Trane Technologies

Trane Technologies plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the designing, manufacturing, selling, and servicing of solutions for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and transport refrigeration. It offers air conditioners, exchangers, and handlers; airside and terminal devices; auxiliary power units; chillers; coils and condensers; gensets; furnaces; heat pumps; home automation products; humidifiers; hybrid and non-diesel transport refrigeration, and ice energy storage solutions; indoor air quality assessments and related products; large and light commercial unitary products; motor replacements; refrigerant reclamation products; thermostats/controls; transport heater products; variable refrigerant flow products; and water source heat pumps. 

The company also provides building management, control, ductless, geothermal, package heating and cooling, temporary heating and cooling, and unitary systems; bus, rail, and multi-pipe heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; and container, cryogenic, diesel-powered, electric-powered trailer and truck, hybrid-powered trailer, industrial, rail, self-powered truck, trailer, and vehicle-powered truck refrigeration systems, as well as aftermarket and OEM parts and supplies. In addition, it offers energy and facility management, installation and performance contracting, repair and maintenance, and rental services. 

It markets and sells its products under the Trane and Thermo King brands through sales offices, distributors, and dealers in the United States; and through sales and service companies with a supporting chain of distributors worldwide. The company was formerly known as Ingersoll-Rand Plc and changed its name to Trane Technologies plc in March 2020. Trane Technologies plc was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Swords, Ireland.

Simon Ingersoll founded Ingersoll Rock Drill Company in 1871 in New York, and in 1888, it combined with Sergeant Drill to form Ingersoll Sergeant Drill Company. The Ingersoll Sergeant Drill Company introduced the world's first direct-connected, electronic motor-driven compressor. Also in 1871, brothers Addison Rand and Jasper Rand, Jr. established Rand Drill Company with its main manufacturing plant in Tarrytown, New York. In 1905, the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company merged with the Rand Drill Company to form Ingersoll Rand.

In 1885, James Trane, a Norwegian immigrant, opened his own plumbing and pipe-fitting shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He designed a new type of low-pressure steam heating system, Trane vapour heating. Reuben Trane, James' son, earned a mechanical engineering degree in 1910 and joined his father's plumbing firm. In 1913, James and Reuben incorporated The Trane Company. By 1916, the Trane's focused their attention on manufacturing heating products. Reuben's invention of the convector radiator in 1923, which replaced the heavy, bulky, cast-iron radiators that prevailed at the time, was a major success. Trane's first air conditioning unit was developed in 1931.

In 1984, Trane was acquired by the American Standard Companies. The company was broken up in 2007 with the remaining business renamed Trane. Shortly after, in 2008 Trane was acquired by Ingersoll Rand.

In October 2002, shareholders voted to move the company's incorporation to Bermuda to capitalize on the savings on U.S. corporate income taxes on products sold overseas. Moving the company on paper cost only US$27,000 per year with tax savings estimated at US$40 million.

Ingersoll Rand announced in March 2009 its intention to relocate its offices from Bermuda to Ireland, a decision which shareholders approved in a vote. In July 2004, the Drilling Solutions business was sold to the Swedish company Atlas Copco. This included factories in the United States, China, and Japan making above-ground rotary blasthole and deep-hole drilling machines. Atlas Copco purchased the company for US$225M. Drilling Solutions was a legacy business from the company's founding.

In May 2007, the company announced it was looking into a sale or spin-off of its Bobcat, utility equipment, and attachments divisions. With this divestiture, Ingersoll Rand was left with the industrial technologies, climate control technologies, and security technologies sectors. This completed the transformation from a diversified machinery label to a diversified industrial company. As well this year, Volvo, a Swedish truck and construction equipment manufacturer, announced its agreement to buy the road construction equipment division of Ingersoll-Rand for $1.3 billion in cash to expand its operations in the United States. The road unit manufactures and sells asphalt paving equipment, compaction equipment, milling machines and construction-related material handling equipment and generated net revenues of approximately $850 million for 2006. The sale included manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, Germany, China and India, as well as 20 distribution and service facilities in the United States. The business employs approximately 2,000 people worldwide. 

On 30 July 2007, Ingersoll Rand announced that the utility and attachment businesses had been sold to Doosan Infracore, part of the South Korean chaebol Doosan, for US$4.9 billion. On 17 December, Ingersoll Rand announced an offer to purchase HVAC supplier Trane, in a stock and cash transaction. The purchase was approved by Trane's stockholders, and the unit became a part of the climate control technologies business, which is divided into commercial and residential business units, each reporting directly to the chairman. The sale was completed on 5 June 2008. 

On 16 November 2010, the company became a constituent of the S&P 500 Index, replacing Pactiv Corporation. On 2 December 2013, Ingersoll Rand completed the spinoff of its security hardware sector into a standalone business named Allegion, which maintains commercial and residential security hardware brands such as Schlage, Von Duprin, LCN, Bricard, Interflex, Normbau and CISA. In August 2014, it was announced that Ingersoll-Rand would acquire the centrifugal compression unit of Cameron International for $850 million. In October 2018, Ingersoll Rand received a takeover interest in its power tools business, which was slated to be worth up to $750 million in a potential sale. Power Tools is the oldest business with the least revenue, and the decision of whether to sell this unit or not has been announced.

In 2020 Ingersoll Rand sold its non-refrigeration businesses via a reverse Morris Trust transaction to Gardner Denver, rebranding themselves as Trane Technologies and focusing on its Commercial HVAC, Residential HVAC and Refrigeration Transport businesses.

“At Trane, we're all about air – cool air, warm air, clean air. As a world leader in air conditioning systems, services and solutions, we control the comfort of the air for people in homes and many of the world's largest and most famous commercial, industrial and institutional buildings.”

“At Trane Technologies, we have a clear purpose: to boldly challenge what's possible for a sustainable world. As a global climate innovator, we work every day for the bright future we all envision.”