Producer
Chart Industries, Inc.
Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS; Ball Ground, GA; ~$4B revenue post-Howden) is the world's dominant manufacturer of cryogenic equipment for LNG, including peak-shaving plant liquefiers, brazed aluminum heat exchangers (BAHX), cold boxes, storage tanks, and LNG vaporizers. Chart's Industrial & Commercial Energy (ICE) division is the primary vendor for utility LNG peak-shaving plant equipment in North America. Chart acquired Howden (Glasgow-based industrial compressor and fan manufacturer) in 2023 for $4.4B, adding compression technology to its cryogenic heat exchanger and storage portfolio — making Chart a near-complete LNG equipment systems integrator. Chart also produces the CAIRE/MVE biomedical cryogenic cylinders and acquired La Crosse Cooler and other brands. The La Crosse, WI cryogenic division manufactures vacuum-insulated storage vessels. Chart is the single most critical equipment supplier for US utility LNG peak-shaving — if a New England utility needs to expand or replace a peak-shaving liquefier, Chart is essentially the only qualified domestic source.
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Inputs supplied
4
Goods downstream
9
Facilities
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Stories
What they make
9 inputs Chart Industries, Inc. supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
energy
LNG peak-shaving and import facilities →
manufactured
Liquid oxygen cryogenic tanker trucks →
manufactured
Liquid oxygen cryogenic tanker trucks →
manufactured
Helium ISO containers and road tankers →
manufactured
Vacuum-insulated helium dewars and ISO containers →
manufactured
Cryogenic cold boxes and heat exchangers →
chemical
Atmospheric Air →
manufactured
Cryogenic air separation unit (ASU) →
manufactured
Bulk liquid oxygen storage tanks (dewars/vessels) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Chart Industries, Inc. makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
9 facilities
Chart Industries Ball Ground GA — Heat Transfer →
USGeorgia · headquarters
Corporate headquarters and heat transfer equipment manufacturing; produces brazed aluminum heat exchangers used in helium liquefaction cold boxes.
Chart Industries Brazed Aluminum Heat Exchanger Plant (La Crosse, WI) →
USWisconsin · manufacturing
Chart Industries primary brazed aluminum heat exchanger (BAHX) manufacturing facility in La Crosse, Wisconsin. This plant manufactures the cold box heat exchangers that are the thermal core of cryogenic air separation units — the component that cools air to -185°C via the Linde-Hampson or Claude cycle. Chart's BAHX is installed inside ASUs built by Linde, Air Liquide, and Air Products globally. The La Crosse facility is a critical subsystem chokepoint: it makes the hardware that goes inside competitors' branded ASU products. Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries Cold Box / BAHX Plant (Tewkesbury, UK) →
GBGloucestershire · manufacturing
Chart Industries cold box and brazed aluminum heat exchanger manufacturing facility in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire (formerly part of the Howden/Renfrew supply chain). Serves European ASU market with BAHX cold boxes. Works with Linde Engineering and Air Liquide E&C as a key subsystem supplier. Second major Chart BAHX production site alongside La Crosse WI. Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries Cryogenic Equipment Plant (Ball Ground, GA) →
USGeorgia · manufacturing
Chart Industries primary cryogenic equipment manufacturing campus in Ball Ground, Cherokee County, Georgia. Produces vacuum-insulated cryogenic semi-trailer tankers (Greenfield brand), bulk storage vessels, and industrial cold boxes. Ball Ground is Chart's largest and most vertically integrated U.S. manufacturing site. An estimated 40–50% of global cryogenic tanker trailers manufactured here or at La Crosse WI. Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries Cryogenic Equipment Plant (La Crosse, WI) →
USWisconsin · manufacturing
Chart Industries La Crosse, WI cryogenic manufacturing facility; produces vacuum-insulated LNG storage tanks, vaporizers, and associated cryogenic equipment for utility peak-shaving plant construction. One of Chart's primary US production sites for small and mid-scale LNG storage vessels used by local distribution companies (LDCs). Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries HQ / Manufacturing Complex (Ball Ground, GA) →
USGeorgia · manufacturing
Chart Industries headquarters and manufacturing complex in Ball Ground, Cherokee County, GA. Produces brazed aluminum heat exchangers (BAHX), cold boxes, LNG loading arms, and large cryogenic process equipment for LNG peak-shaving plant construction. Chart's BAHX units are the core heat transfer components in most small-to-mid-scale LNG liquefiers. Adjacent engineering offices serve the global LNG equipment market. Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries La Crosse WI — Cryogenic Equipment →
USWisconsin · manufacturing
Primary manufacturing site for vacuum-insulated cryogenic equipment (dewars, ISO containers, MRI service dewars); primary supply for hospital helium infrastructure globally.
