Japan's Daikin opens mammoth AC plant deep in Texas
Staff Writer |
Fittingly, Japan's global air conditioner manufacturer has opened the second largest factory in America here, where everything is bigger in Texas.
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The mammoth facility which began full production on May 24, is Daikin Industries Ltd.'s third bid to capture the U.S. market with cutting-edge Japanese eco-friendly technology.
Meanwhile, the company is carefully watching U.S. President Donald Trump’s environmental and economic policies to see if they have a chilling effect on its ambitions.
Daikin invested $450 million (about 50 billion yen) to build the new 373,000-square-meter factory, which sits on a 2-million-square-meter site, enough to hold 42 Tokyo Dome stadiums.
The plant, which trails in size only one of aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co., will manufacture every product Daikin sells in the States, including air conditioners and heaters for homes and businesses.
The company is hoping to manufacture 2 million home-use air conditioners and heaters by the end of 2020 at the factory, which is sited in a Houston suburb, while employing up to 8,000 workers.
Modern air conditioning was invented in the United States in 1902, and the country still boasts one of the largest markets for the technology.
Daikin has had the desire to be successful in America for decades, according to Noriyuki Inoue, the company's board chairman.
In the United States, a central air-conditioning system that requires large-scale equipment is common, unlike in Japan, where one smaller unit is typically placed in each room.
The American market is huge, but also competitive and exclusive. Major American companies have built extensive sales networks here, and the Japanese company has twice failed to tap into the market.
For its third foray, Daikin acquired America’s biggest home air conditioner and heating producer, Goodman Manufacturing Co., in 2012 to secure a firm foothold. ■