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EXIDE TECHNOLOGIES’ CEO TIM VARGO

New Exide leadership

looks to lead/lithium

innovation for its future

Tim Vargo, the new CEO at Exide Technologies, says innovation will be
a key pillar in keeping the battery giant ahead of its competitors. This
may be as much to do with pushing advances in its lithium product

range as placing increased focus on customer service to cement its
position as a quality supplier of regular and advanced lead batteries.

It has had to emerge twice from Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy, and has been fined
millions of dollars for the Vernon re-
cycling plant pollution — but Exide
Technologies refuses to stay down,
instead constantly coming back with
new products, new acquisitions —
and new CEOs.
Latest in the top job, brought in last
November, is Tim Vargo, a seasoned
professional with more than 40
years’ leadership experience in the
automotive supply chain and process
improvement arena.
He’s got an impressive track record.
As president and COO of AutoZone,
the largest aftermarket automotive
parts and accessories company in the
US, Vargo increased the number of
stores from 1,000 to 3,250 before he
moved to Exide.
Sales quadrupled under his tenure,
from $1.5 billion to more than $5
billion. new demands from customers and The drive into lithium
It wouldn’t be a ridiculous environmental regulations. And one of these innovation areas
assumption to make that Vargo is “We are not operating in a ‘one size look set to be in the way Exide ad-
looking to do something similar at fits all’ industry, meaning that we have vances its portfolio of lithium prod-
Exide, where he replaces Vic Koelsch, to develop the best battery for each ucts.
who had been in place since May market we serve, taking into account In 2013, while the company was
2015 and who remains in an advisory numerous industry trends and factors filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in
capacity. that impact battery operation. the US, in Europe it was turning its
But the question is what to do. If “I believe the innovations we are sights to lithium.
Vargo’s words sound like other voices bringing to our customers will really The GNB Industrial Power team put
in the industry they are said with set Exide apart from our competition. itself at the forefront of this burgeoning
sincerity and passion.
“Exide truly excels in innovation,”
he says. “We have a 130-year history, In terms of the future, we clearly see a role for
which was built by the merging of lithium-ion because of all the advantages these
many battery companies, each with
their own rich history of innovation. batteries offer. But lithium is just part of our product
“Innovation is critical in our range. Our battery portfolio will continue to include
industry to ensure that batteries both lead acid and lithium ion options.
continually become ‘smarter’ to meet

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