Southwest Michigan company expands with $5 million federal grant, creating dozens of jobs

THREE RIVERS, MI — A southwest Michigan company is expanding and increasing production of commercial heat pumps thanks to a generous grant from a federal agency. The heat pumps are designed to heat and cool spaces more efficiently than other widely used technologies, experts say.

Armstrong International, 816 Maple St., began construction in June on a 300,000-square-foot expansion of its Three Rivers manufacturing campus, funded in part with $5,083,719 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Heat Pump Defense Production Act program.

The new wing of the manufacturing facilities will serve as a production site for industrial heat pumps intended for manufacturers in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, paper and personal care industries. The facility will produce sustainable and engineered solutions to improve energy efficiency, the Energy Department said, as part of a global energy transition.

The project is expected to have a positive impact on the country’s decarbonization goal and increase the capacity of industrial heat pump manufacturing in the United States.

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Armstrong’s new facility will be able to manufacture about 150 heat pump systems per year, said Giulia Siccardo, director of the Energy Department’s Office of Manufacturing & Energy Supply Chains. That means fewer fossil fuels will be burned each year and the expansion of the Armstrong facility alone will have a “massive impact,” Siccardo said.

The expansion will create 27 full-time positions and 35 jobs in the construction sector by the third year of operation, the company said.

Brian Armstrong, head of the company’s heat pump division, said the grant will cover about half of the expansion, the total cost of which is estimated at more than $10 million.

“This is a huge opportunity for us to really ramp up production of high-temperature heat pumps,” Armstrong said. It’s important for the company to increase production in the U.S. and keep up with increasing demand, he said. The company has manufactured both here and abroad in the past.

In addition to decarbonization, or reducing carbon emissions, heat pumps can also save people money through their efficiency, Siccardo said. Homeowners who install the units in residential buildings can save about $500 a year, she said.

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Armstrong is bringing the same concept to commercial settings, she said, which is more of a niche area. Siccardo described how factories and plants can use heat already produced from processes and convert it into the heating and cooling system.

“There’s a lot of waste heat generated in these plants,” Siccardo said, describing the Armstrong project. “If you can capture that waste heat and use it for heating and cooling, you can use energy that you’ve already used in a very efficient way for another activity that’s required in the plant.”

Siccardo said the principle of heat pumps is not a new idea. He compared it to geothermal heating and cooling, which uses the earth’s temperature to heat and cool a building.

The technology should enable manufacturers to produce products more cost-effectively while using less fuel, she said.

Armstrong says the devices transfer heat by pumping a fluid between two heat exchangers in a cycle of evaporation and condensation.

“Armstrong heat pumps help you increase efficiency and reduce your carbon footprint by recovering waste heat where you need it most – in your manufacturing process,” the company says on its website.

It fits well with the goals of companies seeking changes in their energy consumption, Armstrong said.

“We can support their plan and their path to decarbonization with heat pump technology,” said Armstrong, who is part of the company’s fifth generation. “…This is what our customers want. This is where they need help and we can now provide it.”

The devices are designed to provide cost savings over time, although they typically have a higher initial cost, Siccardo said, and the Energy Department is working to find ways to get people to switch to the technology. The technology is still in its early stages of adoption and is expected to continue to grow, she said.

It’s hard not to like a product that can save you hundreds of dollars a year, Siccardo said.

The Three Rivers plant is expected to meet about five percent of the U.S. industrial heat pump demand, she said.

Armstrong has also created a Community Benefit Plan that includes guidelines for creating quality jobs, training workers and ensuring a safe and healthy workplace. The company’s goal is to fill 40% of the new jobs created with people from disadvantaged communities, the Energy Department said.

Three Rivers is a city of about 7,900 residents located about 45 miles south of Kalamazoo in St. Joseph County.

The project is one of nine that recently received funding from the Department of Energy, and the only one in Michigan.

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