All right, so we're gonna get started again. We're very excited to have Johnson Controls with us and George Oliver, who is the Chairman and CEO. George, as I walk over to you, maybe just ask you to give us an update lay of the land, you know, as we sit here today. You know, we're halfway through fiscal year fiscal Q2. So anything you're seeing in terms of end markets, the cyber incident I think is behind you, which is good. Are you seeing as you expected, and can you talk about any differences you're seeing in regions? You know, we know China's been difficult, been more selective there. You're seeing any stabilization, and what about North America, EMEALA?
Yeah, Andy, it's great to be back with you here today. You know, let me start by when we talk about the cyber incident and what the impact that that had on our first quarter. Certainly, we lost a lot of momentum 'cause we had compromised systems. You know, when you look at our service business, it's a transactional business. We had to dispatch, schedule and dispatch manually. So we had a lot of systems that weren't, you know, in full operation. So what I would say is our team did an incredible job continuing to operate, to be able to operate the company in, in that, in that environment. And then the way that, that we recovered and got the momentum back, in November, December was, was pretty impressive. And so that being said, we're back 100%.
We see, you know, we've had a good start to Q2, both, you know, when you look at orders, revenue, the recovery of service, you know, service, you know, where we had, you know, great success here over the last couple of years getting to double-digit, that's where we saw a little bit of softness because of the situation we had with cyber. But we see that momentum back, and that's playing out as expected. We talk a lot about margins, and the margin and backlog that we've had is significantly better, and that's gonna turn through the course of the year.
And then from a cash standpoint, you know, we, even in spite of the outage that we had and inability to build for a number of weeks, operationally, we've seen significant improvement in our ability to generate cash. And so when you look at, you know, the company, we're back 100% operating. And when you look at the pipeline, you know, very attractive pipeline. So when we look at our pipeline, you would say it's up high single digits. We're tracking how we're going to market by vertical, what's happening economically across the globe. And we're obviously positioned to be able to get more than our fair share with the Building Solutions strategy. So if you break it out by region, you would say, you know, you talked a little bit about AsiaPac, and certainly, we saw an impact there in China.
Some of that is, you know, we were recovering pretty significantly last year, as we as the, the market came back after that second shutdown. And we're pretty bullish relative to how it was gonna play out. That being said, we did a little bit of a reset. Projects got that we were working got pushed out. And, I believe that we're now when you look at the pipeline today, it's very strong. We, we make sure from a go-to-market standpoint, we have the right value proposition by vertical. And we're seeing good conversion. So we're building back the backlog that'll continue, and we'll be set up here by the end of the year to be tracking to, to growth. When you look at North America, certainly, data centers, some of the institutional space that is playing out has been very strong, strong pipelines, strong conversion there.
And then when you look at EMEALA, you know, Marc, our new CFO, he did a heck of a job here over the last year taking our strategy and then, more important, the operating system that we built in North America and has deployed that very effectively, right from understanding the markets, the verticals, how do we make sure that we're positioned to win. We're booking at much higher margins. And when that you know, when you look at how that business plays out the rest of the year, we're gonna see significant pickup in margin rate.
And then last, I would tell you, is through all of this, you know, period of some of the challenges we faced, we have been significantly simplifying our SG&A because we've now have one operating system deployed across the board, one set of data, and then we're working towards, obviously, simplifying our IT systems. But with that, we're operating much more consistently. And then we take out a significant amount of the overhead. So when you look at our margins that we're, you know, we're tracking to, we're at the segment level, we're 50 to 75 basis points. That's coming through, with that leverage. And on a go-forward basis, I would say that from a growth standpoint, we're positioned well for, you know, kinda mid-single-digit plus growth. And then from a leverage standpoint, we get 25%-30% incrementals. And so that is what I see playing out.
George, that's very helpful. Like, maybe just following up on a couple of things you said. It seems like pretty healthy demand trends. You know, how do you go about driving, call it, more consistent results? And, you know, Marc, obviously, took over for Olivier. Like, anything that he's gonna do differently to sort of help you get those more consistent results, better cash flow, and so on?
