Solar and wind power tend to get all the press when it comes to sustainable energy solutions. Hydrogen, one of the most abundant and sustainable energy sources, sometimes appears to take a back seat. But it is being used by industry and other applications where its inexpensive cost and power-boost capabilities make it a quiet success story.
Hydrogenics Corporation, a provider of hydrogen and fuel cell products, works at the leading application end of hydrogen and fuel cell use. Its main product focuses are stationary power supplies (industrial back-up power, cell tower power) and hydrogen supply. In the first quarter of 2008, the company has been working to bring its operations back to manageable levels via reduction of staffing by 50% (for purely efficiency reasons) with great success. Management now feels that its revue per employee (up 300%) has risen to a level that will quickly move the company toward profitability.
The company has also spent time addressing its core lines of business. It has seen remarkable gains in its stationary power generation operations due to streamlining, component standardization and process control. Its testing business, however, has not kept pace, primarily due to lower military orders. Whether the ending of the company’s test equipment business is a result of these lower sales is unknown. What is known is that the company is actively working toward a more focused and directed product mix for the future.
Indeed, the future is definitely where the largest opportunity lies for the company. It has a developing structure oriented toward the mass use of hydrogen. It is actively involved in onsite supply of hydrogen for industrial uses, and appears to have the necessary knowledge to ramp this now-occurring capability into roadside hydrogen filling stations. In any event, the company is primed for taking advantage of sustainable energy usage and is quickly moving toward profitability. It currently has approximately $30 million in backlogged orders and sees all aspects of its business as developing to meet its desired position in future sustainable energy needs.
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