Mr Hill was a "suspected upstart" from Auckland whose brief was to help modernise and expand the range of products being made in Dunedin.
But on his retirement this week, after 50 years with the modern, multi-national whiteware manufacturer, it was some of the company's "old-fashioned" practices that he recalled most fondly.
"It wasn't just a place you worked in. It had concerns about you, as well."
Mr Hill (67), who suffered from polio, recalled an instance where company co-founder Sir Woolf Fisher found time to check up on his progress at the Outward Bound course employees were encouraged to undertake on joining the company.
"Now, he was a busy man . . . he had his fingers in all kinds of pies, like New Zealand Steel.
He had plenty of other things to think about than one of his apprentices, or drawing office wallahs, being at Outward Bound and whether it was good for him or not.
"Those things can take less than five minutes, but they can engender something which is pretty out of fashion now, like loyalty."
Mr Hill said Fisher and Paykel took over the Princes St factory of Shacklock in 1955 and when he arrived it was making such things as free-standing ranges and the once ubiquitous Conray heater.
The coal ranges, in green, a "peculiar red" and cream were made by craftsmen in the foundry part of the factory until 1971.
Mr Hill recalls parts of the floor were dirt, which was "quite practical" in a foundry because molten steel "did not take too kindly to concrete".
The first appliance Mr Hill introduced to the Dunedin range was a "reflector toaster", which was the forerunner of the sandwich maker.
After 40 years, he is still using the device he brought from Auckland; waiting for it to fail so he can begin using the modern replacement he's already bought.
Mr Hill was closely involved with the emergence of the Dunedin factory as a manufacturer of dishwashers.
Initially, the factory was asked to build a cheap alternative to the top-of-the-line appliance built in the company's Auckland plant.
Mr Hill said the dishwasher was to have a gravity drain, "for goodness sake", and a single sprayer.
The wives of the design team rejected it during field trials and an improved version, the stainless steel, front-loading "388", went on to capture the market from the Auckland version.
The Dunedin factory's next major innovation, the dishdrawer, took nine years to design, Mr Hill said, and was modelled on a wooden, two-drawer filing cabinet.
The mainstay of the company's Taieri factory for more than a decade, it is now manufactured in Mexico.
Mr Hill said one of his first tasks after retirement would be to climb Mt Egmont and he would continue leading groups on New Zealand's "great walks".
