More and more consumers are looking to do business with companies that are environmentally responsible. This article from the LA Times (free registration required to read the whole thing) points out some of the difficulties consumers have in choosing companies that are responsible.

It’s not easy being a green consumer: With no unified product standard, what constitutes ‘nature-friendly’ depends on the group doing the certifying. Buyers can be fooled.

By Abigail Goldman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 5, 2007

Reliable household products get the Good Housekeeping seal of
approval. Safe electronics earn Underwriters Laboratories’ UL mark.

But consumers and investors looking for environmentally responsible
products and services have to trudge through a swamp of seals,
claims and certifications — only some of which designate
independent, verified environmental accomplishments….read more..

Even though we are a California company, as a welding supplier, Arc-Zone doesn’t offer any certified organic products… There are, however, several things that we do that we hope makes a difference.

1. We recycle.
Sounds simple enough, but believe it or not, like in many business districts, recycling is not mandatory as it is for residential zones. Our building does not offer recycling, but we don’t let that stop us. Our company founder Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, actually collects all the plastics and cans from the warehouse and even from our lunchroom and hauls it home. We’ve even seen him picking through the trash. For every recycled item found in the trash the guilty party has to pony up a dollar for the office kitty.

2. Re Purposing.
Also known as re-using. I can’t tell you how old some of our file folders are! I swear some of the folder labels are layered an inch thick! And the scrap paper we generate…. We shred it and use it for packing material.

3. The Internet.
Our website is our catalog. I don’t know why more people don’t use online catalogs. We can update information- including pricing– regularly, and we can add an element of interactivity (audio, video) that you just can’t get in a print catalog.

To showcase our efforts, we made a company video– thanks to Filmmaker Manny Manatad, our new “Shipping Guy.” We’ve entered the video into the Ecospot contest over at Current TV. We’ll keep you posted if we make the finals!

Arc-Zone.com was fortunate to be selected by the Cal State San Marcos Business School to work with two teams of their best and brightest graduating seniors on two vital areas of our business –

Marketing: What our customers think of our service to date, and where the growth opportunities are, and

Operations: Internal processes and procedures

Jim Hamerly, the professor overseeing the marketing project, came into the Zone first for a visit – He is awesome – his educational background includes extensive study in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science– BS from MIT, MS from UC Berkeley and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon! His impressive in-the-field training includes stints at Xerox, Netscape, AOL to name a few.

Our student team is an impressive group as well, bright and professional. They enthusiastically jumped in and began an analysis of our current customer base, and a survey! So don’t be surprised if you get a call.

Our Operations Team is headed up by Professor Gary Oddou. His education includes a BA in French, an MA in English as a Second Language and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University. He also has an impressive academic background, which includes a long list of publications and honors.

The student team, another group of eager professionals, has been in our office interviewing us and culling through our in-house how-to manuals with the goal of helping us formalize our procedures.

We’re very excited about working with these groups. Continuous improvement is important to the culture at Arc-Zone.

Lot’s of exciting things happening at Arc-Zone.com…

We are up to speed with many of our internet properties, Joewelder.com, and CarmenElectrode.com, and adding new products to our webstore (we’re launching a new site in October, look for details in your Inbox and on the web soon)!

Additionally, we are preparing to expand our facility, which will allow us to stock more new products, and provide even higher levels of service to our customers.

And in the middle of all this action, I was featured on a local radio talk show, BISTalk Radio!

I’d never been interviewed on the radio and like any first timer I was nervous and rehearsed over and over in my head how to answer questions and interesting things we might talk about. The production staff told me that based on our phone screen I would do great.

I arrived early and talked to the host who asked me some basic questions about Arc-Zone.com – I handed him our corporate presentation binder which is filled with the nuts and bolts of the business, financial ratios, sales growth charts, organizational chart, marketing plan, industry overview etc. That dude was blown away – and that was the topic of the show – How many companies have an up-to-date Business Plan? And I got to share a bit of the history of Arc-Zone.com.

I’ve always said “Luck is when preparedness plus method meets opportunity!”

Take a listen:
Click the Play Button > of this embedded audio player and NOTE: the audio has been edited for the sake of brevity!

-

APPLETON, Wis. 4 June 2007—To provide welding operators with the accuracy and verrsatility needed to prepare tungsten for both orbital and hand-held TIG applications, Weldcraft offers its new Triad™ (TTG Plus) tungsten grinder. Featuring precision-drilled entries, Triad accommodates six different tungsten electrode diameters—0.040, 1/16, 5/64, 3/32, 1/8 and 5/32 inch—and offers four different grinding angles (15º, 18º, 22.5º and 30º) to ensure reliable arc starting and good weld penetration.

Triad™s robust industrial-grade motor also provides consistent cutting and facing capabilities (up to 5/32-inch) to eliminate the need and cost for additional tungsten preparation tools.
READ MORE ABOUT WELDCRAFT’S TRIAD TUNGSTEN GRINDER HERE….

Arc-Zone.com is adding to our industry leading lineup of precision tungsten electrode grinders with the Triad Tungsten Grinder from Weldcraft.

