Business View Magazine | April 2019

21 THE AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY FOR SAFE AND PRODUCTIVE WELDING T he American Welding Society (AWS) was founded in 1919, two years after President Woodrow Wil- son selected an electrical engineer and Harvard professor by the name of Comfort A. Adams to head the welding committee of the Emergency Fleet Cor- poration, which was established in 1917 to oversee the production of military and transport ships on the eve of the country’s entrance into World War I. Since that time, the AWS has grown into a diversified, non- profit organization with a global mission to advance the science, technology, and application of welding and allied joining and cutting processes, including brazing, soldering, and thermal spraying. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, and with a staff of 140 and over 2,000 volunteers, the Society is dedicated to supporting hundreds of thousands of in- dustry professionals, including: welders, business leaders, sales and service teams, manufacturers, engineers, scien- tists, vendors, associations, educational institutions, and students by connecting welding communities from around AT A GLANCE THE AMERICAN WELDING SOCIETY WHAT: A nonprofit organization to advance the science, technology, and application of welding WHERE: Miami, Florida WEBSITE: www.aws.org