HRAI Manufacturers Profile: Taco Comfort Solutions
From selling firepot generators in Elizabeth, New Jersey (USA) to providing cutting-edge heating, cooling, and plumbing solutions for customers worldwide, Taco Comfort Solutions has spent over a century making its name in the industry. Now, thanks to an enduring commitment to growth and innovation, the fourth-generation family business continues to build on its legacy.
Taco's origins stretch back to 1920 when Elwood White purchased Thermal Appliance Co.
Soon after, the company started bringing innovations to the water heating space and shortened its name to Taco Heaters Incorporated (short for Thermal Appliance Company). The following decades saw the company continue to branch out as it developed gun mounts for navy fighter planes in the 40s, introduced the US's first wet rotor circulator ("Perfecta") in the late 50s, and opened its first overseas operation.
In 1963, the company shortened its name to Taco, Inc. It spent the ensuing decades expanding and improving its line of products while growing its operations across North America through acquisitions, new product launches, and the development of new manufacturing plants.
Today, the Taco Family of Companies continues to flourish under the leadership of Cheryl Merchant, CEO, and John Hazen White Jr., Executive Chairman, who picked up the torch from his father, John Hazen White, in the late 1990s. Alongside a veteran executive team, the company has kept Elwood White's entrepreneurial vision alive by launching and managing industry-leading training facilities, pursuing
expansion opportunities, and focusing on delivering high-efficiency heating, cooling, plumbing, and irrigation solutions.
Yet, while Taco has come a long way in 102 years, its focus on employees remains as rooted as ever.
“One of the things the owners have always paid a lot of attention to is taking care of our people,” says Mike Miller, Vice President of Sales for Canada. “There’s always been an emphasis here on being a safe, family-oriented environment where people can prosper and grow.”
This founding philosophy has been an asset for the company, Miller continues, as it translates into a genuinely invested team that delivers the best products and customer service and, by extension, contributes to the company's growth. Moreover, he adds, "There's the benefit in being able to make decisions based on the long-term strengths of the company, and not necessarily based on investors and shareholders’ expectations to produce and provide profitability within the short term.”
"[John Hazen White Jr.] has always believed in that old saying," he continues. "Take care of your people, and they will take care of your business."
A strong team has certainly been an asset, especially as Taco navigates the speedbumps and issues that have put every HVAC player to the test.
"It's been quite a challenging time to navigate through with COVID, the supply chain fiasco, and all the uncertainties that have come up over the past couple of years," says Miller. "We've had to make a lot of changes and adjustments to keep our people safe and the product flowing, but we've come through on top. We were able to increase our market share in those times by proactively managing supply chain challenges and by working closely together with our business partners and reps across the country to deliver critical equipment to critical structures being built."
At a hundred years young, Taco is a fixture in the global HVAC space. HRAI is proud to count the company among its manufacturing members and looks forward to marking its future successes.
Watch a video of Taco’s history online at: https://www.tacocomfort.com/company/history/.
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