AIR PRODUCTS DRIVES GROWTH IN WELDING AND CUTTING THROUGH INNOVATION AND CUSTOMER FOCUS
A continued focus on safety, innovation and customer centric products and services is driving growth globally, according to Ivo Bols, Air Products’ vice president, packaged gases and northern continent.
Speaking at the Schweißen und Schneiden exhibition in Essen, Germany, Bols pointed to three of the company’s recent innovations as examples of how the company is taking a very different approach to the welding and cutting market: The revolutionary Integra® cylinder range - including the new oxy-acetylene Integra® cylinders which were launched at the show, its Maxx® range of premium welding gases, which reduce fume and ozone emissions and improve productivity, and its expanding CryoEase® network.
“Since the launch of the Maxx® gases and the Integra® cylinder, we’ve been changing the way customers think about gases for welding and cutting. For years they have been seen as a necessary but inconvenient consumable. Our approach is to deliver what customers want: safer and more efficient gases and gas cylinders which deliver improved productivity.
“Since the introduction of the Maxx® gases and the Integra® cylinder, sales to the metal fabrication industry have rocketed. We expect our newest addition to be just as popular.”
Meanwhile, Air Products is preparing for further growth of its CryoEase® service – a unique ‘gas-on-tap’ on-site fill service. The service is already established as a successful and cost-effective mode of supply for the welding and cutting, analytical and laboratory, and food and drink market segments in Germany, the UK, the USA, Canada and South Africa. Expansion into the Czech Republic and other countries is expected.
“Applying innovation and our expertise in metal fabrication to solve our customers’ problems is one of our core strengths and it’s the approach we are taking in both our mature markets across western Europe and our rapidly growing businesses in central and eastern Europe, central and south America and Asia.
“For example, the Integra® cylinder and value-added gases such as the Maxx® range, are the drivers of growth for our cylinder gases business in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.”
A dedicated web site focussed on the products and services Air Products supplies to the metal fabrication industry is available at: www.airproducts.com/maxx.
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