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One of New Zealand's largest bathroom manufacturers is laying off workers and shifting a big part of its business to China.
Kohler, which makes Englefield bathroomware, says it is making 72 workers redundant at its headquarters in Auckland's Wairau Park area.
It plans to keep on about 100 staff in bathroom product engineering, industrial design and prototyping at its Diana Drive base.
The business was founded 20 years ago by Auckland entrepreneur Roger Englefield, who worked closely with his son Derek, but in 2000 they sold to United States multinational Kohler.
That year, the business won a New Zealand Exporter of the Year award in the $5 million-$50 million medium-sized category of exporter.
The layoffs are the latest in a string of moves to shift successful businesses out of New Zealand. Yellow Pages is losing 100 Palmerston North jobs as work is outsourced to the Philippines.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances is moving part of its business to Thailand and export star Navman laid off many Auckland workers when its American owners separated, then sold divisions.
This year, Skellerup said it could not rule out sending more business overseas. Skellerup cut 25 New Zealand jobs four years ago to boost its plant in China, where 130 staff produce the classic Kiwi gumboot. Bedmaker Sleepyhead said it too might go overseas but it is 100 per cent owned and operated and based here.
Kohler has manufacturing operations throughout Asia and production of the Englefield products will move to Kohler's Shanghai plant.
The Englefield brand, promoted by a distinctive bright yellow plastic duck, has been hailed as a national success story.
It has also been a major employer on the North Shore.
But John Bourke, Australasian managing director for Kohler, said it was no longer viable to keep all Englefield's manufacturing base here.
"It comes down to a cost basis and the reality is we're in a global market with global competitors," he said, citing plunging prices for bathroom products.
Prices of some bathroom goods had dropped 25 per cent in the past five years because of pressure from imported products, many made in Asia, he said.
The firm had held discussions with the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union which had been kept informed.
The strong labour market meant many of the workers had already found employment in the local area and the redundancies were being made on a progressive basis, he said.
"Some leave here with a cheque in their hands on a Friday and step into a new job on Monday," he said.
Andrew Little, general secretary of the EPMU, said people should have time to investigate other work because staff had known for some time of the layoffs.
He said with a number of similar closures, the manufacturing job market was getting increasingly inundated with workers.
