New owners, new products, 100 new jobs for New Zealand’s leading premium whiteware brand: F&P

Content supplied by Fisher & Paykel

Fisher & Paykel Appliances is in expansion mode as new owner, Haier, creates opportunities for accelerated growth to build the Fisher & Paykel brand further.

Specific areas of focus include technology innovation, new product development and the company’s component and technology business.

“Fisher & Paykel is focused on New Zealand-led expansion. While we remain a standalone company with a strong, localised management team, our new owners are providing the opportunity for us to deliver our business development plan far faster than we were previously planning,” says Fisher & Paykel Chief Executive, Stuart Broadhurst.

“Growth is planned across New Zealand in the next 24 months as we recruit for 100 research and development positions to Fisher & Paykel’s Auckland and Dunedin operations, as well as further job creation in other areas of the company. This expansion of specialist skills will entrench our company’s expertise, enabling us to continue to deliver the world-leading innovation we are known for, with continued emphasis on quality."

“In the next few months we will be releasing the largest number of new Fisher & Paykel products at any one time in our company’s 79 year history. These products include new refrigeration, cooktops, a new oven platform and new laundry products."

“As well as local brand expansion, our focus has always been to continue to develop the Fisher & Paykel and DCS brands in New Zealand, Australia and North America, as well as boosting our presence in the emerging markets of China and India. It is important to note that we are designing the new Fisher & Paykel products for these markets from our New Zealand base."

“I have recently returned from China where I finalised amongst other things, an agreement for our New Zealand-based production machinery business to undertake a number of significant projects to automate production facilities over the next five years. We will also boost our motor design capability and motor production capacity to meet increasing demand from Haier and other third party customers.”

Over the last three years Fisher & Paykel has been building a strong relationship with Haier.

“Our unique expertise and premium product positioning is what Haier is investing in, and the Group wants that to remain New Zealand-led. This means we will be expanding the Fisher & Paykel brand both locally and globally, giving people greater visibility of our product ranges, the technology behind them, and how they can make our lives easier”.

Mr Broadhurst says the ability to accelerate plans and deliver growth quickly is generating optimism around the company.

“We’re fast-forwarding our long term plan which is generating real enthusiasm from people who see the opportunities ahead. We are investing to build product development capability for Fisher & Paykel, and will also look to provide New Zealand led design, innovation and disruptive technologies for the wider Group."

“For us, this means an increase in specialist positions so those people can create world-leading products for Fisher & Paykel, as well as deliver technologies globally in enormous scale through the Group’s network,” Mr Broadhurst said.

Longer term plans are for Fisher & Paykel to build its capabilities here and internationally to contribute to the world’s largest appliance manufacturer, and continue to deliver positive benefits to New Zealand as a result.

------------------------------------------------------------------

This corporate media release is a counterpoint to our job losses tally which we launched recently. It is also a counterpoint to some manufacturers who say they can't grow because the currency is too high.