Daikin Americas Aims to Become Continent’s No.1 HVAC Brand

The Faribault plant, which consumes 40 million pounds of steel a year, and its sister factory in Owatonna are fast growing and critical to the Japanese parent firm’s plans to make its Daikin Applied Americas a household name within the United States.

A Location to Grow

FARIBAULT – The rat-a-tat-tat of pounded steel darted across the Daikin heating and cooling equipment factory in Faribault like machine-gun fire — and it made Will Fort smile. “That hole puncher … is the sound of money!” the general manager said during a recent tour of the sprawling factory.

Throughout the space, teams of workers are busy assembling massive rooftop units that will heat, cool and vent skyscrapers, schools, factories and big box stores across the continent.

The Faribault plant, which consumes 40 million pounds of steel a year, and its sister factory in Owatonna are fast growing and critical to the Japanese parent firm’s plans to make its Daikin Applied Americas a household name within the United States.

“Just in Minnesota, we are now producing $440 million in sales a year. Ten years ago, we were half that,” said Mike Schwartz, who as CEO of Daikin Applied Americas oversees 11 U.S. locations and offices at the U.S. headquarters in Plymouth. “Our goal is to drive to the Number 1 lead position in the Americas.”

Schwartz said his growth goal is gaining traction thanks to a U.S. construction boom, replacement business and Daikin’s push toward more energy-saving products and new wireless monitors that let building crews check equipment remotely instead of having to climb to rooftops to physically inspect HVAC units.

“A lot of the core products we build here in Minnesota are ripe for growth,” Schwartz said.

Daikin Applied Americas

Headquarters: Plymouth, Minn.

CEO: Mike Schwartz

Minnesota factories: Two in Faribault, one in Owatonna.

Minnesota revenue: About $440 million.

Minnesota employment: 900; will be 1,100 by mid-2019.

U.S. locations: Minnesota (4), Texas (2), Ohio, Virginia, Arizona, New York and Florida.

U.S. business: Mostly makes heating, venting and air-conditioning equipment and chillers for North American building market. Also sells air and chemical filtration systems, chemicals and refrigerants.

Parent firm: Japan-based Daikin Industries, with 90 plants worldwide and $20 billion in global sales.

Daikin, Significant Employer

In May, it bought a second building in Faribault that will open next summer with 200 new hires. Staffing in Faribault and Owatonna already has swelled from 500 in 2013 to 900.

Minnesota employees work in shifts 24 hours a day to churn out commercial heating and cooling systems that vary from the size of a dumpster to ones bigger than a semitrailer truck.

With customer orders growing, the company needs more room and staff, Schwartz said as he watched Faribault workers feed large sheets of metal through automatic hole punchers.

Investing in U.S Plants

Daikin Applied currently employs approximately 900 people in its factories in Southern Minnesota. As such, they have become a significant employer in the region. “We’re fully invested in this community,” said Matt Alexejun, Senior Director of Human Resources for manufacturing. It’s also investing millions in its U.S. plants, buying automated machinery and boosting the energy efficiency of its HVAC systems even more.