Three European centres for the activities of Beko Europe, relaunch of R&D centers with particular attention to Made in Italy, investments in energy efficiency of hubs, industrial processes and products of all ranges and not just cooking, with the shift towards the more profitable medium-high and high ranges, support and incentives for the employees of the Siena plant, which is closing, and for other redundant workers. Finally, confirmation of the 300 million euros of investments and redundancies dropped from 2 to 1.284 units. Which are undoubtedly many, but no one will be fired: there will only be economic incentives for the voluntary exits of employees. The plant of Community, which was due to close according to the November 2024 industrial plan, will maintain the existing production lines of washing machines and will also have a new high-end production within the next three months. Beko Europe will instead cease production at Siena, but the site will be reindustrialized. A Cassinetta, the production of refrigerators will be accompanied by that of a premium oven, while Melano a new induction hob will be built. Finally, the Research and Development hub for electronics will Fabriano, initially intended for closure, will be maintained.
A year-long dispute
These are, in broad summary, the salient points of the text of thefinal framework agreement, reached with the Government, the Regions and the Social Parties, made known by the company after the approval by the workers' assemblies. Signed yesterday, Monday 14, in Rome, it closes a long and painful dispute started exactly one year ago, in April, when Whirlpool Corporation and the Arçelik Group launched Beko Europe, a newco formed 75% by Arçelik and 25% by the American multinational. And in April, next April 17, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was supposed to arrive on an official visit to Italy, a visit that has been postponed to a date to be determined.
Three European centres of the Group
"Italy has always been a strategic pillar for our global operations and today's agreement marks a decisive step for the future of our Group in the country,” commented Fatih Ebiçlioğlu, President of Koç Holding's Consumer Durables Division and President of Beko Europe. “The agreement allows Beko Europe to maintain its activities in the medium-long term, while preserving the know-how and production tradition of Made in Italy” underlined Ragıp Balcıoğlu, CEO of Beko Europe. The manager reiterated the importance of Italy as Research & Development Center, thanks to the Global Cooking Research Centre and the localisation of the Global Industrial Design Centre for the entire Beko organisation.
Strategic role for Carinaro
The third European site of the group is that of Carinaro which central hub for the management of spare parts and accessoriesa Strengthening the strategic role thanks to the integrated management of all activities related to the fulfillment of orders from customers within the perimeter of Beko Europe. The site also confirms itself as the European Center for the management of activities related to spare parts and a center for the reconditioning of used household appliances.
This is particularly important Carinaro's double role in view of the increasingly rapid growth of the refurbished home appliance market, which is expected to increase by 15 percent globally in 2023. And which requires traditional and innovative specialist skills as well as stimulating the production of advanced and highly reliable spare parts and component supply chains.
How will the market react?
For the first time in years, global sales of home technology have fallen, albeit slightly, and despite growth in the expanding markets of Asia-Pacific. Let's remember that the production of all Italian factories in 2024 it fell by 14 percent, with the sell in stable at -0,3 percent while exports recorded a -9,1 percent. And these very first months of the year are confirming the unfavorable trend for Italian and European factories. Perhaps it is worth reading the last sentence of the statement by the CEO of Beko Europe carefully because it is linked precisely, with regard to the future of the national sites, to the heavy coincidence of negative factors. “At the same time, we will have to remain extremely vigilant – he stressed – since the household appliance industry in Europe is under pressurerecent pressures due to the escalation of tariff wars, unfair global competition and rising costs. We are grateful to all social partners for the constructive dialogue and look forward to seeing the results of this collaboration”. And precisely because of the hyper increase of customs tariffs on Chinese products by the American government, which has already shown the first signs of avalanches of very low-priced Chinese household appliances, diverted from the routes to North America, in the direction of Europe. Where it will play a decisive role in the permanence of European factories, the role of retail, if it does not favor low-end Made in China products with promotions and rock-bottom prices.
