United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut. It researches, develops, and manufactures high-technology products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, helicopters, HVAC, fuel cells, elevators and escalators, fire and security, building systems, and industrial products, among others. UTC is also a large military contractor, producing missile systems and military helicopters, most notably the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Louis R. Chênevert is the current CEO.

 

History

Pre-1970s

1970s and 1980s

In 1974, Harry Gray left Litton Industries to become the CEO of United Aircraft. He pursued a strategy of growth and diversification, changing the parent corporation's name to United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in 1975 to reflect the intent to diversify into numerous high tech fields beyond aerospace. (The change became official on 1 May 1975.) The diversification was partially to balance civilian business against any overreliance on military business. UTC became a mergers and acquisitions (M&A)–focused organization, with various forced takeovers of unwilling smaller corporations. The next year (1976), UTC forcibly acquired Otis Elevator. In 1979, Carrier Refrigeration and Mostek were acquired; the Carrier deal was forcible, while the Mostek deal was a white knight move against hostile takeover designs by Gould.

Being a defense contractor always carries inherent difficulties for a for-profit organization. First, there is the concern that taxpayers' money must never be wasted by allowing the government's private sector contractors to have "excess profits"—a reasonable abstract principle, but one quite hard to define operationally from moment to moment and year to year. Second, there is the concern of warmongering—that any person or corporation with a financial interest in encouraging warfare presents a perpetual risk of inciting violence. Third, being in the military materiel business, warmongering or no, exposes a for-profit organization to a particularly punishing variant of the business cycle: not only the normal bull and bear markets, but also the boom/bust peaks and valleys of wartime and peacetime.

 

These are the strategic considerations that prompted UTC to diversify, led by a CEO that had been very successful in the conglomerate-building craze of the 1960s and early 1970s.

 

At one point the military portion of UTC's business, whose aforementioned sensitivity to "excess profits" and boom/bust demand drove UTC to diversify away from it, actually carried the weight of losses incurred by the commercial M&A side of the business.
 

Although M&A activity was not new to United Aircraft (UATC was somewhat of an octopus in its own right circa 1930), the M&A activity of the 1970s and 1980s was higher-stakes and arguably unfocused. Rather than aviation being the central theme of UTC businesses, high tech (of any type) was the new theme. Some Wall Street watchers questioned the true value of M&A at almost any price, seemingly for its own sake.

Mostek was sold in 1985 to the French electronics company Thomson.Thomson Semiconductors

 

1990s

UTC acquired Sundstrand Corporation in 1999, and merged it into UTC's Hamilton Standard unit to form Hamilton Sundstrand.

 

2000s

In 2003, UTC entered the fire and security business by purchasing Chubb Security.

In 2004, UTC acquired the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation which planned to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under their Sikorsky Aircraft division.

In 2005, UTC further pursued its stake in the fire and security business by purchasing Kidde. Also in 2005, UTC acquired Boeing's Rocketdyne division, which was merged into the Pratt & Whitney business unit.

In 2007, UTC opened the Hawk Works, a Rapid Prototyping and Military Derivatives Completion Center (RPMDCC) located west of the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats, NY.

 

In March 2008, UTC announced it had made a $2.63 billion bid to acquire Diebold, a Canton, Ohio based manufacturer of banking and voting machines. In September 2008 UTC's chairman commented that the acquisition was less than likely to happen.[14] Diebold has since rejected the $2.63 billion buyout bid. The ATM and voting machine maker has called the United Technologies bid inadequate.

 

On 9–10 December 2009, it was announced that UTC would acquire a 49.5% stake in Carpinteria, CA and London, UK based Clipper Windpower by purchasing 84.3 million new shares and 21.8 million shares from current shareholders for £126.5 million or $206 Million US. Clipper has stated that this equity purchase "will significantly strengthen its balance sheet and enable it to enhance its operations and pursue its strategic initiatives", “This is a transformational transaction for Clipper, bringing substantial capital from a strategic investor who is one of the world’s leading industrial technology companies” said Doug Pertz, President and CEO of Clipper. “We welcome the investment from UTC and their confidence in Clipper’s technology and business opportunities.”.

 

2010s

In April 2010, UTC announced that it was investing €15 million ($20 million) to set up the United Technologies Research Centre Ireland in University College Cork which will carry out research on energy and security systems. 

