Today, those plants employ about 830. By next March, that number will be down to about 300. What industries will take their place? Has the Dukes Rd dream died? Reporter Allison Rudd investigates.
If the Dukes Rd dream is not dead, it is on life-support.
Most people agree there is no replacement Fisher and Paykel-sized company on the horizon to soak up the factory space and the skilled workforce who will be left jobless by the closure of the dishwasher manufacturing company next year, and the imminent downsizing of its neighbours.
Instead, the companies which may inject new life into the North Taieri industrial estate will likely be smaller, with narrower focuses and fewer staff.
The good news is they are already here.
Dunedin City Council economic development unit manager Peter Harris says an extra 8000 jobs have been added throughout the city since 1994.
The bad news is companies yet to arrive may not locate at North Taieri, a possibility which could leave most of the 60ha industrial estate remaining in its current state as farmland.
Job losses at Fisher and Paykel, Silver Fern Farms and NZ Wood Mouldings were not solely a Mosgiel problem, Mr Harris said, as they drew their workers from a wider area.
"This is a Dunedin story, not a Mosgiel story. Mosgiel does not have to find all the replacement jobs. Mosgiel is not isolated like Tuatapere.
"It is close to Dunedin and Mosgiel people can come over the hill to find work."
Dunedin City councillor Syd Brown, who represents the Mosgiel Taieri ward, said Mosgiel had taken body blows before - the closures of the Fortex plant in 1994 (later taken over by Silver Fern Farms) and the Alliance yarn factory in 2000 - and was "pretty resiliant".
The future for the town, and Dunedin, was in medium-sized companies of perhaps 30-50 staff, he said, predicting they could be in the forestry, rural research or servicing sectors.
Mosgiel could also build on its retirement industry or become the servicing base for two wind farms proposed for the hills northwest of the town.
If the wind farms gained consent, they would employ hundreds of people for about a decade, he said.
The Ministry of Social Development had already begun helping staff from NZ Wood Mouldings and Fisher and Paykel find alternative work, Dunedin-based regional labour market manager Paul Casson said.
Presentations on work opportunities were being held at the factories, and employment expos would be held in November and February involving about 60 employers from Dunedin and elsewhere.
Otago Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Christie said while business confidence had dropped in the past six months and fewer vacancies were being advertised, the prospects for redundant workers was "generally good".
Some workers would need to leave Dunedin to find work, he said.
Others, particularly couples who were both losing their jobs, would take the opportunity to decide where they wanted to live and work and may choose to leave.
But the future was not all gloomy.
"I don't think everyone's going to jump on a plane and disappear."
Mr Christie anticipated business confidence would begin to improve within a month or two.
"Things are looking better already. The exchange rate is dropping, fuel prices are coming down and we have a strong rural sector . . .
"Dunedin companies have invested in plant and people during the good times and they should be able to weather the minor storm we're having."
