Thanks to David Fritz (CEO, Acme Cryogenics) and Ashley Madray (Gas Innovation, CEO) for their contributions. On a worldwide scale, more people than ever are engaged in remote work. According to Global Workplace Analytics, this type of work has expanded 10 times faster than other areas of the workforce over the last decade. While the […]
Implementing E-Commerce Systems
Thanks to Kurt Cannon (SVP, LIQUID) and Joe Wechezak (CIO, EnerSys) for their contributions Background/history Let us start with a definition. The term e-commerce (electronic commerce) is a business model that allows firms and individuals to buy and sell things over the internet, as well as enables the transfer of money and data to execute […]
Business Resilience
Thanks to Jim de Vries (Founder/President, EIG) for his contributions A few years ago (2017), Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, published a book with Adam Grant called ‘OPTION B’ on the topic of building personal ‘resilience’ after the tragic loss of her husband. The book offered compelling insights for dealing with personal hardships in our […]
Driving customer focus and efficiency
Thanks to Chris Ebeling (Executive Vice-President of Sales & Marketing, US Bulk, Messer Americas) his contribution Balancing customer focus and efficiency is absolutely essential for any company that desires to maximize its ability to attract, serve and retain customers through the various economic cycles. Covid-19 has taught us that companies that were ‘deficient’ on one […]
Customer and process – Balancing the organization
Thanks to Chris Ebeling (Vice-President of Sales & Marketing, Executive Vice-President of Sales & Marketing, ) and Jeff Bezos (CEO, Amazon) for their contributions When running a business division or even an entire company, there is constant friction between being customer focused and being process focused. It’s a constructive friction that often swings like a […]
Centralizing your functional resources
The decision of centralization vs decentralization of functional resources has been a regular evaluation by small and large businesses for decades. No company is fully centralized or decentralized, instead there are varying degrees of both. The amount of centralization that’s right for a company depends on its size, culture and strategy. If a company is […]
Moving to ERP Systems
Thanks to David Schaer (President, CU) for his contribution. The use of the term ‘ERP’ (Enterprise Resource Planning) can get some senior executives and business owners a little nervous. Some recall the implementation failures during ERP’s early days, or the lower than expected returns on the investment (ROI) for some of their peers. Whatever the […]
The importance of a digital strategy
Thanks to Eric Wise (CEO, Wise Telemetry) for his contribution. The concept or maybe the value of a digital strategy started becoming more evident over the last 10+ years as some digital capabilities (social media, mobile, e-commerce, IIOT) have scaled and gone mainstream.But developing a ‘sustainable’ digital strategy is hard work, harder than it has […]
Talent Management – The future of work
The topic ‘Future of Work’ has become a mainstream talking point over the last 5-7 years, principally driven by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on the workforce in the not too distant future. So, what should companies in the industrial gas space (and its ecosystem) be thinking about and planning […]
The Rise of Private Equity in the Industrial Gases industry
Over the last 5-10 years the presence of private equity in the industrial gas industry has dramatically increased. Not just at the mid-market level (with local and independent producers/distributors), but now they have made their presence known on the regional and global stage with companies like PAG Capital in China and CVC Capital globally with the Messer Group. Taking a closer look […]