Johnson Controls, the globally renowned company in smart, healthy and sustainable building solutions, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the company’s commercial HVAC manufacturing plant in Norman, Oklahoma, USA.
The 900,000 square-feet facility, known as Johnson Controls Rooftop Center of Excellence, serves as the company’s flagship location for industry research, manufacturing and testing of commercial rooftop units.
Johnson Controls Rooftop Center of Excellence
In 1971, the facility shipped its first HVAC system, which was a pivotal milestone for the plant and the beginning of its long history of HVAC manufacturing and innovation. It was originally owned by Westinghouse, from 1971-1981 and subsequently purchased by YORK in 1981, which was acquired by Johnson Controls in 2005.
“Over the last 50 years, there has been continuous improvement at the Norman facility to modernize and expand the plant, automate the manufacturing process, improve safety and ensure our products are built to the highest quality standards possible for our customers,” said Vicki Davis, Program Management Director, West region, at Johnson Controls.
commercial rooftop units switch to refrigerant R-454B
Vicki Davis adds, “These improvements will make it possible for us to ensure all commercial rooftop units meet and exceed DOE 2023 energy efficiency requirements, and will utilize the low-GWP refrigerant R-454B by 2025, to minimize our customers’ environmental impact and energy use.”
The most notable expansion that the Norman facility underwent was in April 2019. The facility now features nearly 400,000 square-feet of incremental laboratory and manufacturing space, which includes a two-story, 52-foot high testing lab, which is roughly the size of one-and-a-half football fields.
Extensive laboratory to conduct on-site development
The extensive laboratory allows Johnson Controls to conduct on-site development, regulatory compliance, performance, safety, and reliability testing, including the ability to test a 150-ton rooftop unit, in climates ranging from -30ºF to 130ºF. The 2019 expansion also included renovations to more than 150,000 square-feet of office and meeting space.
Since the facility has been operated by Johnson Controls, approximately 650,000 HVAC systems have been manufactured for Johnson Controls, under its brands of YORK, TempMaster, Luxaire, Coleman, Champion and Fraser Johnston brands. Today, approximately 1,100 people are employed at the facility.
Pioneer in decarbonization of buildings
With a history of making buildings more sustainable for 135 years, Johnson Controls is a worldwide company in the effort to decarbonize buildings. This includes developing solutions to facilitate the transition to electric-based heating and the development of OpenBlue, a suite of connected solutions that help drive building system efficiencies.
