Global scale and new modular product architectures drive enhanced value share

Highlights:

  • Higher value categories increase share of sales
  • Product variance reduced by more than 70%
  • Consumer star rating 4.6 on five-point scale

Leveraging global scale is key for Electrolux Group to drive profitable growth. In North America, new cooking products in higher value categories are increasing their share of sales. Highly appreciated by consumers and efficiently produced, the new ovens and cookers are benefiting from the Group’s innovative and modular global architectures.

Meeting consumers’ ever-evolving needs and desires, the new Frigidaire Gallery wall ovens and front control cookers are equipped with several new functions enhancing the user experience. Features such as convection, air fry and no-preheat offer a variety of ways to cook great-tasting, healthier meals. Well-received by consumers, the new products belong to the higher-margin categories that have increased their market share by value and grown their share of total sales in North America.

New cooking facility in Springfield, U.S.

The latest wall ovens and new front control cookers are manufactured at the new cooking facility in Springfield, U.S. Having replaced two older plants in Springfield and Memphis, the new factory is part of Electrolux Group’s SEK 8bn re-engineering investment initiative along with investments in four other factories in the Group. Now in its final phase, the initiative is aimed at leveraging global scale through a high degree of modularization, automation and Group-wide innovation and product development.

Increased efficiency and speed of innovation are major benefits of modularization. The new series of wall ovens and cookers in North America are based on product architecture and technologies that have already been proven to be beneficial in other plants in the Group and successful in other markets. With common platforms, the development of a broad variety of models, and adjustments to specific consumer target groups, is much faster and requires fewer resources. Even though white goods in the U.S. are considerably larger than those in Europe and Asia, they can still use the same platforms, creating cost advantages that are benefiting the whole Group.

Faster and more cost-efficient production

Modularization also brings substantial advantages on the assembly line. Production is significantly faster and more cost-effective as the new cooking products have far fewer parts and weigh significantly less than previous models. This results in reduced material costs compared to the earlier models. Overall, the new Springfield facility has reduced product variance by more than 70% and increased the degree of automation to around 30% compared to 6% at the old Springfield plant.

These enhancements enable Electrolux Group to significantly improve products in a more cost-efficient way. In addition to their value-adding cooking functions, the products’ higher quality, more user-friendly design, and better finishes are important differentiators cited by consumers. The positive reception is reflected in high consumer star ratings. The wall ovens score a 4.6 rating and the front control cookers 4.5 on a 5-point scale.