On Friday June 2, Air Liquide held a Customer Demo Day at its Head Office in Alrode South Africa. African Fusion attended, and Mwali Kawawa, national business developer for Air Liquide South Africa, explained.
“At the core of our business at Air Liquide is a customer centric approach. We value our customers and have put in place several initiatives to measure and improve services to our customers. This Customer Demo Day is, first and foremost, to connect with you, our esteemed customers, and to introduce you to the wide range of welding and cutting products, solutions, and technologies we have on offer,” began Mwali Kawawa, who is the company’s National Business Developer, metallurgist and welding engineer.
He related a story about a visit to an irate customer in Durban, who was reluctant to switch to Air Liquide’s ARCALTM Speed welding gas. “When my colleague and I arrived on site, the customer said his welders did not want to use the proposed gas and wanted to keep using the existing gas. We reiterated that we had travelled from Johannesburg, and eventually convinced him to let us have a look at the entire welding operation to see if we could resolve the problem. We were assigned to one of his production managers and went into the plant to start investigating,” Kawawa said.
“Without going into too much detail, by the time we left the welding application showed improvement. The whole production team was convinced that the measures we had put in place, which included the use of our ARCALTM Speed shielding gas, were an ideal fit for the operation.
“As with any gas-shielded arc welding process, the shielding gas is just one of the welding process variables. Using our welding expertise, we were able to demonstrate changes to optimise welding. In doing so, we proved that Air Liquide is not simply selling gas and gas mixtures, we strive to deliver the solutions our customers need,” Kawawa pointed out.
From a welding perspective, he said that the four ‘simply high performance’ shielding gases in Air Liquide’s ARCALTM New Generation range: ARCALTM Prime; ARCALTM Chrome; ARCALTM Speed; and ARCALTM Force, offered excellent value, since over 80% of the welding applications that required gas shielding could be successfully performed using one of these four gas mixtures. “This supports our approach to consider the total cost of ownership, which we call ‘unlocking the hidden costs of welding’ or UHCWTM.
“We also have a simpler version of UHCWTM where we audit gas utilisation to improve production costs. As well as our extensive range of gas mixtures, we can offer three different supply modes for welding applications, including cylinders and bundles from our packaged gas range; dynamic onsite mixers for bulk installations; and over the fence supply through on-sites and pressure swing absorption technology. An Air Liquide audit can identify which of these options unlocks the hidden costs,” he added.
Kawawa concluded his opening address with a quote from South Africa’s human rights lawyer, George Bizos, who said that customers are like guests invited to a party and we are their hosts. “It is our job, every day, to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better”.
Demonstrations in Air Liquide’s Welding Room
From a house brand consumables perspective, Air Liquide offers its Ultra Arc brand of GMAW welding wires and Gemini SMAW electrodes. This is supported by premium brands for quality sensitive applications in the oil and gas and power generation industries, for example. Other key brands on display were Tyrolit cutting and grinding discs; and TBi GMAW and GTAW welding torches.
Customers had the opportunity to test the gas arc welding machines using Air Liquide’s house brand Ultra Arc filler materials and the ARCALTM shielding gases for the GMAW and GTAW processes. The Gemini SMAW range of electrodes was also used with the welding inverter machine on display. The Ultra Arc range consists of GTAW and GMAW filler materials used on aluminium, mild steel and stainless steel base materials whilst Gemini is for the SMAW process and includes a cast iron and hardfacing range.
Showcasing Air Liquide’s Connected Store
Developed locally, the idea underpinning Air Liquide’s Connected Store is to couple Air Liquide’s New Generation range of welding gases with a carefully selected range of welding consumables and equipment that can be made available on demand to construction and shut-down projects.
“The key benefit is customer convenience. Our Connected Store offers a mobile, one-stop-shop to welding contractors and fabricators. It is also ISO 3834 compliant with regards how we store and handle welding consumables to minimise moisture pick-up, most notably, submerged arc fluxes and stick electrodes,” Kawawa said, adding that the Connected Store includes temperature and humidity controls and an electrode baking oven.
Earmarked mainly for maintenance work in the oil and gas, power generation, mining and railway industries, the store can be housed in a 20- or 40-ft shipping container, which is stocked with the welding supplies identified by the onsite contractors. “Our gas will typically be kept in an enclosed area, while the store itself will be stocked with a customised range of required welding and cutting brands and consumables” explained Mwali Kawawa.
Shelving inside the store can take up to 15 tons of product at a time, including welding and gas cutting equipment, torches, nozzles, regulators and flow meters; as well as welding filler metals and consumables, such as electrodes, wires and fluxes. Protective equipment (PPE) including gloves and welding helmets are also included, as are cutting and grinding abrasives for preparing weld edges and for cleaning up joints after welding.
In terms of brands, the Connected Store can typically be stocked with Harris gas equipment and consumables; Hypertherm plasma cutting equipment; a wide range of premium Oerlikon & ESAB welding equipment and consumables as well as TBi MIG/TIG torches and spares.
Kawawa went on to demonstrate the connected aspects of this supply solution. “First, we need contractors to register an account on the online system. We then allocate the consignment stock to each different contractor that wishes to use the Connected Store on that particular site. Once the account is registered, contractors can enrol any number of employees under the contractor’s account, authorising them to take whatever they need from the store to complete their onsite work,” he explained.
In the role of store manager, Kawawa logged himself into the system to demonstrate the transaction process. “The Connected Store is typically staffed by several store managers working on a rotational basis across a 24 hour-shift, each logging in at the start of a shift and out at the end. At any given time, enrolled onsite personnel will typically come to the store to purchase the equipment and consumables they need for the day.
“Using a fingerprint or a pin-ID, customers are authorised to draw what they need from the store for that day’s work. The items are systematically traceable to the unique purchasing individual, which enables real time tracking and reporting accessible through a mobile phone or PC. Every item is linked to a job or shift number, and the specific batch or certificate numbers on consumables can be recorded before being handed over.
“The contractor also has access to an online portal, where the flow of resources onto the jobsite can be tracked and managed from anywhere using any web-connected device. This is for keeping track of costs and preventing overspending, which can be prevented by establishing historical records of what specific projects should cost,” he said, adding that every transaction is immediately backed up online and made available to users.
Air Liquide’s Connected Store offers ideal opportunities for organisations to band together to get access to everything they need without having to invest in their own stock, stores and inventory control systems. Together with Air Liquide, the combined needs can be established, the store can be stocked and quickly deployed to the jobsite.
“Our Connected Store makes it far easier for contractors to issue, control and track material use, in a modern, transparent, secure and cost effective way,” Kawawa concluded.
