By SIMON COLLINS
A New Zealand invention which helps hospital patients to breathe more easily is closing in on the wine industry as an export earner.
The Fisher & Paykel humidifier controls the humidity of air being pumped into the lungs of patients with breathing problems. It is the world leader
in its field.
Last year it earned $133 million in export sales to hundreds of hospitals in 65 countries, with exports accounting for more than 98 per cent of total production. By comparison, the country's wine industry earned export revenue of $168 million.
Fisher & Paykel, which also exports fridges and washing machines from factories in Auckland, Dunedin and Brisbane, demonstrates that it is possible for businesses to become world leaders while staying based in New Zealand.
The F&P humidifier actually began as "the Auckland humidifier." It was developed by Alf Melville, of the former Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), in response to a request from the head of Auckland Hospital's critical care unit, the late Dr Matthew Spence.
The DSIR sold the rights to produce the humidifier commercially to Fisher & Paykel in 1969-70.
Last November, F&P Healthcare moved into a new $35 million plant for its 440 staff in Maurice Paykel Drive, East Tamaki. In the next few months Fisher & Paykel plans to spin the healthcare unit off into a separate company listed on the New Zealand and Australian sharemarkets and on New York's Nasdaq stock exchange.
Healthcare manager Mike Daniell says his Auckland scientists could earn about the same dollar salaries if they moved to the United States - except that their US dollars would be worth 2 1/2 times more.
They are willing to stay here because of the attractions of living here, including the cheaper cost of living. "New Zealand needs to be attractive to work and live in," he says.
A product engineer in F&P's Brisbane plant, Adrian Sargeant, says he and his family moved to Brisbane from Dunedin because houses are cheaper and the weather is warmer.
"Our children have a lifestyle they could never have in Dunedin," he says. "In Dunedin, outdoor sport is so often interrupted by weather. Here it's the exception. The weather is always good.
"From my point of view, the south of New Zealand is very limited in what it offers. People want a good mix of life and exposure to the world - feeling like we're part of the world."
Many of the other workers at the Brisbane plant are New Zealanders.
F&P chief executive Gary Paykel says the New Zealand company has been welcomed in Queensland since it set up there a decade ago.
"Queensland Trade comes here [to Auckland] twice a year to ask what they can do to help," he says.
"When we were looking at exporting to Taiwan, they said, 'We have an office in Taiwan, why don't you send your young fellow there and we can go with you? We'll do some research before he gets there'."
In contrast, he says, Trade NZ charges for any information it may supply, and will not help New Zealand companies exhibit at trade shows overseas unless at least three firms are involved.
This does not help F&P because it comprises the whole New Zealand whiteware industry in one company.
Trade NZ chief executive Fran Wilde and client services manager Tim Harris visited F&P to explain that the three-firm rule aims to make the best use of an export support budget of only $3.7 million a year. Criteria for the fund include expanding the number of NZ exporters and encouraging them to work together.
Harris says F&P could qualify for support by involving either other medical companies for medical trade shows or its suppliers for whiteware shows.
Paykel says the Manukau City Council has also adopted Queensland-style practice and now provides a single project manager to help businesses through the resource consent process for any new development, such as F&P's new healthcare plant.
F&P public affairs manager Richard Blundell says the consent process was a breeze. "It was the attitude that we want to do whatever we can to assist. That's all you need. You don't need dollars in your pocket, you just need that encouragement."
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By SIMON COLLINS
A New Zealand invention which helps hospital patients to breathe more easily is closing in on the wine industry as an export earner.
The Fisher & Paykel humidifier controls the humidity of air being pumped into the lungs of patients with breathing problems. It is the world leader
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