Joe Pallikal

Been with B&B Since 1986

Years ago, an Indian welder came to America ready to work. His name: Joe Pallikal. He opened up the Yellow Pages and looked up “welding.” B&B just happened to be the first welding shop in the book. He gave Dennis McCartney a ring, and Dennis gave Joe the welding test. Joe passed. That was fifteen years ago. And he’s been welding at B&B ever since. Today, Joe specializes in flux core welding. He’s worked on more jobs than he can remember, including the Norfolk Naval Pier and the Yorktown Boat House. He worked on the front steel canopy at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. Many Indians work there, including Joe’s wife. When the canopy was completed, he was there. With a certain pride Joe told his friends, “Look at that. That’s our job. I worked on that.”

Joe learned how to weld in Bombay, India and later took a job in the United Arab Emirates. Joe hails from the southern Indian state of Kerala. He tries to go home once every few years. In his 23 years with B&B, Joe has seen B&B go from a small job shop to a forward looking, fully automated metal fabrication shop. Today, he’s one of B&B’s old timers. As Joe puts it, ” I’m the old guy here. Several of us have worked here for a long time. We like each other. It’s a good place to work, clean and orderly.” Does Joe fish? Let’s put it this way: Joe Pallikal is the reigning B&B Welding most enormous fish champion. “I caught a 75lb drum fish two times,” he says. “Every member paid me a dollar because I caught the biggest fish.”

updated 2009