So it's when you look at consistency, it's around, you know, having a common operating system, utilizing the fundamentals, the data, front to back, right, from kinda how you view the market, segment the market, to how you create value propositions from a product management standpoint, to how you convert, and then ultimately, how you execute from that conversion to delivered margin and ultimately, collecting cash. And so we have now one operating system. We've been building this. It's been multi-years. But now, it is effectively deployed across the globe. So it starts with an operating system. And then the second is making sure you have the right leadership then to be able to execute that operating system.
We've made significant progress with that across the board, and we're getting much more consistency of performance, right, from how you look at our commercial element of what we do and how we're converting and how we're, obviously, improving margin, selling value, and getting a higher win rate alike to, you know, when you look at project management from engineering, right, from execution to service. We've got one way, and we're doing with utilizing the same tools. We're getting good leverage there. And then from a service standpoint, we've got a service machine that, you know, just three years ago, we didn't have in place. We're now we know from an install base to ultimately new installs that we're performing, how do you ultimately extract the what I would say now, the life cycle revenue, which is significant on this install base.
And so it starts there. Now, relative to Marc, you know, Marc has been with the company for 20 years, incredible depth and expertise across finance. I had the, you know, opportunity to work very close with him during the pandemic. He was our treasurer and an incredible talent and the ability to not only command the financials but then be able to apply them operationally. And so with his development and succession, said, "You need to go operate our biggest segment," which was North America. So he teamed up with Nate Manning, who's a credible leader, and they built the operating system and deployed it across North America and did it very effectively.
And then as he was looking to further continue to develop and as I was building succession to the CFO, said, "Marc, you go run a business." And so he went to Europe for the last better part of the year and then applied that same operating system and really got to that last mile of variation that we had across a more complex structure with EMEALA. And the margins that with the strategy, not only for growth, but now the margins, the value that we're creating in the margins we're booking, it's significantly elevated. And now we're getting from a service standpoint, we're tracking to double digit service growth. And so that's when you take a company like ours with, obviously, historically, lots of, you know, lots of acquisition, lots of different systems, lots of different go-to-market.
We've been working to bring it all together into a building solutions leader. That is, think of it as we've got the leadership applied product. We deploy the industry-leading digital platform, OpenBlue. And then we immediately get everything connected. And then with the connectivity, you then have the data that allows you not only to perform what historically, we did break-fix type service, but now, you unleash an incredible amount of opportunity to be able to now really differentiate. That is what will set Johnson Controls apart longer term with the life cycle solutions that we can provide. And we're seeing that. We're seeing that not only with the value of the use of data but with the data. We're then going back to that install base. How do you upgrade?
How do you know, we can deliver 30%, 40%, 50% energy savings. So there's real value proposition to what we do. That is what we've been focused on. And then, obviously, taking the noise out of the system with some of these other businesses that are non-commercial, I think, is also gonna help.
So we'll definitely follow up on the services and the non-commercial businesses. But let me just ask you one more question on sort of EMEALA's where margins have been, you know, the biggest struggle in quotes, right? So, like, what did Marc do in his time? Like, you know, how confident are you that he can get margins to double digits, as you've talked about?
So with the cultural change that, you know, we've been going through as a company, it's getting everyone on the same page from a strategy deployment. So strategy deployment is, okay, what is our value proposition by vertical? How do we then size each of the verticals by region? Then how do we make sure our sales team is aligned to ultimately then capitalizing on more than our fair share of growth? And then ultimately, from an execution standpoint, how do you have the right regional leadership to be able to effectively execute?
And so what we've done is with what Marc has done, it's quickly got engaged, you know, right in that value proposition and made the changes that in the what I would call this last mile, not only in making sure it's fully deployed, but then you have the right leadership ultimately deploying that strategy on a local basis. And you can imagine throughout Europe, it is somewhat complex. And with that, if you look at, you know, the upfront margins on not only the projects that you right from the engineered projects to how we install to now, the amount of connectivity that we're getting in service, that this year, we're gonna go from the margin that we have today.
