On March 5, 2021 at Lincoln South Rotary Club we heard from from Kim Henning and Brad Moutray about their company, Hexagon Agility.

About Hexagon Agility
Clean air everywhere through sustainable transportation solutions

Hexagon Agility is the leading global provider of highly-engineered and cost-effective compressed natural gas, liquid natural gas, propane, and hydrogen fuel systems and Type 4 composite cylinders for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles.

Our solutions enable the safe and effective use of natural gas, propane, and hydrogen as a transportation fuel. These clean fuels reduce greenhouse gas and other air emissions and save money for fleet operators and their customers.

Hexagon Agility is the most recognized brand for performance, reliability, durability, and safety of our fuel systems as well as our engineering capabilities and superior end-to-end customer service.
(above copied from the internet)

Brad started the presentation and told us a little about the focus and history.

Vision: Clean air everywhere
Purpose: driving Energy transformation
Core Values: Integrity & Drive

The Agility arm of the business designs, develops, manufactures and services alternative energy systems and storage cylinders. Their solutions include hydrogen, compressed natural gas, liquid natural gas, electric and propane as alternatives to gasoline or diesel.

They are currently providing cylinder and/or fuel systems for over 60,000 commercial vehicles. The city buses in Lincoln use their cylinders.

One of the first developments was the Type 4 composite cylinder. Rather than the heavier steel or aluminum cylinders this is a plastic lined composite outer cylinder. The capacity is the same as other cylinders, but it is lighter. That means, in some uses, they can put a larger cylinder in place which then does provide more energy than the other cylinders.

We were provided with some history and high points on the power point. But, Brad pointed out that the history actually goes back to 1963.

From the internet:
Brunswick, established in June 1963 by Brunswick Corp., produced lightweight, durable Polaris missile bodies for the U.S. Navy. Polaris missiles were armed with nuclear warheads inside the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines. With changes in ownership that became General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. Commercial products spun off in 2005 and that became Hexagon Lincoln.

The company was chosen to produce the first filament-wound pressure vessel used for a manned flight in space. The company worked with NASA, producing components for the Skylab space station and space shuttle. Known for being a good company with high technology they were positioned to continue to develop and design new and better solutions.

More recent history as presented by Brad included the first type 4 cylinder (1993); 2002 they begin selling complete integrated hydrogen fuel systems; 2011 install first dedicated natural gas engine; 1996 begin selling complete integrated compressed natural gas fuel system for bus/truck use.

In North America they have 80% of the market for these alternative energy sources. In Europe they cover 55% of the Transit Bus system. They have been able to work with India to provide Type 4 cylinders which, until recently, were not approved by the government (only steel was approved in the past); with the lighter weight canisters, the buses and trucks will be more efficient.

Agility is owned by Hexagon (Norway) which is partly owned by Mitsui (Japan). This ownership has provided many opportunities for the expansion of the market for the Agility products.

With the company being International, the pandemic did affect their work but only slightly. One example is a manufacturer in Germany that was shut down but they were able to find an alternate source for the components needed. Production did slow down overall but will not have along-term impact on the company.

They did see concerns in the companies they support - a couple of the motor coach companies will not likely survive. With the pandemic their bookings immediately dropped to zero. 

Contact information:
Kim.Henning@hexagonagility.com
Brad.Moutray@hexagonagility.com

BIOS
Kim Henning
Henning has been with Agility Fuel Solutions for thirteen years.  She has filled many roles within Agility Fuel Solutions Lincoln since 2008.  

She is currently the Manager for the North America Sales team for the Cylinders Business Unit, as well as the account manager for the transit market for both Cylinders and Systems Business Units.  

Kim earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2000 and a Master of Arts Degree in Business Management in 2010.

Brad Moutray
Brad is the Design Engineering Manager for the Cylinders division of Hexagon Agility.

He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics with a M.S. in Engineering Management. Since joining Hexagon in 2008, Brad has been responsible for designing composite overwrapped pressure vessels.

He now oversees all product design, is a key contributor to continuous improvement efforts, and provides technical support for business development.