Staff Spotlight: Cesar Zaldivar, Gas Applications Manager

Intro

Air Source Industries has been providing industrial and medical grade gases to local businesses for over 70 years. We are a small family-owned company with a dedicated and very experienced team that allows us to stand out from the competition. Every member of our professional team will go beyond to make sure your needs are met and we provide the best commercial gas service possible for local businesses.

We recently sat down with Cesar Zaldivar, our Applications Manager at Air Source Industries so he could share how he provides outstanding service to our customers. Cesar Z. has worked at Air Source for more than 14 years and always makes sure our processes are running smoothly:

When did you start working for Air Source Industries and how did you become the Applications Manager?

I started at the bottom of the company as a temp employee through an employment agency at the age of 19. The Air Source team trained me on the basics of filling gas cylinders in the plant. Little by little, I grew my technical skills. Air Source saw my potential as a quick learner and slowly gave me more responsibilities and assignments.

How did you gain your experience and training?

A lot of my experience comes from hands-on training throughout my 15 years at Air Source. The company owner Bob taught me a lot by going out with me on new installations in a variety of settings like labs, hospitals, and clinics. There’s a lot of diverse equipment I trained with and I’m constantly doing my own research on the newest equipment that comes out. I enjoy learning about the newest systems and connections. It prepares me to answer customer questions on the latest equipment they are using.

My job at Air Source allowed me to continue my technical education and earn a degree in business management. I enjoy my job and want to help the company grow and succeed. I appreciate the company takes care of me and I want to give back by spending the time to expand my knowledge outside of work. It can be difficult at times being married with two kids, but I always do my best to find time to learn and develop, even if it’s at night or during my lunch break.

What do you do as the Applications Manager at Air Source Industries? What are your responsibilities?

I wear many hats on top of the Applications Manager role. My responsibilities are getting the work done for our customers and handling more in-depth customer service calls. I’ll answer questions about their equipment hookups and lookup information in their manuals. Often times I’ll go on location to test their machine with small cylinder samples. I’ll install necessary hoses, regulators, and everything they need to get their gas systems running smoothly.

I’m also the Plant Manager. I’m in charge of managing gas processing, handling incoming orders, keeping licenses up to date/company compliance, leading safety trainings for employees, and administering our customer database in Computers Unlimited (CU). I take care of all the maintenance that is needed inside our company like installing new systems, changing the oil in our pumps, and replacing parts on the pumps as well. On top of that, I also act as the Quality Control Coordinator and make sure all supplies, products, and gases are stocked and I re-order when we start running low.

At Air Source we make sure our plant is always compliant and our tanks are in great shape and tested. Whenever we have a scheduled audit, I’m the one in charge of walking through it and making sure any call-outs are resolved. As the Plant Manager, I’m also in charge of hydro-testing our cylinders and in order to do that I got certified.

I also wear a Customer Service/Sales hat when the front office receives a technical call and answer any customer questions. I’ll go out into the field a few times a month or whenever we get any prospective customers that need service. I’m there to make sure that any new clients go through a smooth transition. I install the entire system for them with little to no downtime to make sure everything is set up and working properly. When it comes to existing customers, I’ll go out to their business when they want to modify their system or need any maintenance done.

What does your day-to-day work consist of?

My day at Air Source starts at 7:30 AM and I help the distribution department load the trucks and fill new orders that came in afterhours in our phone system. After the trucks are loaded, around 8/8:30, I’ll focus on the warehouse. I work with 3-4 people and assign them jobs and the stations they will work at to fulfill orders for the next day.

Afterwards I’ll fill out necessary paperwork, file documents, and go through my daily checklist. I’ll support my team on stations and fill the walk-in orders we receive daily. There’s no down time during the day; there’s always cylinders to fill and maintenance to do in the plant. I’ll end my day by taking inventory and shutting down the plant with my team.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

The most challenging part of the job is receiving a call from our delivery truck driver when they have a breakdown during their route. For situations like this, I have to coordinate a tow truck, which sometimes requires pulling one of my guys out of the Production team to help out. Things like that can be challenging at times as it can interrupt processes, but we always find a way to shift accordingly with minimal disruption.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy everything about my job! I like to multi-task, so I enjoy managing different aspects of the company and the day-to-day activities involved. Whether it’s customer service, maintenance, training, or processes, if I have the time to do it, I’ll do it. I like to keep busy and when I’m busy, I feel very satisfied with my job because it makes me feel like I accomplished a lot that day and gave back to the company in a sense.

How do you go above and beyond for your customers?

Sometimes customers are in a time-crunch or against short-term deadlines. For example, a customer may need equipment replaced on their system and may require custom ordering parts, which can take up to a couple of weeks to receive. If we can’t hit their deadline for any reason, I’m always able to find alternative solutions for my customers. A big company can quote them a few thousand dollars to get the job done when I can find an easier solution, done just as well, at a fraction of the cost. If it’s ordering a part next-day or going out to the store to buy it myself, I always give my customers different options in order to get the job done as quickly as possible and at the best rate.

I’m not looking to make money on the parts; I’m looking to retain their business. For example, I visited a doctor who had an outside technician do some work on his gas lines, which resulted in a gas leak. I drove over and analyzed the setup and I told him it’s not a problem; I can fix the issue and just charge for parts and my time if he continued to be an Air Source customer. The doctor really liked this and said if you do this for me, I’ll stay with you because of the quality service I’ve received over the years. For us this is a win-win; we solved the issue for him at low cost and he’s a satisfied long-term customer.

 

Conclusion

If you have questions about your commercial gas system, our experts like Cesar are here to help you get your installations properly set up. We understand you don’t want to spend a lot of money on your commercial gas installation. To accommodate our customers, we offer low-cost, quality solutions so they can focus on running their business.

Air Source Industries provides high quality industrial gases and medical grade gases to local businesses in Orange and Los Angeles counties. If you’re a business looking to switch over to a new gas provider, Air Source Industries has you covered. We make the transition process smooth and handle all of the installation for you with no downtime. Just call our friendly staff at (562) 426-4017 or fill out our get a quote form to get started.