We'll be running. You'll see a significant ramp-up through the course of the year with the idea that we get to double digits by fourth quarter. More important, the backlog and the mix that we're creating now in Europe is gonna bring it to another whole level next year in 2025. So that is what is possible, you know, when you take now what we've built and be able to effectively, consistently deploy it across each of the markets.
It's very helpful, George. And then, you know, obviously, portfolio management is a big topic, you know, for you guys or at least that's a lot of questions that I'm sure you get. So you, you said and I'm just clear, right? You said you're in the early stages of pursuing strategic alternatives, right, of your non-commercial product lines. Is it possible to flesh out a little more what you meant by this statement? Is the right way to think about that you're really just focused on divesting JCI's residential-focused businesses? But if the right offer comes for, you know, select light commercial businesses, you might be open to that.
Then regardless, how do you go about sort of if you do this, offsetting dilution, you know, if you're divesting under 25% of your revenue, you know, at, at your JCI margin, would you likely announce, you know, a big buyback as you did when you divested Power Solutions? A lot in there. I know. I'll remind you if I need to.
One of the most important jobs you have as a CEO is to make sure from a portfolio standpoint and from a capital allocation or reinvestment that you're investing in the core, you know, the value proposition that we're building. So we are constantly looking at portfolio to understand the different models. Are they contributing to the overall building solution strategy long term? From a reinvestment standpoint, are they consuming more reinvestment than ultimately should be deployed within the commercial building solutions? So you're looking at a lot of fundamentals.
And as we've been working on these other, let's say, building assets but aren't necessarily contributing value to our commercial leadership building solutions, then you look at, okay, how do I maximize value of that asset, not only whether it stays within Johnson Controls or whether there's other alternatives? And so you're looking to solve scale. You're looking to solve, you know, from a margin standpoint, is it consuming more reinvestment than ultimately you're getting for returns that we could get in the building solution? So you're looking at a lot of factors. So we've been looking at strategic or pursuing strategic alternatives for a number of these businesses. At the same time, we're significantly improving the businesses. So you're improving them, getting them understanding the reinvestment. And take the resi space.
It requires today almost 2x the reinvestment because of the regulatory changes that are happening. So when you look at our volumes on the returns on that, just purely because of our market share, we get less return. So that's an example. So when that all, it's just, you know, it's disappointing that it was leaked. But this is activity that's been well underway for a period of time, making sure that it isn't one way to solve the problem either. There's multiple ways that you ultimately can solve the problem. You need to make sure that strategically, you're gonna do it in the best way that ultimately creates the most amount of value for our shareholders.
And then, you know, you did the big divestiture of Power Solutions, right? So again, like, how do you think about does it matter to marry, like, you know, the buybacks versus divestitures? Like, how do you think about that? Like.
Well, that one was a tough decision because it, right out of the gate, was even with the redeployment into buybacks. It was really difficult.
It was still dilutive, right?
I think with the assets we're talking about now relative to the ability to be able to redeploy and, you know, redeploy through buybacks and the like that we can, you know, we're gonna be able to manage that in a better way. And so it's hard to speculate because at this stage, you know, with the leak, it was in many ways the worst kept secret in the markets. And so I felt that for me to be transparent, to recognize, you know, that activity is well underway. And then to make sure every step of the way, we'll continue to update, you know, we'll continue to update our shareholders as you would expect. But until such time you actually know exactly, it's hard to actually talk much more about it.
Sure. And then maybe just going back to your portfolio, why is it important for JCI to be you know, you're, you're essentially soup to nuts, right? You start with engineering. You go to install life cycle services, as you talked about, you know, full-service building automation solutions, right? But that is still different from some of your main competitors, right? And they seem to kinda like, you know, one is going to more pure play, as you know. One doesn't do as much install. They subcontract out. So, so why do you wanna be what you are, you know, in a sense, versus those guys?
