Company's innovations deliver safer, higher quality, more environmentally friendly welding

Our European Packaged Gases team has earned a second UK Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2007 for our world leading Integra® cylinder and Maxx™ range of welding and cutting gases. This follows on from our first success in 2004 with our unique BIP® gases technology.

The awards are made by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and his advisory panel, and are the highest accolade that can be granted to UK businesses. They are bestowed after an intensely competitive peer review process, involving assessment of the technical quality of the innovation, together with demonstrated commercial success. The awards were published on 21 April in the London Gazette, and a formal announcement event took place on 24 April, in the presence of the Duke of York.

John Irven, director of Technology, Packaged Gases, said: “This is a tremendous achievement for the whole business and the technology team. It demonstrates our ongoing commitment to develop and commercialize market leading innovative solutions meeting real customer needs, in safer, value-added ways.”

This award comes as Air Products recently sold its millionth Integra cylinder. The Integra cylinders and Maxx range of gases provide improved safety, quality, productivity and environmental performance for welders. Our recently introduced oxygen and acetylene packages provide further considerable improvements in operator safety.

More information on the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: /www.queensawards.org.uk/business/business.html.