Cataler Puts Focus on Environmental Efforts

Cataler North America’s Engineering Manager Brooks Agnew portrayed his company as an “environmental business” dedicated to clean air in its making of catalytic converters. Agnew gave the Lincolnton Rotary Club an overview of the company, which opened at the Lincoln County Industrial Park in November, 2002 and now employs approximately 90 workers. Agnew underscored the historic role of catalytic converters in cleaning up the environment by recalling his early years in California when the air was visibly tainted and so polluted it forced cancellation of ball games and other activities. Today that air is clean, despite the huge increase in automobiles and other devices that no longer pollute because of the converters. Cataler not only provides converters for automobiles, but for just about every device that has a combustion engine, including weed cutters, chain saws and motorcycles. It produces 7,800 parts a day at its Lincolnton Plant in the Lincoln County Industrial Park. Cataler will soon hire approximately 20 more as it adds another shift of workers. Its current workplace is 110,000 square feet and constitutes the first phase of a three phase plan. “We’re breaking down the walls now in phase 1,” he said. Its biggest customer is Toyota of Japan, which purchases 70 percent of its converters from Cataler. Cataler is involved in the community in many ways, including participation on Adopt A School, the United Way, the YMCA, Adopt a Highway, Relay for Life, the Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity. Agnew, who has extensive training and education in engineering and who follows scientific data from space explorations, has written a book that is to be released in two weeks. The Ark of Millions of Years takes a close look at the origins of the universe based on recent revelations by the Hubble telescope and historic data to come up with its own unique conclusions.