Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. (Operator instructions) We’ll pause for a moment to assemble our roster. We'll take our first question from Roger Read from Natexis Bleichroeder.
Roger Read – Natexis Bleichroeder
Hi. Good morning, gentlemen.
Vince Volpe
Good morning, Rog [ph].
Roger Read – Natexis Bleichroeder
Good quarter guys. Unfortunately, we're all having the focus on the future and not talk too much about the past. I guess, the aftermarket is the one that – where you have – in general has less visibility and understand historically very dependable business. But with relatively lower refining utilization or even absolutely lower refining utilization, and the chemical industry, which if I remember correctly, creates a certain level of activity for you along the Gulf Coast also seeing some slowdowns. How does that affect the general repair and maintenance business or the sales of spare parts into those businesses?
Vincent Volpe
Well, I think – the good news, Roger, is – first of all, thanks for the comment on the quarter. I hope the performance wasn't wasted. At least we generated plenty of cash, and that’s helpful.
I think the short story on the question really is, overall, we think that the aftermarket is going to hold up fairly well, okay? When you've got 95,000 plus units out there running worldwide, you can absorb slowdowns in one area if other areas pick up. And interestingly enough, that is what we're seeing. So the geography you picked on, I think you're pretty accurate. We're seeing a slowdown in this part – traditionally, in this part of the country and in the downstream applications. On the other hand, places like Europe, Middle East, and Asia – that we’re making up for that.
And so, there are different philosophies about – particularly in downstream, when your crash spreads are down, there are different philosophies about what to do. Some people just want to cut back and spend nothing. Other people realize that it might not be a bad idea to actually accelerate turnarounds. And so worldwide, we're seeing a little bit of both of that. So I think – in the quantum, I think that we feel like the aftermarket’s going to hold up fairly well. And this is not the first quarter call, okay? But the first month and a half of the year here, we don’t have any reason to believe otherwise. So it looks like its going to be okay so far, Rog. I mean it’s early days this year, but that’s all I can give you right now in terms of reading the tea leaves.
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