James Hardie Industries Plc's Business Segments

James Hardie Industries plc is a world leader in the manufacture of fiber cement siding and backerboard. Our products are used in a number of markets, including new residential construction (single and multi-family housing), manufactured housing, repair and remodeling and a variety of commercial and industrial applications. We manufacture numerous types of fiber cement products with a variety of patterned profiles and surface finishes for a range of applications, including external siding and trim and soffit lining, internal linings, facades and floor and tile underlay. Our current primary geographic markets include the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Europe.

We manufacture a wide-range of fiber cement building materials for both internal and external use across a broad range of applications, including: external siding, internal walls, floors, ceilings, soffits, trim, fencing and facades. While there are some market specific products, our core product ranges, being planks, which are used for external siding and flat sheets, are used for internal and external wall linings and floor underlayments and are sold across all of the markets in which we operate.
Products Used in External Applications
We developed a proprietary technology platform that enables us to produce thicker yet lighter-weight fiber cement products that are generally easier to handle than most traditional building products. Further, we believe that our products provide certain performance, design and cost advantages, while offering comparable aesthetics to competing products such as wood and vinyl siding.
Performance and design advantages:
Our fiber cement products exhibit resistance to the damaging effects of moisture, fire, impact and termites compared to natural and engineered wood and wood-based products;

Competing products do not duplicate fiber cement aesthetics and the characteristics necessary for effectively accepting paint applications;
Our fiber cement products provide the ability to imprint designs that closely resemble the patterns and profiles of traditional building materials such as wood and stucco;
The surface properties of our products provide an effective paint-holding finish, especially when compared to natural and engineered wood products, allowing for greater periods of time between necessary maintenance and repainting; and
Compared to masonry construction, fiber cement is lightweight, physically flexible and can be cut using readily available tools, making our products more appealing across a broad range of architectural styles, be it of timber or steel-framed construction.
We believe the benefits associated with our fiber cement products have enabled us to gain a competitive advantage over competing products.

Products Used in Internal Applications
Compared to natural and engineered wood and wood-based products, we believe our product range for internal applications provide the same general advantages provided by our products for external applications. In addition, our fiber cement products for internal applications exhibit less movement in response to exposure to moisture and impact damage than many competing products, providing a more consistent and durable substrate on which to install tiles. Further, we believe our ceramic tile underlayment products exhibit better handling and installation characteristics compared to fiberglass mesh cement boards.

 

In the United States, new products released over the last three years include HardieReveal2.0™ panel system, James Hardie® Insulated Lap Siding and Trim, HardieTrim® 2x™ board, James Hardie 2016 Annual Report on Form 20-F 7


HardieTrim® NT3® Roughsawn board, HardieTrim® Mouldings, Artisan® V-Rustic premium exterior siding, custom colors using our ColorPlus® Technology, and an improved touch-up accessory to support ColorPlus® products.

In Australia and New Zealand, new products released over the last three years include the ARChitectural™ Prefinished panel range for commercial applications, including Invibe® panels with Chromashield® Technology and Inraw® panels. Extensions to the existing Stria® cladding products have been launched to provide Stria® Standard 325mm, Stria® Wide 405mm, and Splayed 255mm cladding profiles. Similarly, Axon® cladding has now been extended to provide Axon® Smooth 133mm, Axon® Smooth 400mm, and Axon® Grained 133mm cladding.

In Australia only, our HardieDeck™ system provided a major new product application launch in 2015. HardieBrace®, a new online calculator tool, offers a way to simplify structural bracing calculations. Modcem® modular flooring has provided an entry into commercial flooring applications. Similarly, Systemboard™ cladding provided a niche multi-story construction product application. Additions to the range of building science offerings include HardieWrap® weather barrier, HardieFire® Insulation, HardieBreak® Thermal Strip, as well as the HardieSmart® Boundary, Aged Care and ZeroLot Wall Systems. Due to an evolution of the market in Australia, the Scyon® range of products has been repositioned under the James Hardie brand as James Hardie® products including Scyon® technology.

In New Zealand only, over the same timeframe, Secura® Interior Flooring, Secura® Exterior Flooring, Axent™ Fascia, HomeRAB® 4.5mm Pre Cladding, HardieGlaze®, Stria® Cladding, Axon® 400 and 133 Grained Cladding, Linea® Oblique™ Cladding and Easy Lap™ Panel have been launched.
In the Philippines, new products released over the past three years include the extension of the established Hardieflex™ board range with the inclusion of Hardieflex™ Wet Area Walls lining and Hardieflex™ Pro products, primarily for wet area application, and HardieFlex® Flooring.

The European business has launched HardieFloor™ Structural Flooring, and has developed an innovative range of products focused on improving acoustic performance of buildings, including HardieFloor dB™ Structural Acoustic Flooring, and HardieQStrip™ Acoustic Batten.