Chart Industries MVE Cryogenic Plant (La Crosse, WI) →
USWisconsin · manufacturing
Chart Industries MVE (Micro/Medical Vessel Engineering) manufacturing facility in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Produces smaller cryogenic storage vessels, CAIRE medical oxygen systems, and portable cryogenic equipment. Also assembles smaller trailer and cylinder systems. Complementary to Ball Ground GA for smaller cryogenic packaging. Source: https://www.chartindustries.com/Locations
Chart Industries Theodore Facility (ex-Worthington) →
USAlabama · manufacturing
Acquired from Worthington Industries. ~300,000 sq ft adjacent to Port of Mobile. Primary US production site for cryogenic transport trailers. Chart increased capacity 5× within 18 months of 2020 acquisition.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
LNG / Cryogenic Energy (Dominant US Equipment Supplier)
45%Industrial Gases & Air Separation Equipment
25%Specialty Products (MVE Biomedical Cryogenic)
15%Howden Rotating Equipment
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
Chart Industries' vacuum-insulated cryogenic vessel technology serves four completely distinct critical infrastructure applications from the same engineering platform: (1) LNG peak-shaving energy infrastructure — Chart vacuum-insulated storage tanks hold liquefied natural gas at -162°C for New England utility peak demand; ~60% of US LNG peak-shaving equipment; a winter heating crisis depends on these tanks working; (2) Hospital medical oxygen supply — Chart liquid oxygen cryogenic tanker trucks (~45-60% US market) and bulk storage tanks supply liquid oxygen to hospitals that vaporize it for patient respiratory therapy and surgery; (3) Biomedical cryogenic storage — MVE liquid nitrogen vessels (-196°C) store biological material in fertility clinics, biobanks, blood banks, and cord blood repositories; (4) Semiconductor helium supply — Chart helium ISO containers and road tankers (~40% global market) transport liquid helium (-269°C) from Qatar and US producers to semiconductor fab cooling systems and hospital MRI machines. The same Ball Ground, Georgia company that keeps New England warm in winter also stores human embryos for IVF clinics, delivers oxygen to ICU patients, and transports the cryogen that cools semiconductor fab equipment.
Chart Industries, Inc. ↗Concentration2023
Chart Industries is the dominant global OEM for cryogenic transport trailers, but its Ball Ground, GA manufacturing campus was exposed to potential disruption when Chart completed a $4.4 billion acquisition of Howden (industrial rotating equipment) in March 2023 — a deal that stretched Chart's balance sheet to ~$4.6B in net debt and triggered a credit rating downgrade. Should Chart face financial distress, the global cryogenic tanker supply pipeline (6–12 month lead times, no Western substitute OEM) would face a severe backlog. The industrial gas industry would be unable to expand fleet capacity for 12–24+ months during any Chart manufacturing disruption. Chart is simultaneously: the primary manufacturer of hospital oxygen storage tanks, the primary manufacturer of LOX transport trailers, the primary manufacturer of LNG fueling equipment, and the primary manufacturer of hydrogen storage vessels — all critical energy and healthcare infrastructure concentrated in one company.
Chart Industries Investor Relations ↗Origin2023
Chart Industries' acquisition of Howden in 2023 for USD 4.4 billion combined two of the most historically significant industrial equipment lineages in the world: Chart's cryogenic vessels and heat exchangers (tracing to the development of industrial cryogenics in the 1950s-1960s) with Howden's forced-draft fan and compressor heritage tracing to 1854 Glasgow. James Howden invented the forced draft fan for marine steam engines in the 1880s — a technology that improved steam engine efficiency by forcing air into the firebox. Howden fans are in virtually every coal power plant built in the 20th century globally (forcing combustion air into furnaces and exhausting flue gas through stacks). The combined Chart-Howden entity is unusual: cryogenic vacuum insulation engineering (operating at -269°C, the coldest temperatures commercially achievable) and industrial fan/compressor engineering (operating at ambient to high temperatures) serve completely different physics regimes but both constitute capital infrastructure for energy systems. Chart's Ball Ground, Georgia headquarters oversees equipment that simultaneously operates at the coldest and most energetic industrial conditions.
Chart Industries, Inc. ↗