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Propane Thefts Spark Concern On November 9, ABC News reported that the FBI is alerting its Joint Terrorist Task Forces around the country after about 100 propane gas tanks were stolen in the Denver area since July. The missing tanks are large liquid propane cylinders to power forklifts or machinery. Officials fear the tanks could be used to commit a serious crime. Customers of GAWDA Associate Member AmeriGas Propane have lost 48 cylinders, each containing 10 gallons of liquid propane. GAWDA members are urged to take extra measures to prevent thefts at their companies. Vendors Announce Price Increases Steel base prices, energy costs and transportation costs are triggering vendors to increase their prices. Taylor-Wharton announced base price and surcharge adjustments covering all cylinder and cryogenic equipment product lines. Praxair, Inc. increased prices 8-10% for bulk products, 12% for helium, 5-10% for cylinder gases, 4% for equipment and consumables, and 3% for cylinder and equipment rental fees. 100-Air-Mile Radius Drivers • Most GAWDA members have drivers who meet the 100-air-mile radius found in 395.1 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. One of the most common mistakes GAWDA DOT Consultant Mike Dodd finds when doing DOT audits is that members are not keeping the required three numbers regarding the time records: start time, stop time and total hours worked per day. You can keep these three numbers in many different formats, such as time cards and summary sheets. View this simple summary sheet that you can use to record the required times. This form works great for salaried drivers who don't punch a time clock. For any questions regarding the Hours of Service Regulations, contact Mike Dodd at 573-785-5111 or MLDSafety@hotmail.com. Sales Approach Tips the Scales in AGA's Favor Things were going fine for Senior Sales Representative Kyle Lepley and his company, AGA Gas, headquartered in Cleveland, OH. AGA's longstanding relationship as distributor of welding supplies to manufacturing giant Jay Industries provided a steady stream of business. And yet, Lepley thought things could be better. Based in AGA's Mansfield, OH, branch location, Lepley had begun distributing ABICOR Binzel's Silver Contact welding tips to other customers, and the time was ripe to share his enthusiasm for the tips with Jay Industries' subsidiary, Sarca Manufacturing, a producer of formed steel tube and other metal components. "They were doing a tip changeout every shift," Lepley recounts in reference to the standard copper welding tips that AGA had been steadily supplying to the customer. Lepley and Ken Ishman, AGA's district sales manager, teamed up with ABICOR Binzel Sales Rep Frank Bush to perform a site analysis at Sarca. After the team compiled data on length of weld, wire speed, current and voltage, Bush took the information and created a package of equipment for the customer to test drive. The entire sales process unfolded over several months and a number of visits to Sarca. The team set up product trials, which produced some hard data for the customer. During the trials, Sarca welders used 4.24 standard welding tips for every one ABICOR Binzel Silver Contact tip in the fabrication of Sarca's automobile seat frames. The welders experienced more efficient welding, longer lasting tips and a reduction of costly tip change times.
Sarca was more than pleased with the results. The sales team at AGA Gas was not surprised. "We've taken these silver tips to numerous customers," reports Ishman, "and every customer has changed to it. Right now, it's a matter of us keeping up and making the changes as quickly as customers want the new tips." AGA now plans to take the new technology to a second Jay Industries' subsidiary, Broshco Fabricated Products, as a step toward wider distribution within Jay. The high demand has much to do with the coordinated sales approach of AGA Gas and ABICOR Binzel. Customers appreciate the thorough evaluation and service provided by the two partners, and once the details are worked out and a test trial is set up, "Then you just let it run," says Ishman. "You let it do its magic." Some call it magic. Some call it great teamwork. Either way, the customer wins when AGA Gas and ABICOR Binzel combine forces. INDUSTRY
BEAT
Byrne
Celebrates Milestone
(Seattle,
WA) •
Byrne Specialty
Gases hosted an open house in conjunction with the company's 20th
anniversary celebration. Nearly 200 people—Byrne's customers,
vendors and employees—attended the event on November 12. "This
was a relaxed, fun event," says President Brent Fernyhough.
