conferences & Seminars

Acetylene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Safety Seminar
September 21-22, 2010
Four Points by Sheraton Huntsville, Huntsville, AL. For more information, click here.

---

The GAWDA Connection is distributed on the 8th and 23rd of each month to all GAWDA members as a membership service of GAWDA, the Gases and Welding Distributors Association, 550 NW LeJeune Rd., Miami, FL 33126. Neither GAWDA nor Data Key Communications, LLC, their officers, directors, members and staff are responsible for contents or opinions other than those concerning Association activities.

If you no longer wish to receive the GAWDA Connection, please respond here.
Privacy Statement

GAWDA HEADQUARTERS
550 NW LeJeune Rd.
Miami, FL 33126
phone (877) 382-6440
gawda@gawda.org

Copyright © 2010 Data Key Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher.