After nearly four years of technical discussions and meetings, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products (www.esab.com) announced that the Ingalls Shipyards in Mississippi and the Avondale Shipyards in Louisiana placed orders for Esab's new panel cutting machines. Both machines will be manufactured in Florence, S.C. Construction is expected to take approximately 18 months.

Esab said the machines will be configured with the following:
• An Expert Motion Plasma VBA System with a 600 amp m3 Plasma System.
• Two, seven-axis Triple Header oxyfuel cutting heads.
• A multi-directional, 7 HP belt grinding system for high-speed surface cleaning.
• A multi-directional inkjet plate marking system that will be capable of making high-speed marks – including characters, lines and bar codes – on plate in any direction.
• Two plasma marking systems for layout line marking.
• And, an onboard dust collection system.

Esab said the machines represent some of its most advanced technology and engineering.

The Ingalls Shipyards were devastated by Hurricane Katrina and had to replace all of their cutting machines in 2005. Some of the shipyard's old machines were made by ESAB/L-Tec. The Ingalls shipyards replaced its damaged machines with eight ESAB Avenger 1 and 2 cutting machines, most of which incorporated plasma bevel stations.

summer. The company provides corporate customers with heating, air conditioning and ventilation equipment, along with hand and power tools, electrical and safety supplies.