Honeywell International Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate company that produces a variety of commercial and consumer products, engineering services and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments. The company operates four business units, known as Strategic Business Units - Honeywell Aerospace, Home and Building Technologies (HBT), Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS), and Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies.
Honeywell is a Fortune 100 company. In 2016, Honeywell ranked 75th in the Fortune 500. Honeywell has a global workforce of approximately 130,000, of whom approximately 58,000 are employed in the United States. The company is headquartered in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Its current chief executive officer is Darius Adamczyk. The company and its corporate predecessors were part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index from December 7, 1925 until February 9, 2008.
The company's current name, Honeywell International Inc., is the product of a merger in which Honeywell Inc. was acquired by the much larger AlliedSignal in 1999. The company headquarters were consolidated with AlliedSignal's headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey; however the combined company chose the name "Honeywell" because of its superior brand recognition. In 2015, the headquarters were moved to Morris Plains.
Honeywell has many brands that commercial and retail consumers may recognize, including its line of home thermostats (particularly the iconic round type) and Garrett turbochargers. In addition to consumer home products Honeywell itself produces, such as thermostats, sensors, security alarm systems, and air cleaners and dehumidifiers, the company also licenses its brand name for use in various retail products made by partner manufacturers such as air conditioners, heaters, fans, security safes, home generators, and paper shredders.
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History
The Early Years: 1885-1927
Although Mark Honeywell's Heating Specialty Company was not established until 1906, today's Honeywell traces its roots back to 1885 when the Swiss-born Albert Butz invented the damper-flapper, a thermostat for coal furnaces, to automatically regulate heating systems. The following year he founded the Butz Thermo-Electric Regulator Company. In 1888, after a falling out with his investors, Butz left the company and transferred the patents to the legal firm Paul, Sanford, and Merwin, who renamed the company the Consolidated Temperature Controlling Company. As the years passed, CTCC struggled with growing debts, and they underwent several name changes in an attempt to keep the business afloat. After the company was renamed to the Electric Heat Regulator Company in 1893, W.R. Sweatt, a stockholder in the company, was sold "an extensive list of patents" and named secretary-treasurer.:22 On February 23, 1898 he bought out the remaining shares of the company from the other stockholders.
In 1906, Mark Honeywell founded the Honeywell Heating Specialty Company in Wabash, Indiana to manufacture and market his invention, the mercury seal generator. As Honeywell's company grew (thanks in part to the acquisition of Jewell Manufacturing Company in 1922 to better automate his heating system) it began to clash with the renamed Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company. This led to the merging of the two companies into the publicly held Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company in 1927. Honeywell named its first president, W.R. Sweatt as its first chairman.
International Expansion, Acquisition, and new technologies: 1927-1985
W.R. Sweatt and his son Harold provided 75 years of uninterrupted leadership for the company. W.R. Sweatt survived rough spots and turned an innovative idea - thermostatic heating control - into a thriving business. Harold, who took over in 1934, led Honeywell through a period of growth and global expansion that set the stage for Honeywell to become a global technology leader. The merger into the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company proved to be a saving grace for the corporation. The combined assets were valued at over $3.5 million, with less than $1 million in liabilities just months before Black Monday.:49 In 1931, Minneapolis-Honeywell began a period of expansion and acquisition when they purchased Time-O-Stat Controls Company, giving the company access to a greater number of patents to be used in their controls systems. 1934 marked Minneapolis-Honeywell's first foray into the international market, when they acquired the Brown Instrument Company, and inherited their relationship with the Yamatake Company of Tokyo, a Japan-based distributor.:51 Later that same year, Minneapolis-Honeywell would also start distributorships across Canada, as well as one in the Netherlands, their first European office. This expansion into international markets continued in 1936, with their first distributorship in London, as well as their first foreign assembly facility being established in Canada. By 1937, ten years after the merger, Minneapolis-Honeywell had over 3,000 employees, with $16 million in annual revenue.
