As Rheem approaches its second century in business, the company continues to balance its legacy of reliability with a forward-looking strategy centered on innovation, sustainability and stronger channel partnerships. From connected technologies and heat pump advancements to workforce development and distributor support, Rheem is positioning itself to help wholesalers, contractors and end users navigate a rapidly evolving marketplace.
To learn more about what is taking place across the organization, The Wholesaler sat down with Alex Housten, chief operating officer of Rheem Manufacturing Company, to discuss the company’s focus on the future, the importance of the wholesale channel, and how Rheem is working to deliver value across air, water and commercial segments for the next generation of the industry.
The Wholesaler: Rheem is approaching its second century—how do you balance honoring a 100-year legacy while evolving the business to stay competitive for the next 100 years?
Alex Housten: Rheem’s legacy is grounded in purposeful innovation, strong partnerships, and a deep commitment to the trades – those principles continue to guide how we operate today. As we look ahead, we are focused on evolving the business through advanced technologies, sustainability, and smarter solutions. That’s a winning recipe, but it means little if we don’t offer superior, long-term value and a customer experience like no other manufacturer in our industry. And so, all our work ahead will be grounded in great customer experience, sales excellence, strong products, and reliable fulfillment.
The Wholesaler: You oversee a broad portfolio across air, water and commercial segments. Where are you seeing the most meaningful shifts in demand, and how is Rheem adapting its strategy to meet them?
AH: Fundamentally, Rheem provides essential heating, cooling, water heating, and refrigeration products to markets that care about reliability, performance, and value. We are always advancing the combination of those three attributes to our customers. Right now, costs are in focus for our channel partners, plumbers, and contractors, as well as their customers, both homeowners and building operators. To address these concerns, Rheem is advancing our offering of electric, gas, and dual-fuel systems to give users energy choice and resilience, lowering product lifecycle costs through increased efficiency, and deploying smart technology to ensure our products can be monitored and maintained for optimal operating costs. Furthermore, Rheem is committed to continually improving product quality, ensuring that both residential and commercial users can depend on their equipment investments to perform dependably for life.
The Wholesaler: Innovation is often talked about broadly—what does it look like in practice at Rheem today, particularly when it comes to technology, sustainability and product development?
AH: In practice, innovation at Rheem is about delivering smarter, more sustainable products that create real value for the homeowners, businesses, partners, and the industry. We treat it as a set of measurable actions across technology, sustainability, and product development. From a technology standpoint, we’re advancing connected solutions through platforms like EcoNet, Rheem’s smart monitoring system, enabling homeowners and contractors to gain greater control, visibility, and efficiency over all the equipment they care about, whether it’s a single home or a fleet of installations across the country.
On sustainability, our approach is guided by Rheem’s “A Greater Degree of Good” (https://bit.ly/4wTfmKc) initiative, which includes a comprehensive framework and ambitious new goals to reduce waste in our factories and offices, get the most out of the energy resources that power our products, and reduce our environment impacts.
From a product development perspective, innovation means expanding high-efficiency electric and hybrid solutions, including heat pump technologies across water heating and HVAC. Just as important, we design with installation, serviceability, and the contractor or plumber experience in mind.
The Wholesaler: From a distribution standpoint, what are you doing differently to help partners grow their business—whether through product access, training, digital tools or supply chain support?
AH: Rheem is a unique company that offers solutions spanning heating, cooling, refrigeration, and water heating systems for both residential and commercial applications. Driven by the increasing interest in heat pumps across these domains, our expertise in product development, operations, and – importantly – channel training and support offers unprecedented versatility and breadth because we are air and water together. Our distribution partners are increasing their service to both trades, and contractors and plumbers are too. All of this comes together in our view of a significant opportunity to offer air and water solutions cohesively as one company, with one brand promise, backed by the expertise, innovation, and operational performance to be the best to do business with.
The Wholesaler: The industry continues to navigate regulatory changes and decarbonization goals. How is Rheem positioning itself, and its partners, to stay ahead of these evolving requirements?
AH: Rheem is committed to innovation that supports efficiency and sustainability. This includes expanding our portfolio of high-efficiency, low-emissions solutions and investing in training to ensure our partners are equipped to understand and use the latest product offerings.
Additionally, Rheem is focused on offering innovative heating, cooling, refrigeration, and water heating products that reduce energy costs and environmental impacts, while delivering reliable performance and facilitating easy installation. In relation to changing efficiency standards, Rheem has always been prepared with products that meet or exceed future benchmarks, giving trade professionals the confidence and capability to stay ahead. We’re also prioritizing the continued development of industry-leading training programs for heat pump technology through our Innovation Learning Centers and the Pro Partner program.
The Wholesaler: Looking ahead three to five years, what should wholesale distributors expect from Rheem in terms of partnership, support and overall direction of the business?
AH: Looking ahead, distributors can expect Rheem to deepen its commitment to the wholesale channel by continuing to invest in the areas that matter most to their businesses, including product availability, training, support, programs, ease of doing business, and long-term growth.
Our aim is to be the best to do business with, serving both single-focused trade air or water contractors, as well as multi-trade air and water contractors, with strong products, exceptional value, and dependable support. The evolution of our organization to air and water together has provided the opportunity to look more closely at how progress spanning both air and water creates greater opportunity – in how we reach customers, develop and create technology, and manufacture, distribute, and support our products sustainably.
The Wholesaler: Training and contractor engagement remain critical. How is Rheem helping distributors drive pull-through demand at the counter and support the next generation of the workforce?
AH: Through Rheem Academy, the company’s training platform for contractors and partners across the water heating and HVAC industries, there are a variety of training options from in-person sessions at Rheem’s Innovation & Learning Centers to digital training programs. Our training efforts focus on installation, service, and emerging technologies like heat pumps and connected systems.
Since 2019, we’ve more than tripled our training goal, educating 800,000+ plumbers, contractors, distributors, and key influencers on sustainable products and practices. We also partner closely with trade schools across the United States to strengthen HVAC, plumbing, and construction program curricula. Providing access to the latest high-efficiency heating, cooling, and water-heating technologies enables students to receive hands-on training with the same products and systems they will encounter in the field.
Training builds contractor confidence in Rheem products, driving demand. Simultaneously, our scholarships and trade partnerships are cultivating a skilled, future-ready workforce for our distributors.
The Wholesaler: Rheem has long been committed to the wholesale channel. How are you reinforcing that commitment as the market evolves?
AH: Rheem has always known the wholesale channel is essential to delivering value across the industry, and that commitment remains as strong as ever. As the market evolves, we’re reinforcing our market position by making it easier for our distributor partners to do business with us – through product availability, demand planning, and supply chain alignment.
We are also continuing to invest in training, digital tools, and resources that help distributors stay ahead in the market. Rheem’s focus is on supporting the entire value chain, ensuring our partners have the confidence, capability, and flexibility to grow alongside us.
Ultimately, it comes down to partnership and trust. We’re continuing to listen, evolve, and invest in the areas that matter most to our customers, which is delivering reliable solutions and creating long-term value for their businesses.
