Zip Water in $6m Condell Park upgrade cater to export boom
Zip Water is upgrading its factory at Condell Park as it caters to expanding markets in the US and China.
The Express
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Zip Water, whose sales are expanding by a remarkable 10 per cent each year, has spent $6 million upgrading its Condell Park factory to cash in on foreign markets, including the US and China.
The company, founded by the late Michael Crouch in 1947, dominates the Australian market with their equipment present in many workplaces — supplying filtered sparkling, boiling and chilled water on tap.
Their products are sold in more than 70 countries, with some even installed at Buckingham Palace and the tallest building in the world, the Burj al Khalifa in Dubai.
Zip Water president John Doumani, who took over in September 2014, said the upgrade would also boost its research and development arm thanks to better testing capability and data collection.
The Condell Park factory employs more than 300 people, with 50 of those staff living within 8km of the factory, while the company has more than 700 staff overseas and Australia.
“Zip has invested $6 million in its factory in Condell Park to develop a new line that will double its manufacturing capacity as it keeps pace with growing international demand,” Mr Doumani told The Express.
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“In the last five years demand has grown by 50 per cent.
“In the next five years, it is expected that demand will grow by at least another 50 per cent (and) this investment will help Zip Water keep up with this growing demand.
“The unprecedented investment is the largest Zip Water has made in its factory since it moved to Condell Park from Marrickville in the 1960s.”
The upgraded factory was officially opened on Friday by NSW Investment Minister Stuart Ayres, along with East Hills state Liberal MP Wendy Lindsay.
Zip Water, which was acquired by Culligan International in 2017, has a gross sales revenue of about $250 million a year, a 10 per cent growth each year.
Their signature product is the HydroTap, a drinking water system that provides pure tasting, chilled, boiling and sparkling water at the touch of a button.
The company’s latest innovation is the Zip Micro, its smallest drinking water system that fits under almost any bench and delivers instant boiling and chilled, filtered water.
Mr Doumani said it catered to a new market of workplaces beyond the lavish CBD fit-outs to the regions and small towns.
Mr Doumani said they had expanded its testing capability and data collection, which ensured customers got “an unmatched quality of product, but also provides the data for research and development to create innovations to make the product even better”.
“This is important for Zip Water’s domestic market today, but even more critical as it ramps up production for export markets, which include the US and China,” Mr Doumani said.
New automation at the factory means that refrigerant gas can be measured right down to the gram removing the possibility of wastage and leakage to the environment.
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