Having survived the Depression, Minneapolis-Honeywell was approached by the US military for engineering and manufacturing projects. In 1941, Minneapolis-Honeywell developed a superior tank periscope and camera stabilizers, as well as the C-1 autopilot. The C-1 revolutionized precision bombing in the war effort, and was used on the two B-29 bombers that dropped atomic bombs on Japan in 1945. The success of these projects led Minneapolis-Honeywell to open an Aero division in Chicago on October 5, 1942.:73 This division was responsible for the development of the formation stick to control autopilots, more accurate gas gauges for planes, and the turbo supercharger.:79 In 1950, Minneapolis-Honeywell's Aero division was contracted for the controls on the first US nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus.:88 The following year, the company acquired Intervox Company for their sonar, ultrasonics, and telemetry technologies. Honeywell also helped develop and manufacture the RUR-5 ASROC for the US Navy. In 1953, in cooperation with the USAF Wright-Air Development Center, Honeywell developed an automated control unit that could control an aircraft through various stages of a flight, from taxiing, to takeoff, to the point where the aircraft neared its destination and the pilot took over for landing. Called the Automatic Master Sequence Selector, the onboard control operated similarly to a player piano to relay instructions to the aircraft's autopilot at certain way points during the flight, significantly reducing the pilot's workload. Technologically, this effort had parallels to contemporary efforts in missile guidance and numerical control. Honeywell also developed the Wagtail missile with the USAF.
From the 1950s until the mid-1970s, Honeywell was the United States' importer of Pentax cameras and photographic equipment.:153 These products were labeled Honeywell Pentax in the U.S. In 1953, Honeywell introduced their most famous product, the T-86 Round thermostat.:110
On April 12, 1955, Minneapolis-Honeywell started a joint venture with Raytheon called Datamatic to enter the computer market and compete with IBM.:118 Two years later in 1957, their first computer, the D-1000, was sold and installed. In 1960, just five years after embarking on this venture with Raytheon, Minneapolis-Honeywell bought out Raytheon's interest in Datamatic and turned it into the Electronic Data Processing division (now Honeywell Information Systems) of Minneapolis-Honeywell.:118 Honeywell also purchased minicomputer pioneer Computer Control Corporation (3C's), renaming it as Honeywell's Computer Control Division. Through most of the 1960s, Honeywell was one of the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" of computing. IBM was "Snow White", while the dwarfs were the seven significantly smaller computer companies: Burroughs, Control Data Corporation, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and UNIVAC. Later, when their number had been reduced to five, they were known as "The BUNCH", after their initials: Burroughs, UNIVAC, NCR, Control Data Corporation, and Honeywell.
In 1961, James H. Binger became Honeywell's president and in 1965 its chairman. On becoming Chairman of Honeywell, Binger revamped the company sales approach, placing emphasis on profits rather than on volume. He also stepped up the company's international expansion - it had six plants producing 12% of the company's revenue. He also officially changed the company's corporate name from "Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co." to "Honeywell", to better represent their colloquial name. Throughout the 1960s, Honeywell continued to acquire other businesses, including Security Burglar Alarm Company in 1969.:130
The beginning of the 1970s saw Honeywell focus on process controls, with the company merging their computer operations with GE's information systems in 1970, and later acquiring GE's process control business.:122 With the acquisition, Honeywell took over responsibility for GE's ongoing Multics operating system project. The design and features of Multics greatly influenced the Unix operating system. Multics also influenced many of the features of Honeywell/GE's GECOS and GCOS8 General Comprehensive Operating System operating systems. Honeywell, Groupe Bull, and Control Data Corporation formed a joint venture in Magnetic Peripherals Inc. which became a major player in the hard disk drive market. It was the worldwide leader in 14-inch disk drive technology in the OEM marketplace in the 1970s and early 1980s especially with its SMD (Storage Module Drive) and CMD (Cartridge Module Drive). In the second half of the 1970s, Honeywell started to look to international markets again, acquiring the French Compagnie Internationale pour l'Informatique in 1976.:124 Eight years later, Honeywell formed Honeywell High Tech Trading to lease their foreign marketing and distribution to other companies abroad, in order to establish a better position in those markets.:147 Under Binger's stewardship from 1961 to 1978 he expanded the company into such fields as defense, aerospace, and computing. During and after the Vietnam Era, Honeywell's defense division produced a number of products, including cluster bombs, missile guidance systems, napalm, and land mines. Minnesota-Honeywell Corporation completed flight tests on an inertia guidance sub-system for the X-20 project at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, utilizing an NF-101B Voodoo by August 1963. The X-20 project was canceled in December 1963. The Honeywell project, founded in 1968, organized protests against the company to persuade it to abandon weapons production
In 1980, Honeywell bought Incoterm Corporation to compete in both the airline reservations system networks and bank teller markets.
