Then and Now
electric arc furnace ultimately did not pay off and the gov- foresee any major changes in the activities of the company. ernment-owned operation sought an outside buyer. When James Strader will continue to manage the facility. this failed, the government elected to close the plant in 2000 and Air Liquide Canada lost a valued customer. TODAY Today AGA is part of Linde Gas. Linde held purchasing negotiations with both Messer Griesheim of Germany and AGA of Sweden in the mid-1999, but was unable to comNEW MANUFACTURING PLANTS plete a deal with either. When the EU Commission was unSEPTEMBER 1990 willing to approve a takeover of Messer, Linde refocused its Cryoquip, Inc., a member of the Cryogenic Industries Group efforts on AGA and was ultimately successful in acquiring (Santa Ana, CA), recently completed the first phase of the the business in 2000. AGA had established a strong presconstruction of their new facility in Murrieta, CA. The ence in the US through several acquisitions like the one we 100,000 ft2 facility will manufacture and assemble the full reported on in 1990. line of Hex Industries’ vaporizers, cryogenic deflashers, food freezers, SF6 carts, and other cryogenic systems. Cryoquip See more on this topic in “A Changing Landscape: How 25 Years primarily serves customers in the domestic industrial gas of Mergers and Acquisitions Reshaped the Industry,” on page 54 market and also exports many of its “high-tech” vaporizers. of this issue. Plans call for two additional phases that will include offices, additional manufacturing areas, testing, and storage facilities. Executives at Cryoquip take a great deal of pride in the fact that disruptions to their production schedules ACQUISITIONS/JOINT VENTURES were minimized; over 98 percent of their shipments were on SEPTEMBER 1990 time. Cryoquip will continue to minimize disruptions until Associated Respiratory Services (A.R.S.) (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and VitalAire, a wholly-owned subsidiary the facilities are completed in 1992. of Canadian Liquid Air, Ltd., have signed an agreement to merge their operations. The new company, A.R.S./VitalAire, TODAY Cryoquip, LLC still maintains its headquarters at its facili- will be jointly owned (50/50) by Associated Respiratory ty in Murrieta, California and has grown consistently from Holdings, Inc., an employee-owned company, and VitalAire that one branch in 1990. The company now has a global Corporation. The new entity will be headquartered in Alberpresence, with facilities in six countries. In 1996, Cyroquip ta and will operate 41 branches in 10 provinces. Don Smailes, founder of Associated Respiratory Servicopened in Malaysia, in 1999 in Australia, the United Kingdom in 2000, China in 2003, and in India and Brazil in 2005 es, Inc., is President of the merged operation. A.R.S. has and 2009 respectively. Cryoquip’s focus and commitment been a distributor of Liquid Air’s oxygen systems since to provide the best possible customer service, along with its 1978. A year ago Liquid Air acquired a 35 percent equity global reach, enables the company to provide world class stake in A.R.S. technology from local sources. Today, Cryoquip’s capabilities span the entire spectrum TODAY of cryogenic equipment from the fabrication of cold box- According to David Asselin, Manager of Communications es used to manufacture the liquefied gases themselves to for Air Liquide Canada, Associated Respiratory Services equipment that stores and uses the gases in a multitude of (A.R.S.) was eventually bought in its entirety by Air Liqapplications. According to the company, Cryoquip is the uide Canada’s subsidiary VitalAire. VitalAire Canada is a largest manufacturer of this type of equipment in the world member of the Air Liquide Healthcare network operating in and is known for its capabilities in designing and fabricat- 30 countries, and brings leading technologies, products, and ing specialized equipment in volume production or special- respiratory healthcare excellence to Canada from a worldwide community dedicated to innovation. ized custom designed equipment.
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ACQUISITIONS/JOINT VENTURES SEPTEMBER 1990 AGA Gas (Cleveland, OH) has acquired Ohio Welding Products, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH), a leading gas and welding equipment supplier, from Kenneth W. Strader. The company was established in 1959 and has over 20 employees. It has been an AGA distributor for the past two years. Terms of the July 20, 1990 transaction were not disclosed. AGA does not September 2015 – CryoGas International
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PEOPLE — SEPTEMBER 1990 Alex Zeballos, General Manager of Cryogenic Industries, Inc. (Santa Ana, CA) has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Hydrogen Association (Washington, DC). The Association was founded in February 1989 to foster the development of hydrogen technologies, to encourage their use in commercial and industrial applications and to promote the use of hydrogen in energy applications. 7