Danfoss Turbocor held a grand opening of its new 145,000-square-foot production facility in Tallahassee, Florida, on May 29, 2024. The $62 million investment will double the manufacturing capacity for Turbocor oil-free centrifugal, magnetic-bearing, variable-speed compressors, with the ability to expand capacity even further. This report will recap the celebration and plant tour while sharing perspective from the attendees and host.
Following the morning meet and greet, attendees were welcomed by Ricardo Schneider, President of Danfoss Turbocor then Kim Fausing, Danfoss CEO.
“This is a great milestone for our oil-free community. The demand and success of our oil-free technology is driving significant volume globally. Our business is doubling every four to five years. My sincere thank you to the Turbocor team. Let’s continue to inspire and innovate,” said Schneider.
“This is a really exciting day as we look back on the progress we’ve made,” said Fausing. “The oil-free, high efficiency compressor technology is a key enabler for meeting the decarbonization goals of commercial building, cities and countries.” Fausing and Schneider both expressed thanks to all the organization’s employees, customers, partners and investors.
Also in attendance was Jørgen M. Clausen, Chairman Emeritus and second generation of Danfoss founder Mads Clausen, Rick Sporrer, President of Danfoss North America, and even Tallahassee’s mayor!
“Danfoss Turbocor is part of our family. In our community, we take care of each other. Today we are here to celebrate,” said John E. Dailey, Mayor of Tallahassee. The facility represents an additional 100 full-time employees, bringing global employment to over 300 people across locations in Tallahassee, Europe and China.
After much anticipation, members of the Turbocor sales & marketing team (Kyle Fields, Eddie Rodriguez, Rupesh Patil and Heath Whiddon) led groups into the production facility for the ceremonial ribbon cutting.
Kristian Strand, President, Danfoss Commercial Compressors; Mads Clausen, Board Member and third generation of Danfoss founder Mads Clausen; Ricardo Schneider, President, Danfoss Turbocor; Kim Fausing, CEO, Danfoss; Jurgen Fischer, President, Danfoss Climate Solutions; Mads Peter Clausen, Board Member and third generation of Danfoss founder Mads Clausen.
Next, tour groups saw the main production line, warehousing space, Measurement and Inspection lab, and attended informational sessions. The Turbocor team had proud staff at each station informing their audiences about the improvements the facility brings to their respective departments.
Attendees learned that hundreds of factory and warehouse simulation hours went into the factory design. They learned order management will be completely digital. Warehousing space has been increased and optimized. The new Measurement and Inspection Lab is five times bigger and has in-house calibration capabilities. A future 64,000-square-foot additional expansion was even mentioned.
Attendees touring and learning about the new warehousing space.
Considering Danfoss’s goal of helping partners decarbonize operations, one would expect the organization to have its own state-of-the-art cooling systems and decarbonization commitments. The factory’s own cooling system uses two air-cooled chillers each equipped with two TGS490 refrigerant compressors, each rated for 254 TR/893 kW; an air-source heat pump with three TGH285 refrigerant compressors paired with a dry cooler; all with Danfoss drives on highly efficient pump motors. Each chiller is equipped with low GWP R515B refrigerant. Not to mention, 50% of the energy used to build a refrigerant compressor there is solar powered.
The factory’s manufacturing process and set up was completely upgraded with more automation and process control, according to the team. Phase 1 of production has improved ergonomics and safety for housing assembly by integrating robotics and automated measurement. Next on the main conveyor, in the sealing and electrical assembly phase, the product undergoes high pressure leak testing. The next phase is the gas testing and packout assembly areas of the main conveyor. This phase has fully automated testing sequences, pipe connections and voltage selections for functional testing, vacuum and reclaim cycle testing, thermal mapping and more. At the end, the integrated pallets are automatically conveyed back to the start of the line. No forklifts are used in the production area.
During a break in the tour, attendees noticed Fausing and Schneider visually inspecting a cart with a batch of loose components, doing their own quality assurance, if you will. The care and belief in this product are evident from senior management, staff and partners.
Turbocor partners both domestic and from around the world attended the celebration, traveling from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
“It’s amazing to see the vision they had years ago come to fruition with this facility,” said Jeremy Ouellette, P.E., American Chiller Service. “When I did a factory tour 20 years ago, the compressor technology was already 20 years ahead of its time. Now, the production capability is just as advanced as the products themselves.”
“Their drive for innovation makes them a strong partner for us. We’re ramping up production of our MagLev chillers, so this investment by Danfoss Turbocor will really help us help more customers,” said Scott DeGier, VP of Sales, Multistack.
Greg Novak, Charlie Keynon, Bjorn Engebretsen (United Ship Service & Supply) and Scott DeGier with Multistack.
Justin Hogan, Christopher Nail and Andrew Tiew with Dunham-Bush USA, a global air conditioning products manufacturer, were in attendance.
“I’m impressed with Turbocor’s ongoing investment in its products, and now in this new facility. Even though Turbocor has its global footprint and name established, to me, this seems like it’s still only the beginning of something huge,” said Bret Ninomiya, President, Magzero Technologies.
By end of June 2024, Turbocor compressors will begin coming off the production line and full production will be underway by August. This site will host manufacturing for TTS/TGS/TTH/TGH lines of Danfoss Turbocor oil-free compressors using GWP-friendly refrigerants (R-1234ze or R-515B and R-134A or R-513A).
About Danfoss
Danfoss engineers solutions that increase machine productivity, reduce emissions, lower energy consumption, and enable electrification. Our innovative engineering dates back to 1933. Danfoss is family- and foundation-owned, employing more than 42,000 people, serving customers in more than 100 countries through a global footprint of 95 factories. For more information, visit https://www.danfoss.com.
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