MICROWAVE MASTERS A leading European white goods manufacturer and a subsidiary of the global Whirlpool Group, Whirlpool Sweden AB offers advanced technology to create built-in microwave ovens. Industry Europe spoke to the general manager, Raphael Delrue, to find out more. Emma-Jane Batey reports.
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ell-known global white goods manufacturer Whirlpool Group’s Swedish subsidiary Whirlpool Sweden AB is dedicated to the development and production of built-in microwave ovens. Providing technology-driven microwaves for both the Whirlpool brand and a few select own-brand customers, Whirlpool Sweden employs around 400 people. General manager Mr Raphael Delrue told Industry Europe how Whirlpool Sweden works with its parent company to its best advantage. He said, “We are operating within the western Europe part of the global Whirlpool Group, within the product group ‘food preparation’. We deliver our products to our sales organizations and have some direct delivery with chosen customers, most notably Ikea,
for whom we design and manufacture built-in microwave ovens – our speciality. We stay close to the Whirlpool HQ in Italy and ensure that we make the most of the opportunities for investment and development that come from being part of such a successful group.”
Innovating for more than half a century Based in the city of Norrköping, Whirlpool Sweden has more than 50 years’ experience in microwave technology and engineering, which it puts to good use in its state-of-theart development centre. This design and technology-focused development centre is central to the company’s position as a leading manufacturer of built-in microwave ovens. With more than 60 technicians and
engineers working at the centre, innovative new products are regularly created as well as practical upgrades for existing products. Mr Delrue continued, “Our development centre supports the Whirlpool corporate organisation and all the Group’s production centres for microwave ovens, which are a key ingredient in the Whirlpool brand. We are continually working on improving the basic features of our microwaves so that they are the best on the market, with the type of features that consumers actually want and use. We are dedicated to microwave ovens only here at Norrköping, so we really know our stuff!” Whirlpool Sweden has recently been focusing its efforts on streamlining production flows and organisation in order to
