Growing Green in Tyler, TX
Businesses in the region expand and invest in sustainability.
As local businesses are planting or expanding their roots in Tyler, sustainability is top of mind. While increasing their production lines, Trane Technologies and Tyler Pipe are just two companies exploring ways to create forward-thinking, environmentally friendly products.
Trane Technologies opened a new 200,000-square-foot building in 2022, bringing the company’s total footprint in Tyler to more than 1.6 million square feet on 151 acres and 2,600 employees.
“The agility of our Tyler team continues to impress me,” says Robert Rivers, Tyler plant manager. “The winter storm we experienced in February of 2021 resulted in a roof collapse in a portion of our facility. Our team not only reduced the impacted product models by 95% within only two weeks but stood up a new building in a year’s time. All while putting our colleagues’ safety, comfort and job security first.”
The new facility expands Trane Technologies’ product line to include furnaces.
“The addition of a furnace line to our plant here in Tyler not only creates more jobs locally, but also makes our business stronger and more resilient overall, creating redundancy to help ensure customers’ needs are met,” Rivers says.
Sustainability Leader
In 2022, Trane Technologies won the Leadership in Sustainability Award from TXU Energy in North Texas. The company has made a global commitment to protect the climate through its bold 2030 commitments, including achieving carbon-neutral status for its business operations and reducing one gigaton of carbon emissions from its customers’ carbon footprint.
Trane Technologies’ Tyler location contributes to the company’s commitment to sustainability, and its product solutions are crafted to be better for its customers and the environment. Since 2020, the facility has operated using 100% renewable electricity. In 2021, the company reported that 35% of its revenue was clean revenue – products and services that facilitate energy or emissions reductions – and that number continues to increase yearly.
“Sustainability is core to our strategy,” Rivers says. “We are committed to reducing our customers’ carbon footprint while leading by example within our own. We are transforming our operations to have a restorative impact on the environment. And at the same time, we’re partnering within the Tyler community to drive environmental and social sustainability, starting with STEM learning experiences for students.”
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Green Solutions
Operating under McWane Enterprises, Tyler Pipe invested $36 million into its facility to enhance its manufacturing capabilities. Tyler Pipe and Coupling is a manufacturer of cast iron soil pipe and fittings, and no-hub couplings for drain, waste and vent (DWV) plumbing systems used in commercial construction.
In addition to producing environmentally beneficial products, the company has developed ways to make its facilities – including the Tyler location – more efficient and sustainable.
“Tyler’s cast iron pipe and fittings are noncombustible and a green solution, as it is manufactured using more than 90% post-consumer scrap metal, which reduces demand on area landfills and is recyclable at the end of its service life,” says Michael Maddox, McWane Plumbing Group executive.
Maddox notes the company has become more innovative and sustainable with its manufacturing practices by modernizing its production.
“Tyler Pipe recently completed construction of the DISA 270, which provides efficiency and speed to produce most of the high-quality fittings to meet our customers’ demands.”
Michael Maddox, McWane Plumbing Group
Eco-Friendly Business Park
Tenants in Tyler’s Corporate Green Office Park benefit from cost-effective green technology in a space nestled on 30 acres of prime wooded and hilly real estate.
Eco-friendly features of the park include high-efficiency “smart” HVAC, computer-controlled, high-efficiency lighting, robust power distribution with automatic generator backup, reuse of rainwater for irrigation and preservation of area trees to provide aesthetic appeal as well as natural shade.
The park includes four Class A office space buildings that are 100% occupied, with a fifth building planned.
Get to Know Tyler
Want to learn more about living and working in Tyler, TX? Check out the latest edition of Livability Tyler, TX.