Speaking to about 60 people at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, McGlade said Air Products is off to a good start in 2010. Demand for industrial gases used at oil refineries, steel mills and various other manufacturing operations is rebounding, particularly in Asia, he said. And Air Products, the world’s leading hydrogen producer, can help make manufacturing operations more efficient and more environmentally sound, which will help the company as its customers look to cut costs and meet new environmental regulations, he said.
”We have some exciting prospects for growth, even in this environment,” McGlade said.
Air Products is the Lehigh Valley’s third-largest employer, with about 3,700 workers in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
It employs 18,900 worldwide, with 11,400 employees outside the United States.
Bethlehem resident Pat Finelli, a shareholder and former Air Products employee, attended the meeting. He was laid off last year from the company’s Easton plant where strippers used to clean semiconductors were made, he said. Air Products is closing the plant.