In year 1975, Honeywell introduced the world's first Total Distributed Control System (TDC 2000) that revolutionized the entire process control industry with a centralized view of de-centralized control and a fully redundant communication link for continuous processes. Honeywell further introduced a state-of-the-art Total Distributed Control System 3000 or TDC 3000 in 1985. The new TDC 3000 system adopted a brand new architecture that allowed the existing TDC 2000 system to be integrated with the new system as well as future expansion through a new in-house developed network operating system for performing various plant-wide control, monitoring, alarming, reporting, and historical date storage & retrieval functions. A new modular controller, Process Manager, was introduced in a later date that included advanced control strategies and modeling as part of the new TDC-3000 system. TDC 3000 system was the backbone of Honeywell Industrial Solutions for Petroleum, PetroChem, Fine Chemical, Pulp & Paper, Power Gen, and many other industries. Along with TDC systems, Honeywell also developed a digital communication protocol to allow Honeywell's Smart Transmitters family of products to interface with TDC system in a non-ambiguous digital mode that delivered Honeywell'c commitment of total system integration from sensors to boardroom.
Integration: Aerospace, Home & Building Controls, and Industrial Control: 1986-1999
Aerospace
1986 marked a new direction for Honeywell, beginning with the acquisition of Sperry Aerospace. The same year, they conceded control of the computer market to IBM and discontinued their computer business. In 1990, Honeywell spun off their Defense and Marine Systems business into Alliant Techsystems, as well as their Test Instruments division and Signal Analysis Center to streamline the company's focus.:177 Honeywell continues to supply aerospace products including electronic guidance systems, cockpit instrumentation, lighting, and primary propulsion and secondary power turbine engines.
In 1996, Honeywell acquired Duracraft and began marketing its products in the home comfort sector. Today, Kaz Incorporated licenses and sells both Duracraft and Honeywell's home comfort lines.
Honeywell is in the consortium that runs the Pantex Plant that assembles all of the nuclear bombs in the United States arsenal. Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, successor to the defense products of AlliedSignal, operates the Kansas City Plant which produces and assembles 85 percent of the non-nuclear components of the bombs.
Home & Building Controls
Honeywell also began the SmartHouse project to combine heating, cooling, security, lighting, and appliances into one easily controlled system. They continued the trend in 1987 by releasing new security systems, and fire and radon detectors. Five years later, in another streamlining effort, Honeywell combined their Residential Controls, Commercial Systems, and Protections Services divisions into Home and Building Control, which then acquired the Enviracare air cleaner business.:183 By 1995, Honeywell had condensed into three divisions: Space and Aviation Control, Home and Building Control, and Industrial Control.
Industrial Control
Honeywell dissolved its partnership with Yamatake Company and consolidated its Process Control Products Division, Process Management System Division, and Micro Switch Division into one Industrial Control Group. It has further acquired Measurex System and Leeds & Northrup Company to strengthen its portfolio.
Corporate Takeovers: 1999-2002
AlliedSignal and Pittway
On June 7, 1999, Honeywell was acquired by AlliedSignal, who elected to retain the Honeywell name for its brand recognition. The former Honeywell moved their headquarters of 114 years to AlliedSignal's in Morristown, NJ. While "technically, the deal looks more like an acquisition than a merger...from a strategic standpoint, it is a merger of equals." AlliedSignal's 1998 revenue was reported at $15.1 billion to Honeywell's $8.4 billion, but together the companies share huge business interests in aerospace, chemical products, automotive parts, and building controls.
In 2000, the new Honeywell acquired Pittway for $2.2 billion to gain a greater share of the fire-protection and security systems market, and merged it into their Home and Building Control division, taking on Pittway's $167 million in debt. Analyst David Jarrett commented that "while Honeywell offered a hefty premium, it's still getting Pittway for a bargain" at $45.50 per share, despite closing at $29 the week before. Pittway's Ademco products complemented Honeywell's existing unified controls systems.
