In the weeks leading up to New Year”™s Eve, humans generated enough energy on stationary bikes to keep the 2010 sign lighted in Times Square.
Despite some churning in the local rumor mill that Duracell might reassess its headquarters options in the New Year, a company spokesman said the company plans to stay put at its hilltop coppertop headquarters on the Danbury-Bethel line.
Duracell spokesman Kurt Iverson said the company owns the building and despite space getting tighter these days Duracell has no intention of moving, in part due to the laboratories on site that would be expensive to recreate at another facility.
Duracell has called Bethel home since 1974; in 1995 the battery maker moved into an enviable office and laboratory complex situated in Berkshire Corporate Park on the Bethel-Danbury line, having previously had its people scattered in eight different buildings in the complex.
The 310,0000-square-foot facility cost $70 million to build, and remains a trophy building to this day not only for the Danbury area, but Fairfield County, as well. Duracell”™s identity is embedded in the building in the literal sense as well as the figurative and practical ”“ the exterior bricks contain manganese, which is a byproduct of the battery production process.
As such, most real-estate brokers are doubtful Duracell has any real interest in relocating, but nevertheless is exploring its options with perhaps an eye on securing incentives from the state to stay put. Late last year, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed off on a $100 million package of perks for United Technologies Corp. to retain two Pratt & Whitney plants, which Hartford-based UTC ultimately rejected. With a similar-sized package in hand, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. committed to relocating to Stamford from White Plains, N.Y., in 2012.
Duracell”™s building was designed with the possibility that it might eventually be made available for multi-use with four distinct “precincts,” as the building”™s architect told the New York Times after it was opened.
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“From the start, Duracell told us that they wanted a building that could be rented if they ever moved out,” the New Haven-based architect Herbert Newman told the newspaper at the time.
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Duracell is owned by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co., which gained the battery maker in its 2006 acquisition of Gillette. In the past, P&G has stated that Duracell has about $2 billion in annual sales, which would rank it among the top 20 companies based in Fairfield County.
In 2007, the Financial Times reported that P&G was considering selling Duracell, with potential suitors including Fairfield-based General Electric Co.
Iverson said such rumors occasionally surface.
Duracell has about 450 employees in Bethel, and P&G recently disclosed that it is moving a handful of Duracell jobs there from a lab in Needham, Mass., that is slated for closure.
In the third quarter, Duracell battery sales volume was down in the “mid-single digits” compared with a year earlier, according to P&G, adding that its global market share of general-purpose batteries had declined about a percentage point during the quarter.
While some upstart companies have emerged to challenge traditional battery companies, including Massachusetts-based A123 Systems Inc. of which GE was a major backer, Duracell continues to burn the midnight oil in its own labs. The company is now selling the myGrid device, which recharges batteries for cell phones and portable music players via a wireless technology. And last week Duracell received an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Award for its Duracell Instant Charger, which provides up to 35 hours of reserve power for mobile devices via a USB power cord.
“While the business continues to expect near-term pressure in the disposable power segment, we are encouraged by our recent Duracell smart power innovations in the fast-growing rechargeable segment,” said Teri List, treasurer of P&G, in a conference call with investors following posting of the company”™s third-quarter results.
