BOC (www.boc.com), a member of The Linde Group (www.linde.com), has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Superior Welding Supply Company (www.supweld.com) of Waterloo, Iowa, a a privately owned retailer of welding equipment, safety supplies and industrial, medical and specialty gases. Superior Welding Supply is a 46-employee company, which has been in business since 1929. It serves customers that range from large manufacturers to small fabrication shops and family farms in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

"We are thrilled to have Superior join our growing family of distributors as we extend our capabilities and market presence in Iowa. This agreement is particularly timely, as BOC expands our own Midwest presence with a new air separation plant in Beloit, Wisconsin. BOC's new plant will strengthen our supply capability throughout the entire Midwest and will enable us to help customers like Superior meet their businesses' changing and growing demands," said John MacRitchie, BOC's Midwest region vice president.

The Beloit plant, expected to begin operating in late 2007, will separate air cryogenically to produce over 700 tons a day of liquid oxygen and nitrogen for hospitals, food processors, metals and chemicals manufacturers and independent gases distributors in the region.

Superior joins a nationwide network of 130 independent distributor partners to whom BOC supplies bulk industrial gases such as argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium, nitrogen and oxygen. Superior also chose to join the Airco Distributor Association (ADA), the buying group exclusively available to BOC distributors. Since its inception in 1993, the ADA has enabled independent distributors to leverage group purchasing power to achieve volume discounts and earn rebates. The ADA has 98 independent members who have over 400 retail locations throughout the U.S.