This expansion is designed to streamline our manufacturing costs, and bring increased consistency and efficiency to the company's production process in the U.S. market.

As a key part of its global manufacturing strategy announced on Wednesday, Fisher & Paykel Appliances is expanding its manufacturing in the U.S. market through consolidating manufacturing plants located in New Zealand, Australia and Orange County to one North American facility.

The company announced this week that it had acquired land and buildings and a refrigeration plant located in Reynosa, Mexico.

The range and DishDrawer factory in Dunedin, New Zealand, the refrigeration plant in Brisbane, Australia and the DCS manufacturing plant in Huntington Beach will be relocated to the new facility in the next 12-18 months. The DCS move is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and individual manufacturing lines will be shifted separately to reduce the impact on warehouse inventory. The U.S. operation will continue to employ sales and marketing, customer services, head office and an engineering staff of around 340 employees

"This expansion is designed to streamline our manufacturing costs, and bring increased consistency and efficiency to the company's production process in the U.S. market," said Mike Goadby, North American President for Fisher & Paykel Appliances. "It's an emotional time for all of us, but this move will make us more competitive in the U.S. and strengthen our distribution efforts through making them more efficient."

Growing interest among U.S. consumers for stylish, yet green and energy efficient home appliances have bode well for  Fisher & Paykel's growth prospects.

The refrigeration plant, which was purchased from the Whirlpool Corporation, will be modified to manufacture side-by-side refrigerators for the North American market under the Fisher & Paykel name starting in July 2008.