Richmond, Va.-based Carrier Mid-Atlantic, which distributes heating and air conditioning systems in the Baltimore area, will hire more than 30 employees at its Glen Burnie facility after its parent company granted it the right to sell Carrier products, according to company spokesmen.
Carrier Mid-Atlantic is picking up the Carrier product line in the Baltimore region after the previous distributor, Rosedale-based United Products Distributors, decided to market another brand, said Tom Holt, Carrier Mid-Atlantic's regional operations manager.
"We're just picking up on the territory that United Products used to have" with Carrier products, Holt said. United Products officials could not be reached for comment.
Carrier Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., is the largest manufacturer of refrigeration systems and heating, ventilation and cooling equipment, with sales of $8.4 billion last year. Carrier Mid-Atlantic, part of its distribution arm, serves the Baltimore market through a 36,000-square- foot facility in Glen Burnie and has 11 distribution and sales offices in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Peter Hart, Carrier Mid-Atlantic's Baltimore region manager, said the chance to sell Carrier products will mean significant sales increases for the distributor. The company also plans to open a sales office in Baltimore County.
"Baltimore and Washington are mature markets for our business," Hart said. "Air conditioning has been around longer than in other cities."
He said it had been difficult finding qualified employees to fill the company's new positions, ranging from engineers and counter salespeople to warehouse and delivery employees.
The distribution arm, Carrier Enterprises LLC, had sales last year of about $1.2 billion, largely on the strength of recently acquired independent distributors that it bought as part of its growth strategy, Hart said.
Carrier Mid-Atlantic used to be Automatic Equipment Sales, an independent distributor that sold two other brands of heating and cooling equipment. Carrier Enterprises acquired Automatic Equipment in August 1998 and continued selling the two brands of equipment.