- Werts is building on its B630 dry-bulk blower offering and has outlined plans for an electric-powered unloading skid.
- Its eight-location parts network connects equipment sales with ongoing support for tank-trailer fleets.
- Bruce Cornelius retired June 30 after 42 years with the company, leaving a parts operation he had led since 1988.
Werts Welding’s Wood River, Illinois, service center supports tank-truck and trailer customers in the St. Louis area and beyond. (Photo: Werts Welding & Tank Service)
Werts Welding equipment offerings are expanding around dry-bulk unloading as the family-owned parts and service supplier approaches its 70th anniversary in 2027. The Wood River, Illinois-based company is building on its B630 truck blower with plans for an electric-powered blower skid and continued investment in inventory and technical expertise.
The direction outlined by Werts Welding & Tank Service in Tank Transport Trader’s September company profile comes after the retirement of longtime parts leader Bruce Cornelius. For liquid and dry-bulk fleets, the common thread is supporting the equipment that moves product out of the tank—and the parts and people needed to keep it running.
B630 Gives Werts a Dedicated Dry-Bulk Offering
Britain’s HR Blowers manufactures the B630 and supplies it to the U.S. market through Werts. According to HR Blowers’ June 30, 2025, launch announcement, the manufacturer adapted its HRBV068 for the American bulk-powder market and introduced it under the B630 name through its partnership with Werts.
Werts lists cement and fly ash among the intended applications, alongside other fine-to-dense powders moved through pneumatic tank-trailer systems. According to its published B630 specifications, the blower offers airflow from 306 to 718 cubic feet per minute, continuous pressure capability to 16 psi, and a dry weight of 265 pounds.
The 265-pound figure is the blower’s dry weight; a complete installation includes the drive arrangement, mounting hardware, and supporting components. The manufacturer’s B630 installation and operating manual addresses those installation requirements and provides performance tables showing how airflow changes with blower speed and operating pressure. For fleets, equipment selection depends on the complete configuration and the application it will serve.
In its September profile, Werts said it would follow with an electric-powered blower skid package, with the company assembling it to simplify installation. The profile did not provide a firm release date or electrical specifications. The planned skid would broaden the company’s unloading equipment range beyond its existing truck-blower offering.
The proposed package would give customers another unloading configuration to consider within an existing supplier relationship. Its practical value will depend on the finished package’s power requirements, application fit, and installed cost. For Werts, it would extend an approach already visible in the B630 partnership: pairing a manufacturer’s equipment with its own distribution reach and customer support.
A Parts Network Built Around Tank-Trailer Work
Werts’ equipment business rests on a distribution operation with eight locations: Wood River in the St. Louis area; Converse near San Antonio; Birmingham; Atlanta; Tampa; Des Moines; Billings; and Commerce City in the Denver area. The company also operates two repair, service, and fabrication facilities.
Tank-trailer components and supplies on display at a Werts Welding parts counter illustrate the company’s equipment-support business. (Photo: Werts Welding & Tank Service)
Its tank-trailer parts catalog spans petroleum, chemical, pneumatic, and sanitary equipment, along with hoses, couplings, overfill protection, pumps, blowers, and vacuum accessories. That breadth gives the company a role across the delivery system, from unloading machinery to the fittings and replacement components surrounding it.
According to Werts’ service capabilities listing, its St. Louis-area and Birmingham shops handle tank inspections, aluminum and steel repairs, hydraulic systems, electronic overfill equipment, and pump and blower installation and repair. Brake and suspension work also falls within their scope.
Those capabilities connect the parts counter with the repair bay. A fleet purchasing unloading equipment may also need installation, replacement fittings, or service on the trailer carrying it. Werts’ business spans those needs, giving its equipment expansion a practical connection to work already performed in its shops.
The connection between repair work and parts supply runs back to the company’s beginnings. According to Werts’ company history, Robert and Verna Werts opened a welding shop in Wood River in 1957 and turned toward tank-trailer repair the following year. Difficulty obtaining suitable trailer parts eventually led the business to become a distributor for major component brands.
The first parts catalog followed in 1982, and San Antonio became the first distribution center outside the headquarters operation in 1991. Tank Transport’s earlier Werts company profile documented the same eight metropolitan markets, showing that today’s equipment plans build on an established distribution footprint.
Investment also enlarged existing locations. Werts says its 2019 Birmingham expansion doubled the space devoted to the parts warehouse and sales offices and nearly tripled the repair-shop area. That project illustrates how the company’s distribution and service operations have developed together.
Its company history also includes support for people entering the industry. In 2017, Tank Transport reported that Werts donated a tank trailer to Lewis and Clark Community College for its truck-driver training program. The donation gave the Illinois college equipment for introducing students to the specialized work of hauling liquids.
Bruce Cornelius’ Legacy Runs Through the Parts Business
Bruce Cornelius retired June 30, 2026, after 42 years with Werts Welding, including leadership of its parts department since 1988. (Photo: Werts Welding & Tank Service)
Cornelius joined Werts in 1984, when its parts business occupied a single warehouse with a small staff. He became parts manager in 1988 and spent the next 38 years leading the department. Werts said in its retirement announcement that June 30 would be his final day, completing a 42-year career with the company.
During that period, the operation grew into an eight-location distribution network. In the retirement notice carried in Tank Transport’s September issue, Werts credited Cornelius with helping develop a parts team that expanded to more than 50 people under his supervision.
The company’s tribute emphasized product knowledge, employee development and relationships with manufacturers, distributors and customers. Werts described a leader who helped colleagues solve difficult parts problems and supported customers through decades of business changes.
That experience gives the retirement significance beyond a personnel announcement. An equipment supplier’s catalog can show what it sells; its staff connects those products to the repair, replacement, or installation a customer actually needs. Cornelius’ career developed alongside the organization responsible for making those connections.
As product lines expand, that knowledge must also reach the next group of employees answering parts questions and working with customers. The mentoring described in Werts’ tribute is part of the operational legacy Cornelius leaves behind.
In its September profile, Werts identified new products, expanded inventory, manufacturer partnerships, and investment in employees as priorities. As the company approaches its 2027 anniversary, the next chapter will be measured by how those investments carry its established parts-and-service role into the equipment fleets it serves next.
A tank trailer inside Werts Welding’s Birmingham service facility, one of the company’s two repair, service, and fabrication locations. (Photo: Werts Welding & Tank Service)
Werts Welding’s Next Chapter: Key Developments
- Unloading equipment: The B630 entered the U.S. market in June 2025 through the HR Blowers–Werts partnership.
- Product plans: Werts described an electric-powered blower skid as forthcoming in its September 2026 profile.
- Fleet support: Eight distribution locations and two service facilities connect parts supply with tank-trailer repair and equipment installation.
- Leadership legacy: Cornelius retired June 30 after joining Werts in 1984 and leading its parts department since 1988.
- Company milestone: Founded in 1957, Werts will mark its 70th anniversary in 2027.
