Though many people aren’t aware of the fact, Tallahassee is home to a number of respected manufacturers. One such company was honored by local leaders yesterday (4/22/15) who also want to build on its success.
The company is Danfoss Turbocor, which is where Wednesday’s presentation of the monthly “Made in Tallahassee” award took place.
“Danfoss and its array of products are global leaders in the commercial heating and air conditioning market,” said Cecelia Homison, incoming chair of the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County as she kicked off the event on the production floor at the Danfoss headquarters and plant at Innovation Park.
The company came in 2007 and Danfoss Turbocor President and CEO Ricardo Schneider said there were good reasons for coming.
“Our location here in Tallahassee is a great opportunity with a world class research institute around us with a lot of talented people from FSU,” Schneider said before accepting the “Made in Tallahassee” award.
FSU Vice President of Research Gary Ostrander said this talented people can even jump in and help the Danfoss people when they run into problems.
“More often than not, there is someone who’s interested in working with them, so now all of a sudden there are faculty who are much closer to the product going out to market and they’re helping get past whatever hurdle or bump in new technology or new knowledge and then the product can move onto the market,” Ostrander said.
This week, Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier was taking her first fact-finding tour as part of her participation in a U.S. Department of Commerce economic development initiative. She’s looking to attract more companies to follow the Danfoss Turbocor model.
“This is a game-changer for us to have that pipeline from research to continued research and development within a business to actual manufacturing of products. We can have this here if we focus on the assets,” said Dozier, before leaving on a tour that would take her to cities like Minneapolis, Madison and Chicago.
She insisted those assets can produce jobs at all levels, narrowing the city’s yawning chasm between its highest and lowest paid citizens.
