BREAKING NEWS

GAWDA Edge Presidential Primary   In this month’s issue of   GAWDA Edge, readers are   participating in the GAWDA Edge Presidential Primary. Vote today and check out the results at www.gawdaedge.org.

Healthcare Tops List of Concerns

As healthcare costs rise, employee benefits continue to be a primary concern of GAWDA employers and employees. In an article in the forthcoming Spring issue of Welding & Gases Today, David Proctor writes that premiums will rise in 2008 anywhere from 6% to 20%, depending on the plan and the group. The Towers Perrin annual healthcare cost survey indicates the average corporate health benefit cost to be $9,312 per employee, which represents a 7% increase.

When will it level off? Not in the near future is the only honest answer. PriceWaterhouseCoopers indicates that the three major factors driving up healthcare costs are inflation, an aging population and consumer demand, along with advances in medical technology and treatments.

With hospital emergency rooms serving as the healthcare delivery system for 45 million people across the nation who have no coverage, the bills for billions of dollars of these services are falling on taxpayers. In an effort to push back the tide, Proctor expects that more states will be mandating health care programs.

We can expect to see insurance companies trying out a variety of concepts for controlling costs. Tiered pricing is one example. With more such creative options becoming available, employers are looking for alternative solutions.

Showroom Shots Have you just remodeled your showroom? Opened a new showroom? We want to hear from you. Please fill out this form.

SAFETY & COMPLIANCE NEWS

When Is It Time to Hire a Safety and Compliance Officer?

For most small distributorships, keeping a full-time safety and compliance officer on staff is simply out of the question due to financial considerations. However, for growing companies, it may be time to take the next step. Here are a few signs that your company may benefit from a dedicated safety and compliance officer:

• Your company has experienced a severe accident, or an increase in accidents.
• You’ve recently experienced an increase in penalties from regulatory agencies.
• Safety and compliance issues consume too much time for an operations manager or other individual to oversee as only part of his or her duties.

For a growing company, eventually a good safety and compliance officer should pay for him- or herself in terms of reduced insurance premiums, although that won’t happen immediately. If a safety officer will reduce the number or severity of accidents, it will pay off in reduced claims and, therefore, lower premiums in the future.

Meet some of GAWDA Member Companies’ Safety & Compliance Officers, the “Unsung Heroes of the Welding and Gases Industry.”

NEW MEMBERS

GAWDA welcomes new Supplier Members Hydrostat Inc., of Rice, MN, and SVM E-Business Solutions of Somerset, NJ.

INDUSTRY BEAT
(what people are talking about)

FIBA Is Golden (Millbury, MA) • To honor 50 years in business, FIBA was featured in the Worcester, MA, Business Journal with a 15-page insert. FIBA was founded by Frank Finn Sr. in 1958 as a small, family-owned business distributing medical supplies to hospitals. Today, over 250 employees are located in four plants around the country. Technical innovation and product quality have become the hallmarks of FIBA and have led to the company’s impressive growth.

Travis Nelson

ILMO Hires New Specialty Gas Manager (Jacksonville, IL) • Travis Nelson, formerly an analytical chemist at Scott Specialty Gases, has joined ILMO Products Company as specialty gas marketing manager for its operations and production area. Nelson’s responsibilities include overseeing the production and certification of the company’s full line of specialty gas products, expanding its specialty gas capabilities as new markets emerge, and providing technical support for sales staff.

WMS to Open New Distribution Warehouse (Geneva, IL) • Welding Material Sales will open a new distribution warehouse in Alexandria, LA, to service customers in the South and Southeast. The full line of Blue Demon filler metals will be available immediately and all other services, including private label, cutting, spooling and flag-tagging, will be available early 2009. The warehouse is expected to open in March 2008.

Kris Rahall

Rahall Joins Hobart Institute Staff (Troy, OH) • Hobart Institute added John (Kris) Rahall to its skill welding instructor staff. Rahall brings six years of practical experience in welding and fabrication to the Hobart Institute. In addition to his industrial experience, he served eight months in Operation Enduring Freedom in Kabul, Afghanistan, and seven months during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, with the U.S. Marines.

Universal Valve Names Rep of the Year (Elizabeth, NJ) • For the second consecutive year, Windward Marketing Group was named Universal Valve Co.’s 2007 Representative of the Year. Kevin Milbourn of Windward was presented the award for his exceptional and outstanding work as Universal’s sales representative in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Oklahoma.

New Management at Gas and Supply (Hattiesburg, MS) • Brian Carlisle was named general manager of both Komp Gas and Supply locations in Hattiesburg and Laurel, MS. Prior to this promotion, Carlisle worked on the company’s sales team for over a decade. Komp Gas and Supply is a branch location of Industrial Welding Supply, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA.

GAWDA NEWS

SMC Golf Registration Deadline Nears

Sign up by February 29 for the SMC Golf Outing in Miami on April 20.

A Greg Norman Signature Course, the 7,171-yard, par-72 Great White Course is the only golf course of its kind in the Southeastern United States that utilizes coquina – crushed shells – as the primary design element on every hole.

In designing the Great White, Norman blended strategically demanding fairways with hundreds of palm trees and sporadic Scottish-style bunkers. He then laid out the course in a manner where water comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes, which makes for a challenging, but picturesque Great White Golf Course. The Great White was rated as the best new golf course of 2000 by the National Golf Foundation.

Don’t miss your chance to play one of the premier golf courses in America! Visit www.gawda.org today and register for the golf outing and the Spring Management Conference in Miami on April 20-22.

WORKSHOPS, WEB CONFERENCES & SEMINARS

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