Well, it is when you look at our portfolio, we're in the mix, you know, we have a different mix, right? We're well less than 50% HVAC. And when you look at the makeup of our revenue base, you know, three-quarters of it is building solutions where historically, it's your engineering differentiation with the deployment of leadership product. And then by doing so in an industrial business, you know this, Andy, that as an industrial business, you have your entitlement to get a high percentage of that life cycle revenue. Historically, the way that the business was operated was more of a contracting business. And then from a service standpoint, more of an opportunistic break-fix business.
When I took over was to say, "We have incredible assets here." This is where it would be, you know, similar to let's take the elevator industry where you can really differentiate your product in the way that that product is deployed in a project. But you're entitled to get with connectivity then the linkage to the life cycle revenue. It's multiple times the life cycle revenue. And that's where you actually create the most amount of value because you can not only do what we've done historically to maintain the equipment, but now, with the database we're collecting, we can see real time before failure. We can be very predictive of failure. So you have short term, you have, you know, reduce, you know, catastrophic failure of the equipment, obviously, improve operations.
But when we optimize with data, we reduce energy in the building 30%, 40%, 50%. You know, you create outcomes that historically haven't been achieved because you haven't had that full connectivity. And so it's the engineering depth and expertise, deploying project, and then getting a much higher percentage of the life cycle, revenues, which is very it's high-value creation for our customers. And we're seeing that. I mean, I know it's you know, when you look at where we were just three years ago relative to service, it was mainly I would say it was kinda GDP. Now, we're starting to see the breakout because of the connected assets, whether it be connected HVAC, connected security, connected controls, connected fire, and then the ability to be able to put all of that data into one platform.
And then now, the use of the data then creates, you know, space optimization or energy reduction or balancing all of the contributing factors to indoor air quality, whether it be outdoor conditions, you know, compared to how you're then conditioning and, and creating indoor quality. So you're solving problems that historically has been done kinda in silos, not with the maximum value. And that's what ultimately we're doing. I think on a go-forward basis, we're gonna see much higher mix. We're getting much more value upfront on the engineered projects because they're very strategic in how we're differentiating the value. And then we're getting a much higher percentage of the life cycle revenue that we're converting with connectivity with OpenBlue.
Yeah. That's great. I'm gonna open it up to the audience in a second. But let me ask you a couple follow-ups on service 'cause I think it's very important, as you said. So, you know, if I look at service, I think you've got it to high single-digit service growth for the year. You know, I think you said that's the cyber attack kinda interrupted your NAM service business to a certain extent and that you're expecting a big pickup, you know, there this quarter, actually. So are you seeing that? 'Cause when I look at your service backlog, it's been kinda flattish for several quarters. So do you see it starting to sort of pick up again as you start here?
We're rebuilding the momentum. So as I said, you know, we lost a lot of the momentum with the, you know, disruption that we had with the cyber and a lot of, you just think of a service business. You're up and down the street every day, every week, every month. It's very you know, there's a lot of transactional element. And when you're hampered by your IT systems, you're not operating at full, you know, full capacity. And that's what it's all about. The way the teams have come through and then with the systems coming back and like I said, it was in November and December, we've got the full momentum going.
The flywheel relative to not only how we're connecting everything that's being deployed, how we're going back into the install base to create new value propositions, you know, we're creating lead generation that ultimately is converting. All of that is happening. So we're, you know, pretty bullish that even though we started off at mid-single digits, that the momentum that we have and the recovery here through the year get us back to where we were or even better than where we were historically.
Got it. And then maybe it's a good, just update us on OpenBlue. Like, where are you in the evolution of it, and how are you thinking about the role of AI, you know, maybe impacting service over time?
