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Heritage

Foster Industrial are the UK's longest established distributor of welding equipment and consumables and celebrated 138 years trading in 2024.

Founded in 1886 by Joseph Foster, as coal merchants, the business spans four generations of the Foster family. The business has moved with the times, starting a thriving railway wagon building repair business in the 1920's. Subsequently, Foster delivered government contracts in Beeching's days of railway rationalisation in the 1960's.

It was this era that sparked a connection to the current Industrial gas & welding equipment business, Foster taking on the Air Product's gases distribution for the East Midlands during in the early 70's.

Family Business moving with the times

Fourth generation Foster brothers, Richard & Charles and Joe Baxter & Steve Irwin form Foster Industrial's senior management team blending experience and technical know how with ambition & a determination to never sit still. We pride ourselves on team work & the dedication of our staff to customer service.

Based in Loughborough, the business is ideally placed geographically to serve our East Midlands & UK welding and fabrication customers.

We are essentially distributors of welding equipment & accessories with good industry knowledge and a strong belief in good customer service.

We are unique in the number of sales & service engineers in the field, who can offer face to face meets, technical advice & engineering support around welding product and processes.

Our offering is supported by a modern HQ, extensive stocks, workshop facilities, a trade counter and showroom. We encourage our customers to visit us to see what we are all about.

Our Strengths

B2B Account Management

Sales Engineers in the field with sound welding knowledge, supporting customers & recommending process improvements.

Weldstock

A bespoke consignment stock management system with welding consumables being held the customer's site. Account managed with one monthly invoice.

Good Service

Our stocks are deep & our aim is to deliver all items ordered next day.

Trade Services

Trade Account

Access to over 4000 products, bespoke pricing, technical back up & up to 60 days credit.

Service Department

We offer calibration, service & repair of welding machines, coupled with CP7 gas equipment testing & certification.

Surveys

Sales engineers can visit site & perform welding process and fume surveys, with the aim of increasing productivity. Suitability for laser welding can also be assessed.