Fume extraction live: ABICOR BINZEL at the Air Liquide SchweisserCampus

 A look at current job portals shows that welding professionals are desperately needed everywhere. However, anyone wanting to win over young talent in a job interview today needs more than just an attractive salary and exciting projects. A clean and safe workplace is a top priority for the next generation of workers. A workshop filled with welding fumes is no longer an acceptable evil, but rather a real deal-breaker when choosing a job. At the first Technology Forum at the Air Liquide SchweisserCampus (= "Welder Campus") in Krefeld, various technical experts demonstrated to interested participants how maximum productivity and modern health protection can be combined 

The event brought together valuable expertise and real craftsmanship: over 70 specialists were on-site, while around 70 additional participants joined digitally to follow the latest developments in occupational safety and welding technology first-hand.

Why occupational safety is a team sport

The morning in Krefeld started directly with concentrated practical knowledge. In addition to exciting technical presentations – including one by Jan Hasselbaum, Global Director Marketing at ABICOR BINZEL – the focus was primarily on cross-industry exchange. After all, when it comes to health protection for welding specialists, there are no lone warriors.

In order to sustainably reduce emissions in the workplace, all parties involved must pull together. Gas manufacturers, producers of filler metals, power source manufacturers, and experts in extraction technology can only develop the best solutions by working together. We are all united by the same goal: a perfect weld seam and maximum protection for the professional. It was precisely this strong network that was reflected at the SchweisserCampus through the excellent organization of the Air Liquide team around Norbert Semsch, Cerkez Kaya, and Oliver Würth. With partners such as Air Liquide, BGHM, Lorch, SLV Duisburg, voestalpine, and Welded.io, a wide range of industry expertise was represented.

l f. l. t. r.: Dr. Samuel Mann (Welded.io), Jan Hasselbaum (ABICOR BINZEL), Norbert Semsch (Air Liquide), Cerkez Kaya (Air Liquide), Birger Jaeschke (Lorch), Andreas Hasse (BGHM), Aleksandar Sarić (Voestalpine)

The lunch break in the exhibitor area then provided the perfect setting to discuss the newly acquired expertise directly at eye level and in a relaxed atmosphere. Our specialists for extraction technology were available at our booth to answer individual questions about our extraction products.

Particularly valuable: guests could get their hands on the xFUME^® torches themselves. The low weight and optimized weight distribution surprised many and finally dispelled the prejudice of unwieldy extraction technology. Anyone who holds the tool in their hand quickly realizes that ergonomics and comfortable handling are the standard for our extraction torches.

Same setup, different air quality

The best theory is useless without a practical test. That's why, in the afternoon, it was time for all participants to head straight to the welding booths to take a close look at the live demonstrations. The absolute highlight was the direct comparison shown below, which had caused quite a sensation at SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN 2025 and sparked the idea for the Technology Forum in the first place.

In two identical welding cells, exactly the same setup was running: the same power source, identical cobot, same torch. The only difference? The gas. While cell 1 was used for welding with conventional standard gas, quickly forming a typical cloud of welding fumes, cell 2 used the emission-reduced shielding gas ARCAL™ 14 from Air Liquide. The result was astonishing for the guests: the air remained visually clean. The sensors from Welded.io proved that this was not just a subjective impression, providing precise live data on the welding fume exposure. They showed on the monitors how drastically the emissions in the cell dropped solely through the choice of the optimized gas.

xFUME^® PRO in a live test

But that was just the beginning. Another live demonstration showed what happens when manual precision meets maximum extraction performance. While welding with the xFUME^® PRO 36 fume extraction torch, the Welded.io sensors again provided real-time proof: the concentrated power of extraction at source left the fumes no chance, without extracting valuable shielding gas.

From a technical standpoint, this interaction fits perfectly into the proven STOP principle of the professional associations. This determines the order in which protective measures should be taken to provide specialists with the best possible protection.

It always starts with Substitution (S): here, the source of danger is directly eliminated and replaced by a safe alternative – as we saw previously with the optimized shielding gas. If this alone is not enough, Technical protective measures (T) follow. This is where our extraction at source comes into play. The decisive advantage of this technical solution? The dangerous welding fume is captured directly at the point of origin, before it can reach the respiratory tract. This is active health protection that makes no compromises on visibility or weld quality and protects everyone in the workshop – not just the welding specialist. Technical protective measures are therefore significantly more effective than purely Organizational measures (O), such as ventilation breaks, or Personal protective equipment (P) in the form of masks and air-supplied helmets.

Conclusion: Occupational safety as a competitive advantage

The first Technology Forum at the SchweisserCampus impressively proved that maximum occupational safety, ergonomic handling, and a perfect weld seam are not mutually exclusive – on the contrary, they complement each other perfectly. Anyone who invests in modern extraction technology today is not only fulfilling legal requirements but is investing directly in their most important asset: healthy and motivated specialists. Companies that live this holistic approach make their production fit for the future and position themselves as attractive, modern employers in the competition for talent.

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