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130 131 Recently, Business ViewMagazine spoke with Christopher Allen, RIX Business Development Man- ager, about the company’s extensive history, and its role in the development of emerging fuel technol- ogy solutions for the transportation industry.The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVM: Can you give us a historical snapshot of RIX from the earlydays through its evolution? Allen: “Mr.E.A.Rix founded the companyback in 1878 in San Francisco.At that time,the gold rush had grown the area into a bustling industrial andmining region.Mr.Rix,an engineer by training,revolutionized the field of compressor technologypatenting novel pneumaticdrilling designs.In 1911,Mr.Rixcreated the first production high pressure air compressor for the U.SNavy,starting our 120-year history serving the U.S. militaryand its allies.” BVM: What type of nichemarkets do you service? Allen: “Thirtyor fortyyears ago,we started branching out with compressor solutions for industrial usage.Our strategyhas always been finding niche applications that are small and underserved.One of our coremar- kets for these applications is oxygen compression.It’s a challenging gas toworkwith,where oil-free is an absolutemust. “Alarge part of our historyon themilitary side is supporting and understanding the needs of theNavy; branching out and finding small-tomid-sized nich- es where there’s a clear gap in the technologybase that’s commerciallyavailable,and then fulfilling those demanding needs.” BVM: Tell us about the RIXoperation–locations, territory,employees… Allen: “Our headquarters are in Benicia,California, RIX INDUSTRIES and a lot of our complexmanufacturing is done there as well.We have a secondmanufacturing facility in Sparks,Nevada that is focused on volume production. We also have satellite sales offices and partner offices in Europe,Asia,and throughout NorthAmerica. “RIXcurrentlyemployees 140 people,split into four divisions or MITs (Market IntegratedTeams).Our DOD (Dept.of Defense) group services foreign and domes- ticmilitarycustomers; ourAeroMIT,which is strictly focused on aerospace applications; and our commer- cial MITwhich handles commercial and industrial gas applications.Our fourthMIT is the linchpin that holds it all together,AMS (Aftermarket Service).This organiza- tion serves our customers’ongoing parts and support needs. “Froma geographical perspective,we service the entire globe.We have equipment on a large portion of the U.S.Navyfleet,and if there’s ever an issue–regard- less of where it is in theworld–our technicians are on a plane to themiddle of nowhere tomake sure that service is brought backonline as quicklyas possible.” BVM: Howis your customer base divided? Allen: “Our Customers are divided according to our MITstructure.DODprimarily serves the U.SNavy, which is a very large and complexcustomer with a lot of different agency interactions.Being the oldest and largest group,most of our business goes through the DOD. “Our aerospace group is the new kid on the block. Founded a little over 10 years ago, it’s a relatively new addition to our product portfolio and capabil- ities.Our commercial group has been around for a long time and serve the largest set of customers across a number industries.” BVM: Howdo you differentiate yourself from the competition?