About Catalina Cylinders

With manufacturing facilities located in California and Virginia, Catalina Cylinders is positioned to continually support and supply customers worldwide.

Our Vision

To be the highest value cylinder manufacturer in the world. Valued for our people, products and performance.

Our Mission

To be the preferred supplier for our customers by delivering world class products, first class service, outstanding value and continuous innovations.

Our Quality Policy

Catalina Cylinders is committed to supplying products and services which meet all statutory, regulatory and customer requirements for quality and delivery. We further commit to involve our employees and allocate resources to continually improve the effectiveness of our quality management systems in the pursuit of error free performance.

Company Background

In 1953, a small technical impact company named Cliff Impact was founded in Wickliffe, OH. Founders Al Katz and Chuck Wright derived the company name from its town. Cliff produced aluminum housings for Navy proximity fuses. “The original product was made from tubing, but we thought it could be made by impacting,” recalls Katz. “We made eight million over five or six years.” Chuck Wright noted that Cliff started with six employees, but grew rapidly over the following decade.

In 1965, an aerospace forging company named Aluminum Precision Products (APP) was founded by Philip S. Keeler, in Santa Ana, California and in April that same year, Parker Hannifin acquired Cliff Impact. In 1970, Parker relocated Cliff to Eastlake, OH and by 1977 Cliff had begun producing its first aluminum high pressure gas cylinders.

In 1986, Catalina Cylinders Corporation was founded and began producing SCUBA cylinders primarily for use off the California coast. Within a year, Catalina expanded into CO2 and Oxygen cylinders. In January 1992 Catalina was acquired by APP and its 2500 ton press was moved from Huntington Beach to where it runs today in Garden Grove, CA. In 1995 Catalina purchased Parker Hannifin’s Cliff Impact facilities. In 1997, Catalina relocated the Cliff facilities to Hampton, Virginia, moving into a vacant Mercedes-Benz truck-assembly plant, to create the Catalina Cylinders Cliff Impact Division, which is known today as Catalina East.

Throughout the following decade under the direction of Mr. Keeler, his sons Greg and Roark Keeler, Tom Newell (President), Jeff Cunningham (VP/General Manager), and Rick Hill (Plant Manager), Catalina Cylinders grew to become a leading global supplier in the aluminum cylinder industry with facilities located on both the East and West coasts. Over this time, much of Catalina’s old equipment was improved and newer more efficient equipment was added. In 2000 the adjacent industrial building was acquired which doubled the footprint of the Garden Grove facility. A small high speed press was soon after brought online for producing small medical cylinders, and eventually a 3500 ton press was installed to produce the largest of Catalina’s aluminum cylinders. Catalina’s portfolio expanded and included cylinders for the markets of SCUBA, Industrial gas, Specialty and Calibration gas, Beverage CO2, Medical Oxygen, Fire & Rescue, Nitrous Oxide, Low Pressure Cylinders, and Technical Impacts.

In 2009, with Mr. Keeler’s passing, APP and Catalina Cylinders became an ESOP company (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). By this time Catalina had grown from 12 to over 200 employees, and had secured a 230,000 sq. ft. footprint between Garden Grove, CA and Hampton, VA.

In February 2015, Catalina Cylinders Inc. split off to become its own corporate entity and ESOP, bringing a new pride of ownership to the Catalina employees. Today Catalina is led by Greg Keeler (Owner), Roark Keeler (Owner/Executive VP Finance), David Silva (CEO/President), who along with their executive board collectively comprise over 100 years of experience in the aluminum cylinder industry.

Today Catalina is a leading manufacturer of high and low pressure aluminum compressed gas cylinders. Catalina’s production capacity is split evenly between its East and West coast USA facilities, which collectively supply to more than 100 countries. Catalina’s aluminum cylinders store gases for a wide variety of applications including ultra-high purity gases for electronics manufacturing, specialty and calibration gas, industrial gas, medical oxygen, food and beverage grade CO2, SCUBA, and fire & rescue.