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One consolidation move by Carrier Corporation, which appears to be a growing benefit to the local economy, is the reorganization of its replacement parts business into a single operating unit, the Replacement Components Division, or RCD, headquartered in Syracuse. The division specializes in marketing and distribution, and to some extent the manufacture, of replacement parts for air conditioners -- not only for Carrier products, but for all air conditioners, no matter who makes them.
Since 1986, Carrier has invested some $18 million to $21 million in its DeWitt facility which houses RCD, located in the 600,000 square foot TR-2 building on Thompson Road. Investment in the division will probably continue for some years to come, as RCD's operations grow.
"It's a market we abdicated (in years past)," admits Carrier's Dave Buttermore of the business of production and sale of replacement parts for air conditioning equipment --a market with billion dollar potential for the air conditioning giant. Buttermore is sales manager for the Replacement Components Division. Currently, the unit is reportedly turning sales of $200 million annually.
Carrier management perceives the replacement parts business as a key to its corporate strategy to protect its number one position in the air conditioning industry. "The replacement market is four times what it was in 1976," said William Wilson, Carrier president last December,...