Rheem New Zealand: A Brief History

13 February 2025

Rheem has a rich history in New Zealand. Starting as a steel drum manufacturer in 1958, the next 66-years would see us manufacturing toothpaste tubes, distributing washing machines, and ultimately becoming a leading provider of hot water and solar energy solutions in New Zealand.

To celebrate Rheem NZ’s journey, we gathered three of Rheem’s longest standing employees at our Avondale office to learn more about Rheem’s past. Between the one current and three former Rheem employees gathered in the conference room, there was an astounding collective 136 years of Rheem experience – which is testament to the culture Rheem has created over the last 66 years of operating. Using their stories, and everything else we could find across various historical records, we were able to piece together the story of Rheem New Zealand.

Early Days

It all started for Rheem NZ in Tawa, Wellington when an office and manufacturing plant opened in 1958. The only products Rheem manufactured at this stage were 60L and 200L steel drums. Increased demand saw Rheem expand to Christchurch in 1961, before deciding to move this plant to Auckland in 1963. Rheem Avondale – the current and sole location of Rheem NZ’s operations – was officially opened this year. At first, Rheem only produced 200L steel drums in Auckland, which were mostly supplied to the NZ Dairy board to store milk fats.

In 1965, Rheem expanded their product range to include mobile trailer tanks and underground storage tanks, and the following year Rheem also started manufacturing plastic tubes. Around this time, Rheem also opened a drum reconditioning plant in Seaview, Wellington, where drums were recycled and resold.

Rheem Enters the Water Heating Industry

It was another three years before Rheem entered into the water heating market – the industry now synonymous with the Rheem brand. Rheem acquired Stanley Sheet Metals in 1969, which at the time was manufacturing electric low pressure water heaters. Initially, Rheem continued to sell these under the Stanley brand in Central Wellington. Rheem also started importing gas mains pressure vitreous enamel tanks and gas components from Australia in 1969. The result was two Rheem branded water heater ranges in NZ: the then well-known Coppermatic (which were copper lined), and the more cost-effective glass-lined product.

With hot water heating quickly becoming the focus, Rheem sold the drum reconditioning business stream in 1972 and purchased Rowe Engineering that same year. The following year would see a big shakeup in Rheem global, with Rheem worldwide being broken up. The BHP group purchased Australasian Rheem, which included Rheem New Zealand.  Under new ownership, a new plant in Avondale was built in 1974, and Rheem Mains Pressure Water Heating manufacturing began in Auckland later that same year. The Tawa factory remained open, but stopped producing mains pressure hot water cylinders. The Auckland spray machine was also designed and built at this time, but was kept offsite at Harveys, where the enamelling took place at nights.

The Rheem Brand Grows

In 1979, Rheem discontinued the Stanley brand and started selling low pressure water heaters under the Rheem brand in NZ for the first time. Soon after, Rheem further diversified their product range by importing a machine that would enable the production of 60 toothpaste tubes per minute in the Avondale factory. This diversification continued in 1984 when Rheem purchased Conform and began manufacturing Auto Lazer Boiling Water Units under the Rheem brand. In 1986, Rheem then purchased Zip Housewares and Hermetic from the Odlins group.

1987 saw another global shakeup after Paloma (a Japanese company) bought Rheem USA. The following year, BHP sold Rheem Australasia to South Australia Brewery, which soon became Southcorp. Rheem NZ’s new owners quickly utilised the Auckland warehouse to distribute their existing product ranges, including appliances and wine – which explains why old photos show ovens, washing machines, and vacuums suddenly appearing in the Avondale warehouse’s showroom! In 1988, the Rheem factory in Wellington moved from Wigan Street (Wellington Central) to Kilbirnie. Rheem then closed out the decade by shutting down Rowe Engineering.

Rheem Consolidates to Auckland

In 1993, Rheem closed down the Kilbirnie factory and relocated the equipment to Auckland, making the Avondale factory responsible for all of Rheem New Zealand’s manufacturing. The following year, Rheem introduced gas continuous flow water heater to the New Zealand market (modern versions of which are still available today).

In 1999, Southcorp made the call to sell off their appliances and packaging departments but kept hot water and wine. This meant the vacuums, washing machines, and various other appliances were removed from the Rheem showroom just before the turn of the century. At this stage, Hermetic also was moved to the Avondale site.

Three years later, Rheem Australasia underwent another ownership change.  Paloma, who had purchased Rheem USA in 1987, bought Rheem AU & NZ in 2002 from Southcorp, and has remained the owner to this day. The new owners decided to immediately give the Avondale plant a significant upgrade to increase capacity and efficiency – improvements which Rheem still benefits from today. After nearly fifty years of manufacturing and distributing a wide range of products to various industries, Rheem now focused all their efforts on leading the New Zealand water heating market.

Rheem Continues to Innovate

In 2004, Rheem introduced heat pump and solar water heating solutions to their product range, which remain the two most sustainable water heating methods available today. Rheem also launched the next generation of their gas storage water heaters at this time.

The next big milestone for Rheem was purchasing Peter Cocks, a Christchurch based hot water cylinder manufacturer, in 2016. To this day, Rheem still manufactures and distributes hot water cylinders under the Peter Cocks brand. Rheem also made the decision to shut down Hermetic this year.

In 2022, Rheem Solar Solutions was launched to the New Zealand market, continuing Rheem’s journey towards sustainability. The Rheem Solar Solutions brand continues to grow to this day, with EV Chargers and brand new solar panels being added to the product range earlier this year.  

Today, Rheem is still leading the industry with innovative hot water and solar solutions. Our history demonstrates the trust Rheem has built with Kiwis through decades of successfully delivering exceptional products to New Zealand homes and businesses – and we don’t see this changing anytime soon!