Business View Magazine - October 2018

300 301 CATALINA CYLINDERS Since 1949, Cavagna Group has supplied the global gas market with the highest quality valves and regulators available. Our Group has consistently committed itself to safety. Designing and manufacturing cutting edge equipment for the world of industry is a direct result of what we have been doing almost the past 70 years. Our full line of High Pressure Valves and Equipment perform flawlessly, thanks to the continuos evolution in technology and a policy of great care and responsibility. Your full Line Supplier of High Pressure Valves and Equipment Cavagna North America Inc. 50 Napoleon Court, Somerset NJ 08873 Phone 732-469-2100, Fax 732 469 3344 Cavagna Noth America Distribution Center , 3351 E. Philadelphia Street, Ontario, CA 91761 Info@cavagna.com - www.cavagnana.com supply to more than 100 countries. Catalina’s alu- minum cylinders store gases for a wide variety of applications including ultra-high purity gases for electronics manufacturing, specialty and calibra- tion gas, industrial gas, medical oxygen, food and beverage grade CO2, SCUBA, fire & rescue, alter- native fuel, and aerospace. Silva notes some of the ways in which the com- pany differentiates itself from the competition: “A major competitive advantage that we have is our press capacity,” he states. “We have the capa- bility to make large industrial and specialty gas cylinders in North America and our competition is unable to make these larger sizes. They have to import them either from Europe or from Asia. So, availability of the product is a major point of differentiation. Also, as a private company, we are able to invest our capital in areas that pub- lic companies might have difficulty doing. Add to that, our ability to forecast customer demand, and also the amount of attention we give to our customers on new product development; we’re able to develop and qualify products through the regulatory environment relatively quickly. That has been a big advantage for us and for our customers.” “Another thing that has always been a benefit to Catalina is our customer service,” adds Compa- ny CEO, Rick Hill. “We typically get comments that our competition just doesn’t service the custom- ers as efficiently as we do. One of the other things that goes hand-in-hand with customer service is our available inventory. Again, because we’re a private company, we stock cylinders at our facil- ities, where the competitors that we have – they get an order and they make a cylinder. So lead times are substantially longer than what our cus- tomers get from us.” Silva reports that the company connects with its prospective clients via industry trade shows, through its website and other online portals, and through its worldwide network of distributors. “Also, when a customer is looking for a product in the high pressure cylinder market, there aren’t a large volume of suppliers,” says Hill. “So, they’re pretty much familiar with the few big players and we’re one of them.We’re always in that loop because we’re such a large player in the market.” Recently, Catalina Cylinders has been forced to navigate the new paradigm, having been signifi- cantly impacted by the imposition of tariffs on the raw aluminum coming into the country, as well as by the retaliatory barriers put up by other countries that import Catalina products. “The cost of aluminum for our company and for our com- petitors is a significant factor in the profitability