Group was formed in 1984. It started off by manufacturing only one model of refrigerator. The journey of the Hailer Group began under the efficient leadership of Mr. Zhang Ruimin. He is now the chairman and the CEO of the company.
The history of the company goes back to 1920 when a refrigerator factory was established in Qingdao to provide the market in China. When the People’s Republic of China was formed, Haier was taken over by the State. Due to the economic system and government policies the factory suffered heavy debts. Decaying infrastructure, improper management and deficient in quality control brought the factory to face bankruptcy.
Haier was originally named Qingdao Refrigerator Co. when it was founded by Mr.Zhang Ruimin in 1984. China had entered the world market and many foreign companies were interested to collaborate with the Chinese companies. Haier collaborated with a German company Liebherr Group and borrowed their tools and technology. The newly formed company was known as Qingdao-Liebherr. Better infrastructure and Zhang’s strict management policies helped the company to slowly turn around. By 1986 the company’s sales and profit both had increased.
Seeing the refrigerator company prosper the government asked the company to take responsibility of some other dying factories as well. Accordingly, the company took over Qingdao Electroplating Company, which manufactured micro oven in 1988. The company took a new name when it started producing other home appliances apart from refrigerator. It came to be known as the Haier Group from 1992 onwards. The company started working towards being the best brand in the country. It began to take risk of diversifying into manufacturing other household appliances as well.
The products of the company include a wide array of refrigerators, water heaters, microwave ovens, air conditioners, computers, washing macines, mobile phones, DVD players, color televisions, dishwashers, wine...