Dishwasher contract

Press, 17 March 1977, Page 30

Dishwasher contract

PA Dunedin A shipment of 500 dishwashers to Sydney marked the start of a S2M export trade for the Dunedin firm of H. E. Shacklock, Ltd. Over the next year, hundreds of containers stacked with dishwashers will leave the firm’s Dunedin factory for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide, to fill the monthly quotas required under the Australian contract. Shacklock’s managing director (Mr L. B. Graham) said that the order was by far the largest his firm had received. In the past, exports had been restricted to small numbers of electric ranges. The key to the export venture is a new product designed specificially for the Australian market — the model 388 Kelvinator dishwasher.

Its development started as a result of a series of market studies in Australia as far back as 1972, with work partly financed through the industrial research and development scheme administered by

the Department of Trade and Industry. A team of designers spent hundreds of manhours on the project. For example, the basket to hold the dishes took more than three years to perfect and the designers had to import Australian crockery to ensure that the machine would work efficiently in its intended market area. Further Government assistance was received for the installation of special plant and equipment. This took the form of export suspensory loans through the Development Finance Corporation. Mr Graham paid tribute to the various Government agencies which gave assistance and said that the loans and incentive schemes played a major part in enabling the company to bring the project to fruition. The new dishwashers are being made at Kaikorai Valley in a building formerly used as part of the Bonaire division. The same building is the centre for the manufacture of Frigidaire ranges, under

licence to General Motors. Shacklock’s latest move has meant an increase in the firm’s payroll which now includes more than 700 employees and will expand further in October with the opening of a new plant at Mosgiel. Mr Graham said the Mosgiel factory construction was up to schedule and, with the advent of the new export trade, the company was seriously considering the first stage of the building. The factory will be used for steel cutting, manufacture of range elements, and as a bulk store. The chairman of the Otago Regional Development Council (Mr D. R. Hunter) said that the new export orders won by Shacklock’s clearly illustrated the need for Government support to manufacturers seeking overseas markets. The orders were a major breakthrough for the company, particularly in the light of difficulties faced by all white goods’ manufacturers lately, he said.