ATLANTA — Danfoss experienced 12 percent growth in North America in 2018.

John Galyen, president, North America, Danfoss, shared the news with members of the AHR Expo media at the manufacturer's 24^th annual press breakfast Tuesday morning at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

“Twelve percent organic growth is impressive,” Galyen said. “This is on top of 10 percent organic growth last year. We're performing above market growth. Customers continue to reward us with more business.”

Galyen noted that a lot of that growth occurred in the company's mobile hydraulic business, which has ridden a cyclical high. He also praised the performance of the company’s HVACR sectors.

“The HVACR market was pretty solid for most of the year,” he said. “Going forward, we’re optimistic for the future of this market.”

Galyen identified uncertainty and tariffs as the biggest challenges of 2018.

“Uncertainty surrounded what the tariffs were going to bring and what the impact may be," he said. "This has caused us a lot of time and energy. We’ve had conversations with customers regarding the relocation of production. These are not easy decisions, and they take time to implement. That said, overall, 2018 was a very good year.”

While Galyen said Danfoss is anticipating growth in the first half of 2019, he's a bit pessimistic about the back half of the year.

“Mainly in the mobile hydraulics business, we’re forecasting a decline,” he said. “We expect that business to come back down in the second half of the year. The HVACR market looks pretty solid. We’re pretty optimistic in this area and are anticipating high single-digit growth for 2019.”

For more information, visit www.danfoss.com.