General Electric Company
In October 2000, Honeywell (then valued at over $21 billion) accepted a takeover bid from then-CEO Jack Welch of General Electric. The American Department of Justice cleared the merger, while "GE teams swooped down on Honeywell" and "GE executives took over budget planning and employee reviews." However, on July 3, 2001, the European Commission's competition commissioner, Mario Monti blocked the move. This decision was taken on the grounds that with GE's dominance of the large jet engine market (led by the General Electric CF34 turbofan engine), its leasing services (GECAS), and Honeywell's portfolio of regional jet engines and avionics, the new company would be able to "bundle" products and stifle competition through the creation of a horizontal monopoly. US regulators disagreed, finding that the merger would improve competition and reduce prices; United States Assistant Attorney General Charles James called the EU's decision "antithetical to the goals of antitrust law enforcement." This led to a drop in morale and general tumult throughout Honeywell, and in turn, the then-CEO Michael Bonsignore was fired as Honeywell looked to turn their business around.
Recent history
The current "Honeywell International Inc." is the product of a merger between AlliedSignal and Honeywell Inc. Although AlliedSignal was twice the size of Honeywell, the combined company chose the name "Honeywell" because of its superior brand recognition. However, the corporate headquarters were consolidated to AlliedSignal's headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey rather than Honeywell's former headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When Honeywell closed its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, over one thousand employees lost their jobs. A few moved to Morristown or other company locations, but the majority were forced to find new jobs or retire. Soon after the merger, the company's stock fell significantly, and did not return to its pre-merger level until 2007. In January 2002 Knorr-Bremse - who had been operating in a joint venture with Honeywell International Inc. - assumed full ownership of its ventures in Europe, Brazil, and the USA. Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems became a subsidiary of Knorr-Bremse AG. Although declining in influence, Honeywell maintains a presence in emerging industries, such as Northern Alberta's oil sands. Honeywell's Plant integrator is currently deployed in some of the most important plant-sites in the Oil Sands (Syncrude, Suncor, and others).
In February 2002, Honeywell's board appointed their current CEO and Chairman, David M. Cote. Cote has been instrumental in uniting the company cultures of Honeywell, AlliedSignal, and Pittway. Since 2002, Honeywell has made more than 80 acquisitions and 60 divestures, while adding $12 billion in new sales and increasing its labor force to 131,000 as a result of these acquisitions. Since his appointment, Honeywell's stock has nearly tripled from $35.23 in April 2002 to $99.39 as of January 2015.
In December 2004, Honeywell made a £1.2bn ($2.3bn) bid for Novar plc. The acquisition was finalized on March 31, 2005. In October 2005, Honeywell bought out Dow's 50% stake in UOP for $825 million, giving them complete control over the joint venture in petrochemical and refining technology. In May 2010, Honeywell outbid UK-based Cinven and acquired the French company Sperian Protection for $1.4 billion, which was then incorporated into its automation and controls safety unit.
In October 2015, Honeywell moved its international headquarters from Morristown to Morris Plains. The 475,000-square-foot building on 40 acres in Morris Plains features state-of-the-art technology and greater energy efficiency than Honeywell's Morristown campus, which was underutilized, outdated and costly, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dave Cote.
On December 29, 2015 Honeywell completed the sale of Elster for US$5.1B (announced on July 28, 2015) entering the space of gas electricity and water meters with a specific focus on smart meters and hoped to be a growth driver for Honeywell in 2016 and beyond. The deal also complements the HON Combustion business with the addition of Elster with strong brands such as Kromschroeder and Eclipse.
In January 2016, Honeywell International Inc. acquired the 30% stake in UOP Russell LLC it didn't own already for roughly $240 million.
In February 2016 Honeywell entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Xtralis, a leading global provider of aspirating smoke detection along with advanced perimeter security technologies and video analytics software, for $480 million from funds advised by Pacific Equity Partners and Blum Capital Partners.
On April 1, 2016, Honeywell announced that it had completed its acquisition of Xtralis.
In May 2016, Honeywell International Inc. settled its patent dispute regarding Google subsidiary Nest Labs, whose thermostats Honeywell claimed infringed on several of its patents. Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Honeywell said they reached a "patent cross-license" agreement that "fully resolves" the long-standing dispute. Honeywell sued Nest Labs in 2012.
On September 12, 2016, Morris Plains, N.J.-based Honeywell announced that it will invest $20 million in the first-of-its-kind software development center and relocate the headquarters of its nearly $10 billion home and building technologies division from suburban Minneapolis to Atlanta. The expansion will create more than 800 jobs.
Honeywell Home Safes Video
Business Units
Honeywell International is divided into four Strategic Business Groups (SBG): Honeywell Aerospace, Home and Building Technologies, Safety and Productivity Solutions, and Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. Within SBGs are Strategic Business Units (SBU).
