Direct Answer
Honeywell's origins trace to 1885, when Albert Butz founded the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and invented an automatic furnace damper regulator, the precursor to the modern thermostat. The company merged with Mark Honeywell's Honeywell Heating Specialty Company in 1927 to form the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, which was shortened to Honeywell in 1934. WWII established Honeywell's aerospace credentials through aircraft instruments and autopilot contracts. The 1999 merger of AlliedSignal and Honeywell Inc. created modern Honeywell International. A proposed $45 billion acquisition by General Electric was blocked by EU regulators in 2001. David Cote's tenure (2002 to 2017) transformed the company into a diversified industrial conglomerate. Honeywell joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average on February 27, 2004. In 2024, Honeywell announced plans to spin off its Automation segment as a standalone public company.
Origins: the thermostat company (1885 to 1927)
Honeywell's story begins in a Minneapolis basement. In 1885, Albert Butz founded the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company and invented a device he called the "damper flapper" -- an automatic furnace regulator that opened or closed a furnace damper in response to room temperature. Butz received a patent for this invention in 1886, making it the world's first automatic temperature controller and the direct ancestor of the modern thermostat.
In Wabash, Indiana, a parallel business was developing. Mark C. Honeywell founded the Honeywell Heating Specialty Company, which manufactured and sold warm-air furnace equipment. The two companies operated independently until 1927, when they merged to form the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company. The combined company brought together thermostat controls and heating equipment under one roof, and its name honored both the Minneapolis roots of the Butz business and the Honeywell brand Mark Honeywell had built.
Key milestones
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1885 | Albert Butz founds Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota; invents automatic furnace damper regulator |
| 1886 | Butz patents the "damper flapper," the world's first automatic temperature controller |
| 1927 | Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company merges with Honeywell Heating Specialty Company (founded by Mark Honeywell in Wabash, Indiana) to form Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company |
| 1934 | Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company renamed Honeywell; company broadens into industrial and aircraft controls |
| 1941 to 1945 | WWII production of aircraft instruments, fire control systems, and autopilots; major government contracts establish Honeywell's aerospace credentials |
| 1955 | Honeywell develops one of the first commercial computers; the H-200 competed directly with IBM mainframes |
| 1960s | Major role in NASA Apollo program, supplying spacecraft guidance and control systems; expansion into computers, aerospace instruments, and industrial controls |
| 1970 | Honeywell exits the commercial computer business; computer operations eventually sold to the Bull/NEC consortium |
| February 27, 2004 | Honeywell International joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Eastman Kodak |
| 1999 | AlliedSignal and Honeywell Inc. agree to merge in a deal valued at approximately $15 billion; the merged company takes the Honeywell name |
| October 2000 | General Electric announces acquisition of Honeywell for approximately $45 billion |
| July 2001 | European Commission blocks GE's acquisition of Honeywell, citing aerospace competition concerns; Honeywell remains independent |
| 2002 | David Cote becomes CEO; begins multi-year transformation of the company |
| 2008 to 2009 | Great Recession: Cote uses furloughs rather than mass layoffs to preserve talent, enabling a faster recovery |
| 2017 | Darius Adamczyk becomes CEO; accelerates Honeywell's software and connected-building transformation |
| 2018 | Honeywell spins off homes and global distribution segment as Resideo Technologies (REZI) and transportation systems segment as Garrett Motion (GTX) |
| June 2019 | Honeywell moves stock listing from NYSE to NASDAQ |
| June 2023 | Vimal Kapur becomes CEO |
| 2024 | Honeywell announces plan to separate its Automation segment into a standalone public company |
CEO timeline
| CEO | Tenure | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Albert Butz | 1885 to 1894 | Founder; invented the automatic temperature controller |
| Mark C. Honeywell | (co-founder, merger partner) | Founded Honeywell Heating Specialty Company; namesake of the merged entity |
| Various | 1927 to 1991 | Pre-AlliedSignal era; company expanded through WWII, aerospace, and computer eras |
| Lawrence Bossidy (AlliedSignal) | 1991 to 1999 | Transformed AlliedSignal; engineered the 1999 merger with Honeywell |
| Michael Bonsignore | 1999 to 2001 | Led the merged Honeywell International; resigned after GE acquisition collapsed |
| David Cote | 2002 to 2017 | Transformational CEO; built modern Honeywell's portfolio, used furloughs to preserve talent during the Great Recession |
| Darius Adamczyk | 2017 to 2023 | Accelerated software transformation; spun off Resideo and Garrett Motion |
| Vimal Kapur | 2023 to present | Announced Automation segment spinoff |
Four eras of Honeywell history
Controls and thermostats (1885 to 1940)
The company Albert Butz started was a controls company from its first day. The damper flapper solved a real problem in an era when coal furnaces required manual tending to maintain home temperature. Butz's patent gave the fledgling business a genuine technological edge. After reorganizations in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the company found its modern footing through the 1927 merger with Honeywell Heating Specialty. The combined entity held a strong position in building controls precisely because it owned both the sensing technology (thermostats) and the heating equipment the thermostats controlled. By the mid-1930s, Honeywell had extended its controls expertise beyond residential heating into industrial process controls and aircraft instruments.
