Engr. Salman Saleem, Senior National Manager-CAC talks to Engineering Post
Haier Pakistan is a consumer electronics and home appliances company. It was established in 2000, it is a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational group Haier. In terms of sales and revenues generated, Haier Pakistan is one of the largest companies in Pakistan’s home appliances market.
Engineering Post had a detailed conversation with Engr. Salman Saleem, Senior National Manager, Commercial AC department at Haier Pakistan, regarding how the company went through 2020 and what are the plans for next year 2021.
Engr. Salman Saleem, a NUST graduate, while talking exclusively to Engineering Post revealed that Haier has increased its production of refrigerators to 1 million units per annum. Embodying more than 35% of Pakistani market, Haier is planning to increase its market share further by around 30% next year.
Despite the lockdowns amid COVID-19 pandemic, Haier Pakistan has shown an extraordinary amount of growth in all sectors. From refrigerators to LEDs and commercial air conditioners, all sectors have shown massive growth in 2020. “The main reason for increase in sales has been strategic planning by the company. As lockdown was being forecasted in China, we immediately moved our stocks and worked day and night to cover the market supply and demand gap,” said Engr. Salman.
Commercial air conditioning took a beating everywhere but Haier Pakistan was still able to win the following projects in 2020, namely:
- Regional Office of National Rural Support Program, Sargodha
- DG Cement, Hub Plant
- Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Karachi
- Paragon Construction works, Bahria Town, Karachi
- Imtiaz Departmental Stores in Lahore, Karachi and Vehari
Engr. Salman Saleem further informed Engineering Post that Haier is working tirelessly for the improvement of technology in the products being manufactured by Haier. “We are working for improvement in each and every product. From 2021 we will introduce ionised filters (Air ionisers) in the air conditioners as an optional feature to kill airborne diseases including bacteria and Viruses. We have also introduced Black Fin coating for outdoor units of air conditioners,” he explained. And this is just the HVAC sector. Haier is also working to improve other products under its umbrella “We have bought the licensed version of Android for our LEDs.” Added Engr. Salman.
Engr. Salman during his Exclusive interview with Engineer Post further revealed that Haier Pakistan is bringing MG Motors (Morris Garages) in Pakistan. MG Motor UK Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a subsidiary of SAIC Motor UK, which in turn is owned by the Shanghai-based Chinese state-owned automotive SAIC Motor. MG Motor designs, develops and markets cars sold under the MG marque. The first product from MG motors would be an SUV with a 1.5 Litter turbo engine and within the next two years, a Sedan would be launched in the Pakistani market. MG motors is also planning to launch an electric vehicle in Pakistan in the near future which is in line with the vision of the government to introduce 30% electric vehicles by 2030.
This year, for a project of UNICEF, Haier Pakistan provided 3000 Medical Ice Lined Refrigerators (ILR’s) out of which more than 1000 were solar powered. These ILR’s will store vaccines for different national level immunisation campaigns for children, by provincial bodies or local teams. Each freezer was equipped with a data logger able to keep track of the temperature variation for 30 days. “We also provided installation services for the Installation of equipment for 16 cold storage units all across Pakistan,” said Engr. Salman. “Haier is also doing all the adequate arrangements to provide the relevant equipment and services when the time comes for the transportation of COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected anytime by next year,” he added.
