I am of a certain age which has allowed me to witness two expansions and contractions in the number of commercial controls manufacturers. Prior to the 1980’s dawn of DDC, there were the “Big 5” manufacturers of pneumatic controls: Barber-Colman, Honeywell, Johnson Controls (“JCI”), MCC Powers (now Siemens), and Robertshaw. Since then we have witnessed:
First wave of DDC manufacturers. The growth of microprocessor technology in the late 1970s led to the first DDC controllers. These products were introduced by a small group of startup companies. While the “Big 5” were playing catch-up, many others with the engineering know-how and entrepreneurism entered the market. This led to an exponential growth of DDC manufacturers that lasted for about 10 years. If I recall correctly, there were as many as 40 “BAS” manufacturers in the U.S. at the peak of this explosion.