Haier Smart Home, Fisher & Paykel to open Auckland innovation park in October

Summary

Haier Smart Home and Fisher & Paykel will officially open their dedicated innovation park in Auckland on 23 October, chairman and president Li Huagang said. Built on the site where Fisher & Paykel was founded in 1934, the 22,779-square-metre park will serve as the global headquarters for Fisher & Paykel Appliances and Haier's Australia-New Zealand operations, accommodating about 800 employees with room for expansion. Guests at the opening ceremony will include Finance Minister Nicola Willis, Xie Yongjun, Chargé d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, and Liu Pengxiang, Deputy Consul-General of the Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland.

The park's core building is an 11,500-square-metre, three-storey mass timber office designed by New Zealand's RTA Studio, which won the WAFX Architectural Technology Award at the World Architecture Festival in 2023; a two-storey, approximately 5,000-square-metre research, development and testing facility is connected to it. A whole-of-life analysis shows the building stores 1,089 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, exceeding the carbon emissions from material production and construction, with the timber diagrid structure contributing 1,480 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in biogenic carbon sequestration. The park has 1,159 solar panels installed, expected to generate 732 megawatt-hours annually, enough to meet and exceed the office building's annual operational energy demand.

Li said the new hub will play an important role in Haier Smart Home's global innovation network, bringing New Zealand's world-class design, engineering and product innovation to homes around the world. Daniel Witten-Hannah, CEO of Fisher & Paykel Appliances, called it a decisive investment in the future of the business. The park will also support the Fisher & Paykel Zero Carbon Smart Home Research Institute, expanding its expertise from individual appliances to smart appliance ecosystems, connectivity technology, energy management and green energy solutions.

Commentary

The opening of the innovation park jointly built by Haier Smart Home and Fisher & Paykel in Auckland marks a shift in China-New Zealand high-end manufacturing cooperation from brand acquisition to deep R&D collaboration. Since its founding in 1934, Fisher & Paykel has been a standard-bearer for New Zealand's premium appliances, and since Haier acquired it in 2012, its design DNA has complemented Haier's global manufacturing network. The investment not only strengthens Haier's local R&D capabilities in the Australia-New Zealand market but also incorporates New Zealand's low-carbon building and smart home technologies into its global innovation system.

For NZ SME owners, the project sends a dual signal. On one hand, Haier, a global white goods leader listed in the Fortune Global 500 for nine consecutive years, continues to deepen its commitment to New Zealand, potentially driving local supply chain demand for precision components, software services and green building materials. On the other, the park focuses on smart appliance ecosystems and energy management, closely aligning with New Zealand's 2050 carbon neutrality goal, and local businesses can look for cooperation opportunities with Fisher & Paykel in connectivity technology and solar integration.

From an industry perspective, global appliance competition is shifting from individual products to whole-home smart solutions, and Haier is seizing high-end design leadership through Fisher & Paykel, while New Zealand's experience in timber building carbon sequestration and renewable energy application could become its differentiated advantage. The park's 732 MWh annual solar generation system and carbon-positive building not only reduce operating costs but also serve as a replicable green manufacturing model. For New Zealand SMEs reliant on exports, this case suggests that turning sustainable practices into technology exports may be a new path into global supply chains.

Keywords: Haier Smart Home, Fisher & Paykel, New Zealand Innovation Park, Auckland, Li Huagang, mass timber, solar power generation, zero-carbon smart home

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Source: SKYKIWI