Aerospace
Honeywell Aerospace is a global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space and airport operations. Its Commercial Aviation, Defense & Space and Business & General Aviation business units serve aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space and airport operations.
In January 2014, Honeywell Aerospace launched its SmartPath Precision Landing System at Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport in Spain, which augments GPS signals to make them suitable for precision approach and landing, before broadcasting the data to approaching aircraft. In July 2014, Honeywell's Transportation Systems merged with the Aerospace division due to similarities between the businesses.
Commercial Aviation
The Honeywell Commercial Aviation business unit creates products for large commercial and regional aircraft such as auxiliary power units (APUs), aircraft environmental control systems, electric power systems, engine system accessories, flight data and cockpit voice recorders, air traffic management solutions, radar, navigation and communications systems, aircraft lighting, wheels and brakes.
Defense & Space
Honeywell Defense & Space business unit creates products such as the Honeywell RQ-16 T-Hawk for the military and space markets including propulsion engines, APUs, environmental control systems, electric power systems, Avionics and flight management systems, radar, navigation and communications systems, inertial sensors, guidance systems, gyroscopes. It also provides logistics services, including depot maintenance and prepositioning, and space systems operations for engineering, designing, fabricating, installing, operating, and maintaining satellite command and control systems.
Business & General Aviation
Honeywell Business & General Aviation business unit's products include aircraft lighting, auxiliary power units, cabin entertainment, cockpit displays, communication navigation and surveillance, flight management systems, and propulsion engines. The business group offers services such as flight planning, planning & scheduling, and maintenance and monitoring.
Transportation Systems
Honeywell Transportation Systems produces engine boosting turbochargers for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
Home and Building Technologies
Honeywell HBT was created when the SBG Automation and Control Solutions was split into two new SBGs, HBT and Safety and Productivity Solutions, in July 2016.
Honeywell Building Solutions
Honeywell Building Solutions (HBS) products and services provide energy efficiency and security in buildings and communities. Smart grid, microgrid and on-site power generation, integrated security, building controls, automation, and management, system service, maintenance and optimization, and smart building are examples of the technologies produced by the HBS business unit. HBS optimizes automation technology, designs and delivers microgrids that provide energy security, and delivers demand response and energy-efficiency programs to help utilities and the electrical grid operate optimally.
In June 2016, Honeywell announced a new release of its building management system, Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI) to support the Middle East region's smart building and cities ambitions. In a statement, Honeywell said that EBI R500 leverages the connectivity of today's buildings to help make them more strategic assets that are green, safe and productive.
Environmental and Combustion Controls
Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls serves industrial and consumer customers. Products include air quality, commercial combustion, commercial components, industrial components, home thermostats (including smart and wi-fi thermostats), residential combustion, whole house air quality, whole house water treatment and control, HVAC zoning, and hydronic heating.
Honeywell Security and Fire
Honeywell Security and Fire manufactures electronic security systems, burglar alarm systems and fire alarms for residential homes and commercial businesses. They also manufacture products that cover commercial fire alarm and emergency communication systems as well as fire detection and notification devices.
Safety and Productivity Solutions
Honeywell SPS was created when the SBG Automation and Control Solutions was split into two new SBGs, Home and Building Technologies and Safety and Productivity Solutions, in July 2016.
Scanning & Mobility
Products in Honeywell Scanning & Mobility (HSM) include mobile computers and bar code scanners, radio frequency identification solutions, voice-enabled workflow and printing solutions. In 2013, Honeywell completed the acquisition of Intermec, which included the Vocollect and Enterprise Mobile brands, and integrated them into Honeywell Scanning & Mobility.
Sensing and Control
Honeywell Sensing and Control (Honeywell S&C) produces over 50,000 products ranging from snap action, limit, toggle and pressure switches to position, speed and airflow sensors.
Industrial Safety
Honeywell Industrial Safety produces fixed and portable gas detection systems and personal protective equipment, including: protective clothing; fall and hearing protection products; solutions that protect hands, head, feet, eyes and face; first responder gear (turnout gear, EMS, helmets, gloves, boots and hoods), along with respiratory, welding, first-aid, lockout/tagout and traffic safety equipment.
Performance Materials and Technologies
The Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group is divided into six business units. Products include process technology for oil and gas processing, fuels, films and additives, special chemicals, electronic materials, and renewable transport fuels.
