CIAT 🇫🇷

The Compagnie Industrielle d'Applications Thermiques was founded in 1934 by Jean Falconnier, an engineer who graduated from the Lyon school, in Ars-sur-Moselle, based on a patent for a tube-and-fin heat exchanger. Facing the threat of war, it moved in 1939 to Culoz, a town in the Ain near the Rhône, which has since become synonymous with the brand. After decades of heat exchangers and heating equipment for Alpine hotels and about 300,000 homes, CIAT launched its fan coil units in 1965, its chillers and heat pumps in the seventies, absorbed Hydronic (air‑treatment units) in 1976, and Cristopia (cold storage) in 1988. It is the maker of fan coils, rooftops and chillers that equip hospitals, offices and hotels throughout France.

Spain is its second homeland. In 1986 a group of Córdoba engineers founded Ciatesa (Industrial Company of Thermal Applications, S.A.) in Montilla to assemble medium and large power equipment; in 2000 the plant specialized in rooftops and in 2005 it expanded to 40,000 m², 30 % of the multinational’s industrial surface, fully integrating into the group in 2007. Today it is the largest air‑conditioning factory in Spain and houses the largest European laboratory for pre‑conditioning air units for aircraft.

The Falconnier family ran the company well into the 21st century: Jean until 1984, his son Jean‑Louis until his death in 2005 and then Jean‑Pierre. In 2008 Somfy took 40 % and in 2015 United Technologies (Carrier) bought 100 %, turning CIAT into Carrier’s industrial core in France and Montilla into Carrier Montilla. In 2024 CIAT billed €132 million with 563 employees.

Pending verification

The price paid by UTC in 2015 has not been located nor the exact date when Ciatesa became called Carrier Montilla.

History machine-translated from Spanish. Can you improve it? Write to us.