Since its inception in 1904 in Sweden, ESAB has become a global leader in fabrication and welding technology with its groundbreaking products and worldwide presence. In late 2024, the company marked its 120th anniversary. Associates around the world participated in various celebrations and community engagement activities focused on “120 Years Strong, 120 Years Powerful, 120 Years ESAB.”
“Innovation has been one of the cornerstones of ESAB and is one of the reasons we’re in our 121st year and still doing well and expanding around the world,” says Johan Fransson, president of ESAB Europe since 2016. “R&D has been a part of ESAB’s DNA since the beginning. We have a big R&D facility in Sweden but we also have these facilities in Asia, India, the United States and South America.”
Swedish-born Fransson has spent his entire 38-year career at ESAB. In addition to his leadership role in Europe, he also served as managing director in the Middle East and Africa for 12 years. While EASB is a global organization, Fransson stresses that the company puts a big focus on its regional and local operations.
“The foundation of ESAB innovation is to stay close to our customers to understand their needs and find ways to help them improve and become more successful,” Fransson says. “We believe that if we can help them be successful, it will help us continue to be successful. Shared success and continuous improvement tie into innovation.”
Today’s challenges
With the development of the world’s first coated welding electrode for manual metal arc welding – a heavily fluxed electrode that substantially improved the quality of the weld – engineer Oscar Kjellberg achieved a milestone in the history of welding. In 1904 in Gothenburg, Sweden, Elektriska Svetsnings-Aktiebolaget (ESAB) began.
Today, ESAB offers a comprehensive suite of industrial products, serving numerous industries around the world. With a rich history of successful acquisitions, ESAB also has more than 40 global and regional brands, including AlcoTec, Cigweld, GCE, InduSuite, Soldexa, TBi, Thermal Dynamics and Victor. Located across six continents and 147 countries, the company’s portfolio features some of the most sought-after equipment on the market for welding and fabrication.
Throughout its 120 years, the company’s products have changed and expanded based on the changing and expanding needs of customers. The fundamental need to achieve quality when cutting and joining metal has always been at the heart of ESAB innovation, which has propelled its fabrication methods to substantially improve with time and customer feedback.
“Compared to 30 or 40 years ago, today’s customers need quality assurance documentation, especially for sophisticated welding jobs, like submarines and some oil and gas applications,” Fransson says. “Digitalization has also changed the way companies operate, which has given rise to solutions that enable users to connect their machines and equipment to different types of monitoring and documentation systems. These solutions help users understand how they can drive and improve activity.”
The just-in-time expectations of today have also propelled ESAB to develop supply chain solutions that customers can rely on for their equipment and consumables. Responding to customers has always been a priority, and helping them keep their stock and warehousing to a minimum was among those priorities.
Workers wanted
Over the years, ESAB has been at the forefront of change and innovation in the industry. One of the biggest changes has been the increased use of mechanization and automation.
“Mechanization drives productivity and consistency and addresses the demographic challenges caused by the aging workforce and lack of skilled workers,” Fransson says. “The skills gap is a global issue, which naturally drives the need for mechanization as well as the need for different types of initiatives for training welders.”
Therefore, ESAB has put extra effort on workforce development, developing and supporting a multitude of programs all over the world. In 2023, the company launched its Future Fabricators initiative to offer scholarships and support programs that bring tools and welding expertise to North American communities. Through the initiative, ESAB equipment is made accessible to participants to help create a strong foundation for the next generation of manufacturers.
Another example of the company’s commitment to workforce development in North America comes in the form of ESAB’s support for Welder Underground. Created by Brooklyn-based nonprofit The Collab-Orators, the apprenticeship program empowers a new generation of welders and fabricators through an innovative six-month “earn while you learn” program.
On a global scale, ESAB India’s new Welding Centre of Excellence has trained more than 100 students annually with a 100 percent job placement record. This is in addition to the 30,000 individuals that have been trained at the ESAB Welding Institute in Kolkata, India, for nearly a decade.