I mean, OpenBlue, when you think not only short term but long term, it short term, what it's done to really accelerate the transformation of the company, you know, with the use of a digital thread, you know, with what we do, how we do it, and ultimately, how we deploy it with our customers. And so even though we say today, maybe, you know, it's less than double digits. So let's say mid-single digits, where you would say that from where we started to where we are today, it's probably still a significant portion of our service. You know, what we're trying to do is make it a make all of our services digital. We're less than 10% today. But that is accelerating rapidly because now, we're connecting all of our assets.
We're adding, so every think of OpenBlue as being fundamental to connecting all of our assets and how we ultimately deploy service, number one. And then it's taken when we take all of those connected assets, the use of the data; it's then applying AI and fundamentally changing how our service technicians operate. You know, that, that it actually really drives the outcomes. And that's—again, the value is achieved through energy reduction, utilization. There's many, many value propositions that come from that. And so when you look at pure SaaS, so we, we, we now—when you look at with OpenBlue and with FM:Systems that we acquired, which was a nice add-on. So think of it as we now have the digital twin of the building.
OpenBlue, it was building all of the operational capabilities within the building with the use of all of the assets within the building. And then FM, their suite of applications was more for occupant experience. So think about OpenBlue as right from digital twin to occupant experience of the building. It's second to none. And so our SaaS now, even though relatively small as a percentage of our services, it's gonna be you know, we're talking now into the roughly $150 million-$200 million of pure SaaS. And that's gonna growing double digit, you know, strong double digits on top of that. So that's how you gotta think about the connectivity is getting everything ultimately connected. And then we can do everything remote.
And we can utilize data to create new services on top of that installed base and then being able to create applications with purely the use of data to change not only the outcome of the building but also the occupant experience within the building.
Got it. Any questions from the audience? Anybody have a question? All right. So then let me continue with Global Products, George. So, you know, you talked about bottoming demand in Q2, good recovery, you know, in Q3, Q4. So maybe parse that out for us. You know, obviously, you got fire security in there. You got resi products. I think resi products are down 20% in Q1. But you're expecting industry volumes to return to growth in the second half. You know, is that mainly function of easier comps and channel destock? You got rest-of-world resi. You got a lot of stuff, so.
So, nothing, the last couple of years, has been normal because of the way seasonality has typically played out within the Global Products was very different with all of the disruption and the backlog and the recovery of the backlog. So, put that behind us. We're back to the normal seasonality. And I would tell you, when you look at the flow right from orders to revenue, now, we're back. You know what I mean? So, we're getting the full flow through the system. When you look at resi, although we had a couple of years of disruption over the last, you know, I'd say over the last quarter, based on what we see, we've had four-plus months of share gain.
And so when you then look at how based on what maybe happened within our channel last year, that correction is pretty much done. And so when you look at the flow now, it's actually flowing positively. And so when you look across the businesses, I would say it's true. You know what I mean? So as we now get through Q2 as being, you know, relatively flat, the bookings and the activity in the bookings does suggest that we see the normal pickup that we typically have. In that business, you would see Q1 is typically the lowest. You begin, you know, a pickup seasonality in Q2. And then you ultimately, the peak is Q3 and Q4. And what's encouraging right now is those trends are actually playing out.
Got it. And so your distribution base, for instance, on fire and security, they're seeing positive.
Correct.
Okay. And then, you know, on rest-of-world resi, just you mentioned strength in Japan. You know, it's a little hard for us to sort of, you know, how do I say this? Forecast this stuff. But you guys see good visibility that that can offset, you know, places like European heat pumps, for example.
Well, I mean, let's face it, right? I mean, that we were planning for significant, you know, expansion in Europe, which ultimately didn't play out last year, nor is it gonna play out this year. And so even with that adjustment, we see relative stability. You know what I mean? Across that business. And, you know, just a little bit on that business, it's been a V, you know, even though we're number four or five in that space, that we've done a good job in how we've strategized that business, product, go-to-market, you know, capitalizing on market expansion. I think that's what we're seeing offset some of this other softness that we're seeing. So it's not, you know, significant growth. But at the end of the day, after the correction we saw last year, we see now relative stability.
