2023 BUSINESS FORECAST SUPPLIER MEMBERS
2023 Supplier Forecast BY STEVE GUGLIELMO
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he following are responses from GAWDA suppliers across North America about what they expect to see in 2023. Many experienced a return to normalcy in 2022, though several commonalities emerged including: a skilled labor shortage, supply chain issues, and inflationary pressures. While those problems will remain throughout 2023, the overall consensus among GAWDA suppliers is that this will be a year of growth, although not the robust growth we saw pre-COVID. We thank all of the GAWDA suppliers who participated in this year’s forecast. Be sure to check out the GAWDA Online Buyer’s Guide (buyersguide.gawdamedia. com) to see individual company responses.
` Hector Villarreal, President WELDCOA Weldcoa President Hector Villarreal anticipates seeing 10% growth or greater in 2023, even in the face of the persistent headwinds of a tight labor market. “The demand exists. Based on the amount of quotes we are generating, demand continues to increase,” he says. “For us, the capabilities exist. Lack of manpower is the issue.” The company is industry-renowned for its constant product development and improvement, something that Villarreal attributes to its client-driven process. “Weldcoa’s R&D is a little different than most companies,” he notes. “Our clients drive our product development process. They contact us with their issues, and they ask us for a solution. As such, we are constantly in a state of new product development.” With that in mind, 2023 projects to be a strong year for both Weldcoa and the industry.
` Frank Salvucci, President ANTHONY WELDED PRODUCTS “Anthony Welded Products will press further into areas of the cylinder handling/storage space that we have not pursued aggressively in the past,” says President Frank Salvucci. “We look to grow our cradles, cages and pallets sales to complement our cylinder carts, led by our legacy model, the load-n-roll series.” This will help lead the company to an expected 10-15% growth in 2023. “These offerings are in response to the growing efficiency trend of distributors using the pallets throughout their fill plant and delivery processes to handle 12-15 cylinders
at a time,” Salvucci says. “The cages, especially the ones with the pallet on the bottom, go along with the same palletization infrastructure that we are seeing an upward trend toward. We are actively listening to our customers and meeting their needs even if it is a custom order. We have the engineers and processes to be flexible with our products to meet the needs of distributors and their end user customers. Another initiative for 2023 is to continue the expansion of our Texas plant to increase capacity and efficiency including automation lines for our cradles, cages, and pallets.”
` Tim Fusco, CEO TRACKABOUT, A DATACOR COMPANY Trackabout, a Datacor Company, will parlay expansion with its existing customers and acquisition of new customers into a projected 17% growth in 2023, according to CEO Tim Fusco. “New business software is a big opportunity for gas distributors,” says Fusco. “This is a key way to get more efficient with all of the assets of the business. It is a key way to learn to do more with less over time.” Fusco says that Trackabout will “Continue to work with Datacor ERP to bring a new option for business software to gas distributors. By bringing together best-of-breed software systems for managing a gas & welding supply business, Datacor is working to raise the bar for software for gas distributors.”
` Bob Ranc, National Sales Manager MK PRODUCTS Bob Ranc, National Sales Manager for MK Products, projects a 5-6% increase in sales over 2022. “We expect the first half of the year to be good with a slowing as we head into the second half,” Ranc says. MK has plans to introduce new products in 2023, which will contribute to that projected growth and expand MK’s breadth of products. In addition to an increase in sales for MK Products, Ranc projects the industry to see a rise next year as well. “We look forward to working more closely with GAWDA distributors on our products,” he says. Of course, the best laid plans can all go awry depending on the political climate. Ranc concludes, “Can Washington get it together and do the right things?” continued on next page
First Quarter 2023 • 69
