Page 14 - Climate Control News magazine July-August 2022

World News
$230 million investment in manufacturing
DAIKIN COMFORT TECHNOLOGIES NORTH AMERICA, WILL BUILD A 761,000 SQUARE-FOOT MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN MEXICO THAT WILL BE FULLY OPERATIONAL IN 2024.
Investing in
refrigeration
TRANSPORT REFRIGERATION COMPA- NY Thermo King has opened a new R&D cen- tre adjacent to its factory in Galway, Ireland.
The R&D centre, with capacity for up to 70 engineers, joins the existing R&D centre in Es- sen, Germany. It is part of parent company Trane’s more than $100m investment to deliv- er fully electric products in every segment of the cold chain in Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) by 2023 and in the Americas by 2025.
Thermo King president, Francesco Incalza, said the new R&D centre generates another space for innovation, creativity and learning.
“The technologies developed on-site will add to the more than 40,000-strong fleet of Thermo King electric and fuel-efficient trans- port refrigeration units delivering food, vac- cines, medicines and other critical goods across Europe and beyond.”
An all-electric Thermo King truck.
THE ESTIMATED $US230 million investment is a pillar of an aggressive growth strategy in response to in- creasing demand for Daikin products in North America and Latin America, which include the Daikin, Goodman®, and Amana® brands.
President & CEO of Daikin North
America, Satoru Akama, said Daikin
is intensely focused on becoming the North American HVAC industry leader in all aspects, from production and innovation to quality and customer service.
“In order to meet the increased demand for our technologies and products throughout North America and Latin America, and from a business continuity standpoint, it is absolutely
LEFT: CEO of Daikin North America, Satoru Akama.
necessary to expand our manufactur- ing presence into Mexico,” he said.
Daikin already has a manufactur- ing presence in Mexico, after migrat- ing the production of some modular blower product lines to a
200,000-square-foot repurposed facility.
That facility will supplement production at Dai- kin Texas Technology Park (DTTP) with five prod- uct lines once it becomes fully operational in 2023. The new facility will localise production of Daikin's mini split and residential inverter prod- ucts that are currently imported from manufac-
turing sites in Asia.
Maersk builds cold store superhub
MAERSK CONTINUES TO integrate end-to- end cold chains with the announcement of a new 45,000 sqm cold chain facility in the Wai- kato District, the fourth largest region in New Zealand.
By integrating the state-of-the-art cold store with the depot and intermodal connections, Mae- rsk will provide better logistics solutions for both import and export customers, catering for their increasing needs for more efficient, tech-enabled and temperature-controlled supply chains.
Strategically located in the Ruakura Super- hub, the new facility has easy access to the road network between Hamilton and Auckland.
It is next to the new SH1 dual carriage way, the key transport corridor for the Waikato re-
gion. The site is also adjacent to the Ruakura Inland Port, providing a seamless link to the Ports of Tauranga and Auckland, allowing the facility to better service both the export regions and the key import markets in the North Island.
Upon completion, the new facility will have more than 16,000 sqm of fully convertible tem-
perature-controlled space with temperatures ranging from -25°C to 15°C.
It can provide storage for over 21,000 pallets of cold chain products. Meanwhile, through in- tegrating the facility with the depot and inter- modal solutions, Maersk can offer end-to-end storage, fulfilment, distribution and inland transportation services for customers.
The facility will feature advanced energy management including an environmentally friendly CO2 cooling plant, solar energy, rain- water harvesting and a low carbon policy for the construction. It targets to achieve an audit- ed 5 Star Green Star rating in New Zealand.
Maersk is building a cold store in New Zealand.
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