Yeah. Maybe you could just talk a little bit more about heat pumps, George, like sort of what you've been doing there. You acquired a business called Hybrid Energy. Like, you know, what's the forecast from you as you guys can tell for heat pumps?
Well, usually, when heat pumps are discussed, it's mainly around residential and that part of the market, which is, obviously, extremely strong with what's happening there, not only ducted but ductless. Ductless has led that, but also in the ducted space. If you stay focused on our building solutions, we're the market leader in commercial, in applied commercial. And when you look at our technologies, whether it be water-cooled chillers, air-cooled chillers, some of the work we do in packaged data center solutions, we're the market leader. And so then in industrial refrigeration is another good example where, when you take this hybrid acquisition, getting to low GWP is a big deal as far as from a sustainability standpoint.
This gave us the technology to be able to significantly increase the temperatures within our heat pumps and being able to deploy them effectively in district heating and the like that because of, not only to get three or four times the efficiency out of the deployment of heat pumps to more of the conventional methods that we're supporting the heating and cooling. Those are so for that acquisition, and then we take that technology, and we look to how do we then expand that across more of our platform. So today, in the commercial space, we're 30%+ of our applications are, quote, "heat pumps." And I would tell you examples today where we've converted some of our water-cooled chillers, so that previously, there was a chiller, and there was a boiler.
Now, with our technology, with the temperature differentials, we can replace the boiler. From a you think about the value, that that delivers to the customer. Not only are they reducing the the fossil-fueled you know, the energy, the emissions, but now, they're getting the efficiency of one piece of equipment being able to cycle and do both the heating and cooling. That, that's where you you start to see significant value. And then from a value recognition, not only from the customer but then being able to then get a a premium relative to the pricing that we have in the market.
Got it. So, George, let's talk about your largest segment, NAM Building Solutions. You know, you've had several years now of strong top-line momentum. You posted 6% order growth in fiscal Q1 with broad-based demand in healthcare, data center, government, education. How should we think about sustainability of elevated growth and specifically in data centers? Like, you know, it seems like something's happening here, you know, across the industry. So maybe give us more color into, you know, how big data centers is, percentage of HVAC businesses stepping back, how you think about, you know, potential impacts in that sector first going forward.
So I would start by saying that we were anticipating, if you go back, you know, multiple years, what's happening from a technology standpoint, where this was gonna go. And so we got ahead of it from a innovation standpoint. If you were to go to our engineering and research center in York, Pennsylvania, you would see probably the world's leading innovation center around chillers. And then the applications are not only as data centers begin to get configured differently because of chipsets and the cooling that's gonna be required and how our technologies gonna be deployed effectively in some of these new configurations. We're working. Assume that we're working with every one of the operators, data center operators.
And so because of that, we've been very innovative in how we right now, the preferred solution for the configurations is air-cooled chillers. And that's gonna play out very strong here over the rest of the decade. And we're we stayed ahead of that not only from an innovation standpoint but then from a capacity standpoint. A big advantage is being able to produce and deliver on the expansion schedules. And so we've been making sure that we're positioned to do that with all of our key customers. And I think I mentioned this during a previous earnings call. With this year, there's, like, 15 GW-20 GW of data centers requiring maybe over five million tons of cooling.
And we're getting, let's say, more than more than our fair share based on because of our technology, the application of our technology, and then our ability to be able to, to then commit to be able to deliver to the schedules that are being had. So that's gonna be a very strong vertical for us, and that's gonna continue going forward. And we're not only doing that in North America, but we're also now leveraging our footprint globally to now take that same model and make sure that from a platform standpoint, we have the right platforms that we're deploying regionally to be able to configure and execute for the, you know, expansion that's happening across Europe as well as Asia-Pac.
Does data center end up being your largest end-market vertical, would you say?
So it is definitely the highest-growth vertical. And I think I would say it's roughly, when you net it all, probably about 15% of the portfolio.
