Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls International is an American
Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in around 2,000 locations across six continents. , it was listed as 389th in the Fortune Global 500; in 2017, it became ineligible for the Fortune 500, as it was headquartered outside the U.S.

The company was formed via the merger of American company the original incarnation of Johnson Controls with Tyco International, announced on 25 January 2016. The merger led to the avoidance of taxation on foreign market operations and a financial windfall for the CEO of Johnson Controls at that time, Alex Molinaroli.Stephen Gandell.
You Won't Believe How Much Johnson Controls' CEO Is Making on the Tyco Deal
. ''Fortune'' 25 January 2016.

History

In 1883, Warren S. Johnson, a professor at the Whitewater Normal School (now University of Wisconsin–Whitewater) in Whitewater, Wisconsin, received a patent for the first electric room thermostat. His invention helped launch the building control industry and was the impetus for a new company. Johnson and a group of Milwaukee investors led by William Plankinton incorporated the Johnson Electric Service Company in 1885 to manufacture, install and service automatic temperature regulation systems for buildings. After Johnson's death in 1911, the company decided to focus on its temperature control business for nonresidential buildings.

In 1970, the company took over clock manufacturer Standard Electric Time Company. The company was renamed Johnson Controls in 1974. In 1978, Johnson Controls acquired battery company Globe-Union. That same year, the company divested itself of the Standard Electric Time Company and sold it to Faraday. In 1985, Johnson Controls acquired automotive seating companies Hoover Universal and Ferro Manufacturing.

During the 2008–2009 recession, the company's president, Keith Wandell, lobbied Congress for a bailout of the companies that Johnson supplied. The Johnson Controls plant in Lakeshore, Ontario, closed in late March 2010 and the property was sold. In 2013, Stephen Roell retired and Alex Molinaroli took his position as CEO and chairman of the board.

Subsequent history

On 31 October 2016, the former Johnson Controls Automotive Experience division was spun off as a separate, publicly traded company, Adient, and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In March 2017, it was announced that Scott Safety, its safety gear business, would be bought by 3M for $2 billion.

On 1 September 2017, George Oliver was appointed as Chairman and CEO, an acceleration by 6 months from the original plans.

On 12 May 2021, Johnson Controls completed the acquisition of Silent-Aire. (Silent-Aire was a Canadian firm that specialized in data center cooling systems. The deal was structured as follows: Johnson Controls paid $630 million upfront, and additional payments were made contingent upon reaching certain milestones, with total price capped at $870 million.)

In October 2021, it was announced that Johnson Controls had picked Ava Robotics to power its new 'Tyco Security Robot'. This fully autonomous security robot includes sensors, touchscreen and integrates two Tyco Illustra cameras to bring access control, video surveillance and security robotics together.

Women's work rights

In 1982, Johnson Controls enacted what it called a " fetal protection policy", which denied women the right to work on the battery production line because of the potential harm to a fetus they might conceive. Women were allowed to work on the production line only if they could prove that "... their inability to bear children had been medically documented."

In April 1984, the United Automobile Workers sued Johnson Controls on behalf of three employees. These employees were Mary Craig, who had chosen to be sterilized to avoid losing her job, Elsie Nason, a 50-year-old divorcee, who had suffered a loss of compensation when she was transferred from a high paying job that exposed her to lead, and Donald Penney, who had been denied a request for a leave of absence for the purpose of lowering his blood lead levels because he intended to become a father. The case was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on 10 October 1990 and was decided on 20 March 1991. The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. This was a landmark ruling because it affirmed that "... it is no more appropriate for the courts than it is for individual employers to decide whether a woman's reproductive role is more important to herself and her family than her economic role."

Business units

The company's operations are segmented into two business units: Building Efficiency and Global WorkPlace Solutions.

Building Technologies and Solutions

The Building Technologies and Solutions business unit designs, produces, installs and services heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, industrial refrigeration, building management systems, fire and security systems and mechanical equipment for commercial and residential buildings. The brands produced under this business unit are York, TempMaster, Metasys, Panoptix, Frick and Sabroe. This unit also works with organizations to reduce the energy consumption and operating costs of their buildings. This includes retrofitting existing buildings such as the Empire State Building and working on maximizing efficiency in new construction such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Building Technologies & Solutions is the company's longest-running business unit, dating to 1885 when Johnson founded the Johnson Electric Service Company after patenting the electric thermostat in 1883. As of 2012, the business unit operated from 700 branch offices in more than 150 countries.

Johnson Controls was one of the defendants in a multimillion-dollar federal court lawsuit in San Juan, Puerto Rico in a case where 98 people perished and 140 were injured in a fire at the DuPont Plaza Hotel and its casino on New Year's Eve, 31 December 1986. The plaintiffs claimed that Johnson Controls sold and installed an energy management system that failed to give early warning of the fire. After nine months of trial, the company and its energy management system were absolved of blame when the court issued a directed verdict. When this trial was completed the plaintiffs had accumulated approximately $220,908,549.00 in damages as a result of various settlements and a jury verdict against some other defendants.

Former business units

Power Solutions

This unit was sold to Brookfield Business Partners and re-made into a new company, Clarios, as of 1 May 2019.

The Power Solutions business unit designs and manufactures automotive batteries for passenger cars, heavy and light duty trucks, utility vehicles, motorcycles, golf carts and boats. It supplies more than one third of the world's lead-acid batteries to automakers and aftermarket retailers including Wal-Mart, Sears, Toyota, and BMW. Lead acid battery brands produced under this business unit include Continental, OPTIMA, Heliar, LTH, Delkor and VARTA automotive batteries. This part of the company also manufactures Lithium-ion cells and complete battery systems to power hybrid and electric vehicles such as the Ford Fusion and Daimler's S-Class 400. Additionally, it manufactures Absorbent Glass Matt (AGM) and Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB) batteries to power Start-Stop vehicles such as the Chevy Malibu and Ford Fusion. As of 2012, the business unit operated from 60 locations worldwide. On 13 November 2018 Joh