Air Liquide’s Industrial Merchant business line serves more than 2 million industrial customers worldwide, from craftsmen to large companies in sectors as diverse as food and beverage, steelmaking, energy, chemical, automotive, construction and aeronautics. The Group offers comprehensive, innovative industrial gas solutions, including advanced technologies, equipment and related services.
2 million customers worldwide
20+ M Air Liquide cylinders in circulation worldwide
33,000 employees representing 50% of the Group's workforce
Every 12 seconds somewhere in the world Air Liquide delivers liquid gas to a customer
Innovating with impact to meet the challenges of tomorrow
Present in a wide variety of markets, Air Liquide is in a privileged position to observe trends and detect new needs and uses.
Drawing on the infinite potential of essential small molecules, Industrial Merchant employees are constantly inventing new gas applications that contribute to our customers' operational efficiency and address the challenges of energy transition as well as those of new markets.
In-depth knowledge of industrial processes
Improving product quality, increasing competitiveness and reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing processes: these are Air Liquide's priorities for its customers. Discover some examples.
Additive manufacturing, a growing market
Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) consists in manufacturing parts in volume by adding material in successive layers. It has exceptional advantages: shortened development time, realization of complex designs, flexibility, weight savings... Gases (such as argon, nitrogen) allow the atomization of powders or ensure the protection of materials against oxidation and humidity.
Water treatment, a response to environmental issues
Biological treatment with oxygen allows to increase the capacity of wastewater treatment plants without additional works. The injection of CO2 allows the treatment of alkaline effluents avoiding the use of strong acids and their by-products. Ozone allows to fight against persistent pollution and micropollutants.
Food, for safer products
One example among many applications in the sector is food cryogenics, which offers unparalleled cold power. It is a key technology for preserving the organoleptic and nutritional qualities of food, for maintaining food safety during production and transportation under controlled temperatures, and also for facilitating certain manufacturing processes, such as slicing, forming or encapsulation operations.
Glass, the oxycombustion solution
The glass industry faces the dual challenge of limiting its energy consumption and its polluting emissions. Oxycombustion consists of increasing the oxygen concentration of the air used during combustion, to make it more efficient. Air Liquide's HeatOx™ technology has the unique feature of reusing the heat produced by the production process to preheat the oxygen and natural gas (methane) upstream. This process allows glass manufacturers to reduce both their oxygen and gas consumption, CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Automotive, the electric revolution
The programmed end of combustion engine car production and the advent of the electric car constitute an unprecedented revolution requiring rapid adaptations. Air Liquide is supporting the players in the battery ecosystem in understanding the role of gases throughout the value chain. From raw material extraction to recycling, through electrode production and cell assembly, it is the entire ecosystem to which we deploy our gas supply solutions.
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Our Industrial Merchant teams are committed to delivering innovative, competitive solutions to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow in every industry.
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Pascal Vinet
Executive Vice President, Member of the Executive Committee overseeing the Industrial Merchant World Business Line
An activity that relies on the power of digital
Perceived very early on as a formidable performance lever, digital technology is now increasingly integrated into our offers and our day-to-day working methods. This evolution has been carried out in a few years at all levels: production, logistics, customer sites, sales, safety on board our trucks.
Automation of the preparation of orders
Our first robotized order-picking line at a gas cylinder packaging plant was launched in 2019 in Feyzin, France. Direct benefits: operational efficiencies, a significant improvement in service quality and less handling for operators.
24/7 gas ordering and management
Either on a computer, a tablet or a smartphone, our customers in Europe (13 countries) have a safe access to our platform to order their gas easily, manage their account or find the nearest distributor.
Designed with and for welders, Qlixbi combines a new generation gas cylinder with an easy-to-use "Weld in just a click" connector. The offer integrates a range of digital services to facilitate the daily supply and management of cylinder stocks for customers.
In the United States, our subsidiary Airgas offers a unique approach that combines a network of more than 900 retail points of sale throughout the country, sales and telesales teams, an e-procurement platform and the Airgas.com e-commerce portal. These are ways to help our associates offer the customer the best possible service: efficient, simple and fast.
Launched in 2017, the Integrated Bulk Operations program aims to connect all assets in the liquid gas supply chain (customer storage, delivery trucks... ) in order to collect data to better serve our customers (forecasting their consumption), optimize our operations (truck routes) and participate in reducing our carbon footprint.