Okay. That's very helpful. And do you have, George, a full suite of offerings? Like, liquid cooling, like, how's your positioning there, for example?
So as I said, we've been working with our customers to make sure as they're configuring, think about these new chips, you know, and for AI, and they're gonna run much hotter. And they're gonna require, you know, our cooling technology but maybe applied differently depending on how the data centers are configured. And then space becomes a big issue. So what we're working on right now is, is it gonna be space. You're gonna have multi, you know, there's gonna be multi-stories that are gonna be built, you know, with the cooling capability to be able to provide the proper amount of cooling. So we're think of it as from a technology standpoint, we're leading at the technology level and then deploying that in line with the configured future of data, you know, the future of data center.
That's where the innovation occurs as we work with all of these key operators.
Got it. So I wanna go back to APAC and China specifically. Maybe give more color on how your approach is, if at all, changing in the region. You know, when I compare you to at least one of your large peers, you know, they've seemed to, you know, have more resilience in China than you guys. So maybe just describe it. Are you in different end markets? Are you doing different things? Like, what are you doing there?
So if you go back and look at our performance last year, after that there was pretty much through Q1, there was coming out of the shutdown, I think, the second wave of the shutdown. And then we really had a ramp and put pretty bullish relative to the recovery. And so that's what you saw second, third quarter. As that played out, that's happening but not nearly on the timeline that we had projected. And so what we did was make sure that, okay, based on what's happening, you know, how do we make sure we're more balanced relative to the market? When we look at the market pipeline, and we've been looking at this every week, is by vertical, you know, with our value proposition with the market leader.
So how do we get a pretty good view of what's coming into the market, and how do we position to win with a differentiated value proposition? So we go by vertical. We then make sure from an execution, we're executing well, you know, across the board. So when you look at the pipeline, the pipeline is a strong what I would say is a typical pipeline with some amount of growth. And so as we're recovering, we're making sure that we're ultimately getting, you know, not only our historical share but also positioned to be able to differentiate and pick up share. And through the course of the year, rebuild our backlog. And by Q4, we should be tracking, you know, to positive growth.
That's helpful, George. And then just shifting to free cash flow, you know, expecting 85% in fiscal year 2024. It'll be a step up from 2023 but, you know, remaining below your 100% conversion target. So what are the incremental actions or levers you can take to drive, you know, improving free cash flow?
So we've been executing on those levels, levers. And you've seen some of that. It really started. The peak of our disruption was really second quarter of last year. And when we say disruption, what happened when all of this supply chain, lead times doubled and tripled, you know, our systems were less mature to be able to fundamentally do that and adjust and maintain, you know, stability. So what happened was with our inability to produce and then inventories being built, not only in product, so finished, think of it as you have product, finished goods, but then you also have your project execution that got extended by, let's say, one to two months. So that was the inventory.
When you look at our project-based business, you wanna make sure you're positioned to get more cash upfront, and then you have your billings ahead of revenue. Well, we got behind on that because of all of the shortage of products and the like. So then, playing forward second half, we were recovering. So inventory has been coming down pretty nicely through the course of the second half of the year. Billings have been being pulled forward, and so when you saw in Q1—and this is an important fact—that even though operationally, we were significantly better than last year, the one process we didn't work around was billing during when we had the cyber outage.
And so we did that because when you look at a project solutions business, you're extracting data from multiple systems. So when some of those systems were impacted, then the ability to manually create a bill would be very difficult. And all you would do is put that bill into dispute and extend the cash cycle anyways. So we didn't bill for, let's say, it was roughly four or five weeks. And so that was October. Most of that cash would have been collected in December. And so even with that gap, we saw a significant operational pickup because of the work we've done. Now, Q2, with full flow and this idea that we're getting every day, every week, we're reducing inventory, we're advancing billing, then that's gonna continue to play out.
So that's what gets us to the 85%+. When you look at our reinvestment, so CapEx as a percent of depreciation is elevated because of the capacity expansion in our applied equipment supporting what we see to be, you know, significant growth long term. And then the second is we have had elevated CapEx on ERP. And so then when you, you know, you go down through that, that's what, you know, the key drivers, relative to the overall cash.
