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New developments in the Home Electronics & HVAC industry

Gorenje plans new factories in Serbia & Slovenia

Plans for the construction of two new production plants have been announced by Slovenian household appliance manufacturer Gorenje. The company, owned by China’s Hisense Group, intends to construct two plants; one is Velenje, Slovenia, the other in Valjevo, Serbia.

The factory in Velenje is scheduled to be opened by the end of 2020 and will make approximately one million TV appliances each year.

A statement from the company said: “We are planning to increase the output capacity to 4 million TV sets annually (by 2023). Thus, between 300 and 400 new jobs will be created in the first stage; in the second stage, the factory is expected to employ one thousand people. The investment is valued at several dozen million euros. TV appliances from our factory will be mostly intended for the European market.”

Expansion is also planned at Gorenje Valjevo. The existing refrigeration appliance factory currently employs 1,500 people and had an output in 2018 of 672,000 units. Following the relocation of the remaining refrigeration production line from Velenje to Valjevo, which is scheduled for completion in April, the output capacity will be increased by 150,000 appliances each year. The Gorenje press release added: “In the future, we intend to build an additional cold appliance factory that will employ up to 1,000 more employees and increase the output capacity by extra 750,000 units per year already in the first stage. This will include combined fridge freezers and side-by-side appliances. With the expansion, Gorenje Valjevo will become Hisense Group’s centre for refrigeration technology in Europe.”

Chairman of the Committee of Directors Franjo Bobinac added: “Hisense Group is the leading electronics and home appliance manufacturer in the Asian market, and their last year’s entry as the new strategic owner laid the foundations for even stronger development. This will grant us access to new markets and allow the production of a new set of products, while keeping and boosting the presence of Gorenje Group’s strategically important products and brands both in its current markets and in the future, new markets.” Visit: www.gorenjegroup.com

Corkbrick completes second round of crowdfunding

Portuguese sustainable dynamic structures and furniture startup Corkbrick Europe has announced that it has completed its latest investment round by raising €271,394 on investment platform Seedrs, attracting 252 investors - taking its total number of Seedrs investors to 500.

The target for Corkbrick’s second Seedrs funding round was set at €250,033 but following a surge of interest it raised a total of €271,394 bringing onboard 252 investors, taking its total number of retail investors across its two Seedrs rounds to 500. Funds raised will go towards increasing production 10 times to 4,000 pieces a day. Corkbrick is on its way to building the first “Fan Owned Company” to create “Sustainable Dynamic Structures and Furniture”.

In a statement online, Corkbrick said: “It is thanks to our fans that we will be able to dream bigger and bring Corkbrick to every household in the world!”

Inspired by Lego and Nature, Corkbrick Europe has developed a modular construction system of blocks made of cork, which can create any type of structure or furniture without the use of tools, screws or glue. The business founded by a father and daughter team is on a mission to improve people’s lives by simplifying the way people create and recreate the spaces they live and work in, with clever, natural and sustainable solutions. It offers a solution to a universal problem – configuration of houses, offices or any space without compromising other future uses.

The company also recently announced that despite ongoing Brexit uncertainty it will open up a UK branch in 2020. Whilst the location is still to be decided, the objective of the branch will be to source and produce their materials and product locally and be closer to the UK market.

Founder and CEO Miguel Reynolds Brandão said: “We are delighted yet again by the support and interest we’ve experienced throughout both of our investment rounds, and believe it demonstrates the clear demand for a sustainable product that can bring smart solutions for smart living. We look forward to welcoming both new and old investors on our journey into our next exciting phase of growth.” Visit: www.corkbrick.com

Bitzer Wins Best Application Compressor Award For CSVH Series

The Indian division of German refrigeration and air conditioning technology manufacturer Bitzer has won the Best Application Compressor Award at the Global logistics excellence Awards for its CSVH compact screw compressor series.

The award was presented in Hyderabad in southern India’s Telangana state on 18 January 2019.

Harvider Bhatia, Bitzer India’s managing Director said: “our CSVH series of compact screw compressors truly is an innovation – and we’re very happy that an independent jury agrees with this view. But it comes as no surprise: the intelligent, speed-controlled CSVH series has an integrated frequency inverter and is the most efficient compressor in its class today.”