In Europe, ESAB has been hosting welding training programs for decades. The company has also been tightly engaged with a range of workforce development initiatives, including the Ore Projects, a U.K.-based organization that provides free hands-on welding training particularly to young people and women. To support Ore Projects’ efforts, ESAB has provided extensive PPE and training materials.
“As one of the big players in the industry, we have to engage in worker development and do whatever we can to train people and offer our support,” Fransson says. “Some of the most successful programs are the ones where groups come to us and ask for help. They’re already engaged in the local communities where there’s a need and have identified the strategies that work.
“We have programs all over the world,” he continues. “In South America, we started developing initiatives 50 years ago in part because there was simply no education infrastructure to provide the support the country needed. Around the world, we have increased the number of initiatives and solutions we’re involved in, and I think it’s a need that’s going to increase even more.”
Looking forward, ESAB plans to continue extending its resources to support the industry. In alignment with those efforts and in celebration of its 120-year anniversary, ESAB established a new corporate giving program that will make contributions to causes that matter most to its local communities, including education and workforce development.
Good neighbors
Workforce development, however, is just one part of ESAB’s overall focus. Taking today’s environmental concerns into account, the company also puts a large focus on sustainability, committing a 50 percent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. It also pledges that 50 percent of its global electricity use will come from renewable energy sources by 2030. Three manufacturing facilities already receive 100 percent renewable energy, including the newly renovated facility in Denton, Texas, and two facilities in Brazil.
As with its focus on workforce development, addressing energy efficiency and other green initiatives is more successful when the solutions involve the local associates and workforce. Ideas for improvement can arise just by listening, according to Fransson.
“A great example is from my days in the Middle East,” he says. “Around 2007, the decision was made to build a new headquarters in the United Arab Emirates. Under the LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] green building rating system, we decided to incorporate as many green features as we could in the facility. As an example, we incorporated insulation as part of the cooling design, which isn’t really used there.”
Upon completion, the headquarters building served as the UAE’s first commercial LEED platinum-certified facility. In addition to the innovative cooling system, which stores cool air overnight to reuse for cooling during the day, ESAB incorporated a water treatment plant that recycles and treats water for use in the waste and irrigation systems. Additional sustainable features were also added, such as an automatic system that senses when someone enters or exits a room to turn the lights on and off. Overall, the cost to incorporate the green features was less than 10 percent of what it would have cost to build a conventional building. Payback was realized in less than five years.
“We’ve had that building for 15 years, and we’ve saved a lot of money,” Fransson says. “Hopefully, the project has inspired other similar endeavors. It was a great achievement, and I’m very proud of it.
“Not every project is going to involve building something from scratch, but continuous improvement can always be involved,” he adds. “There are small steps that can be taken that together make a big difference. That’s how we think about it.”
Focus on customers
As ESAB moves into its 121st year, the company will continue to foster initiatives that provide opportunities within the industry. It will also continue to honor the legacy of its founder by introducing product innovations that give customers greater efficiency and productivity.
“We continue to invest heavily in R&D and coming innovations, which is driven by working closely with our customers,” Fransson says. “Solutions, after all, have to be practical if they’re going to help our customers in manufacturing.
“Data usage is a big example of that and it’s only going to increase,” he adds. “Seeing that on the horizon, we invested heavily in data-driven solutions that provide connectivity and different ways to use that data. In doing so, our customers can make fact-based decisions and grow their businesses.”
On the academic front, ESAB continues to work closely with universities and other research institutes to stay ahead of what is happening in material sciences and the joining of different types of metal. In doing so, the company is further investing in the future of the trade.
“It all starts by being really close with our customers,” Fransson says. “We’ve been around for around 120 years by taking that approach, and we think that will continue to keep us relevant and successful. To really understand the specific needs of customers, we have to be in close proximity to them and spend time with them. Despite having a head office, we have a very decentralized company structure around the world. We have local leadership in India, the Middle East, North America and Europe with the goal of showing the customer that we understand them and how we can best assist them.
“Our products and solutions are being used by hands-on, practical people so they have to be easily understood, easy to use, robust and work in tough environments,” he concludes. “The more we know about a customer, the better for everyone.”
