Take, for instance, the case of AZCO, Inc. of Appleton, Wis. AZCO is an integrated construction company that prides itself on its limited reliance on subcontractors. At any one time, as many as 500 AZCO employees may be working on construction sites  power plants, foundries, food and beverage facilities, for example  around the county.

Since AZCO typically sees a project through from start to completion, any one site is likely to see AZCO ironworkers, pipe fitters and boilermakers take part in the project. Each of these groups may rely on a different welding process (flux cored, Stick, TIG) and prefer different arc settings in any one process. In constructing a power plant, pipe fitters may come in first to weld underground piping (Stick and/or flux cored). Then ironworkers may come in to erect the structure (again using Stick and flux cored, but perhaps desiring different arc characteristics); then the boilermakers will come in to weld (DC-TIG, Stick) the boiler tubing.

It's up to Mike Lang, AZCO's tool/warehouse manager, to make sure that when each group goes to work it has the necessary equipment on site. Meeting all of their welding needs isn't easy. Multiply those considerations by numerous sites around the country and you'll see the magnitude of Mike's challenge.

He solved part of the challenge by choosing Miller PipePro 304 welder generators, which met the demands of the various trades by providing an equally superior arc in each process. Now a pipe fitter, ironworker and boilermaker could share the same machine, simplifying logistics and removing the need for a separate machine for each.

For a while, Mike used the PipePro 304s mounted on trailers that were towed to various job sites. Then he decided to further reexamine his operation and, in doing so, discovered that the PipePro 304 had enough generator power to operate an XMT 304 inverter-based multi-process welder. (The welder component of the PipePro 304 is based on the Miller XMT 304 multi-process welding power source.)