UTC Climate, Controls & Security Opens Center of Excellence in Culoz
UTC becomes Ain’s largest private employer
Today, UTC Climate, Controls & Security officially opened its Center of Excellence for Airside air treatment and indoor air quality in Culoz, Ain, France. The new Center for Excellence includes two research and development facilities and a test laboratory, which focus on product innovation to shorten new product development and improve energy performance and user comfort. UTC Climate, Controls & Security is a unit of United Technologies (NYSE:UTX).
The new Center of Excellence is UTC’s second heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) center in the region. The business’ Montluel Center of Excellence for chillers and heat pumps supports chiller innovation and production, with a focus on new generation, environmentally responsible refrigerants. With two factories, two research and development centers and a test facility between the two sites, UTC Climate, Controls & Security is now Ain’s largest private employer.
Following its 2015 acquisition of CIAT, UTC Climate, Controls & Security invested more than $40 million in its Culoz and Montluel facilities to offer customers a larger product portfolio and the most innovative HVAC solutions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Acquiring CIAT was a strategic move and allowed us to strengthen our heating, ventilating and air conditioning range, as well as our competitiveness and ability to innovate,” said Didier Da Costa, president, HVAC Europe, UTC Climate, Controls & Security. “We have invested significantly in the Culoz and Montluel sites and they have become complementary production and design sites, allowing further improvement of our products and our ability to serve our customers.”
Both Center of Excellence sites recently underwent industrial transformations to support the company’s focus on sustainable innovation. “The environmental impact was an important consideration of the site transformation, as we no longer use fossil energy thanks to a biomass-boiler heating system with advanced filters,” said Da Costa. “The site also reduced water consumption by 40 percent while achieving a waste recycling rate of 75 percent.”
The grand opening was attended by employees and local leaders.
About UTC Climate, Controls & Security
UTC Climate, Controls & Security is a leading provider of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, building controls and automation, and fire and security systems leading to safer, smarter, sustainable and high-performance buildings. UTC Climate, Controls & Security is a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.CCS.UTC.com or follow @UTC_CCS on Twitter.