Absolute Air to Build Air Separation Plant in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Absolute Air, LLC today announced plans to build a merchant Air Separation Plant (ASP) to serve its partners and customers in the upper Midwest area. The plant will be located on a contracted site in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. "We expect the facility to be on-stream in 2020," stated Ned Pontious, President of Absolute Air. The plant will produce oxygen, nitrogen, and argon for use in customer applications such as metal fabrication, blanketing, purging, combustion, chilling and freezing. Absolute Air, LLC is a partnership of five locally owned independent gas and welding supply distributors, as well as the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC). The partners view the investment as a proactive move to assure an ongoing and more economical supply of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon against the backdrop of the continuing consolidation of international industrial gas producers.

The five distributors involved in the project are: Mississippi Welders Supply, Toll Company, Minneapolis Oxygen, A-OX Welding Supply, and Huber Supply. All are located in the upper Midwest area to be served by the plant, and together represent 30 business locations with over 50,000 customers in a 7-state region.

The IWDC is a cooperative headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, with 140 member companies. It was formed in 1994 and leverages the strengths of its independent welding distributor members across North America. IWDC member companies collectively represent over $2.3B in sales, serving a wide range of industries. The common denominator is that these industries look to them for industrial, specialty, and medical gases as well as related equipment, welding hardgoods, and consumables. End-use customers served by IWDC members benefit from having the unparalleled expertise of a local member distributor who has access to national-scale purchasing and marketing programs.

You can learn more about any of these entities at:

Absolute Air:  www.absolute-air.com
IWDC: www.iwdc.coop
Mississippi Welders Supply: www.mwsco.com
A-Ox Welding Supply: www.aoxwelding.com
Toll Company: www.tollgas.com
Huber Supply Company: www.hubersupply.com
Minneapolis Oxygen: www.mplso2.com

SOURCE Absolute Air, LLC