New entity to commence operations immediately

Hitachi Ltd, Hitachi Appliances and Johnson Controls Inc (JCI) announced, on October 1, the completion of their joint venture (JV) agreement, which they first entered into in January of this year, according to a press communiqué. Operations of the new entity, called Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning, commenced immediately, the communiqué added.

Giving more details about the agreement, the communiqué said that JCI acquired 60% ownership stake in Hitachi Appliances‘ global air conditioning business – excluding sales and service operations in Japan – while Hitachi Appliances retained the remaining 40%. The latter will continue to provide Hitachi-branded HVAC products in the Japanese market.

The announcement further shared that Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning has approximately 14,000 employees and 24 global locations dedicated to design, engineering and manufacturing throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America. Leading the management team of the new JV, the communiqué revealed, are Franz Cerwinka as CEO and Shinichi Iizuka as COO and President.

“We are very pleased to start operations and are anxious to serve our customers with an unmatched global network of channels and technology,” said Cerwinka. “Johnson Controls and Hitachi are a perfect match, with our complementary product lines, unparalleled brands and rich 100-year histories.”

Adding to Cerwinka’s statement, Iizuka said: “I have spent my career with Hitachi and know that combining with Johnson Controls will propel us forward to outperform the competition. Just as Hitachi and Johnson Controls have each made innovation the foundation of their separate successes, innovation will now be the cornerstone of Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning’s success.”

Through a previous OEM agreement, the communiqué said, JCI has begun selling Hitachi VRF systems in North America and recently opened a VRF training centre in Texas.