LAYOFFS: Very Bad News at Fisher Paykel
Submitted by advisor on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 3:17pm.
F&P shrinking business as fast as it can to stay ahead of shrinking demand.
- Lowes will no longer carry Fisher Paykel. We do not know how large a piece of business this is, but it has been suggested that it is HUGE. One said it was 1/3 of F&P's North American business. Fisher & Paykel first entered Lowes in 2004, promising at the time to increase its sales by 50%
- Home Expo no longer exists. Another punch in Fisher's ribs.
- As a result of the Lowes/Home Expo cancelations Fisher Paykel fired 71 employees around the country without notice, on January 16. Unlike earlier layoffs, these employees were released without a severance package. They were paid for the week of January 16, and any other acrued sick or vacation days. No severance!!!! Why no severance?
- Included in the 71, 3 of 4 technical support people were fired. There is now 1 person in North America to answer DCS tech questions.
- At least one of our tipsters indicated that sales to Lowes resulted in many more product returns than is the norm, resulting in F&P reducing the number of paid promotions, resulting in Lowes not being happy with pricing, resulting in point 1 above.
Lowes dropping F&P?
Are you sure about Lowes dropping F&P? Were there any further details provided ie what products and from when?(Lowes web site still shows an extensive range of F&P products). I'd be interestred in any thoughts on what prompted the change.
What a shame!
I am among the unemployed of Fisher & Paykel emloyees. I was let go during their first round of lay offs and did not receive a severance or any warning. I found out on Friday afternoon just before quitting time after I put a full week of road time in for them. I do not have an axe to grind with them, they were a great company to work for and I did like my job. I do, however, think that F&P would benefit tremendously from a complete overhaul of upper management there. That is just my opinion and you know what people say about opinions. When I was let go, I knew something was going down with the Lowe's account and the latest round of lay offs just confirms the ugly truth. F&P never belonged in Lowe's; a $1400 dishwasher is not something the average Lowe's customer is going to drop in their cart and rush to the check out line with. Their piece of the market was too specialized for the product to sell itself and coupled with the bad economy, it was a train wreck waiting to happen. Their marketing efforts of both F&P and DCS were pittiful at best; you can't not spend money on advertising and wonder why your products aren't selling. The money they did spend on advertising were in some pretty bizarre publications (i.e. GOLF DIGEST); again that's in my opinion. F&P did clean up the DCS factory, they did make production of DCS more efficient but those improvements did not generate sales or new innovative product ideas. They have absolutely no clue how the pro-appliance market works and it's a shame because DCS really is good product. The bottom line is that in these economic times, people are going to buy names they know and Fisher & Paykel isn't one of them. I doubt it will be too much longer before we hear they are dumping the DCS line; letting most of the DCS techs go sends up a huge red flag. I hope I am wrong. What a shame!
What a Shame , Part 2
What F&P did was overcapitalize the Huntington Beach factory. In other words, they spent too much for too little output. Anyone with money could have done that. That caused them to be too expensive in California . Too much overhead and burden for the amount of sales going through the shop. You can't make the equipment that useful without the volume. They did it the wrong way. It had nothing to do with the good labor there. Like you said , top management was a real problem who tried to blame it on the cost of doing business in California.
F/P had one great product in
F/P had one great product in their line ... the DishDrawers ... When they acquired DCS, they went way out of their league ... even though the price and timing was certainly right, ALMO pit DCS on the map and F/P never committed to DCS like ALMO did ... they last two (2) years @ K-Biz, F/P was more interested in showing off their prototypes than showing DCS ... what a shame !!! Now they have proved that they know as much about fairly treating their employees as they do about marketing !!! Poor, Poor, Pitiful They !!!
F&P has a LOT more than one
F&P has a LOT more than one great product in their line. I wouldnt say that when the aquired DCS they went out of their league, There were a lot of problems and DCS had NO consistency in their policy and procedures when it came to service. F&P cleaned it up as a matter of fact. I was tired of ordering an ignitor for their cooktops and got a BBQ rolltop cover instead. No doubt about it that DCS has come a long way from a short 15 years ago. As far as treating their employees goes, Well, if you are one of the fired ones, of course you will say you are unfairly treated. However, the ones that are still employed there say they are treated fairly.
You got it Bob !!!
F&P decided they knew better than Surgit. None of those people running F&P have a singular PASSION for their products, they have a blind allegiance to think theirs are better than what they bought. If so,why in the world did they purchase DCS ? They conspire to think they are better than others. That is called being delusional. Not an axe to grind. Just the facts. Go get 'em Bob.
Incorrect Info.
YOU need to hire more accurate "tipsters" and stop blogging inaccurate info!!!!!!!!!!!
The information is correct
I should know, I was one of the many that got let go with no notice or severance pay, at the end of the week a few minutes before quitting time//////
???????
What do you suppose is incorrect ?
They Know Best
Very dogmatic and they think they can bully the customers. Doesn't happen in the USA.
No Clue
Obviously the post above has NO idea about Fisher and Paykel.. YOU should not make up things you do not know about..!
Wrong
I know quite well what I am speaking about.It is probably over your head in terms of your level of exposure.Otherwise if you are an executive of F&P you don't quite see the forest through the trees.I do not have an axe to grind however companies from other countries do approach their markets quite differently than we do in America my friend."You can have what you want as long as it is what we will offer".
I also worked for them for a
I also worked for them for a year. They were and are clueless in how to market high end appliances. . . .they had me running around offering 6 pack deals on 48 inch pro ranges, not exactly the proven sales model for $10,000 ranges that have a variaty of configurations. . . . they stoped supporting established customers in the fasion the previous distributers had been and got lawyers involved in sales ploicy. I have to agree with the accessment of some of the others, they can be there own worse enemy. I dont know the current numbers . .but I would say the loss of Lowes and Expo will be devastating to them. I would further say the time in bed with Whirlpool was probably a mistake. They have top load laundry in what is quickly becoming a front load world. They have dish drawers . . others have them that match a package . . In the 80's and 90's . .they had a story to tell. They had some things no one elese did. They are telling the same story today. Life has passed them by.As for DCS . .those troubled waters run deep, and the true behind the scean stories on that are a little more complacted. F & P was just the latest issue, not the only one. They just did not know what they had, or how to use it. No ax to grind. Just the truth of it, they did not make "one" mistake, they made a series of mistakes that has become costly. They are entering this depressed econamy in a very chalanging position clearly. I like the folks at the company and wish them well. But likeing folks has nothing to do with the obvious outcome of the choices made by the leadership of the company. They have been shrinking market share for some time now, not growing it, that is the truth of it.
Semper Fi
Right on the button. Sounds like they put you through the ringer.The demise of the DCS product line started when Surgit sold his company. Make no mistake he made DCS run. The investors who bought it had no passion for the business and no stomach to mix it up. Wall streeters all the way.One bad sale to another. Surgit and his crew made out though.Good for them.
You work hard for them, but
You work hard for them, but they pay well for it too. Like I said, no ax to grind. I was treated fairly by them. They are good people to work with, and sure difacult at times to work for.However . sometimes working hard and working smart are very different things.My ever so humble thougt is there was to much ego, and to little obsevation and adaptation.The way I see it, I dont do folks a favor by selling to them, they do me a favor buy supporting my brand and making it possible to sell my brand. It is about the customer . . . first rule of sales.Plus . .heck, they tooled up for a booming market and for Lowes volume. What do they do with all that infastructure now? Like I say, truth is, they are caught in a hard place at the moment. I dont figure it will kill them, but it will smart for a while I think.