On the evening of 3 November 2026, the awards dinner of the 2026 Johnson Controls Channel Dealer Conference was held at the Conrad Chongqing. Hangzhou Yongyao Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. received the "2026 Long-Term Partnership Loyalty Award", with the business line recorded as IWE residential business.
That same evening, the company also took home the "2026 Excellent Dealer Champion Award". The two awards do not measure the same thing. The Champion Award carries the weight of a single year; the Loyalty Award carries the weight of years. Six other companies from Hebei, Hunan, Henan, Shandong and Zhejiang received the same loyalty recognition on the night.
One signature, once a year
In business, the word "loyalty" can sound like a moral expectation. For a channel distributor, it is actually a contract clause.
YORK brand authorization is issued per fiscal year — one certificate per year. When it expires each year, it must be renewed. If it is not renewed, the store sign comes down, the inventory is cleared, and the team disperses.
So every annual renewal is a fresh decision to be chosen again.
The authorization certificates held by Hangzhou Yongyao run one per year from FY14 through FY26, thirteen consecutive authorization years. The authorizing entity is Johnson Controls-YORK (China) Trading Co., Ltd.
Thirteen years, thirteen sheets of paper. Not a thick stack — but not one year in it is blank.
The starting point was FY13
The timeline begins a little earlier.
Hangzhou Yongyao Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. was founded on 21 August 2013. The YORK fiscal year starts on 1 October, which means the company was established in the final forty days of FY13.
The cooperation with YORK began in the tail of that fiscal year.
The first year was not a full twelve months. From FY14 onward, it has been one complete year after another.
Thirteen years, several industry cycles
Around FY14, fluorine-based systems were still the mainstream choice for home central air conditioning in Zhejiang. With hydronic systems, you first had to explain the principle to the homeowner before a quotation was even possible. One plant running water, serving underfloor heating and also producing domestic hot water — that logic took a long time to explain in a showroom in those days.
Back then, no one could guarantee the category would get to where it is today.
In the years since, every turn in the industry has left a mark on this regional market.
In November 2022, YORK held its FY23 opening conference in Lingshui, Hainan, under the theme "Building Trust, Building Hearts, Empowering Growth". Those two years were generally not easy for the channel, and the word "confidence" was in the conference title.
In November 2024, in Xi'an, the Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific Dealer Conference ran under the theme "The Journey With You, Shining Together". Yongyao received the Excellent Dealer Champion Award at that conference.
In March 2025, in Guangzhou, the FY25 YORK Light Commercial Elite Summit. Zhou Haiyong took the stage to give a talk titled "Breaking Through in the HVAC Channel". The public description at the time was that the cooperation between Yongyao and YORK spanned twelve fiscal years.
A year and a half later, that number became thirteen.
In December 2025, Yongyao received the Johnson Controls Global Open Award for the fourth consecutive year, for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
3 November 2026, Chongqing. The Loyalty Award.
The other side of loyalty
For a regional stocking distributor, stability is not a sentiment — it is the precondition for anyone downstream to dare to invest.
When a specialist store decides to fit out to brand standards, to commit to dozens of units in one order, or to write an after-sales promise into its own contract, it is calculating the same thing: will this upstream stocking distributor still be here next year?
With authorization renewed annually, nobody can guarantee that in advance.
What Yongyao can offer its regional dealers and specialist stores is precisely that certainty. It explains the phrase "long-term partnership" better than a trophy does.
About Yongyao
Hangzhou Yongyao Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. was founded in August 2013 and is the regional retail stocking distributor and factory-authorized after-sales service provider for YORK hydronic central air conditioning in the Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou–Ningbo–Zhoushan area. Since FY14 it has held thirteen consecutive annual authorizations from Johnson Controls-YORK (China) Trading Co., Ltd. Zhejiang Yongyao Lichuang Trading Co., Ltd. operates the Ningbo and Zhoushan area; both companies belong to the Yongyao group, and the service network covers five cities — Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Huzhou and Zhoushan. Business covers residential air-to-water heat pumps, integrated heating and cooling systems, and dealer channel support.
Closing note
Thirteen years, thirteen certificates, not one missed. It is a light sentence to say.
The real weight falls at this time next year. Then it has to be renewed once more, and one more certificate earned.
Related reading: Two Trophies, One Service Belt — our 2026 Champion Award coverage.