If you try to grow them with insufficient heat and growing time you'll run into problems. Any fruit you get will end up tiny. The ethylene won't make the fruit bigger. Sucker production is different in different varieties.

I'm not so much worried about getting pineapples now, I'm more interested in being able to grow the suckers earlier so I don't have to rely on a slow-growing crown.

Ethylene can promote fruiting, but ONLY if the plant is ready to do it (enough sugar storage and vegetative growth).

I learn something [almost] every day. Applied aspects of pineapple flowering - " Later, in the decade of 30', growers in Hawaii started to use ethylene directly to promote floral induction of pineapple, ... "

You might check out the bromeliad forum.