Andrew Filson
President / CoorsTek
Andrew “Andy” Filson, President of Semi Fabs, Medical, Aerospace & Defense, and Industrials, gives CEO North America Magazine an exclusive insight into the unique operations at CoorsTek and the lifetime commitment his company has made to its customers.
CoorsTek, the leading global manufacturer of technical ceramics – provides its customers with solutions to complex technical challenges. Technical ceramics, more robust than steel materials, play a significant role in our daily lives. CoorsTek serves a wide range of essential sectors by creating new materials and technologies. Their portfolio lists thousands of products, from orthopedic implants – to ceramic substrates – to the ceramic armor plate inside bullet-proof vests. CoorsTek products offer excellent resistance to wear, corrosion and high temperatures – making them ideal for harsh operating environments and extremely popular with customers.
From Humble Beginnings
Despite having over 5,000 employees and spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia, it’s hard not to refer to CoorsTek as a family business. Today, 114 years after its inception, the company is still owned and operated by members of the Coors Family, with the fifth-generation of leadership continuing to grow the business and honor the historic legacy handed down to them.
The Coors legacy began in 1873 in Golden, Colorado when Prussian immigrant and former Brewer’s apprentice Adolph Coors founded his brewery. Despite pressure from Prohibitionists to close factory operations in the early 1900s, the brewing company survived – decades later becoming the largest single-site brewery in the world. However, this early political pressure forced Coors to switch gears in 1910, when he branched into the ceramics industry to keep his brewery afloat. With a stroke of luck, shortly after he entered the industry, Germany – the market leader in ceramics at the time – was faced with an embargo and was unable to ship their products to the United States. Therefore, the ceramics market was left wide open for Coors to build the company we now know as CoorsTek.
“What’s exciting for us is we have one of, if not the largest portfolio of materials, products and process capabilities in the ceramic space to quickly participate in, and possibly shape, a world that is innovating faster and faster.”
Becoming Part of The Legacy
Andy Filson joined the CoorsTek family as COO in 2017. Back then, he tells us, the new role inspired questions; “The strategy that we had to figure out was: How can we more efficiently and reliably exceed customer expectations?” Due to this question, Filson explains, seeking operating excellence became a key component in his company’s strategy. A “continuous improvement culture” was fostered within CoorsTek and they implemented the Hub Strategy – a tough stance on shifting resources to have greater economy of scale – “To put the focus on technology, innovation and integrated development.”
“As a capital-intensive business, we make decisions to ensure we’re driving asset optimization… to be effective in not only advancing our skills needed for the future but delivering cost-effective solutions to our customers as well.”
In 2024, Filson assumed his current role of President – overseeing numerous business units including Semiconductor Fabrication, Medical, Automotive, Energy, Industrials and Aerospace & Defense. He notes, when he came to the new role, he saw several opportunities: “An ability for us to accelerate our growth … to drive greater intensity and improve monetization of our new technology and … give greater clarity of purpose.” Filson’s leadership strategy involves believing that accountability works – when his team feels a stake in the results, they can prioritize better and know what to focus on.
“We’ve expanded facilities or built brand new ones throughout Asia and the U.S, we’ve got a broadening portfolio of product development in both those regions as well as in Europe to position us not only for the growth we’re seeing in the near-term, but also the macro-trends beyond that.”
Building Strong Relationships
Andy Filson recognizes that the results we see in CoorsTek today are because of generations of hard work that came long before him. He is extremely fortunate to work in an environment where customer-client relations span over a century. “By having the relationships earlier and earlier in our customers’ own development cycle, enables us to not only win in that space – but actually steer that space. That’s not something that most can do. There are only a few Ceramics players of our size worldwide, and most of them don’t have the breadth”.
Filson acknowledges another significant difference between CoorsTek and their competition: years of research and refinement. “This takes advanced capabilities both in our labs and our pilot operations and to be able to react quite nimbly with our production facilities to an ever-demanding set of prototypes and integrated design work.”
“Our success comes from years of research, with a broad portfolio of products and manufacturing process capabilities”, he remarks, “We have over 400 formulations. We use half of the periodic table leveraging 114 years of ceramics experience, three dedicated R&D facilities across three continents, and embedded relationships with many of our 2,500 customers. They are well-known leaders in their own right in the fields they serve.”
“We truly act as one CoorsTek when it comes to certain standardization, whether it be around the suppliers we use or materials that we choose”
Big Business, Big Future
CoorsTek runs its diverse businesses from across the globe and still endeavors to nurture customers and employees from a grassroots level, all the way to the top. CoorsTek CEO Timothy Coors’ motto says it all; “People are our most valuable asset. We invest in our people. And we strive to create an environment where every person has an equal opportunity to contribute and advance at CoorsTek.”
The company was recently awarded “2024 U.S. Best Managed Company,” which recognizes the achievements of management teams in Private U.S. companies. 2024 has also seen CoorsTek named an official Great Place to Work™, a prestigious certification based on what current employees say about their experiences.
When asked to give his own insight into the future of CoorsTek, Filson tells us that much of what lies ahead relies on predicting market trends. “We think about where these markets are going, what the customers want and who those customers are.” He admits he sees no shortage of customer demand in the areas he manages. “We’re continuously and relentlessly finding ways to serve those needs in the marketplace.” To Filson, the future is filled with endless possibilities for CoorsTek, as they continue to partner with game-changing companies that are driving a rapid change in technology and how innovation is applied to day-to-day life. “We’re excited about our contributions to these market trends, near- and long-term” he concludes.