The CSVH is already in use in a range of data centres and chiller manufacturers across India.

INDUSTRYNEWS

trox acquires czech air filter

UK government unveils postmanufacturer kS klima-Service Brexit CE mark Equivalent The UK government has unveiled a post-Brexit UK equivalent to the CE mark, known as the UKCA, to be used, subject to parliamentary approval, in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal. The CE (Conformité Européenne) mark was introduced in 1993 and is applied to all goods placed on market or in service within the EU single market and is a declaration that they meet the essential requirements of all EU directives. Household products that require the CE marking include kettles, smartphones and children’s toys. The UK has already implemented all of the EU Directives that require CE marking into law. These laws will continue to apply and therefore continue to require CE marking for applicable goods on sale or in service in the UK. Any goods intended for sale within the EU will also still need the CE marking. It could become the case, however, that a postBrexit government amends product safety legislaThe VTT mini cupcake factory tion and that goods destined for the UK market would then require the UKCA marking instead. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, manufacturConsumers demand more personalised and healthy foods. This trend combined with hectic ers will not have to immediately adopt the new UKCA marking. This means that CE marked lifestyle and snacking requires new on-site tech- products already on shop shelves and stored in nologies to satisfy consumers’ needs. VTT created a warehouses can still be legally sold in the UK. prototype of a mini cupcake factory, which enables In a very short period of time, thousands of on-site production of personalised, healthy snacks companies are going to have to spend millions of in order to show that instant food production with pounds collectively on changing all their markings tailored recipes is possible today. to comply with the new mark.”

VTT’s cupcake machine produces on-demand Visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicasingle serving fresh, warm cakes starting from tions/prepare-to-use-the-ukca-mark-after-brexit scratch in a matter of minutes. The user can choose a sweet or savoury cake and personalise its flavour or boost the nutritional content by choosing various protein and/or dietary fibre options. The outcome is a healthy, moist, evenly baked, soft and fluffy cupcake hyper-personalised to your taste and nutrition. It contains less sugar and fats than normally, as well as extra amounts of fibres and protein.

Czech air filter manufacturer KS Klima-Service has been acquired in a share purchase agreement by UK-based air conditioning and ventilation manufacturer, Trox Group. The official acquisition date is 31 May 2019.

Founded in 1993 with a manufacturing facility near Prague, KS Klima-Service’s main activities surround the development, manufacture and sale of air filters for the HVAC industry and special filter equipment for industrial filtration.

The name of the company is set to change to Trox KS Filter though the current board will remain in place with the addition of Thomas Klamp, who is at present head of the filter business of Trox.

Thomas Mosbacher, Member of the Board of Management of TROX GmbH and responsi-

The results of a use-ability test indicate that consumers associate added value with the machine.

“We all need little indulgence to keep us going throughout the day. Cakes and cupcakes are one of the most popular indulgent foods but usually with poor nutritional profile. We don’t need to end our love affair with indulgent foods, we just need to reshape and at the same time include also healthier notes”, says Research Professor Nesli Sözer from VTT.

The cupcake machine is an outcome of VTT’s own funded project. Ingredient and recipe modification to enable instant baking together with machine hardware design and prototyping resulted in a machine with several custom-built components, capable of producing high quality cakes in a very short time. Visit: www.vttresearch.com

ble for Finance, HR and IT, said: “We are very happy that Thomas Klamp, who is in charge of the filter business of Trox, will join the Board of Management of our Czech subsidiary and also oversee its integration into the Trox.” Visit: www.troxuk.co.uk

AO Recycling to open plastics recycling facility

AoRecycling has announced it has plans to open a plastics recycling facility near its fridge recycling plant in Telford, uK.

Part of the Ao World group, an online-only electrical goods retailer which operates in the uK, Netherlands and Germany, Ao Recycling processes around 20% of all appliances thrown away in the uK every year.

The 7,500 square metre unit on a four hectare site boasts Bertha, an 80-tonne shredder built and installed by Austrian company Andritz which smashes up around 100 fridges an hour. until now, the plastic and metal has been separated off in the main facility.

Neighbouring land owned by Ao will be developed in order to offer greater refinement in the process of sorting plastics shredded by Bertha. Ao Recycling believes the investment will increase the quality and secure an important route to new markets, as well as creating some 100 jobs.