Indiana Oxygen Celebrates 100th Anniversary Indiana Oxygen Co., Indianapolis, Ind. — an independent, family-owned, fourthgeneration provider of industrial gases, welding equipment and supplies, abrasives, and metal forming products — recently marked its 100th year in style. Not only was an open house held at company headquarters, where the corporate store’s new showroom debuted, but a gala for employees was also hosted at the NCAA Hall of Champions that included dinner and dancing. “No other independent company has been a gas and welding supply company as long as Indiana Oxygen, and we are obviously proud of that,” said CEO Wally Brant. Cofounded in 1915 by Brant’s grandfather, Walter, with his brother, John, the business has produced oxygen and hydrogen to facilitate welding projects in the 1920s; turned to atmospheric air separation by 1930; generated specialty gases and research laboratory-grade, high-purity blends in 1960; and remained the official welding service of the Indianapolis 500, a position it has held since 1965, as well as partnered with The Lincoln Electric Co. in that capacity from the Indiana Oxygen Garage in Gasoline Alley since 1989. The company’s latest achievement is winning a 2015 Best Places to Work in Indiana award (medium companies category, 75–249 U.S. employees). In noting the changes the company has seen, Brant said welding is no longer as critical and frequent at the Indianapolis 500 as it used to be, somewhat because carbonfiber “throwaway” parts have replaced many elements. Still, the company has survived several economic cycles. “Each time, the lessons learned made our company all the more prepared for the future challenges,” Brant said. “There is no ‘secret formula’ — just determination.” Today, in addition to Indiana Oxygen’s headquarters, including that branch’s store, the company has nine branches across the state and one in Cleves, Ohio, plus an acetylene production facility in Beech Grove, Ind. It employs more than 125 people and has had seven triple-generation employees. A core value of giving back to the community remains intact by helping several local charities and nonprofit organizations, including the American Welding Society (AWS), where it’s a welding distributor member. “We are very proud of the education opportunities that AWS creates for its young members,” Brant said. He acknowledged Bennie Flynn and David Jackson of the AWS Indiana Section for helping to inspire The Brant Family/Indiana Oxygen Endowed Scholarship. The first award made in 2015 was for $1000, while the next will be this year for $1500. “Our future goal is to celebrate our two-hundredth anniversary as a successful family-owned, independent, gas and welding supply company,” Brant concluded. — Kristin Campbell (kcampbell@aws.org), associate editor Big Area Additive Manufacturing System Receives R&D 100 Award Cincinnati Inc., Harrison, Ohio, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., have earned the top technology product of the year award at the 2015 R&D 100 Awards & Technology Conference, in the process/prototyping category, for their Big Area Additive Manufacturing system. Carey Chen, CEO/president of Cincinnati and AWS treasurer, along with Lonnie Love, senior research scientist in the laboratory’s automation, robotics, and manufacturing group, accepted the award. The team also earned the R&D Magazine’s 2015 Editor’s Choice Award. The organizations partnered in 2014 to develop the large-scale additive manufacturing system capable of printing polymer components up to ten times larger than currently producible and at significantly faster speeds. The machine “will revolutionize the method and speed of prototyping as well as the way tooling and production parts are made,” Chen added. BUSINESS BRIEFS 16 WELDING JOURNAL / MARCH 2016 WJ This 1950s photo features Bob Brant, then vice president of operations, driving Indiana Oxygen’s delivery truck in front of its old building in downtown Indianapolis. Lonnie Love, Oak Ridge National Lab (left), and Carey Chen, Cincinnati Inc., pose with the R&D 100 award their organizations won. At a ceremony for the 2015 Best Places to Work in Indiana, where Indiana Oxygen was named a winner, shown (from left, back) are Jay Brant; Jamie Freije; Bobby Underwood; Anne Hayes; Ernie Gomez; Gary Halter; Michael Gunnels; and Tony Johnson. In the front are Kathy Brant and Wally Brant, CEO.
Welding Journal | March 2016
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