There’s a new wind blowing across the global frost fan market with Kiwi company FrostBoss its cutting-edge blade manufacturing facility in September.

In a move the company hopes will make it the dominant player in the world’s frost fan market, it says the plant will treble production capacity to better meet world demand.

Headquartered in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, FrostBoss has been part of the industry for 28 years, building a reputation for producing industry leading, efficient frost fans and currently exports to every major growing market in the world, protecting a vast array of crops.

The conveyor belt that carries the blades around the factory into different segments and robotic cells from start to finish.

FrostBoss chief executive Andrew Priest says to coincide with this expansion milestone, the company is launching a refreshed FrostBoss brand and elevating it to be its global trading name.

“The new logo incorporates a brandmark developed to be an exact representation of our C59 5-blade fan,” Mr Priest says.

“FrostBoss as our global master brand positions us for growth in new markets beyond NZ and Australia,” he added.

“We see FrostBoss as the world’s most trusted frost protection solution for better food production – and our customers clearly agree.

“As well as manufacturing blades and assembling machines right here in Hawke's Bay, we have installation and service teams throughout Australia and New Zealand, close to our key customers and growing areas.

“With international growth a priority, we have recently opened an office in Europe to spearhead our sales and business development efforts across that region."

Every blade is sanded down by a robotic arm with precision.

Mr Priest says using new robotic technology from ABB and Italian company Roboticom, has transformed labour-intensive tasks into automated processes, improving product consistency and enhancing health and safety standards.

He says the new super facility has been designed to eliminate, substitute, and isolate a number of significant hazards, so is a fundamentally safer and healthier work environment.

“At a time when climate change has resulted in more unpredictable weather conditions worldwide, FrostBoss frost fans have proved an investment for high-value crops frequently affected by severe frosts,” Mr Priest explained.

“Our products and services are now in a dozen countries and counting, protecting wine and table grapes, nuts, citrus, stone fruit, pip fruit, berries, kiwifruit, avocados, mangoes, even instant lawn and grass.

“If you have frost you must have a FrostBoss fan to protect it.”

FrostSmart monitoring services complement FrostBoss frost fans by providing powerful
insights on fan operation during a frost event and to analyse historical data.

FrostBoss is complemented by FrostConsult and FrostSmart services, providing holistic solutions to growers.

FrostConsult offers bespoke in-depth climate field studies assessing frost risk, climate data analysis, advice on frost protection frost fan placement.

FrostSmart monitoring services provide powerful insights and can be used to check if frost fans are armed and ready before a frost, check on operation during a frost event and to analyse historical data.

Always innovating, FrostBoss has also recently launched a lay-down tower option with orders for France and NZ, primarily for areas with visual amenity regulations, such as the UNESCO heritage area of Saint-Emilion in France.

“We have recently launched a fan which can lie flat for those customers in aesthetically sensitive areas, as well as growers who require the use of centre pivots for irrigation where fans are located,” Mr Priest says.

“Many customers have also replaced their existing blades with 'designed to perform' FrostBoss blades, resulting in more efficient, economical and quieter frost fans,” he says.

“In the past decade our success has seen revenue quadruple, with strong partnerships including NZTE for all overseas market support, and a robust supply chain network, consisting of local and global suppliers, a cornerstone of that achievement.”

Facts & Figures:

- FrostBoss has been in business 28 years and employs 100 staff.

- The company serves over 2500 customers, in 12 countries,- protecting more than 20 crop types.

- $12 million has been invested in the new factory in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay.