Air Products to raise prices
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (www.airproducts.com) will raise the prices in North America for liquid-bulk oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen by 10 percent, and for argon and helium by 20 percent, effective October 1. The company said the increases are needed to meet rising material, labor and energy costs.

Air Products will also increase its monthly service charge schedule pricing for storage and supply equipment and eliminate discounts from schedule pricing for standard service offerings.

U.S. helium price increase announced
BOC Gases and Linde Gas, members of The Linde Group (www.lindegroup.com), announced they will increase U.S. helium prices 10-15 percent, effective October 15, or as contracts allow. Larger price increases may apply to customers who are not currently paying fuel surcharges.

"This price increase is necessary to offset the higher cost of purchasing and producing refined helium," said Kevin Baudhuin, president, BOC Industrial and Special Products, North America.

"The increased helium costs," continued Baudhuin, "are the result of a growing reliance on purchases of high cost crude helium from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), government restrictions on the flow of crude helium feedgas through the BLM pipeline, and the higher cost of refined helium purchased from third parties. Crude helium from the BLM's stockpile is playing an increasingly important role in the helium supply chain as crude helium production from lower cost private sources declines due to depletion of some of the key natural gas fields that contain helium."

The increase will affect customers purchasing helium in liquid dewars, gaseous tube trailers, highpressure cylinders and bulk liquid containers.

Air Liquide to raise U.S. gas prices
Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP (www.airliquide.com) increased prices for industrial and medical gas products as much as 10 percent for liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, helium, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, dry ice and liquid argon. Facility fees rose 15 percent. Existing discounts may also be reduced or eliminated for all products. The increases went into effect on September 1, or according to the terms of customer contracts.

"The price adjustment is necessary to allow invest ment in production and supply facilities to meet customer demand, and to hire and retain qualified drivers," said company president Etienne Lepoutre.

Lincoln Electric to expand
The Lincoln Electric Co. (www.lincolnelectric.com) has agreed to acquire a 115,00 sq. ft. facility next to its headquarters in Euclid, Ohio, to build a state-of-the-art machine robotics-welding center.

The company reportedly will make a $40 million investment in the facility. Lincoln spokesman Roy Morrow confirmed the company's plans to purchase and renovate the former Hitachi Heavy Equipment, but declined to discuss details.

Additionally, the company introduced a warranty program modification that extends its threeyear factory warranty to five years for its welding machines, wire feeders and plasma cutters. Customers who have purchased qualifying products in the past year can enroll in the program. The new warranty covers parts and labor costs but not parts made by other manufacturers, such as engines, engine components and accessories, air compressors and batteries. Additionally, the warranty does not cover welding or cutting accessories, consumables, guns, torches or replacement parts.

The American Welding Society will host a job fair at the combined Fabtech International and AWS Welding Show in Atlanta, Ga. The show runs from October 31 through November 2 at the Georgia World Conference Center.

The job fair will be held on November 2 between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. in room C-206 at the conference center.

Participation in the job fair is available to show exhibitors, and to AWS sustaining and supporting company members.

Airgas Inc. presented its annual Scott Melman Award to Henry B. (Rusty) Coker, president of Airgas Gulf States, for his leadership during the 2005 hurricanes.

Rusty was on the front lines, and was the lifeline for many during the first two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, says Shaun Powers, division president-East. Rusty showed up to help company associates and customers with supplies, money and lodging.

Airgas Chairman and Chief Executive Peter McCausland noted that Rusty made a difference when it mattered most with his leadership during last year's historic storms.

Erie Shipbuilding has work but lacks welders
Erie Shipbuilding LLC, Erie, Pa., is preparing its first project — a Great Lakes steamer converted into an articulated tug-barge — for inspections by the American Bureau of Shipping and the U.S. Coast Guard, to be followed by more work.

As reported in the January 2006 issue of Welding Design & Fabrication, the shipyard, located on the shores of Lake Erie in Erie, Pa., has business that it expects will keep it busy for a few years. However, over the next few months, the company needs to hire 30 to 40 welders with the appropriate credentials from the American Bureau of Shipping, says John Chapman, vice president and director of engineering of Erie Shipbuilding.

Chapman says only three or four welders out of 20 who graduate from technical schools can do the welding his company requires.

Beyond the backlog of work on its books, Erie Shipbuilding expects to get additional work because Port Weller Dry Docks (www.pwdd.com), in St. Catherine's, Ont., its nearest competitor on the Great Lakes, is in the first stages of bankruptcy proceedings. The parent company for Porter Weller Dry Docks, Canadian Shipbuilding Ltd., has suspended operations at the St. Catherine's facility, but has continued to provide ship repair services, while it restructures under Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

American oil rig maker hires foreign workers
Signal International (www.signalint.com), a fabricator of offshore drilling platforms and other marine equipment, will hire 590 workers, including 220 welders, from India, says John Sanders, corporate program manager.

The company's decision to hire offshore workers followed intensive recruiting efforts in Pascagoula, Miss., and Orange, Texas, where the company's facilities are located. The company's effort only resulted in one new employee being added.

The failure of that program provided part of the documentation Signal needed to gain approval from the United States Department of Labor to recruit foreign labor, and for that foreign labor to receive H-2B work visas.

Once the company gained the necessary approval, it sent superintendents to India to conduct interviews and skills tests of future workers.

When the new hires arrive in the United States, their skills will again be tested and certified. Signal will re-evaluate its need for the workers when the 10-month term of their visas expires.

The workers will live in modular housing community consisting of 18 buildings in Texas, says Sanders.