Not automatically. Explain which experience transfers to the actual U.S. work and what the employee genuinely knows about the replacement.
Identify the relevant continuity and difference
The old system may provide useful context, but the claim must match the proposed tasks. Avoid assuming that a new product name proves a different standard or that length of service proves all necessary knowledge.
Maintaining and interpreting the company's own welding procedure specifications, records that define how that specific employer qualifies procedures, controls variables and documents compliance for its own clients, is knowledge tied to that one organization's internal system. The knowledge showing rests on either special knowledge of the employer's products, services or their application, or an advanced level of knowledge of the employer's processes and procedures, and neither limb is satisfied by long service or general competence in a widely available technology.
The related-company relationship and the foreign work history are separate gates: the employee normally needs twelve continuous qualifying months abroad in the prior three years, and L-1B is limited to five years overall.