Welcome to the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC) cooperative, independent welding distributor members, North America, buying group, Member companies, industries, gases, equipment, hardgoods, consumables, national-scale purchasing, marketing, IWDC We’re a cooperative that was formed in 1994 to leverage the strengths of independent welding distributor members across North America. Actually, IWDC’s roots go back even farther to 1948, when an association of distributors (IWDA) was founded that decades later merged with another to become the cooperative from which we grew.