Aerospace giant to maintain ‘significant footprint’ in Charlotte following split
A unit of United Technologies, which employs over 600 in the Charlotte region, plans to maintain a “significant footprint” locally after its parent company recently acquired aviation electronics maker Rockwell Collins, and this week announced plans to split into three independent companies.
United Technologies, an industrial conglomerate based in Connecticut, announced late Monday its decision to split into three parts following its $23 billion acquisition of Rockwell Collins, which created the aerospace systems maker Collins Aerospace Systems. The three companies will be United Technologies, which will house its aerospace and defense industry supplier businesses; Otis, which makes elevators, escalators and moving walkways; and Carrier, which makes air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
Collins Aerospace has about 450 employees in Charlotte, plus about 175 in Monroe.
A goal for the new organization is “to limit disruption, and employee relocations are expected to be minimal,” Collins Aerospace spokesman Al Killeffer said in an email.
“Under Collins Aerospace, Charlotte will remain a key location as the headquarters of the new company’s mechanical systems business unit and the company will maintain a significant footprint in Charlotte,” Killeffer said.
The company said it expects the split to be completed in 2020. It did not say whether it anticipates any layoffs as a result of the split, the Associated Press reported.
Two of United Technologies Corporation’s six “strategic business units” are based in North Carolina, and the company employs more than 2,500 people throughout the state, UTC said in a statement. Founded in 1934, UTC currently employs about 205,000 worldwide, according to the AP.
The Charlotte division produces landing systems, flight controls and cargo systems, among other functions.
The company’s interiors division, based in Winston-Salem makes aircraft seating, evacuation systems, lighting, de-icing products and oxygen systems, among other products. The manufacturer employs about 1,500 people at its operational hub in Winston-Salem that it acquired in April 2017 from B/E Aerospace Inc., according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
“Collins Aerospace remains committed to its North Carolina employees and helping the areas in which they live and work continue to thrive,” the company said in a statement.
The company announced plans in September 2017 to acquire Iowa-based Rockwell Collins for $22.75 billion to add to its aerospace capabilities. That’s a business that United Technologies has based locally since buying Charlotte-based Goodrich in 2012 and forming UTC Aerospace Systems.
This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 5:11 PM.