It’s interesting to note that they appear to be splitting up SimplexGrinnell, with Grinnell Fire Protection Solutions becoming its own distinct operating unit, while Simplex will remain a JC brand name.
Nooo! I knew that they were gonna do that! So Simplex doesn’t exist anymore in the regard we know it as? Am I reading this correctly (had a huge literature final today on Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar and it was without modern translation in regular Shakespeare writing with only small footnotes at the bottom explaining certain sentences and words, and yes, it was terrible…I don’t want to think what I might’ve gotten on it but I hope it’s passing…so I am done with reading for the day)?
And now they’re just Simplex again…so will they be called Simplex Time Recorder Company again or not? Or Johnson Controls?
We’ll have to see how it all shakes out to know for sure. For now, it seems as if Simplex will remain as a brand-name under Johnson Controls, based on the wording in the document.
While there are many companies that use the Simplex name, the stylized S with the hourglass in the middle is a registered trademark for the equipment. The Simplex brand is well known in the fire alarm industry by architects, engineers, electrical contractors, and end user customers. It just doesn’t seem like a good business decision to drop that name for the equipment.
Being retired I am on the outside so to speak. That said, I do keep in contact with the local office where I worked for many years. I do get some inside information, but probably not any more than Nazeo gets.
I wonder if Johnson Controls will make any effort to reintegrate the company divisions. Simplex Time Recorder Company was totally integrated. Marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and the field organization was all one company. Tyco tore the company apart. SimplexGrinnell became the field organization but the other departments became part of Tyco Safety Products. The marketing, engineering, IT, and other services stayed in Westminster MA.The plant in Westminster was emptied and the manufacturing was scattered to the four winds to plants in all parts of the world.
I seriously hope they make a good decision and don’t drop the name either. They’re one of my favorite brands! My school district has been using Simplex stuff for pretty much all their FA and time stuff ever since shortly after the merger with IBM. My school was built in 1951, and has old Simplex time equipment that’s circa 1960’s (was a replacement to the original IBM clock system) and still works well today. New clocks have been added over the years in the 90’s renovation areas as well as from renovations that have happened in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The bells are still up but decommissioned (the class change runs through the intercom now but is still tied into the Simplex clock system). For fire alarms, my school has been using Simplex since the 1960’s which is when the Simplex Local Alarm Chevrons were put in. The 2903’s and 9838s came in the mid-late 80’s replacing some kind of system, and my school also has 2099 MAPNET stations in the 1995 addition when the current 4020 panel was installed. They also have a ton of 4251-20’s; most of them are from the 80’s, but there is one first-generation 4251-20 from 1973 when an addition was made…not to mention a TrueAlert and a 4903-9252 from retrofits, as well as 2901-9846’s and Simplex re-branded 4903-9104 15/75cd strobe plates). So, that being said, my district has used Simplex for well over 30 years; and the equipment still works great today; except for a couple of horns that are on their way out. I’m hoping when they start construction on the new high school in 2018 (which I won’t be attending as I graduate in 2019 when the schools supposed to be finished and my current one torn down; don’t worry; I’ll try to save some alarms) that they use Simplex equipment in the new building. I think they will because Simplex stuff is real prominent in my area, which is sort of why I’m worried about the outcome of the restructuring. All in all, I think Simplex is a great company and hopefully it stays that way.
The longevity of Simplex equipment is well known. Earlier this week I was semi-retired for a few hours. I went to a 2120 site to help a salesman plan an upgrade to 4100ES Miniplex. I installed the 2120 around 1984 and it is still running. However, there is only one Digital Eq. VAX in HQ that can run the compiler to do 2120 re-burns. And that computer is hanging on by hope and prayer. Plus the 2120 has many IC chips in it that the manufacturers no longer make. It is hard to repair the circuit boards if the parts are not there. I’m not giving out any secrets here. Customers began receiving 2120 end of life letters several years ago.
I suppose this begs the question, do you believe the Johnson Controls merger may accelerate the end-of-life/replacement process for many of the older Simplex systems still installed today?
looks like the plan to keep tyco security completely separate, which is good in my opinion. that’s a solid brand that depends on resellers though, since simplex is all in house they could theoretically do whatever they want with it. including opening it up to vendors.
i’m not surprised grinell was spun back off, it doesn’t fit into JCI’s core business which has been building controls, fire alarms, and security systems. simlexgrinell was never able to take advantage of selling fire alarm and sprinklers together because they’re bid to two completely separate divisions/decision makers and nobody was interested in packaging them, whereas JCI/Fire can easily be packaged together for cost savings to the customer.