No he announced business plan but an update, albeit vague, on the even more vague future of the sites and the occupation of theex Whirlpool in Italy now Beko Europe: as the CEO announced yesterday in Rome Ragip Balcioglu, at the meeting with Minister Urso, with the unions, Confindustria and local authorities, the investments will only be dedicated to cooking. But it is not known when, how much, and how they will be spent. So much so that the comment of Massimiliano Nobis, general secretary, sounds mocking but also dramatic Fim-Cisl: “Beko, presented a NON industrial plan”. What did Balcioglu come to Rome to promise? That Italy will become the center of excellence for cooking at a global level (it already was before), including Research and Development. “It will become the headquarters of Global Industrial Design for Beko (it already was for Whirlpool, ed), with the European regional office located in Italy which will continue to play a decision-making role for the main strategic functions. Carinaro site, in the province of Caserta, will be maintained as a center of excellence for the distribution of spare parts and reconditioning activities of household appliances. The current presence in the washing and refrigeration sectors will be further evaluated to avoid further cash losses”.
Beko, Urso gets up and leaves
And, apart from the fact that these are roles already in place, what will happen is that the cooking remains but not the rest, also because from the data provided that the press throughout Europe already knows and has published, the situation has become quite critical. The closures will in fact concern those sites – Beko states – whose cash losses resulting from lost sales do not allow for the continuation of production in whole or in part. In practice if two of the five sites remain it will be a lot. The delocalization has begun. The vagueness of the commitments was such that at a certain point Minister Urso stood up without listening to Beko's answers to the numerous questions from the unions and local authorities, and left to follow - official motivation - yet another meeting on the automotive industry. And the pressing questions began, which however remained without adequate answers.
Beko: And the plan? Maybe in the future
The data-rich slides condemned the Cassinetta refrigerator factory (it is The huge one in Egypt has come into operation) and that of the Siena freezers. On which, moreover, the lesson of Covid has evidently not been understood by the Beko experts, that is when Europe in 2020 and 2021 was left without freezers because for a year everyone had been buying up them for large food supplies. And the Siena plant was working at full speed. Perhaps it is not yet clear that with Logistics from China increasingly crippled and very expensive (a +30% of costs that have already tripled is coming soon and then the situation in the China Sea is getting worse with cannon fire) the only factory in Europe that makes decent freezers that are not as wasteful as the Asian ones, should be kept and relaunched. Cassinetta will remain – obviously, it is the only one in Europe – the production of built-in microwaves recently moved but the refrigerators will be produced elsewhere.
Beko, Golden Power for a time
The possibility that the government will enforce the Golden Power Clause for block the dismantling of the Italian majap manufacturing. Urso did not respond, nor does he have the skills or information to do so. “It was downright embarrassing to witness what happened,” commented Daniela Miniero, of the Fiom-Cgil general secretariat, “after more than eight months since the announcement of the acquisition, nothing has happened, not even the Whirlpool signs have changed. We are stuck with a painful lack of information on investments and programs. Only a projection of numbers already known that seemed to us a sort of accompaniment towards a closure to be considered necessary and motivated”. Faced with a deterioration in the profitability of the group and the Italian hubs, the unions have asked for a new meeting to have a credible industrial plan. “We would oppose a plan that includes closures or layoffs and we will ask the Government to exercise the Golden Power”. The Government – comments Gianluca Ficco, national secretary of Uilm-Uil, responsible for the household appliances sector – should help us protect industry and workers starting from the next meeting that should be held on November 20, participating in the discussion on the industrial plan with Beko, exercising the Golden Power if necessary, and therefore also establishing the sector table that we have been requesting for some time”. But – big surprise – regarding the Golden Power, it would be, as Miniero underlined, an intervention with an expiry date, that is, for limited support that the government would then eliminate, no one knows how and based on what criteria.
Beko, Fiom against yet another industrial closure
“Today the company is planning closures that were actually announced in recent months – declare Barbara Tibaldi, national secretary of Fiom Cgil, and Pino Gesmundo, confederal secretary of Cgil – due to the 50% reduction in production volumes due to competition with the Asian market, significant losses in profits also in 2024 and the use of less than 40% of the installed capacity of Italian factories. In particular, only the cooking supply chain present a Melano (Ancona) and partly to Cassinetta is advantageous for the company from the point of view of technology and product innovation. While Beko's plants in Italy in the washing sectors (commonality) and refrigeration (Cassinetta and Siena) are obviously destined for closure. The workers demand respect, since this information has already been circulating for several days."
Beko, and the investments promised in 2023?
In the statements released in 2023 to comment on theagreement between Whirlpool and Arcelik, an investment of around 200-250 million euros had been announced for the reorganisation of the sites, logistics and commercial structure. Nothing is known about these resources. And it is on this that all those present expressed negative comments. "Nothing was told to us - underlines Nobis - about maintaining employment and the projects of relaunch of the 5 sites present in Italy by the Beko group and new productions to be made in Italy. As Fim, given what the company said today at the ministerial table, we believe it is essential that the government applies the Golden Power and in the next meeting scheduled for November 20, the company should confirm its commitment to maintaining employment on Italian sites.” It is worth noting that the minister left, pursued by pressing questions from the unions. The conclusion is that for now there will be no intervention to support the Made in Italy of white goods, employment and those brands that are still worth a lot. Beko will certainly use them for appliances produced elsewhere at prices and with performances not up to our level. And therefore the government should intervene to ban the use of very Italian brands on these devices that will no longer have anything Italian. As happened for Stellantis with the 500s all manufactured abroad. Just as the Electrolux competitors, after criticism from the press and experts, has now decided to fish out those highly glamorous and iconic brands, such as Aeg e Zanussi which it had abandoned, to focus only on the Electrolux brand. A wrong strategy that Beko risks repeating with the delocalization.
