Reporting on the business and technologies
driving today's global industrial gas industry

Notice: Our website is undergoing updates. To place an order from the store or to subscribe/renew subscriptions to CryoGas International online, please contact Melissa Martel at 781.862.0624 or mmartel@cryogas.com. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.

Gas Suppliers have always had to address the need for energy efficiency, both within their own process chains and when installing production facilities for their customers. The ultimate aim is to achieve better results while cutting resource consumption—in short, more for less.

The world economy is frought with uncertainty due to the continuing European debt crisis, and the recovery in the United States, Latin America's important trading partner, remains stubbornly mild. These unfavorable foreign economic environments are beginning to affect financial markets and commodity prices in Latin America. In spite of the serious financial issues in the world economy, Latin America is still predicted to grow in 2011 and 2012.

In this article, Keith Hall reviews the New Frontiers in Natural Gas Conference hosted by Westlake Securities in November. Westlake Securities is a middle market investment banking firm that services many industries including oil and gas exploration and production. This gathering of industry leaders and institutional investors explored emerging non-traditional uses of natural gas in the energy and transportation sectors. Presenters at the conference included senior leaders from companies representing a cross-section of natural gas producers, as well as providers and users of natural gas services and equipment. The conference served to provide participating companies and investors with a sense of the momentum and direction in which the natural gas industry is heading, and to gauge the maturity of the myriad associated technologies.

In this article we describe some of the methods used by nexAir to sustain high performance gains and to institutionalize continuous improvement.

Banding together as one large group or buying allows the individual distributor to take advantage of the volume discounts that national competitors contract for when buying in bulk. These groups also provide other services such as education, references, and networking. Today, many buying groups within the US industrial gas distributor space are flourishing under the cooperative model. These cooperatives, associations, and groups are increasingly important to the marketing and operations of distributors as they set new, more vigorous priorities to improve their operating incomes. As part of CryoGas International’s coverage of continuous improvement initiatives in 2012, we profile some of these groups.

Notice: Our website is undergoing updates. To place an order from the store or to subscribe/renew subscriptions to CryoGas International online, please contact Melissa Martel at 781.862.0624 or mmartel@cryogas.com. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.