Aerospace and government contracts (1941 to 1985)
World War II reshaped Honeywell permanently. Government contracts for aircraft instruments, fire control systems, and autopilots pushed the company deep into aerospace and defense. The precision engineering required for airborne controls was far more demanding than residential thermostats, and Honeywell built the organizational capability to meet that standard. After the war, Honeywell carried those capabilities into the space race. The company played a significant role in the NASA Apollo program, supplying guidance and control systems for spacecraft. In 1955, Honeywell launched the H-200 computer, briefly putting it in direct competition with IBM in the commercial computing market. The computer venture ultimately failed: by 1970, Honeywell had exited the business, eventually selling its computer operations to a Bull/NEC consortium. The lesson was sharp -- Honeywell's durable competitive position lay in controls and instrumentation, not in general-purpose computing.
Restructuring and the AlliedSignal merger (1986 to 2001)
The late 1980s and 1990s brought a series of restructurings as Honeywell refocused on its core strengths. The 1999 merger with AlliedSignal was the defining transaction of the era. AlliedSignal itself had been assembled from multiple industrial predecessors, including Bendix (aerospace and automotive), Allied Chemical, and Signal Companies. Despite AlliedSignal being the technical acquirer, the merged entity took the Honeywell name because Honeywell carried greater brand recognition in the industrial controls and building automation markets that the combined company would emphasize. Michael Bonsignore became CEO of the merged Honeywell International in 1999.
The merger was barely complete when a far larger deal was announced. In October 2000, General Electric and Honeywell agreed to a combination valued at approximately $45 billion -- one of the largest industrial mergers ever proposed. U.S. regulators cleared the transaction, but the European Commission blocked it in July 2001, ruling that the combined company would dominate aerospace supply chains in a way that harmed competition. GE CEO Jack Welch, who had come out of retirement specifically to push the deal through, saw it collapse in the final months of his tenure. Bonsignore resigned, and Honeywell entered a period of independent recovery.
Cote's transformation and modern Honeywell (2002 to present)
David Cote, who became CEO in 2002, is widely credited with building the modern Honeywell. He found a company with overlapping businesses, high costs, and underfunded pension obligations. Over fifteen years, Cote systematically exited businesses where Honeywell lacked a strong competitive position and invested in aerospace, building technologies, performance materials, and safety products. His response to the 2008 to 2009 Great Recession became a case study: rather than conducting mass layoffs, Honeywell used temporary furloughs, asking employees to take unpaid leave on a rotating basis. The approach preserved institutional knowledge and allowed Honeywell to recover faster when industrial demand returned.
Darius Adamczyk, who succeeded Cote in 2017, accelerated the software transformation, investing in connected building platforms and industrial internet-of-things capabilities. In 2018, Honeywell completed two significant spinoffs: the homes and global distribution segment became Resideo Technologies (ticker REZI), and the transportation systems segment became Garrett Motion (ticker GTX). In June 2019, Honeywell moved its stock listing from the NYSE to NASDAQ. Vimal Kapur became CEO in June 2023 and in 2024 announced plans to separate Honeywell's Automation segment into an independent public company, continuing the portfolio simplification strategy Cote had begun two decades earlier.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Honeywell founded?
Honeywell's origins trace to 1885, when Albert Butz founded the Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Butz invented an automatic furnace damper regulator, a precursor to the modern thermostat. The company merged with Mark Honeywell's Honeywell Heating Specialty Company in 1927 to form the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, which was renamed simply Honeywell in 1934. The modern Honeywell International was formed by the 1999 merger between AlliedSignal and the legacy Honeywell Inc.
Why did GE's acquisition of Honeywell fail?
In October 2000, General Electric announced it would acquire Honeywell for approximately $45 billion in what would have been one of the largest industrial mergers in history. U.S. regulators approved the deal, but the European Commission blocked it in July 2001, citing concerns that the combined company would dominate aerospace markets by bundling avionics, engines, and other components. GE CEO Jack Welch, who had come out of retirement to shepherd the deal, saw it collapse just before he retired. Honeywell remained independent.
What happened in Honeywell's 1999 merger with AlliedSignal?
In 1999, AlliedSignal and Honeywell Inc. agreed to merge in a deal valued at approximately $15 billion. AlliedSignal, led by CEO Lawrence Bossidy, had been built from multiple industrial predecessors including Bendix, Allied Chemical, and Signal Companies. Though AlliedSignal was the acquiring entity, the merged company took the Honeywell name because it was better known globally. The resulting entity, Honeywell International, combined AlliedSignal's aerospace and chemicals businesses with Honeywell's controls and automation operations.
When did Honeywell join the Dow Jones Industrial Average?
Honeywell International joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average on February 27, 2004, replacing Eastman Kodak. Honeywell has remained a Dow component since that date.