How to successfully export and sell Made in Italy household appliances in the world's home appliance factory, China. And do it with 70 large showrooms - a record of records for foreigners - in the most luxurious malls in China. With a brand - Fulgor Milano - that today brings the expertise of a craftsmanship unique in the world, the Italian one of cooking, combined with the most refined technologies of IoT, Industry.4, AI. A brand of great tradition, it must be emphasized, but practically disappeared and relaunched in 2009 with excellent results by a Venetian entrepreneur known especially abroad, Gianni Meneghetti. For several decades, Meneghetti was the number 1 subcontractor of built-in cooking, with his company based in Rosà, in the Vicenza area.
In truth, Meneghetti does not like to hear about outsourcing anymore, but we can say that Meneghetti interprets it with two enormous differences compared to the anonymous OEMs: it supplies very high-end hobs, ovens and kitchens to the luxury and exclusive brands of North America and what's more, it does so by popular demand. Because even for giants like Viking or General Electric (owned by Haier) it is prestigious to count on a supplier like the Venetian company. But the top of its collections (rich in dozens and dozens of patents) travels more and more around the world with the Fulgor Milano brand for the Premium range and Fulgor for the medium-high range. Gas or induction cooking, Meneghetti is still the symbol of traditional cooking. In reality, no, because in preview it revealed to FIRST online an extraordinary innovation in microwave cooking, far from our habits.
At the last Eurocucina, at the Ifa in Berlin and at the Kbis in Las Vegas where you were present with many new products, you will have seen the debut of induction hobs without electric cables, invisible, and inserted under the granite surface. What do you think?
“There is an excess of minimalism: everything disappears, no cables, nothing in sight. And yet the problems begin, even serious ones because some furniture makers have already reported to me that granite tops with wireless induction underneath break, fracture. I also underlined it recently: designers pay little attention to performance, they choose above all the famous brand, minimalism pushed to excess”.
You have always been export-oriented with a flattering 80 percent. How do you manage to do this with the heavy market crisis, the international logistics that do not work and the increasing costs of energy and raw materials?
“We must be and are chameleonic, we have learned to adapt to changes with great speed and always with well-made, beautiful and eco-sustainable products. And that must be built with easily recyclable materials”.
I repeat the question that other journalists have asked you. How do you do it?
“We have always done it. I would also add that our kitchens, our ovens and our hobs must last a lifetime. I do not justify the choice that is practiced today at an industrial level, that of planned obsolescence. If an appliance lasts a lifetime, customers become loyal and more always arrive. It is with these rules that a brand recognition is built over the decades that creates success. And it is the success of true Made in Italy”,
Nothing, absolutely nothing, delocalization?
“Never. We have never wanted to compete with price, with volumes. We have always designed, developed and manufactured all our 500 thousand appliances in Italy, here, in the Rosà factories, with all Italian suppliers and we have two research centers, one in Rosà and one in Milan. For us, the Italian flag is a brand of great value that must be respected also for the meanings it represents for me and for the company. Green is the green transition and the circular economy, white is the transparency of our relationships with customers, transparency in behavior and in respecting our values that we try to transfer to suppliers, to customers. Finally, red represents the passion and heart that we have always put into it. And that we wanted to make with a video because for a long time people have been asking us to explain our way of life, our values, our cuisine.”
At Eurocucina you focused mainly on induction cooking, as everyone is doing. Why?
“The trend is induction but we can boast a great depth of range, with all, absolutely all the types of cooking used today in the world. And gas has not disappeared at all, indeed it remains the type of cooking used in 80 percent of kitchens in the world. And one of our most important innovations presented at Eurocucina was precisely a large burner that offers the choice of five different temperatures, from the very delicate process for melting chocolate to the great professional power. And without ever moving or changing the pan”.
Let's go back to induction. Nowadays, all hobs have become the same. The design and customization found in gas hobs no longer exist...
"This is not our case, in fact, for example we presented the Enova collection that stands out from all the others on the market, without the usual display but a dashboard with very elegant knobs. And then the Sofia kitchen designed for the North American market, which is now available in the 60-inch version with a 150 cm top, the first in the world and with a patented power management system that allows induction to be used even in countries that, like Italy, have limits on the power used".
This is the technology but how do you distinguish your kitchens from an aesthetic point of view?
“With unique workmanship, details and materials. The value of our appliances is that they have special finishes and inserts that cannot be made elsewhere, which we are able to create for every kitchen, every oven and every hob because they are treated with what I call artisan intelligence”.
Does manufacturing these appliances still mean working on traditional platforms?
“A kitchen is made up of many components and many processes, but above all it requires large investments in molds. In particular for a company like ours, because, to export 80 percent of production, it is necessary to be able to count on a notable depth of range, necessary for the enormous variety of cooking types in the world”.
What difference does it mean in terms of numbers and investments compared to competitors?
“We have 500 different hobs and 400 ovens in our catalogue, with which we cover 60 percent of the market. The large multinationals have a maximum of 5 with which they work for 90 percent of the market”.
So no Artificial Intelligence applications, as seems to be the trend today?
“Not at all, we are actually working a lot on electronics, on AI that has a specific function because, by learning the different cooking styles of the family, it quickly and without any intervention adapts the performance of the device to the choices of each person. And as far as the production lines are concerned, our equipment is digitalized, with 4.0 software. This means, for example, that the PC of each workstation communicates in real time with the operator, avoiding errors. And the application of AI suggests the most ergonomic, less stressful and more efficient operations”.
And how much does this cost?
“A lot. A line equipped with this sophisticated AI software can cost 1 million euros compared to 200-250 thousand euros for production lines of standardized household appliances. These are necessary investments to be able to export over 80 percent of production to all continents”.
Can you give us a preview of any news for 2025?
“With the Fulgor Milano brand we are investing in promotion and advertising also in television broadcasts to increase our presence on the Italian market. But the innovation that will be protected by patents, concerns the microwave oven, a real revolution because our Ads, Active diffusion system eliminates for the first time the need to insert the rotating dish or antenna, both of which required a small motor taking up space. It diffuses the microwaves more efficiently and frees up precious space inside”.
