Humberto at Delta Scientific uses Esab machine.

Business has grown six fold for Delta Scientific Corp. (www.deltascientific.com) since the war on terrorism began, says David Dickinson, senior vice president of Delta Scientific Corp. That is why the fabricator of barricade systems expanded its plants in Valencia, Calif., and Lorton, Va., and built a new plant in Palmdale, Calif. Through the years, Delta has used welding equipment from all the major welding vendors, but with the new plant, managers wanted to standardize on one vendor. After a two-month test that gave welders and managers the opportunity to work with equipment and personnel from various vendors, Delta selected Esab Welding & Cutting Products. (www.esabna.com)

"Our products are life-critical," says Dickinson. "If they fail, our customers could have a real tragedy on their hands. We have a great responsibility for quality." Delta produces 30 different vehicle access control systems such as hydraulic/pneumatic bollards, barricades and guard houses. Those systems protect dams, bridges, petrochemical plants, transportation hubs, embassies, palaces, universities and military facilities worldwide, including U.S. military check-points in Iraq, and account for 90 percent of the demand for counter-terrorist barricade systems, says Dickinson. The company is successful because it produces sophisticated, high quality barrier systems in a timely manner. Meeting those requirements, in turn, is the result of the company's engineering and design capabilities, which include the use of dynamic linear analysis and an extensive database of fullscale test results.

But the fundamental reason that Delta's barriers are structurally sound, even after being hit by a 65,000-lb. dump truck traveling at 50 mph, is the quality of the welds, says Dickinson, who emphasizes that "holding together structures to absorb more than 1.5 million ft. lbs. of kinetic energy comes down to the weld."

That is one of the reasons why Delta purchased 300 of Esab's Migmaster 250 welding machines, an industrial-quality GMAW welding system with DC welding output from 30 amps to 280 amps and rated 250 amps at 50 percent duty cycle. It also purchased a number of hand-held Plasmarc and PowerCut 875 plasma arc cutters, oxy-fuel torches and Esab Dual Shield 7100 Ultra flux-cored wire. Delta's welders say that the 7100 wire provides better performance than the solid wire they used previously. "The welders also like the Esab machines," says Lloyd Harris, production supervisor. "They are more comfortable using them."