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Who We Are
Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest
U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related supplies
and equipment, called hardgoods. Airgas is also the third-largest U.S. distributor
of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the
largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor
of process chemicals, refrigerants, and ammonia products.
Solid Financial Performance
Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG) issued its initial public stock offering December 1986
and completed a secondary offering in September 1987. Since going public, the stock’s
annual compounded return has nearly doubled that of the S&P 500. In the fiscal year ended
March 31, 2006, Airgas had sales of $2.8 billion and a market capitalization of
nearly $3 billion.
Strong
National Presence
Through strong
internal growth and more than 330 acquisitions, Airgas has created the largest footprint
in the U.S. for distributing gases, welding, safety, and related
products. Most of its 10,000 employees work in 13 regional companies, which give
Airgas the national scale and strong local presence to serve a diversified customer
base. The company’s integrated network of more than 900 locations includes branches,
retail stores, cylinder fill plants, production facilities, specialty gas laboratories,
and six large distribution centers that ship hardgoods to Airgas branches and customers.
Extensive
Sales Network
This common infrastructure supports the distribution of products and services through
multiple sales channels, including more than 675 branches, a sales organization
of 1,000 sales people and specialists, a Strategic Accounts Team focused on large
customers with multiple locations, distributors and resellers, as well as four telesales
centers, catalog and eBusiness channels. This broad array of sales approaches and
expertise gives the company a distinct advantage in serving the diversified needs
of its customers.
Principal Products
Airgas’
principal product is packaged industrial, specialty, and medical gas in various
sizes of cylinders, trailers, and MicroBulk and bulk liquid quantities.
With more than 7 million cylinders in its fleet, Airgas can deliver a wide range
of gases – such as nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, hydrogen, acetylene, and shielding
gases – to a small customer that rents a few cylinders a month or a power plant
that needs dozens of cylinders a week. Our gases are used in almost every industry
including metal fabrication, metal processing, medical and life sciences, agriculture,
pulp and paper research, food and beverage, utilities, refineries, chemical process
industries, defense, and construction.
We are also a manufacturer and distributor of specialty gases, including high purity gases and precisely blended calibration mixtures. The Airgas Specialty Gas infrastructure includes seven national specialty gas facilities and nearly 50 regional facilities. More than half of these have been certified to the ISO 9001:2000 standard for quality management systems. Three facilities are accredited for the ISO 17025 standard for analytical laboratories. Airgas also assembles a full line of specialty gas equipment at a national equipment center and staffs a research and development center that designs innovative solutions, such as 20 AccuGravÔ computerized gas-mixing stations nationwide.
In addition to gases, Airgas distributes welding equipment, supplies, and safety products from leading brands as well as its own Radnor® private-label brand. Many of these “hardgoods” are used for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) in a variety of industries. We also offer Outlook® Services, tailored programs to help customer manage their supply chain for gases, equipment, and safety products.
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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