 

On Monday, 18 October 2010, UTC agreed with Clipper to acquire the rest of the company.

 

In September 2011, UTC acquired a $18.4 billion deal (including $1.9 billion in net debt assumed) for aircraft components maker Goodrich Corporation.

 

In June 2012, it was discovered that UTC sold military technology to the Chinese. For pleading guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and making false statements, United Technologies and its subsidiaries were fined $75 million.

 

In January 2013, United Technologies acquired Goodrich and merged it with Hamilton Sundstrand; the resulting organization is UTC Aerospace Systems.

 

Business units

 

Headquarters in downtown Hartford, Connecticut

 

• Carrier: A global manufacturer of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems.

 

• Clipper Windpower: A maker of wind turbines. On March 15th, 2012, United Technologies announced intent to sell Clipper.

 

• UTC Aerospace Systems: Designs and manufactures aerospace systems for commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft; a major supplier for international space programs. Provides industrial products for the hydrocarbon, chemical, and food processing industries, construction and mining companies. UTC Aerospace Systems was formed by combining two industry leaders, Hamilton Sundstrand and Goodrich in 2012.

 

• Otis: Manufacturer, installer, and servicer of elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.

 

• Pratt & Whitney: Designs and builds aircraft engines, gas turbines, and rocket engines.

o Pratt & Whitney Canada:

o Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

 

• Sikorsky Aircraft: Maker of helicopters for commercial, industrial, institutional, government, and military uses.

o PZL Mielec

o Schweizer Aircraft

 

• UTC Fire & Security: Makes fire detection and suppression systems, access control systems, and security alarm systems; provides security system integration and monitoring services.

 

• UTC Power: Manufacturer of distributed power generation systems and fuel cells for commercial, transportation, and space and defense applications.

• United Technologies Research Center (UTRC): A centralized research facility that supports all UTC business units in developing new technologies and processes.

 

United Technologies' headquarters operations are located in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut. The United Technologies Building is known locally as the "Gold Building" due to its gold-tinted glass-mirror exterior.

 

Former businesses

Before 1975 (UATC or UAC)

• Boeing—from 1929 to 1934

• Chance Vought—from 1928 to 1954

• A predecessor division that would become its own corporation, United Airlines

• Hamilton Standard, which became part of Hamilton Sundstrand

 

Since 1975 (UTC)

• Hamilton Test Systems, an Arizona-based developer of vehicle emission test equipment, which was sold to Georgetown Partners in December 1990, who renamed it Envirotest Systems Corp. It is now part of Environmental Systems Products Holdings (ESPH).

• Inmont paint and resins, which was later sold to BASF

• Mostek semiconductor — from 1979 to 1985

• Norden Systems - a corporation that manufactures electronics systems for military use, now a part of Northrop Grumman.

• UT Automotive — Now, a division of Lear Corporation

• UT Communications bought Lexar and Stromberg Carlson, makers of telephone equipment, which were later sold to Memorex in 1985.

• Turbo Power and Marine Systems, Inc - Simple-cycle electrical power generation Power units 25 MW & 50 MW currently known as Pratt & Whitney Power Systems

 

Political contributions

During the 2004 election cycle, UTC was the sixth largest defense industry donor to political campaigns, contributing a total of $789,561. 64% of UTC's 2004 contributions went to Republicans. UTC was also the sixth largest donor to federal candidates and political parties in the 2006 election cycle. 35% of those contributions went to Democrats; 53% of the funds were contributed to Republicans.

 

In 2005, United Technologies was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

 

Philanthropy

In 1981, a contribution from UTC made possible the exhibition "Paris/Magnum: Photographs 1935-1981," featuring photographs of Paris taken by photographers of Magnum Photos, the agency founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, George Rodger, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Vandivert, and David Seymour. A volume of the same title, with text by Irwin Shaw and an introduction by Inge Morath, was also published in 1981.

 

UTC is the sponsor of "Aphrodite and the Gods of Love" at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, opening fall 2011.

 

Environmental record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified UTC as the 38th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States as of 2008. UTC released roughly 110,000 pounds of toxic chemicals annually into the atmosphere including manganese, nickel, chromium and related compounds. 

 

In 2006, they joined the Chicago Climate Exchange as a Phase 1 and Phase 2 member.