As you may or may not know, Arc-Zone.com introduced the first low-cost, high-quality portable tungsten electrode grinder 7 years ago (the Sharpie™ Hand Held Tungsten Grinder). Since that time we have continued to bring to market new products that offer additional user benefits, whether it’s, adjustable grind angle, dust collection, cut-off options, or heavy-duty motors.

The new Weldcraft™ Triad model fills a void for a portable, semi-hand-held model and was designed for the precision TIG/GTAW orbital welding market by Georg Fischer. This new grinder offers several “fixed” grind angles which may be important to welding engineers that don’t want the operators constantly tinkering with the tungsten grind angle (or taper). Additionally, and more importantly it offers a precision tungsten cut off option, important for orbital welding equipment that use short tungsten electrodes.

The Triad is priced at the high end of the portable grinders, $895, just below the high-performance bench top models, and will sharpen tungsten electrodes in diameters from 0.040″ to 5/32″. The machine can be used in the weldshop or in the field and has a durable long-life motor.

The Weldcraft Triad Tungsten Grinder is not yet available, but you can reserve yours today– they should be shipping, complete with rugged carrying case by the end of next week. Give us a call:
800-944-2243 (toll free US) or
760-931-1500 (worldwide) or
email triad at arc-zone.com.

I met my friend and former driver, Mike Sweeney at the USAC/CRA Sprint Car races last Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway, a sticky 1/2 mile clay oval an hour or so from downtown LA, at the base of the Lake Perris dam.

Mike was in town, from Crescent City California where he is now Husband, Dad and full time Surfer. He comes to SoCal a few times a year and works on a couple movies to keep up on his studio union benefits. He called and told me that he was bringing a couple guys with him that used to watch us race at Ascot Park in Gardena California.

We all met at the track and like always, the night was filled with greeting old friends, competitors and a lot of hand shaking and bench racing, some true stories and well, some kinda-sorta close to what really happened…

It was cool because the guys that Mike brought are serious So Cal surf icons: Tyler Hatzikian of Tyler Surfboards, and Jason Baffa Director of the famous surf movie Single Fin: Yellow. Note: Baffa’s latest film, One California Day, premieres July 7.

Turns out Tyler and Jason are also antique hot rod guys, so Mike said, “Hey you guys need to talk to Jim about welding products for your fabrication shop!” (it’s always nice to get referrals!)

I knew Tyler was a famous surf board shaper and owner of a retail surf shop, but I had no idea that he also digs the full custom hotrod lifestyle, Tyler drives a 1959 El Camino and a 1932 Ford High Boy roadster with a flathead Ford engine (similar to the one pictured here).

We had a good time and I’m always amazed at how many people I meet are into fabricating–
it’s bitchen!

I was back in the shop last week looking around the storage area where I have archived some products that we have collected over the last 25 years. There’s some really interesting stuff back there, from the first TEC brand TIG torches to the first Weldcraft Micro-TIG torch, and the first Crafter Series prototypes and more.

I was looking for a specific Plasma gas distributor for a recent post, when I found something that brought back some great memories and made me laugh — the prototypes for the Weldcraft Plasma Cutting torch! Did you know Weldcraft had a Plasma cutting torch? Well they did and it was a real market innovation — (that’s my favorite word).
It was some 15 years ago… I was Director of Manufacturing at the time, and we decided it was time to leverage the outstanding worldwide brand name that we had built at Weldcraft. We had an excellent group of skilled guys and we identified the Plasma Arc Cutting market as an area that was greatly under served (as it is now).

So Randy Haberman our lead Mechanical Engineer took the concepts and created a blockbuster product line — a universal Plasma Arc Cutting torch that would fit all the popular Plasma Arc Cutting machines and used basically one set of parts! Think about it –one torch — one set of parts regardless of machine type. It was a real innovation.

Weldcraft’s PC-30 Plasma torch was the first to use a sculptured ergonomic handle with a built-in trigger switch located on the bottom of the body — and get this — it was completely rebuildable.

We created a dedicated facility across the street from Weldcraft with a dedicated engineering staff, machinery and sales force, we began to expand into all types of high quality aftermarket Plasma Arc Cutting parts and that’s when the trouble began.

What happened to the Weldcraft PC-30 product line? As the Product Manager I was told to relocate it to our sister company Bernard and rename it PlazCraft.

It seems companies like Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics didn’t appreciate the competition, and because our division President was trying to buy one or both of those companies we were told to shut it down!

I said I had to laugh because now you see all the new Hypertherm torches with a similar comfortable handle style, and Thermal Dynamics is spending heavily to promote their “One Torch” one torch that fits a variety of Plasma Arc Cutting machines… Been there. Done that! Even Abicor Binzel is in the game with their Abicut Plasma Arc Cutting torch.

That’s been my experience in this industry a lot of copy cat’s — few innovators…

Meet Gary Fisher – he Created the Mountain Bike – the Mountain Bike Industry, in fact – and has contributed to creating a culture of mountain biking enthusiasts, me being one of them.