"We are very proud of the turnout." Smith Adds Department (Ferndale, MI) • Smith Welding Supply & Equipment Co. added an automation department for robotic service. Implemented in September, the new department has been successful. "We sell robotic equipment and are now capable of servicing it," says President Irv Sparage. "It's taking us onto a whole new avenue." Scott-Gross
Acquires Company
(Lexington, KY) •
Scott-Gross Company acquired Geovic Welding Supply, which includes
retail stores in Williamsport and Milton, PA. With the addition
of these locations, Scott-Gross Company is able to offer welding
equipment and supplies to north central Pennsylvania and a fill
plant to support existing gas distribution in Pennsylvania and New
York. Matheson Appoints Manager (Parsippany, NJ) • Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc. appointed Tim Brossard as ENABLE technical service manager. Brossard is responsible for providing technical assistance to distributors in the company's ENABLE Distributor Development Program and for compliance audits, technical training and sales training. Airgas Promotes Braswell (Radnor, PA) • Wendell Braswell was promoted to national sales manger for Airgas Nitrous Oxide. His duties include working with existing customers and building new partnerships to further grow the business. Macy's Parade Floats Soar with BOC (Murray Hill, NJ) • For the tenth consecutive year, BOC will be the sole provider of helium to inflate the floats and balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The 400,000 cubic feet of helium are used to inflate the giant balloons. The helium is transported via pipeline from its sources in Kansas and Texas to BOC's helium production facility in Otis, KS. After the helium is purified and liquefied, it is filled into 11,000-gallon tankers and trucked to a BOC plant in Middlesex, NJ. The helium then is run through a vaporizer and compressed into high-pressure tube trailers. Workers will begin inflating the balloons the day before the parade. This year, 15 giant helium balloons, 20 novelty balloons and 27 floats will make the 2.5-mile trek in New York City.
Scherm Appointed Manager (Hanover, NH) • Hypertherm, Inc. appointed Kris Scherm as district sales manager for Southern California. He manages sales, training and marketing activities, and strengthens existing distributor relationships. Praxair Appointments (Danbury, CT) • Praxair, Inc. appointed Randy S. Kramer president of Praxair Europe, effective January 1, 2005. Kramer will succeed Alan Westendorf, who is retiring at the end of 2004 after five years as head of Praxair Europe and a total of 39 years with Praxair. James T. Breedlove was named vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Praxair. Breedlove succeeds David H. Chaifetz, who is retiring at the end of 2004 after 29 years with Praxair. Airgas Announces $3B Sales Goal (Radnor, PA) • Airgas, Inc. Chairman and CEO Peter McCausland announced that Airgas set fiscal year 2008 targets of $3B sales, 10-11% operating margins and 11-12% return on capital. The company also expects to pass key milestones of $250M after-tax cash flow and $140M free cash flow in fiscal year 2006, as well as $400M EBITDA in fiscal year 2007. CVA Expands (Mont Belvieu, TX) • Cryogenic Vessel Alternatives (CVA) expanded its Quality Assurance department and hired I. Keith Hall as quality manager of the department. CVA also opened a 23,000 square-foot facility in the Houston area that is dedicated to the cryogenic transportation and storage markets. Primarily opened as a repair facility for transport trailers, customer stations and IMOs, the facility accommodates all cryogenic products. Dean Corbin, vice president of repair and refurbishment, directs the repair work. Learning to Love Price Increases • In this time of price increases, GAWDA members have been hesitant to raise prices outbound, fearing it will lead to lower sales. As a result, firms eat the price increase and the profit results are disastrous. This profit report by Dr. Albert D. Bates examines key issues in regard to the relationship between price increases inbound from suppliers and outbound to customers. Read the full report here.
Understanding
Advanced Squarewave AC TIG Controls University
of Industrial Distribution
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