Welders are discovering more uses for the gas-metal arc (MIG) welding process because the process, technologies that support it, and products that are needed are evolving. While MIG welding always has been an easy process to use, it is also a process that cannot quite produce the best looking welds or the most accurate welds. Better controls, better welding guns, improvements in the quality of welding wire all are combining to make MIG more competitive with tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, and broadening the number of applications in which MIG can be used. Within MIG welding it has been a given that welders lose a lot of gas in the surge of shielding gas at the start of the weld, yet that surge of gases can cause porosity in the weld, and it costs large amount of money. Safety is also very important as welding is a dangerous job, which comes from many directions, including the heat of the process, the materials that are being heated and joined, and the fumes that the heat produces.