Johnson Controls - History

History

In 1883, Warren S. Johnson, a professor at the State Normal School in Whitewater, Wisconsin, received a patent for the first electric room thermostat. His invention helped launch the building control industry and was the impetus for a new company.

Johnson and a group of Milwaukee investors incorporated the Johnson Electric Service Company in 1885 to manufacture, install and service automatic temperature regulation systems for buildings. The company was renamed Johnson Controls in 1974.

Between 1885 and 1911, Professor Johnson delved into many other areas, including electric storage batteries, steam and gas powered automobiles, huge pneumatic clock towers and wireless telegraph communication. But at his death in 1911, the company decided to focus solely on its temperature control business for nonresidential buildings.

Johnson Controls continued to develop new control technologies to help customers better manage their increasingly larger and more complex buildings. By the 1950s, for example, it was common for a large building to have hundreds of thermostats, valves, dampers and other temperature control devices installed throughout the facility, all of which had to be individually checked several times a day. To improve the efficiency of building operations staff, Johnson Controls introduced the Pneumatic Control Center, which allowed for monitoring and operating all the temperature control devices in a facility from a single point.

Johnson Controls has continued to develop new technologies. In 1972, it introduced the JC80, a minicomputer dedicated to building control. In the 1980s, Johnson Controls adopted digital control technology with its JC85, providing faster and more precise control of building systems. In the 1990s, the company pioneered open communication protocols to allow control devices from various manufacturers to share data directly. Its latest control system is the Metasys Facilities Management System.

Servicing management systems in commercial buildings is another business area for Johnson Controls. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the company expanded its services to cover mechanical and electrical equipment. The company created Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) to give customers a single source for operations and maintenance of all building systems and functions, and to ensure maximum building efficiency and reliability. Johnson Controls now provides full-time, on-site IFM staff for more than 600,000,000 square feet (56,000,000 m2) of building space around the world.

In 1978, Johnson Controls acquired Globe-Union, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of automotive batteries for both the replacement and original equipment markets. Today, Johnson Controls is the largest producer of private-label lead-acid automotive batteries in North America, and is spreading its leadership to Asia and South America. Johnson Controls manufactures automotive batteries under the Optima, Varta, LTH and Heliar brands, as well as many private-labeled brands. The company also makes batteries for emergency power back-up and telecommunication applications.

Johnson Controls entered the automotive seating and plastics machinery industries in 1985 with the acquisition of Michigan-based Hoover Universal, Inc. Hoover started making components for automotive seats in the mid-1960s. At the time, the seating business primarily manufactured individual components, like frames, tracks or cushions, according to the automakers' specifications.

Today the company has become the world's largest manufacturer of complete seats, with manufacturing plants on five continents.

In 1982, Johnson Controls enacted a fetal protection policy. This policy denied women the right to work on the battery production line because of the potential harm to a fetus they may conceive. Women were only allowed to work on the production line if they could prove that "...their inability to bear children had been medically documented." In April 1984, the United Auto Workers sued Johnson Controls on behalf of three employees. These employees were Mary Craig, who had chosen to be sterilized to avoid losing her job, Elsie Nason, a 50-year-old divorcee, who had suffered a loss of compensation when she was transferred from a high paying job that exposed her to lead, and Donald Penney, who had been denied a request for a leave of absence for the purpose of lowering his blood lead levels because he intended to become a father. This case was argued before the Supreme Court on October 10, 1990 and was decided on March 20, 1991. Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion for the court and Justices Marshall, Stevens, O'Connor, and Souter joined. Justice White filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Justices Rehnquist and Kennedy joined. Justice Scalia filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. This ruling was a landmark ruling because it affirmed that "...it is no more important for the courts than it is for individual employers to decide whether a woman's reproductive role is more important to herself and her family than her economic role."

Over the last decade, Johnson Controls has also developed comprehensive research, development, design, engineering and testing capabilities. This broad expertise is giving automakers and consumers seat systems with improved comfort, safety and technology.

Johnson Controls expanded its presence within cars and light trucks in the early 1990s by offering interior components such as headliners and door trim. It strengthened its position in interior systems through the 1996 acquisition of Prince Automotive.

Prince is known for its innovation, having introduced the first lighted vanity mirror in a car in 1972. With Prince, Johnson Controls can provide all aspects of a complete car interior, including overhead systems, floor consoles door systems, instrument panels and seat systems.