From Niche To Mainstream
The history of AAON extends back 34 years when our founder Norm Asbjornson decided to create a business that designs and produces semi-customized HVAC equipment that excelled in performance relative to the market. Cutting-edge innovation and engineering were the primary focus since day one. This foundation supported the company’s growth in its early days and is just as important today.
Over the last several decades, AAON has led the nonresidential HVAC equipment market in quality, customization, innovation, performance, energy efficiency, lower cost of ownership and reliability. Today, we describe this as sustainable innovation. Historically, sustainable innovation came at an upfront cost premium. Although we have always designed our equipment so that the cost over the course of the life span of the equipment was very competitive, the premium upfront cost of the equipment kept us from being mainstream. For that reason, we have been a niche provider up until now.
Secular trends related to decarbonization and indoor air quality are leading to a shift in demand from standard equipment to more capable, higher sophisticated equipment that is more energy efficient while providing cleaner air quality. Simply put, demand is shifting towards the sustainable innovation that AAON has been providing for decades. Sustainable innovation will still come with an upfront premium price. However, AAON’s years of experience creating the most efficient automated production operations that manufacture sustainable equipment positions the company with a big advantage. We believe this transformation in the market will lead to AAON providing the highest quality equipment for the most attractive price, which will allow the company to evolve from niche to mainstream.
