Today we hear from diversified metals manufacturing company Worthington Industries and its Director of Communications and Marketing – Europe, Todd Cesaratto.
Cylinder design and manufacturing technology has evolved dramatically to support new markets and market demands over the years and Worthington has been at the forefront of innovating gas and liquid containment.
Using safety as the foundation of its design and manufacturing processes, Worthington’s pressure cylinders business has grown from humble beginnings as a $2.4m, narrowly focused refrigerant cylinder manufacturer to a global industry leader producing more than 84 million units and $1.2bn in revenue.
The company’s expertise and experience is in materials engineering of carbon and stainless steel, aluminium, composite and fiberglass; metal forming and welding; and design engineering, including systems and applications that use its storage technology and extend to a to a wide variety of markets and applications.
Gasworld (GW): Todd, thanks for taking the time out to speak with us. What do you believe were the stories of the year for Worthington Industries in 2019?
Todd Cesaratto (TC): The big story for Worthington this year is how we have focused and strengthened our sense of purpose – not easy to do year after year as a global corporation.
We start with a two-part question: What problems do our customers face, and how can we best solve them?
Selectively, we play in those markets where we know we can raise the level of the game using traits like drive and curiosity as well as tools like analytics, technology and digitisation.
Take the alternative fuels market in Europe: we have designed and acquired technologies to cover the evolving ecosystem – from Type I and III cylinder systems for the storage and transport of hydrogen as well as Type III and IV hydrogen and CNG fuel systems for vehicles that travel on roads, water or rails.
As in Europe, our North American products allow customers to meet their sustainability objectives in the alternative fuel space.
CNG truck and bus manufactures are choosing our composite cylinders for fuel integration systems.
With the growth of hydrogen as a fuel source, customers are also using our composite cylinders for storage applications, high pressure transport trailers and infrastructure projects.
In addition, with increased liquid hydrogen production, people in transport logistics rely on our cryogenic trailers for consistent delivery.
We are just as focused on industrial gas customers whose fleets consist primarily of Type I steel cylinders.
Our cylinder geometries make work easier for them and their end users.
In many areas, we are leveraging digitisation to help customers reduce costs via streamlined logistics. And we are always driving weight down while maintaining the highest safety standards.
GW: What have been the areas of focus this year?
TC: Across Europe we have been focusing on becoming better at what we are good at and good at doing new things.
For example, our production facility in Pomona, California, allowed us to enter the type IV cylinder market.
We are now expanding our Type IV production capabilities in Austria with the help of our colleagues in Poland.
Knowledge sharing through our global network has also helped our colleagues in Portugal introduce Type IV technologies into their key markets – with Fourtis, a fully recyclable type IV LPG cylinder.
GW: Which areas will Worthington be focusing on next year?
TC: In alternative fuels, we will work to enhance our standing as leading producer, insights provider, and collaborative partner who can speed the evolution of Global infrastructure – particularly for hydrogen.
We will team with industrial gas customers to develop business models that offer more capacity and flexibility for managing their fleets.
For our low-pressure solutions, we will encourage adoption of LPG for leisure activities like camping and grilling.
GW: What’s the next big project Worthington is working on?
TC: We will start production of Type IV cylinders in Austria by early summer 2020.
GW: Finally, if you had one thing on your bucket list for the gases industry, what would it be and why?
TC: To use its leverage with European legislators to introduce or enhance incentives for hydrogen personal and commercial vehicles.
The 2019 in Review Series continues next week with Haskel and Fives Cryomec.