MEMBER PROFILE
New Family, Same Family Values How Maine Oxy continues its march towards 100 years BY STEVE GUGLIELMO
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aine O xy-Acet y lene Supply Company was established in 1929 in Auburn, Maine, by Joseph W. Albiston. Originally named Maine Gas Service, the company has always been dedicated to providing quality products at competitive prices. For three generations, the Albiston family operated Maine Gas (renamed Maine Oxy-Acetylene Supply Company or Maine Oxy for short in 1935) as an independent distributor built on the foundations of being family-owned and operated. Through its nearly a century of existence, the company has been front38 • First Quarter 2023
and-center for some of the world’s most defining events. And, on a smaller scale, the company has been a part of some of our industry’s most important events too. J.W. Albiston was a charter member of the NWSA and Maine Oxy was one of the 12 distributors present at the inaugural NWSA charter meeting in Dayton, Ohio, at the Hotel Van Cleve on November 13, 1945. Though the company and the industry have undergone a massive transformation in the 78 years since that meeting, both GAWDA and Maine Oxy continue to serve the same mission that they were founded on.
MILESTONE MOMENTS Though it continues to operate on the same founding tenets that J.W. instilled in the company in 1929, Maine Oxy has seen robust growth over the past 94 years. Today, Maine Oxy has more than 200 employees in its 18 branches throughout New England. In 1993, Maine Oxy established its SpecAir division. The SpecAir gas manufacturing laboratory, located in Auburn, Maine, is the largest independent specialty gas laboratory in New England and is also an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited laboratory and production facility. SpecAir has also introduced
