The Daikin unitary, ductless and light commercial (including VRV) products organization in North America, part of the world’s largest heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) company, is unifying its core Daikin, Goodman and Amana HVAC brands under a new top level corporate name and structure. This name change and new structure aligns brand sales efforts with the mission to enhance customer experiences and become North America’s #1 indoor comfort solutions provider.

The name change and new organization structure become effective April 1, 2022.

“We are uniting under a single name – Daikin Comfort Technologies – capturing a culture and identity that reflects one vision that will create an even stronger and more unified Daikin,” explained Satoru Akama, CEO for Daikin.

“By fusing Daikin’s strengths, core technologies and environmental solutions with Goodman’s robust, extensive sales and distribution network we will enrich our customer experience, improve organizational efficiency and transform the North American HVAC market by promoting environmental solutions that impact people where they live, work, and play,” added Takayuki “Taka” Inoue, chief sales and marketing officer for Daikin.

“Daikin, Goodman, Amana and Quietflex will remain and play an important role in our brands for products in the future,” Inoue said. “Aligning our structure into a single business unit allows for collaboration, innovation, and agility internally, and very importantly, meets the needs of our customers.”

Environmental Commitment
Within Daikin Comfort Technologies there is a newly formed group, the Environmental Promotion Office, led by Nathan Walker, senior vice president, reporting to CEO Satoru Akama. The team will intensify Daikin’s focus on becoming the industry leader as an advanced environmental company. “It’s both an ambitious and attainable objective,” Akama said. 

We are leveraging Daikin’s leadership in environmentally friendly indoor comfort technologies, such as our inverter and heat pump solutions,” Akama said. Daikin has already introduced low global warming potential (GWP) R-32 products ahead of competitors and taken a leadership role in environmental stewardship. This new unit will facilitate wider usage of inverter, heat pump and R-32 products throughout North America.

Organizational Realignment
“Our operation in North America has more than doubled in revenue since the acquisition of Goodman and is now the largest of any Daikin entity in the world, making North America one of Daikin’s top priorities to invest in and grow,” Inoue explained. “It also comes with a tremendous sense of responsibility to execute as one company and one culture.”

A more unified sales strategy can ensure that Daikin, Amana, or Goodman brand equipment can each be a compelling offering for major contractors to serve both premium and value customers.

The Daikin realignment also seeks to create an even stronger customer experience across its business, including transformation through digital solutions and tools, differentiating logistics and inventory deployment capabilities, and more advanced service and support.

Current Daikin and Goodman sales and marketing functions will be consolidated into a single business unit, led by Chief Sales and Marketing Officer (CSMO) Taka Inoue.

Senior Vice President Ardee Toppe will manage all company sales of all brands. Toppe will report to CSMO Inoue and lead four U.S. sales divisions in the U.S. and one in Canada. Ardee will also be responsible for company owned distribution now called Daikin Comfort Technologies Distribution Inc., formerly known as Goodman Distribution Inc.

Senior Vice President Doug Widenmann will lead all areas of marketing, including channel strategy and development; traditional and digital marketing; product marketing; data and analytics; and warranty and pricing. Doug will also report to CSMO Inoue.

“By drawing upon the strength and skills of our incredible people, we can become ‘One Daikin’ under a single, focused vision featuring a core of powerful brands,” Inoue said. “We look forward to further sharing our mission to become the most environmentally advanced HVAC company in North America.”