Welding & Gases Today Heating Up Mailboxes Now Saturday marked the official start of spring. Birds are returning north, flowers are beginning to bloom and the mercury is creeping up the thermometer. Temperatures won't be the only thing warming up, according to the latest issue of Welding & Gases Today, online and in mailboxes now. The 2004 Industry Forecast details how the gases and welding industry is heating up along with the temperature. The FDA's outlook for medical gases plus features on business ethics, health insurance, radio frequency bar coding and much more will help you heat up your sales. Click here to read it online now!
Kirk Keeps Customer Cutting Strong Kirk Welding Supply of Kansas City, MO, gained the contract to supply Ernest-Spencer Metals with the pure Argon and 90/10 Argon/CO2 mix used at the fabricator's 35 weld stations. Having seen the customer through a cost-saving and efficiency-boosting upgrade from a cylinder-only system to a liquid-based system of Argon and CO2 run through a gas mixer, Kirk was ready when the customer decided to add laser cutting capability to its operation.
After being asked by the customer to provide input on logistics, Kirk's Bulk Gas Manager David Hanchette and the company's Topeka Branch Manager Andy Harris turned to trusted supplier Chart Industries and Account Manager Tom Chromy. Chromy visited Ernest-Spencer Metals with the Kirk team to perform a logistical and cost analysis. Just as cutting lasers deliver precise high-definition machine and manufacturing parts, so too do these systems require precise performance from their gas supply systems. As a custom fabricator, Ernest-Spencer's laser workload would likely vary greatly from month to month, and even day to day. Both the customer and Kirk Welding were specific in their desire for an easily monitored and controlled system that would ideally bypass costly pressure checks and allow for demand-driven deliveries. Chromy proposed the company's computer-controlled Trifecta High-Pressure Gas Supply System and accompanying OnSite Telemetry System. The Trifecta system coordinates a large liquid gas storage tank—in this case a 3,000-gallon 250 psig vertical ASME-coded nitrogen tank from Chart—with two high-pressure (450 - 500 psig) 200-liter vessels. The Trifecta monitors the pressure in all three tanks and its lines, and controls the pumping of liquid into the two high-pressure vessels. As one high-pressure tank empties, the system switches over to draw from the other high-pressure tank, and the empty tank is re-pumped. Continuous high pressure gas supply to the laser is maintained, even when the bulk liquid tank is being refilled. For oxygen-driven cutting, the lower pressure demand allows for gas delivery directly from an on-site liquid bulk tank constructed by Chart and provided by Kirk. The customer was pleased with the convenience of the Trifecta System, with its obvious advantages over a system of individual high-pressure laser cylinders and its accompanying need for site checks as well as loss of cylinder residuals. The distributor and customer were particularly excited about the OnSite Telemetry System—its monitoring and electronic transmission of the bulk liquid tank levels would boost the customer's efficiency, while at the same time providing added convenience for the distributor. "By just hitting a key on our computer," explains Kirk's Harris, "We can check their liquid levels and see where they are. This allows us to monitor, schedule and route our trucks more efficiently. And it definitely gives our customer a sense of security in knowing they are not going to run out of gas." INDUSTRY
BEAT Kaplan Industries Acquires Haring Cylinder (Maple Shade, NJ) • Kaplan Industries acquired Haring Cylinder Company in Cleves, OH. Tony Haring will remain as director of sales and marketing and Manfred Haring will continue as chief of the operations and distribution division at the Haring Cylinder location. Jim Johnston will remain in his capacity of Kaplan's director of operations, overseeing both locations, and has been appointed treasurer of Haring Cylinder. Rita Kaplan is vice president and secretary, and Dean Kaplan is president at both facilities.
Rexarc Names Moyer President (West Alexandria, OH) • Rexarc International appointed Robert Moyer president. Moyer was previously the company's executive vice president. BOC Promotes Baudhuin (Murray Hill, NJ) • Kevin Baudhuin was appointed business unit head for BOC's North American Industrial and Special Products business. Baudhuin has been with BOC since 1986, most recently as global market director, special products.
Pendino Joins Tregaskiss (Windsor, ON, Canada) • Tregaskiss added Tony Pendino to its sales team in the role of strategic accounts manager, based in Kentucky. Pendino brings 20+ years of sales experience, with over six of those years in industrial/welding equipment sales. Weldstar To Open New Facility (Aurora, IL) • Weldstar Company of Aurora, IL, is opening a 25,000 sq. ft. facility in University Park, IL, that will service Chicago, the south suburbs and northwest Indiana. The new building, opening this week, will also include a cylinder transfill plant for atmospheric gases, which Weldstar did not have before.
Schnabel
Joins Select-Arc Sales Team (Fort
Laramie, OH) •
Select-Arc appointed
Jeff Schnabel to the new position of sales manager, hardsurfacing
and stainless alloys. Schnabel will oversee the company's new line
of hardsurface welding electrodes and will be based at headquarters.
Small Health Plans Must Comply with HIPAA by April 14 • Health plans paying less than $5 million, known as small health plans, must be in compliance with HIPAA by April 14. The compliance deadline for large health plans was April 14, 2003. For complete information, go to the Federal Government's Web site, www.firstgov.gov, and enter HIPAA in the Search window. Wholesaler Survey Shows New Jobs Coming • Fifty-eight of the nation's largest distributors with collective annual sales of $177 billion participated in NAW's survey conducted in early March. The survey indicates that 67% of respondents intend to increase their workforce this year. On average, these companies will grow their number of employees by 4.7%. Survey respondents credit the President's tax cuts and incentives for triggering much of the growth in business they are seeing. At the same time, they caution that rising health care costs are dampening full profit recovery. Click here to read what GAWDA Distributors are forecasting for the upcoming months in the latest issue of Welding & Gases Today.
Past President Sturgeon Diagnosed with ALS • Bill Sturgeon, who served as GAWDA President from 1979-1980, authorized GAWDA to notify his many friends in the industry that he recently was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Bill was instrumental in extending NWSA's reach into Canada, which led to the creation of the Canadian Zone. Bill's good friend and fellow past president, Ed Madison, writes that Bill is welcoming letters, calls and e-mails at: Bill Sturgeon, 14116-59 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6H 1G6; 780-438-6636; bscaviar@canada.com. GAWDA sends its best wishes and fond regards to Bill and his wife, Jane.
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