On Sunday, my buddies, Long Chain John, Surfer John, Dr. Eye and me met at our usual spot next to I-15 north of San Diego on the banks of Lake Hodges we ended up parking on a portion of the ladies mountain bike skill training track they set up– It was so cool @8.00 am they were meeting to do an off road riding clinic – One of the ladies came over and told us to move! (we did)

We got suited up and rode over to the Trek/Gary Fisher demo compound. I noticed this dude that had a cool look and I could tell the way he was talking to the bike mechanics that he knew what he was talking about. I told my riding buddies I thought that was Gary Fisher.

I went over and asked a question about the pedal he chose, and he looked up and said “Hey man I’m Gary Fisher what’s your name!”

We talked about suspension and frame geometry – I was impressed with how passionate and technical he is. One of my friends asked him a question about his GF Cake bike that suffers from chain suck (that’s technical way of saying the chain comes off). Gary was very informative and had some great tips for his issue, and for general bike set up and maintenance.

When I asked him if he was a fabricator – at first he snapped back, “No. I wanted to build a big company. I wanted to build and sell great bikes. I didn’t want to be the one man shop.”
Later, however, he did admit that you do get a great feeling of release when you’re fabricating a nice part, “but I wanted to do something big so we sent all the production work out to established shops,” he said.

We talked about Arc-Zone and soon began talking about precision TIG/GTAW Welding and before long we were talking about TIG welding Titanium.

Gary said then when they started with titanium, it was like black magic, very few people had the expertise to weld it — and in fact, developed the technique and then taught Sandvik Metals how to do production TIG welding of titanium.

We went on to talk about the industry, and the component suppliers - it was great because he shares many of the same views I do about product quality and how the consolidation of the industry, and shifting production has had a negative effect on most products.

Bicycle manufacturers experienced the same thing we’re experiencing now in the Welding industry — too many reverse engineering companies too few innovators. . .

Gary demonstrated the differences between manufacturers by comparing the front forks on the four bikes that me and my friends rode. I had the one he liked best, a Trek Fuel 9 Pro I Series with its fork manufactured by Fox– the best engineering, manufacturing, technical support and best repair facilities — the whole package. (by the way, that’s what we strive for at Arc-Zone!)

I asked about the new 29″ wheel full suspension bikes or 29er’s – about the performance advantages.

“When you ride there is a pecking order, some people are much faster and they are always out front, with this bike you can be out front,” he said.

With it’s 29″ wheels you roll over the bumps better, corner better and climb better with less wheel spin (11.5% more tire contact patch)

After our 16 mile (25.75km) ride we stopped at the compound where there were a couple of VW Touregs with large trailers filled with bikes – but no 29ers! We should have demoed one first thing in the morning!

It’s not like me, but I went back later with my daughter Siena to get a picture of Gary Fisher so I could write this blog post.

I didn’t see him at first and was ready to leave when I saw him in a chair under the ladies demo trailer canopy. I was nervous and Siena said “Daddy I want to meet Gary Fisher.”

In the photo above, that’s Siena wearing her favorite Race Girl T-Shirt signed by open wheel racing champ and soon to be Nascar star AJ Alimendinger

Siena’s already seen her share of top performers in many fields, we are blessed.

One of our favorite radio programs on NPR is Marketplace. We usually catch it on the ride home… If you haven’t listened to it before, one of the best segments is called Conversations from the Corner Office:

Marketplace goes one-on-one with CEOs and corporate leaders

CEOs, company founders, head honchos. . . . Whatever you call them, the men and women who hang out in the corner office are just like the rest of us in some ways. But in other ways, they’re very different. After all, you don’t create a successful business or make it to the top of a major company unless you have extraordinary drive, energy, ambition and passion. Not to mention intelligence and strong opinions

Some of the featured CEOs include Joseph Gallo (Gallo Winery), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), John Mackey (Whole Foods) and Bill Marriott (Marriott Intl) …and more… and cover topics range from growing as an entrepreneur to managing a family run business and staying competitive through challenging times.

And the best part is you can listen to Conversations from the Corner Office online…

Here is an interesting article on a new inspection product.

Automation is becoming widespread in the welding industry, not only with respect to robotic welding but in the area of robotic vision inspection systems. Companies install robotic vision inspection systems for the same reasons they install other automated systems: to reduce costs due to poor quality welds; improve weld quality and consistency; increase productivity; and as a way to offset a lack of skilled labor. Additionally, if one automates the welding process, it makes good sense to automate the inspection process as well.
READ “New Automated Welding Inspection Systems” at Welding magazine online….blockquote>

Practical Welding Today is a great source of information, covering everything from how-to guides and showcasing fabricators to illustrating the nuts and bolts of your welding equipment. This article, “Gun Control: GTAW torch design innovations enhance productivity, quality” outlines the history of the development of the TIG welding torch over the years. And while the magazine is careful to not name names, or show preferential treatment, we’re under no such editorial obligation here at JoeWelder.com. Many of the innovations in TIG welding Torch design happened at Weldcraft. And while Jim Watson doesn’t like to brag, I’ll tell you that he was in on some of that innovation, and in fact patented a design for a new TIG Torch, a TIG torch now known as the Crafter Series.