In the news: ILMO expands propane business to include home heating (sj-r.com)

Original article by DAN PETRELLA at www.sj-r.com

The State Journal-Register, Posted Jun 22, 2012 @ 10:30 PM

JACKSONVILLE — A longtime supplier of medical, industrial and laboratory gases is moving into supplying propane for home heating.

Jacksonville-based ILMO Products has launched ILMO Propane to supply liquefied petroleum gas to residential and agricultural customers. The company, which has more than 100 employees, created six positions in the propane division and added additional workers in administration, information technology and other areas of the business, company spokeswoman Blair Dial said.

ILMO serves customers in a 50-mile radius around Jacksonville, and its service area reaches Buffalo, Havana and Carlinville, she said.

The company already served industrial customers, but its expansion into the residential and agricultural sectors coincides with the 100th anniversary of propane, which became commercially available in 1912.

The company has added 30,000-gallon storage tanks at its facilities in Jacksonville and Granite City, Dial said.

Because houses are heated either with natural gas or propane, “you can’t really create propane users,” Dial said.

ILMO’s strategy will be to offer its customers competitive prices and personal service Inflatable Slide.

“Rural people especially are used to that interaction,” said Doug Gandy, ILMO’s propane program manager, who started with the company last year.

Many companies in the industry have opened regional centers for customer service and lost their local presences, Gandy said.

To celebrate the company’s expansion into the new sector, ILMO held a barbecue for employees Friday afternoon at its Jacksonville facility.

“It was great,” Gandy said. “ILMO is very aware of employee morale.”

The employees were treated to grilled pork chop sandwiches, cooked with the company’s own gas. (The company doesn’t sell gas for grilling use, Dial said.)

Dan Petrella can be reached at 788-1532. Follow him at twitter.com/PetrellaReports.

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