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Norwegian company AGA AS, a member of German market leading gas organisation Linde Gas, specialises in the production, distribution and marketing of industrial gases. Since its creation around 100 years ago the company has developed unique experience in the production of industrial gases, today producing nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, speciality gases, hydrogen and mixed gases. Based in Oslo and Trondheim, Norway the company distributes its products to the food and beverage, chemical, metallurgical and manufacturing industries.
Until July 2000 the company operated as part of Swedish specialised gas company AGA, which was originally formed in 1904. The company expanded to Norway in 1908, although this sector was sold and repurchased in 1984, establishing today’s AGA Gas Norway division. AGA experienced immense growth throughout the 20th century and by 1990 had a global presence including sites across East and Western Europe, and North and South America. The Nobel Prize winner for physics in 1912, Gustaf Dalén, was the founder of AGA. AGA’s subsidiary companies today have unparalleled experience in specialised gas applications for food technology, medicine, welding, environmental conservation, metallurgy, the chemical industry and electronics. Following a successful offer in 1999 by German group Linde AG, AGA was acquired in 1999 and integrated into Linde Gas, one of two divisions of the Linde Group.
Executive vice president of AGA region Europe North, Leif Svensson explains: “The company began around 100 years ago in 1904, and, at that time was not entirely focused on gases. In recent years it has increasingly developed its attention to the production of industrial gases, and diversified its business across the world, including our two sites in Oslo and Trondheim, Norway. We were acquired by the German Linde Group in 1999, and today produce industrial gases including nitrogen, argon and speciality gases.”
Leif explains that the company specialises in key industry areas for gas applications: “We split our customers and products into sectors such as food, chemical, metallurgical and manufacturing and we have different specialists and engineers for each specific application area, one of our most popular products are cylinder gases, a mixture of pure oxygen, pure nitrogen and mixed gases for welding applications. Around 50 per cent of our turnover comes from products used in the metal industries, including metal fabrication so it is the largest industry we supply to.”
The company’s gas applications with argon, nitrogen and hydrogen are used extensively in the metal industry, particularly in metal manufacturing, processing and refining. Its products bring specific benefits to foundries, heat treatment facilities, steel and non-ferrous metal production and waste treatment and recycling. Industrial gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide or synthesis gases are major components in the modern chemical industry, playing a vital role in many production processes. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide can be used for blanketing, purging, drying and cooling reactors as they serve to keep oxygen at bay, dispensing or displacing combustible liquids or gases, protecting sensitive goods against oxidation and purging pipelines. Both hydrogen and oxygen have a number of uses including preparing boiler feed water for steam generation.
In offshore applications the highest demands are placed on all gas-related equipment including valves, regulators, burners, hoses, flashback arrestors and packaging. AGA produces customised gas equipment to enhance safety, specially approved for offshore applications to ISO 9001. Its offshore products include ACCURA cylinder management system, an online service allowing instant access for up-to-date information regarding gas cylinders, NEMOTM cylinder fixed regulator systems, and SECCURA automatic gas supply. Together with this it offers an extensive training system covering theory and practice at training centres and on-site.
The company’s OxyProcess application is vital to the modern Norwegian cod industry. When fish are in storage it is vital to balance the amount of gas in the production water with the total atmospheric pressure to avoid harm to the fish. Production involves a faultless process whereby the amount of oxygen in the water must be in perfect balance with other gases, particularly nitrogen and OxyProcess achieves this balance. AGA co-operates closely with experts at the Havlander fish site, and can contribute unique knowledge about the significance and behaviour of different gases in the marine environment.
Leif explains that the company works very closely with its customers in terms of application development: “We supply our products directly to the end users, we produce and distribute them to our customers and take care of all of the services involving transportation and delivery. When we see that our customers are competent in using our gas applications we work very closely with them to develop new techniques. We look to see how we can improve the customer’s processes by having our expert staff involved in supporting them. Our development work is done on a very personal level, we feel it is important to be close, to realise what is needed it is important to be present with the customer. That way you have a strong, mutual agreement whereby both parties are interested in increasing the efficiency and application of the particular product. We want to share all of the benefits of our development with our customers, and we like to develop good ideas in the field.”
In the production of volatile gas products it is vital to have a highly skilled workforce, as such Leif explains that the company puts much emphasis on the continued training of its staff: “When we consider what sets us apart from our competitors it always comes back to our people. It is vital to have the best staff in all areas including service, engineering and creative departments. We have training schemes for our staff, both in the AGA group, and separately in Norway. We invest heavily in the support and training of all of our staff from the management level right through the organisation. If we then use these people in the right way we believe it will make us the best.”
AGA’s extensive history, coupled with a vast range of high quality gas applications ensures that it remains a leading company in an increasingly competitive market. Leif concludes: “We want to continue to be successful in finding new applications for our products, we have a good combination of experienced people and a structure to ensure we remain number one. We have been very successful in recent years and in the next five to ten years we are certain this will continue.”
VTR
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