Bahamas Welding & Fire Company

Fresh ideas keep the islands’ largest gases and welding distributor growing.

Innovation is the name of the game at Bahamas Welding & Fire Company (BWF). Founded nearly 40 years ago, BWF is the Bahamas’ dominant gases and welding distributor, but you won’t find management resting on its laurels, not when there are new avenues of growth to explore.

Breaking Into the Business
With demand for welding supplies and industrial and medical gases growing, BWF President Alphonso Elliott and Vice President Thomas Cleare opened the company in 1972. Since those early days, BWF has grown to three locations that include the original store, a 32,000 sq. ft. headquarters built in 1993 in Nassau, and a branch in Freeport. The company has acquired liquid oxygen, nitrogen, acetylene and carbon dioxide plants, as well as storage for argon and helium. BWF also operates a cylinder department complete with Galiso hydrostatic testing equipment and bar coding technology.

For years, BWF had the market to itself after it bought its lone competitor, Bahamas Industrial Gases, in 1985, a company that Elliott previously worked for and vowed one day to own. Today, BWF is the dominant gases and welding distributor in the Bahamas, notwithstanding the emergence of another company in its market. Customers range from professional welders to hospitals. BWF also consults for two government ministries that develop hazmat regulations.

Gases, Welding and then Some
BWF has a medical gas market in home health care. The Bahamas are a tourist mecca, and BWF provides medical gases to travelers in need. When the tropical weather takes a nasty turn, BWF continues to profit by offering a full line of hurricane supplies, such as generators, fuel, radios, even chainsaws and machetes. In addition, the company sells hardware—hammers, flashlights, paint—and outdoor grills and appliances.

With hurricane season lasting six months every year, BWF is mulling strategies to maximize sales in the category. A new marketing department is in the works which could help BWF generate ideas to revitalize its fire extinguisher business and build up technical support services for welders. The company is studying the feasibility of opening a recreational oxygen bar and launching a line of inflatable advertising products (think blow-up Michelin Man) that could help propel gas sales. On the flip side, BWF is phasing out the sale of medical supplies, except gases, because margins are too thin.

It Isn’t all Paradise
Doing business in the Bahamas has some challenges. For one, BWF must import its entire inventory, and selling those products at costs that customers won’t balk at puts pressure on the bottom line.

Like any gas distributor, BWF has to be concerned with safety. Given its proximity to the United States and the amount of commerce between the countries, the Bahamas follows U.S. safety standards. BWF provides regular training to its 50 employees. Managers also travel to conventions and trade shows to stay abreast of safety issues and industry trends. Given that the Bahamas constitute a small market with a finite pool of customers, managers need to stay at the top of their game if they’re going to keep the new ideas for growth coming. After all, 40 years of growth didn’t happen by themselves, and neither will the next 40.