website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Johnson Controls
1976 Baso Addition
11 30 In mid-July the 76,800 square foot
addition at the Baso Facility of Johnson Controls,
Inc., Penn Division, in Watertown, was started with a completion date scheduled
for Dec. 1. Baso
will be moving into the new addition within the next week. This addition will represent an increase of
86 per cent in its manufacturing space.
At this time the remaining products from the Milwaukee plant will be
moved into the Watertown plant. The
complete line of automatic gas controls, including the sophisticated ignition
controls, thermocouples, pilots and test kits can now be fabricated under one
roof. Also, aluminum die castings will
continue to be furnished to the Penn Goshen and the Johnson Humboldt plants. Several new products are soon to be released
and will be coming to the Watertown plant.
The employment level of the Watertown facility now stands at 390, and
after the moves are completed approximately 100 new jobs will be created for
Watertown. WDT
07 25 Earl W. Houle, manager
of Tool and Plant Engineering at the Watertown plant of Johnson Controls Inc.
Control Products Division, will be retiring effective Aug. 1. Houle, who resides
in Delafield, has been with the company since Nov. 18, 1946, in Milwaukee, when
it was known as Milwaukee Gas Specialty.
He transferred to Watertown in 1957, when Vultel
Inc., a division of Milwaukee Gas Specialty, started operations here. Houle served as
plant manager of the Watertown facility from 1957 to 1976, when the firm's
Milwaukee and Watertown plants merged in Watertown. Houle has worked
specifically with plant engineering since 1976. WDT
1986
03 31 The decision to lay off 260 employees at various Johnson Controls Inc. plants throughout the nation will not have any direct impact upon the Watertown plant, according to company spokesmen. Johnson Controls announced the layoffs in its systems and services division, which employs 7,800 workers in 120 plants and offices nationwide.
The division installs and services devices in commercial buildings and industrial plants to control heating, air conditioning, fire safety and security. The Watertown plant, located at 1007 South Twelfth Street, is in the control products division, primarily manufacturing controls for the propane gas industry. WDT
