"Expansion continues" says Fisher & Paykel CEO

Fisher & Paykel Appliances’ plans for expansion announced in February last year are continuing to ramp up. Investment over the last 12 months is benefiting the brand both in New Zealand and internationally.

Fisher & Paykel Chief Executive Stuart Broadhurst stated, “As we move towards our 80th anniversary, our growth in research and development is continuing to accelerate with 80 new engineering roles already in place in Dunedin and Auckland. We’ll be looking to recruit additional roles to support the continued expansion of our research and development operations in both cities over the next two years, entrenching New Zealand as Fisher & Paykel’s research and development hub.

“To support our growth strategy, we’ve just signed off plans to redevelop an existing facility on our East Tamaki site to accommodate our growing Auckland based research and development team. This new state-of-the-art facility will contain our product development and industrial design teams and includes a full suite of quality and standards testing laboratories. This purpose built facility underlines our long-term commitment to Research and Development in New Zealand.

“As announced last week, we’re also currently working with Dunedin City Council on plans to expand our Dunedin site. The expanded site would include upgraded facilities to accommodate our growing research and development team in the city. The East Tamaki facility will be up and running by mid-2014, and we expect to firm up a date for Dunedin in the next couple of months,” Broadhurst further added.

The last year has been a momentous one for Fisher & Paykel with the successful rollout of 70 new products including the first front loader washing machine incorporating SmartDrive technology. The front loader has attracted phenomenal interest, and underpins Fisher & Paykel’s market leadership position in laundry appliances in Australia. Demand for the new award winning OB60 wall oven has exceeded expectations and has attracted huge interest across all markets.

Mr Broadhurst says that new products and product upgrades across, kitchen, laundry and refrigeration will continue to be rolled out in 2014 both in New Zealand and across Fisher & Paykel’s international markets. As a direct result of our increased investment in research and development, consumers can expect to see more new products in the coming years.

“We’ll continue to focus on developing the Fisher & Paykel, Elba and DCS brands in New Zealand, Australia and North America, as well as boosting our presence in the emerging markets of China and India. Design of the new Fisher & Paykel products for these markets will remain firmly entrenched in New Zealand. Plans to celebrate our 80th year will be announced in the near future with a focus on our proud heritage but also our exciting future.

Launched in India in March 2012, India is a high priority focus market for the innovative kitchen appliance brand Fisher & Paykel. In the last two years, since the brand forayed into the country with presence in Delhi NCR, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, Fisher & Paykel has progressively expanded to 10 new cities: Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Hyderabad, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Chennai, Baroda and is progressively increasing its footprint in the country.

Marketing
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Marketing