(Archived) Praxair Signs Heat-Treat Joint Marketing Agreements

DANBURY, Conn., May 16, 2008 — Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) has signed joint marketing agreements with Atmosphere Engineering Company and with Super Systems, Inc. in order to combine the core competencies of each company into a superior comprehensive solution for heat-treat customers.

Under these agreements, heat-treat customers will have access to a simplified market channel which integrates Praxair’s gases, applications technologies and supply systems with process controllers and data acquisition software from Super Systems and precise furnace control panel systems from Atmosphere Engineering. The combined capabilities of Praxair, Atmosphere Engineering and Super Systems cover a broad spectrum of batch and continuous heat-treating processes such as carburizing, carbonitriding, neutral hardening, annealing, gas quenching and heat treatment under vacuum.

“New standards for the automotive and aerospace industries are pushing the heat-treat market in the direction of more precise data-driven furnace operations,” said Steve Hope, Praxair’s marketing director for Metals and Materials Processing, North American Industrial Gases. “This team approach and combined expertise in gases, equipment and linking technology will better enable commercial heat-treaters to meet high-quality product standards in their furnace operations,” he added.

“This arrangement with Praxair will help us to build on our global presence while providing our customers with the best solutions to meet their heat-treating requirements,” said Eric Jossart, vice president of sales for Atmosphere Engineering. “We also feel it helps to showcase our company’s expertise in flow-control systems.”

“We are excited about the formal marketing agreement with Praxair since it is always our goal to provide our customers with world class support and complete solutions. We feel our unique expertise together provides a greater benefit to our customers,” said Steve Thompson, president of Super Systems.

About Atmosphere Engineering Company
Atmosphere Engineering is a global manufacturer and leading innovator of flow control solutions for the heat treatment industry. Its systems are designed to integrate the latest technology with field-proven techniques to meet the most stringent aerospace and automotive quality requirements while also introducing new efficiencies into the heat treatment process. Atmosphere Engineering's unique engineering expertise and international support team of independent representatives, distributors and partners have helped catapult the company into a well-respected global brand. More information is available at www.atmoseng.com.

About Super Systems, Inc.
Super Systems, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has developed and manufactured products for the metal-treating industry over the last decade. Its products include probes, analyzers, controllers, software solutions and engineered systems which help customers improve the efficiency of their operations while meeting ever more demanding specifications on their products. More information is available at www.supersystems.com.

About Praxair, Inc.
Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2007 sales of $9.4 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.