Specialty Gas for the Independent Distributor
Specialty Gas
for the
Independent
Distributor
Tier 5 Labs, LLC
Fills a Niche
By Ed Pyle
The independent gas and welding distributor
once primarily focused on the manufacturing
industry, particularly its requirements for
welding gases and related equipment. As US
manufacturing markets shifted away from
fabrication and toward more high tech and
automated types of production, there
emerged a growing demand for specialty
gases. In response to this, today’s independ-
ent gas and welding distributor is trending
toward a new business strategy — to diver-
sify and to place more focus on the industrial
and specialty gas business segment.
This strategy has caused the independent
distributor to seek and hire personnel who
have various gas backgrounds, to seek labo-
ratories to produce a wide spectrum of spe-
cialty gases, and to work with companies that
deliver sourced gases. This business platform
is new to many independent distributors, as is
the growing specialty gas customer base they
now serve. Distributors need to find a labora-
tory that offers the technical expertise
required to compete within this business seg-
ment, which has been dominated by the
major distribution companies.
Tier 5 Labs, LLC has established itself to
be just such a laboratory and offers the inde-
pendent distributor an alternative supplier to
the majors, with the technical resource needed
to supply a very sophisticated and demanding
customer base. This segment requires that the
gases purchased be of extremely high quality
with the component chemicals and gases
added precisely as requested. Tier 5 Labs
offers this technology and quality, through its
distributors, to the end user.
The new kid on the specialty gases block,
Tier 5 Labs, LLC was founded in January
2013 in Naperville, Illinois, with the mission
24
to maintain an independent manufacturing specialized gas companies as resources, such
and supply source for the high end offering of as Asterisk’s Specialty Gas Manager to create
technically accurate specialty gases, distrib- computerized recipes, Weldcoa’s computer-
uted nationally through independent gas and ized blend cell to produce the recipes, and
welding distributors. computerized analytical equipment. With this
system in place, Tier 5 is able to produce for
Filling a Need its distributor customer base chemical, EPA
Independent distributors are often structurally protocol, hydrocarbon blends, and many
restricted in going to market by the major dis- other high accuracy gas mixtures.
tribution companies located within the United Tier 5 Labs offers independent companies
States. In many cases, the major companies a “wholesale only” model from which they
that manufacture specialty gases are the only can obtain the same specialty gases they cur-
resource by which the independent company rently obtain from the major distribution
can obtain their high accuracy specialty gases companies. These products can be branded
for resale. To support the distributor’s needs, with the independent distributor’s brand. The
Tier 5 Labs is able to obtain the necessary “wholesale only” model of Tier 5 Labs does
source gases, including nitrogen dioxide not include taking its products directly to the
(NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrocarbons, market but rather exclusively marketing and
and various chemicals, among others, to man- selling through the network of independent
ufacture the high accuracy gases themselves. distributors.
The sourced gases and chemicals required in
the manufacturing of these specialty gases are
obtained by Tier 5 Labs from companies
within and outside of the United States.
Once received, the various components are
used to manufacture the mixtures required by
the independent distributor’s customer.
Chemicals, such as methane, pentane,
n-butane, butane, ethane, ethylene, isobutene,
toluene, benzene, ethyl benzene, o-xylene,
deuterium, hydrogen sulfide, and carbonyl
sulfide, to name but a few, are all used by
Tier 5 Labs in the manufacturing of very
high accuracy chemical gases.
In addition to sourcing the gases and
chemicals it uses, Tier 5 relies on a network
of companies to provide the intelligence,
services, and technology required in the lab to Tier 5 offers branding for distributors like
process and analyze the product. This infra- Indiana Oxygen of Indianapolis, Indiana.
structure includes using the chemical and
July 2014 — CryoGas International
 Specialty Gas for the Independent Distributor

Tier 5 relies on a network of companies to provide the intelligence, Weldstar, with headquarters in Aurora,
services, and equipment in the lab to process and analyze gases, Illinois, has commissioned Tier 5 Labs
like Weldcoa’s computerized blend cell technology. to brand label their specialty gases.

Tier 5 Labs uses NIST Standard Refer-
ence Materials (SRMs) to document the
traceability of the analyses directly to NIST
through the shortest possible path. This
allows mixtures to be made with the lowest
possible analytical uncertainty and highest
accuracy. The Tier 5 quality standards are
high, and have to be to ensure continued sup-
port from independents. To assure consis-
tency, Tier 5 Labs received its ISO/IEC
17025:2005 and ISO Guide 34:2009 accred-
itations from Perry Johnson Laboratory
Accreditation, Inc. in November 2013. The
lab also is FDA registered to produce drug,
device, and food gases. Tier 5 uses the latest
technology to produce, test, and certify the
pure gases and mixtures. All analyses are
traceable to NIST. Tier 5 Labs uses and
incorporates the latest and most effective
cylinder passivation techniques to assure sta-
ble reactive blends. All procedures require
strict compliance to the Tier 5 Labs Quality
Management System.
Product lines include, but are not limited
to, rare gases, EPA protocols, hydrocarbon
blends, complicated multi-blends, medical
devices, and drug gases, as well as gases for
the pharmaceutical, refinery, petrochemical,
semiconductor, food, and other related indus-
tries. Complex chemical gas mixtures are
produced as well. Tier 5 products are avail-
able in various sizes of disposable and return-
able cylinders. Tier 5 Labs commits to meet
the needs of its customer expectations.
Going with the Flow
The specialty gas market continues to
expand as more stringent requirements by
such segments like the EPA, FDA, other
governmental agencies, liquid natural gas
producers, chemical companies, and the
petrochemical industry become more preva-
lent. Growing consistently each year, spe-
cialty gases offer the independent distributor
a unique opportunity to enter a growing mar-
ket segment. Often distances become a factor
in being able to supply these required gases
in a timely manner. The independent distrib-
utor offers Tier 5 a local supplier, a compe-
tent resource that is established in the
community and now able to supply a full
range of specialty gases.
With Tier 5 Labs distributing through the
national network of independent gas and
welding distributors, customers can expect
exceptional service and prompt delivery of
specialty gases by businesses within their
own community. Tier 5’s knowledgeable and
experienced personnel with unique back-
grounds in specialty gas production, insure its
customer’s requirements are met, their serv-
ice expectations exceeded, and their require-
ments for product are delivered on time,
every time. n

Ed Pyle is Vice-President at Tier 5 Labs, LLC.

He spent 35 years with the Linde Division of
Union Carbide/Praxair and the next ten years
with the IWDC as Vice President of Gases
Injecting chemicals into a before joining his partners at Tier 5 Labs.
19-component hydrocarbon blend Ed can be reached at ed.pyle@tier5labs.com.

July 2014 — CryoGas International 25