Honeywell UOP
Honeywell UOP is a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. and is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group. Honeywell UOP is an international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries.
Honeywell Process Solutions
Honeywell Process Solutions offers automation control solutions to customers internationally. It serves the process and hybrid industries, including refining, oil and gas, pulp and paper, mining, minerals and metals, bulk and batch chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, power transmission and distribution, and power generation.
Fluorine Products
Honeywell Fluorine Products produces refrigerants, foam insulation blowing agents, aerosols, and solvents.
Electronic Materials
Honeywell Electronic Materials manufactures and supplies the semiconductor industry with electronic chemicals, electronic polymers, targets coil sets and metals, advanced packaging, and thermocouples.
Resins & Chemicals
Honeywell Resins and Chemicals sells chemical intermediates, including phenol, cyclohexanone and acetone. It is also a major producer of ammonium sulfate fertilizer, a co-product of caprolactam production, which is sold under the Sulf-N® brand.
Specialty Materials
Honeywell Specialty Materials products include specialty films and additives; advanced fibers and composites; intermediates; specialty chemicals; and technologies and materials for petroleum refining.
Corporate governance
Current as of May 3, 2017
Products and services
Aircraft
- Honeywell RQ-16 T-Hawk
Missiles and rockets
- RUR-5 ASROC
- Wagtail (missile)
Honeywell Scanning and Mobility
- Honeywell AIDC products
- Intermec Products
Acquisitions
Honeywell's acquisitions have consisted largely of businesses aligned with the company's existing technologies. The acquired companies are integrated into one of Honeywell's our business groups (Aerospace, Home and Building Technologies (HBT), Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS), or Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT)) but retain their original brand name.
Environmental record
The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that no corporation has been linked to a greater number of Superfund toxic waste sites than has Honeywell. Honeywell ranks 44th in a list of US corporations most responsible for air pollution, releasing more than 4.25 million kg (9.4 million pounds) of toxins per year into the air. In 2001, Honeywell agreed to pay $150,000 in civil penalties and to perform $772,000 worth of reparations for environmental violations involving:
- failure to prevent or repair leaks of hazardous organic pollutants into the air
- failure to repair or report refrigeration equipment containing chlorofluorocarbons
- inadequate reporting of benzene, ammonia, nitrogen oxide, dichlorodifluoromethane, sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, and caprolactam emissions
In 2003, a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey ordered the company to perform an estimated $400 million environmental remediation of chromium waste, citing "a substantial risk of imminent damage to public health and safety and imminent and severe damage to the environment." In the same year, Honeywell paid $3.6 million to avoid a federal trial regarding its responsibility for trichloroethylene contamination in Lisle, Illinois. In 2004, the State of New York announced that it would require Honeywell to complete an estimated $448 million cleanup of more than 74,000 kg (165,000 lbs) of mercury and other toxic waste dumped into Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, NY. As of November 2014, Honeywell has completed dredging the lake and established three water treatment plants, and the chemicals cleanup site has removed 7 tons of mercury.
In 2005, the state of New Jersey sued Honeywell, Occidental Petroleum, and PPG to compel cleanup of more than 100 sites contaminated with chromium, a metal linked to lung cancer, ulcers, and dermatitis. In 2008, the state of Arizona made a settlement with Honeywell to pay a $5 million fine and contribute $1 million to a local air-quality cleanup project, after allegations of breaking water-quality and hazardous-waste laws on hundreds of occasions between the years of 1974 and 2004.
In 2006, Honeywell announced that its decision to stop manufacturing mercury switches had resulted in reductions of more than 11,300 kg, 2800 kg, and 1500 kg respectively of mercury, lead, and chromic acid usage. The largest reduction represents 5% of mercury use in the United States. The EPA acknowledged Honeywell's leadership in reducing mercury use through a 2006 National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) Achievement Award for discontinuing the manufacturing of mercury switches.
Criticism
On March 10, 2013, the WSJ reported that Honeywell was one of sixty companies that shielded annual profits from U.S. taxes. In December 2011, the non-partisan liberal organization Public Campaign criticized Honeywell International for spending $18.3 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $34 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $4.9 billion, laying off 968 workers since 2008, and increasing executive pay by 15% to $54.2 million in 2010 for its top 5 executives. Honeywell has also been criticized in the past for its manufacture of deadly and maiming weapons, such as cluster bombs.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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