Kiwi agri-products firm joins global network

The FIL New Zealand business has been sold to a German multi-national. But the award-winning Mount Maunganui agri-products company will not be disappearing. Far from it.
FIL, established 32 years ago by Arthur Jordan and Dave Hancox, will retain its name, brands and range of dairying products, and its site in Portside Drive will become the base for a new GEA Farm Technologies region in this part of the world.
The big German manufacturer, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft (Global Engineering Alliance), will use the existing FIL manufacturing facility at the Mount. And FIL has been handed the impetus to increase production and exports. Its present staff of 40 is likely to increase significantly in the near future.
"We will be hosting the presence of a major multi-national," said Mr Jordan.
"That's a stunning feeling. We envisage an increase in staff numbers - and Dave and I can puff our chests out.
"GEA told us they want 'FIL to be a significant component' for their worldwide operation."
Messrs Jordan and Hancox, who had a 50/50 partnership, last month sold the FIL operating business but they retained the land and building in Portside Drive - with 5000sq m at present unused and available for expansion. The "green" FIL office and manufacturing plant was built three years ago to the highest environmental and sustainable business standards.
GEA Group, which concentrates on food and energy process technology, has 20,700 staff worldwide and turnover of €4.5 billion ($8.3 billion), eyed FIL after deciding it was under-represented in the Southern Hemisphere.
"Most of the stuff they did was involved with confined farming in the Northern Hemisphere and they decided they needed a stronger presence in pastoral farming. They identified New Zealand as the main centre of knowledge in pastoral farming."
Specialising in WestfaliaSurge milking machines and other high-tech dairying equipment, GEA Farm Technologies - one of the multi-national's five divisions - presently has two regional centres based in Chicago and its home of Bonen near Dusseldorf. The Bonen office covers Africa and Europe, and Chicago the rest of the world.
FIL will continue to operate independently, with Warwick Dowse continuing as general manager and the founders Messrs Jordan and Hancox staying on but looking to reduce their involvement as retirement nears.
With the GEA backing, FIL - supreme winner of the Tauranga Business awards in 2000 and Bay of Plenty Sustainable Business Network awards in 2008 - can forge ahead.
Messrs Jordan and Hancox started their business in 1978 in Newton St with 20 products covering animal remedies and cleaning products for milking sheds. Today FIL produces 100 products and 350 different pack sizes for dairy hygiene, animal health, marking and nutrition. Its animal markers (tail paints for cows) have become an international leader and brand.
So far, FIL's exports to 17 countries represent 15 per cent of its business, and Mr Jordan said the deal with GEA "puts a rocket under the export drive".
He said overseas sales were up 20 per cent over the past three months, compared to the previous corresponding period.
"Other countries are starting to see ways through the recession and orders are looking good for the rest of the year."
FIL mainly exports the markers and cleaning products, especially teat care, to Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland, but it is investigating a new opportunity in Brazil with another New Zealand company.
On the domestic front, FIL is competing with another multi-national, Ecolab, for market share and it distributes its broader range of products to the main rural retailers such as RD1, Farmlands and PGG Wrightson, CRT and ATS.
"In the end, we will be manufacturing more of our products and new ones," said Mr Jordan. "The staff have nothing to worry about. We've got people who have been here for 20 years, and the average length of service is eight years - that's unusual in this day and age. They will continue to add value to the business."
Dirk Hejnal, segment president of GEA Farm Technologies, said the purchase of FIL was part of a global strategy to strengthen "our position in the consumables market".