Company Report: The ESAB Group
The ESAB Group: The ESAB way Where there's a weld, there's the ESAB Welding way. Tim Mayhugh talks about the commitment to improvement and how it is improving performance

It's over 100 years since Oscar Kjellberg invented covered electrode welding and followed it with the establishment of ESAB. Its history since then has followed and built on the foundation of innovation in welding, both improving existing methods and materials and developing new ones.

Investment in R&D has made it a global leader in welding and cutting processes and applications, supplying users across the range, from small jobshops and garage operations to large applications in railcar, shipbuilding and offshore construction; wind towers and pressure vessels; pipelines; process and refining industries; bridge and civil construction; auto industry and general fabrication.

"We manufacture welding and cutting power supplies, by which we mean any piece of equipment used to provide the electricity used in welding functions," said Tim Mayhugh, vice-president, operations, at ESAB Welding & Cutting, part of ESAB, Inc., which is based in Florence, SC.

The first page of the online catalog gives some idea of the breadth and depth of its range of products, from filler metals and mechanized cutting tools, through gas apparatus, to arc and plasma welding equipment, automated and large gantry systems. The company employs around 600 people at the Florence production facility, with others in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Mexico, and offices in Toronto, ON. Its focus of operations is essentially North America, with South America for cutting equipment. The Florence facility has been in existence for around 35 years and owned for over a decade by ESAB.

Best in class
Welding is competitive and ESAB is not alone in seeking to supply and support customers across the globe, and it would be foolish to rely purely on innovation. To avoid falling victim to low-cost competition, ESAB has to constantly upgrade its operations and it began a formal program

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