That's helpful, George. And then maybe just briefly touch on where Johnson Controls is in terms of any liability concerns. So, you know, there's been some recent press regarding you changed the way you pay commissions to the U.S. sales force. And then, you know, PFAS. You know, obviously, you're involved in a number of lawsuits. Can you give us the latest timeline or update on how you're thinking about your exposure?
Yeah. So let's, let's start with when you're, you know, developing a building solution strategy, delivering, you know, what we believe is in a very different value proposition, and, and you're changing the fundamentals to how that's delivered, that includes, you know, updating sales plans. And so, and we're very competitive. We're very competitive in how we attract, retain, develop, you know, our people across the board. And so this would be what you would expect in line with the enhanced strategy, the ability to be able to then incent what ultimately you're looking to execute and do it consistently across the board. So it's, there was you know, that was an issue was raised there because of the change that occurred but nothing that you would expect would be at all, you know, unusual.
And then the PFOS is, you know, we're, there's really no updates. And we're strong in our position of contractors, government contractors, defense. We are different than the other guys because of the insurance coverage that we have. And so we're making sure that every step of the way, we are obviously in active mediation. We're working to make sure that we've got the insurance companies aligned and accountable. And so that's, you know, that's all I can, you know, share at this stage. But our, you know, commitment is that we're gonna continue to be very disciplined in how we work through this to make sure that we mitigate any potential impact.
That's very helpful. Last question, George. So what are the top two or three innovations and structural changes affecting your company over the next five years? And are there any emerging industry trends that are perhaps being overlooked in the current discourse?
Yeah. I mean, I would just say, you know, if you just step back, it's this now, we're in acceleration mode. We've got one operating system being deployed consistently. We've got a value proposition that is being recognized by our customers. And so now, it's just the continued focus on that and executing that flawlessly across the globe, obviously, addressing some of the complexity relative to these other businesses that ultimately aren't core to the building solutions. And we've done a lot of work. And a lot of that is well underway relative to what you can expect there.
And then I think from a service standpoint, when you think of the business model, which is very different than what others have done or doing, and then ultimately how that plays out, is this ability to be able to, to then with these secular trends, whether it be sustainability, healthy buildings, or, or ultimately smart buildings, we, we are uniquely positioned with the composition of the, the building solutions portfolio, HVAC, building controls, fire and security, one data platform that ultimately is deployed consistently, and then getting the lifecycle revenues because I think that's what's different. And, and, and that's our entitlement because of not only the, the technology in our product but then our you know, the ability to then be the leader in the space relative to the management of data.
Then the goal is then how do you utilize the data, apply AI, not only that allows us to, to work in a connected fashion with our customers but then, you know, the applications that we provide to our customers are significantly enhanced with the value propositions. And I use one statistic: buildings are 40% of the global carbon. And the ability so to get to net zero, and we see this today across the globe where companies that have made commitments to get to net zero, they now are very interested in their buildings because you don't get to that with you know, you can get through offsets, or you can do different things. But when you look at the economics, the best economics is making your buildings efficient first and then taking the next steps.
And so what we see happening now is that demand is beginning to get realized across the globe and the way the pipeline's developing and then how we go about solving the problem. And a lot of it's gonna be retrofit. So it isn't just the new. It's then going back because with building standards coming about and being deployed, and we see this with some of these CEO groups that I work within on now these building standards that are coming into place, customers are now saying, "Okay. How are we gonna deal with that? Are we gonna pay the penalty, or are there economics that we can deploy technology and ultimately then be able to get more savings there than ultimately having to pay the penalty?" And we can make the case that that's true.
That is what I think makes Johnson Controls unique. We not only have the applied equipment but then we have the use of the full set of building data that then can achieve those type of outcomes for our customers.
That's a good place to end. Thank you very much, George.
All right. Thanks, Andy.