HVAC company Taco triples in size, looks to fill jobs. Has it been affected by tariffs?
With metalworkers at three work stations throwing sparks, an industrial crane skimming the ceiling overhead and a backdrop of water tanks large enough to drive a truck into, Rep. Jake Auchincloss said Taco Comfort Solutions was in the “Massachusetts sweet spot.”
“High-mix, high-value advanced manufacturing,” he said.
The HVAC manufacturing company, which has recently expanded, is thriving and hiring. Auchincloss said he knows people locally are focused on “work, wages and wealth — and jobs like these provide that in an economy where across too many sectors the job market is weakening.”
During a tour of the expanded facility on Oct. 17, Auchincloss also warned that tariffs under President Donald Trump’s administration have had a cooling effect on local manufacturing — and while the HVAC company is so far weathering the changes with little impact, it’s not entirely immune from negative effects that have hit other Fall River companies.
Taco, a manufacturer of products for HVAC systems both small and colossal, has completed a 50,000-square-foot expansion at its facility on 13th and Bedford streets. It’s leasing another 73,000 square feet of space on Water Street near Firestone Pond.
Product Manager Ronnie Falcon said the company has nearly tripled in square footage, and they'll need people to fill all that space.
“There’s been several new hires, and that will continue in 2026 and 2027,” said Falcon.
The company is looking for welders, mechanical engineers, packers and assemblers, fabricators, product designers and more — good-paying blue collar jobs in a century-old family-owned company.
“People come in here, they can make a living. They can buy a house, they can buy a car, they can take care of their families,” Mayor Paul Coogan said during a tour of the facilty on Oct. 17. “An expansion like this is in the city of Fall River is very, very positive, and I’m 100% in.”
Falcon said the company was blessed to have expanded, giving local people skilled in the trades an ability to work on their craft.
“Right now, the industry itself seems to be booming, from the data center industry to HVAC,” Falcon said. “There seems to be plenty going on in construction.”
Diagonally across Bedford Street is Merrow Manufacturing, which produces clothing and sewing machines — businesses which have been affected negatively as China has issued tariffs on American goods in retaliation for higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese products.
Owners of Fall River manufacturers like Merrow, linen manufacturer Matouk, cushion and textile company Klear Vu and high-end leather goods maker Vanson have spoken out publicly against the tariffs, saying they’re raising the cost of doing business.
A stone’s throw from Taco and Merrow, Portugalia Marketplace owner Michael Benevides has said his shop, which specializes in imported products, has already been hurting from “significantly high inflation and a sharp rise in international freight costs over the years.”
At Taco, Falcon said the company has only been affected by high tariffs indirectly, and minimally. There are “pain points,” he said, but the company has largely been spared.
“Fortunately we do much of our sourcing domestically,” Falcon said. “We do have suppliers who do sourcing outside of the U.S., which may impact us slightly.”
Auchincloss said companies like Taco, Merrow, Matouk, Vanson and others, are part of the city’s unique manufacturing base: companies with a talented workforce making high-end, specialized products. These companies, he said, require globalized, predictable markets to sell to. Tariffs threaten that, he said.
By: Dan Medeiros
Source: The Herald News