Celebrating 100 Years of Innovation and Partnership at Rheem

This week, we’re celebrating 100 years of innovation, reliability, and partnership at Rheem. Over the past century, Rheem has been a leader in product innovation. And while we celebrate where we’ve been, we’re also looking forward to all that comes next. The next century starts now.

Legacy of Innovation

Looking back on some of the first Rheem Air innovations, such as the 1956 Rheemaire air conditioning system, which reduced home cooling costs by 30% to 50% and was called “the most revolutionary air conditioning development in 15 years.”

To market the Rheemaire, Rheem once hosted ice-melting contests in Texas. Customers guessed how long it would take 40 tons of ice to melt—down to the second—and the person with the most accurate guess won a Rheemaire system.

Today, our commercial heating and cooling equipment is manufactured in Fort Smith, Arkansas. In fact, our Fort Smith facility manufactured its first residential heating and cooling unit in 1970, setting the pace for the next 55 years of manufacturing excellence. Nearly 1,000 employees come together each day to not only innovate and build products but also to build careers, futures, families, and community in Fort Smith and in homes and businesses around the country. Our new tagline, “Engineered for Life,” is a nod to the durability and innovation behind our products and also reflects who we are.

It’s in Fort Smith that our reliable products such as the Rheem® Endeavor® Line, the pinnacle of efficient heating and cooling, are built. The RP19AY heat pump features low-GWP refrigerant, quiet operation, and an industry-best warranty. On the commercial side, Rheem Renaissance® units are engineered to make commercial replacement jobs easier than ever with standard footprints and innovations such as the PlusOne® Velocifin® Heat exchanger, a patented heat exchanger design that increases heat transfer through an innovative velocity concept, improving overall efficiency.

The Fort Smith Innovation Learning Center also provides hands-on and virtual training on a full line of Rheem products. Hundreds of plumbers and contractors have been trained on-location since opening in 2023. We succeed when we work together, and we are proud of the solutions and partnership coming out of Fort Smith and our manufacturing plants around the globe.

A Passion for Possibilities and Partnership

At Rheem, our teams are constantly pushing what’s possible in our products, processes—and partnerships, too. Our Pro Partners are the backbone of our business, and we’re constantly evolving the Pro Partner® program to meet the needs of today’s industry and provide the right tools to help grow contractors’ businesses.

From our Product Excellence Panels, where we talk with and receive direct feedback from HVAC professionals in the field to inspire new features and innovations, to training, marketing support, and expanded air and water services, Rheem is committed to forging partnerships that stand the test of time.

Sustainability: Protecting the Future

We can’t talk about the future without considering our planet. As a global leader, we strive to amplify our positive impact by integrating sustainability in everything we do—from activating our employees to designing our products with intent, greening our manufacturing, engaging our partners, and serving our communities around the world.

Since 2019 alone, we’ve avoided more than 51.23 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions from our high efficiency products. And we’re extremely proud to say that we reached and/or exceeded most of our A Greater Degree of Good® 2025 sustainability goals that we set forth in 2019. That includes launching a new line of air and water heat pump products across residential and commercial offerings that met our 50% greenhouse gas reduction goal, some achieving as much as an 87% reduction.[1]

Rheem also set out to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWTL) status in manufacturing facilities across the world. A Rheem plant is considered to have reached Zero Waste to Landfill when it achieves a rate of at least 90% diversion of nonhazardous solid waste away from landfill, waste-to-energy (WTE), and incineration, in line with the Zero Waste International Alliance standards and TRUE Zero Waste standards.[2] As of 2024, all 18 global sites included in the initial launch has achieved ZWTL status—a year ahead of our goal.

We’ve made a lot of progress over the past 100 years. And the best part is, we’re just getting started. Now, as we celebrate all that we’ve accomplished together, we look toward the future of air and water. To remaining true to our values, while working with our customers to create a globally connected, sustainable, and forward-looking vision.

Here’s to another 100 years of achieving big things, together.

[1] Rheem’s goal is to release by 2025 a line of heating, cooling, and water heating products that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% as compared to products available in 2019. Reduction calculations will be based on the products’ use phase emissions only and utilize average emission factors to account for variability in electricity grids. Reduction calculations will not consider upstream or manufacturing impacts, but use phase emissions account for the majority of the products’ impact. At this time, these figures have not been independently verified by a third party.

[2] A Rheem plant is considered to have reached Zero Waste to Landfill when it achieves a rate of at least 90% diversion of nonhazardous solid waste away from landfill, waste-to-energy (WTE), and incineration, in line with the Zero Waste International Alliance standards and TRUE Zero Waste standards. At this time, these figures have not been independently verified by a third party.